NBN Rollout Scrapped

[sptrawler]

Technically, it still is a public service...
http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/commitments/uso/

To a degree that is true, but they are payed to provide the service and the other service providers have to chip in.
They technically are not a public service, since the future fund sold down its holding.
They have an obligation, due to the fact they are the only service provider, that has existing equipment throughout Australia.
Once the N.B.N has taken over the backbone infrastructure, one would think the onus would be on the government to take on the service obligation once again. LOL

 

[DB008]

Well, that didn't take long........for Google.

Remember this in July?

Google Fiber to arrive this fall; $70 for gigabit service

Well, it has, and look at the speeds they are getting, 700Mbps already....

Google Fiber is live in Kansas City, real-world speeds at 700 Mbps

After months of fanfare and anticipation, gigabit home Internet service Google Fiber finally went live on Tuesday in Kansas City. The search giant is offering 1 Gbps speeds for just $70 per month””significantly faster and cheaper than what any traditional American ISPs are offering.

"We just got it today and I’ve been stuck in front of my laptop for the last few hours," Mike Demarais, founder of Threedee, told Ars. "It’s unbelievable. I’m probably not going to leave the house."

He lives in a four-bedroom house run by "Homes For Hackers" on Kansas City’s Hanover Heights neighborhood, just on the state border with Missouri. The house has become one of the hubs for the KC Startup Village, an informal group of entrepreneurs who have clustered around homes immediately eligible for Google Fiber.

Meanwhile, Demarais said that on an Ethernet connection, he’s seen consistent Google Fiber speeds of 600 to 700 Mbps, with Wi-Fi topping out around 200 Mbps. Even at the slower wireless speeds, that’s more than an order of magnitude faster than what most Americans have at home.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/11/google-fiber-is-live-in-kansas-city-real-world-speeds-at-700-mbps/

Google Fibre

 

[NBNMyths]

Well, that didn't take long........for Google.


Google Fibre

Pretty awesome, huh?

I love this quote:

"It’s unbelievable. I’m probably not going to leave the house."

 

[Julia]

This is probably a very ignorant question. I haven't taken any real interest in the NBN
Is the cabling being placed underground or is it attached or adjacent to electricity wires overhead?
(I'm thinking about how often power is cut in summer storms.)

 

[drsmith]

This is probably a very ignorant question. I haven't taken any real interest in the NBN
Is the cabling being placed underground or is it attached or adjacent to electricity wires overhead?
(I'm thinking about how often power is cut in summer storms.)

That might depend on whether the existing copper cable is underground or overhead.

In my area, both power and phone lines are overhead. If it ever comes to pass (and that's a BIG if for my area in my opinion), I cant see them cutting a trench through solid rock to lay that blue cable.

 

[NBNMyths]

This is probably a very ignorant question. I haven't taken any real interest in the NBN
Is the cabling being placed underground or is it attached or adjacent to electricity wires overhead?
(I'm thinking about how often power is cut in summer storms.)

That might depend on whether the existing copper cable is underground or overhead.

In my area, both power and phone lines are overhead. If it ever comes to pass (and that's a BIG if for my area in my opinion), I cant see them cutting a trench through solid rock to lay that blue cable.

About 70% underground.

They have an agreement with Telstra to use existing underground ducts etc and existing poles. So wherever the current phone is underground (and in new estates), the NBN will be under too. But if the current copper is overhead, so will the NBN be.

 

[Julia]

About 70% underground.

Thank you, NBNMyths
I wonder how that's calculated? My street has underground but across this town of around 55,000 I'd guess 80% is still overhead.

If we're going to have such a supa dupa new internet connection, maybe it would have been good to have spent even more and put all the power underground to end lengthy power outages.

 

[DB008]

Pretty awesome, huh?

How come Google can/are rolling out 1Gb/s plans, and max we have on NBN currently is 100mb/s?

Or am l getting my Gb/mbit's stuff mixed up? l'm not a tech-head btw.

 

[boofhead]

How come Google can/are rolling out 1Gb/s plans, and max we have on NBN currently is 100mb/s?

Or am l getting my Gb/mbit's stuff mixed up? l'm not a tech-head btw.

NBN fibre will eventually offer that. The first install areas had NTU upgraded to handle it in Tasmania. Telstra made some noise about not offering plans in Tasmania until the upgrade was done.

 

[DB008]

NBN fibre will eventually offer that. The first install areas had NTU upgraded to handle it in Tasmania. Telstra made some noise about not offering plans in Tasmania until the upgrade was done.

But I'm sure that there is NBN available in other areas in Australia, why don't they have 1gb/s now?

