Coalition unveil their broadband and internet policy

[Low_VX_Taxi]

Not sure how much legally I am allowed to say, but when some certain workers for a certain petroleoum company cut through an optic line of telstras, the certain petro company was charged $12,000 per minute while repairs were undertaken. The repair took 18 hours.

There was another instance when a boat anchor tore through some of the atlantic fibre optic lines.

EDIT: Was a lil off but still an interesting point: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/01/fiber-optic-cab/

EDIT EDIT: http://www.ehow.com/how_5025648_repair-cut-underground-fiberoptic-cable.html

Mmmm so not impossible just ridiculously time consuming/expensive.

 

[sjmcc]

Chris Bowen just claimed that Tony Abbott "Doesn't understand broadband" on Lateline on ABC.

Ermm... Stephen Conroy anyone?

 

[Grennan]

Atleast Abbot has come out and blatantly said, he is not a tech person so he is taking advice from experts in the field.

I much rather a person who comes out says hey Im not up to speed on all this tech stuff so ive had help, rather than a person like Conroy who claims he knows all, but constantly shows he lives in 1980.

 

[Calaber]

Atleast Abbot has come out and blatantly said, he is not a tech person so he is taking advice from experts in the field.

I much rather a person who comes out says hey Im not up to speed on all this tech stuff so ive had help, rather than a person like Conroy who claims he knows all, but constantly shows he lives in 1980.

I watched Abbott on the 7.30 report last night. God, he was unconvincing - O'Brien had him cornered on the broadband speed issues completely. I don't have any probs with Libs coming out with a cheaper alternative, but for heaven's sake, be able to debate the issue when on national tv. Abbott was like the rabbit caught in the headlights last night and he staggered to the finishing line. Not good enough, Tony.

 

[Insomniacs Dream]

One thing is for certain though and that is that technology we haven't even dreamed of will be invented. Ethernet over Power will become much more mainstream and stable and then everything will just come into your house over your existing power lines (with new, not yet developed equipment at each end).

While the fact that technology we haven't yet dreamed of might be available, it will most certainly not be Ethernet over power.. that too would most likely require a rework of infrastructure already in place and transporting data packets so close to a high energy source is just plain bad idea in terms of packet loss etc not to mention the amount of household appliances which get burned out due to electrical storms. A bloke i knew recently had his surge protector, modem, router and computers ethernet port all fried and melted together in the storms we have maybe 2 months back (lives in cockatoo or something)

 

[minux]

I watched Abbott on the 7.30 report last night. God, he was unconvincing - O'Brien had him cornered on the broadband speed issues completely. I don't have any probs with Libs coming out with a cheaper alternative, but for heaven's sake, be able to debate the issue when on national tv. Abbott was like the rabbit caught in the headlights last night and he staggered to the finishing line. Not good enough, Tony.

If only red kerry grilled his labor arse buddies the same way. Seriously, the questions he asked abbott are the same that should of been asked to Gillard about her 43 BILLION plan.

 

[old mate]

the abc is just crap, and i don't know if its only in the last few years or its always been like this and i haven't realised.

 

[Reaper]

If only red kerry grilled his labor arse buddies the same way. Seriously, the questions he asked abbott are the same that should of been asked to Gillard about her 43 BILLION plan.

Kerry has becom very patronising recently which is not a good trait in a journalist. Overall the guy is a good journalist and interviewer however it seems he is starting to get a bit wrapped up in his own importance of late.

Reaper

 

[Maci]

meh, i got 94.5mbps at home. rural areas should stay rural as far as im concerned.

you're kidding right? rural areas need internet too. its not like rural area's still have CRT televisions, and drive 1970's cars they believe are "new"
rural areas have kids who need/want university degrees, and simply cannot afford to move and live in the city, or simply be away from the home (needed for farming or whatever), high speed internet could possibly give them the chance to study by other means (distance education etc.)

Ohh, so as illegal downloads get bigger we need faster speeds lol? Seriously, what downloads do people do that are legal that require stupidly fast internet connections?

it is possible to pay for, and legally download movies. bigpond movies for example?
not to mention things like video conferences, distance education classes from someone's house to a university etc...

i believe at minimum 12mb/sec is sufficient. for no other reason than if we don't do something soon. we WILL be the slowest developed country internet wise.

 

[CSP]

Read this today... Sums up the current situation, the main problem and how to solve it, all very sensibly.

AAPT chief executive Paul Broad said the decision to remove a government-run competitor from the marketplace was a good start for the sector.

"We need the government to focus less on how to build and more on how to enforce the regulator to get the market to achieve the outcomes that we all want," Mr Broad said.

"If the regulator has enough power to set prices, then it doesn't matter if Telstra is separated or not."

BBY senior media and telecommunications analyst Mark McDonnell, said the Coalition's