 

[NBNMyths]

But I'm sure that there is NBN available in other areas in Australia, why don't they have 1gb/s now?

Probably because it's really only just hit the volume rollout, and they wanted to get the primary 12, 25, 50 and 100 speeds working properly, both for themselves and the ISPs.

Google's advantage here is that they are controlling the whole thing and only building in one small city, while NBN Co are concurrently building in 200-odd locations across the country, with 121 points of interconnect between themselves and the 40-odd ISPs.

They haven't officially announced when the 250, 500 and 1000Mbps speeds will come on line, although I believe they'll start next year. I wouldn't expect them to be cheap. I hate to think what an ISPs cost will be to serve 1Gbps customers, especially the international links.

 

[drsmith]

Stephen Cnoroy and Malcolm Turnbull slug it out on Lateline.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-27/debate-on-national-broadband-network/4395756

With regard to NBN's rollout schedule, it's worded as planned to commence, at least for the 3 million households by June 30 2015.

We have released the three year rollout plan for the National Broadband Network with construction planned to commence in over 1500 communities and 3.5 million premises throughout Australia through to 30th June 2015.

The three year rollout plan includes those areas where the network is active, where construction is currently underway and where construction will commence within the next three years.

From that statement, it's unknown when the 3 million connections will be completed.

http://www.nbnco.com.au/rollout/about-the-rollout.html

 

[drsmith]

From that statement, it's unknown when the 3 million connections will be completed.

http://www.nbnco.com.au/rollout/about-the-rollout.html

Found this in Rollout FAQ's.

How long will the construction phase take? It is estimated that the average time from construction commencing to NBN services being available is 12 months.

This would suggest those 3 million households will be connected by June 30 2016, if all goes to plan. Stephen Conroy's figure for connections for June 30 2013 would obviously be up to a year later as well, based on the above.

 

[maffu]

Just a quick question about the NBN.

I checked my post code (2031) on the NBN roll out map, and there are no plans to build in the Coogee/Bondi/Randwick area. If it's not in the 3 year plan, does that mean they are not even considering building until after 2015?

This seems strange. Its such a dense area, and very wealthy, from a business perspective it would be the kind of area I would have thought would be most profitable, and best to service first to get positive cash flows generated early. I wonder how they did the cost/benefit analysis for the roll out, and why Kiama would have a better business case than Bondi.

 

[drsmith]

Its such a dense area, and very wealthy, from a business perspective it would be the kind of area I would have thought would be most profitable, and best to service first to get positive cash flows generated early. I wonder how they did the cost/benefit analysis for the roll out, and why Kiama would have a better business case than Bondi.

I don't think positive cash flow was high on the government's list of objectives, at least in the short term.

 

[NBNMyths]

Just a quick question about the NBN.

I checked my post code (2031) on the NBN roll out map, and there are no plans to build in the Coogee/Bondi/Randwick area. If it's not in the 3 year plan, does that mean they are not even considering building until after 2015?

This seems strange. Its such a dense area, and very wealthy, from a business perspective it would be the kind of area I would have thought would be most profitable, and best to service first to get positive cash flows generated early. I wonder how they did the cost/benefit analysis for the roll out, and why Kiama would have a better business case than Bondi.

The 5 mainland trial sites (eg: Kiama) represent 5 different terrain and housing types and were chosen back in 2009 from a shortlist of similar sites. The "high density" trial site is Brunswick in Victoria.

The rollout plan of the NBN (excluding the trial sites) is based around the locations of the Points Of Interconnect, where the ISPs connect to the NBN and take over the data. These are 121 locations around the country which were decided by the ACCC based on the locations of existing ISP infrastructure. Essentially, if you look at the rollout map and compare it to the ACCC's list, it begins at each POI and fans outwards from them.

The NBN is a nationwide project and also has a focus on improving regional services, so rather than start at just the metro POIs first, they have started at all of them.

Interestingly, the takeup of NBN services has been considerably faster in the more regional trial sites than the metro trial site.

 

[drsmith]

Expectctions vs progress,

I regarded the NBN as an imperfect solution to these woes. Bring it on, I thought eyeing NBN Co’s map which indicated that my home would be one of the 317,000 homes hooked up the network by now. Yet, more than three years after the NBN was announced, I am still waiting for connection.

In my neck of the woods; a speck on the map in regional Australia, I was told that the NBN would be available in April this year. Then we were told it would be April 2013. Apparently, there are problems with construction; jurisdictional arguments of one type or another. A quick glance at the NBN map reveals that this revised target date for connection remains stuck in the ether.

And, this from one of the commenters,

NBN Insider says:
Tue 04 Dec 12 (12:00pm)
I’m working on an NBN-related project for a large telecommunications company that shall remain un-named, so let’s call it T.

I’m seeing first-hand how badly behind schedule the NBN rollout is going. T is continually revising its expected connections downwards, resulting in NBN-related projects being deferred further and further into the future.

In the meantime, $80 a month on the NBN gets you 5 GB of data at 12 Mbps network speed. For the same price, I’m already getting 120 GB of data at 20 Mbps network speed. So if you already have cable or ADSL2, you will be spending the same amount of money for less data at a slower speed when the NBN disconnects your existing service.

Also in the meantime, T’s 4G wireless network is running at 40+ Mbps network speed, so guess where T is going to invest some of the $11 billion it’s getting from you and me (via Stephen Conroy) and compete against the NBN.

http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com...an/comments/the_slow_build_of_a_fast_network/

 

[NBNMyths]

Expectctions vs progress,



And, this from one of the commenters,



http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com...an/comments/the_slow_build_of_a_fast_network/

NBN Co revised their connection targets back in 2011, and are (from all reports) on target to meet those revised targets. They have been saying for quite some time now that they are running ~9 months behind on the fibre rollout due to the delay on the Telstra deal.

As for the "Insider's" comments, I'll just deal with the main bits:

I’m seeing first-hand how badly behind schedule the NBN rollout is going. T is continually revising its expected connections downwards, resulting in NBN-related projects being deferred further and further into the future.

No, they aren't. NBN Co have only done one revision (in late 2011) and have stood by it ever since, including in their corporate plan released last month.

In the meantime, $80 a month on the NBN gets you 5 GB of data at 12 Mbps network speed. For the same price, I’m already getting 120 GB of data at 20 Mbps network speed. So if you already have cable or ADSL2, you will be spending the same amount of money for less data at a slower speed when the NBN disconnects your existing service.

The "$80 for 5GB" NBN price is Telstra's bundle for phone+25Mbps NBN, not 12Mbps (Telstra don't even offer the 12Mbps NBN speed, only 25 and 100). And is exactly the same price they currently charge for ~20Mbps ADSL2+ and 30Mbps cable, for exactly the same 5GB download quota.

Don't take my word for it, check the Telstra website for yourself.

Additionally, Telstra's NBN pricing is well above all the other alternatives. Who in their right mind would pay Telstra $80 for 5GB when they could pay Exetel $40 for 50GB?

I think the "insider" needs to get out more.

Also in the meantime, T’s 4G wireless network is running at 40+ Mbps network speed, so guess where T is going to invest some of the $11 billion it’s getting from you and me (via Stephen Conroy) and compete against the NBN.

Telstra's 4G network is not achieving anything like 40Mbps in the real world, once there are a few people connected, and costs a bomb compared to the NBN:

50GB on NBN: $35/month (Exetel)
50GB on 4G: $360/month (Telstra)
50GB on 4G: $674/month (Optus)

With the average user's monthly download now hitting ~20GB/month, and growing at well over 50% every year how on earth is Telstra 4G going to compete with the NBN?

 

[drsmith]

As for the "Insider's" comments, I'll just deal with the main bits:

I thought he might have been a long lost cousin, but clearly he's a black sheep.

NBN Co revised their connection targets back in 2011, and are (from all reports) on target to meet those revised targets. They have been saying for quite some time now that they are running ~9 months behind on the fibre rollout due to the delay on the Telstra deal.

It will be interesting to see what actually happens.

NBN's own documentation clearly states that the three year rollout plan includes those areas where the network is active, where construction is currently underway and where construction will commence within the next three years (see earlier post on this page).

 

[drsmith]

It will be interesting to see what actually happens.

Some insight ?

Senior construction sources involved in the NBN say that while the rollout was currently on track, they feared that holidays, potential labour shortages and tardy council approvals would mean the network builder would likely miss its highly publicised target of passing 341,000 premises with fibre optic cabling by June 2013.

One senior executive from a construction firm involved in the NBN said that, based on the current state of the rollout, NBN Co would fall short of that target by 20,000 to 30,000 premises.

"The NBN Co is absolutely obsessed with hitting this June 2013 target of passing homes with fibre," the executive said. "But the program is just too tight. Everything has to go right for NBN Co to achieve it, and that could happen, but normally it doesn't. A lot of NBN Co's credibility is riding on hitting those targets and they are threatening blue murder if it doesn't happen."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...-network-service/story-e6frgaif-1226534899142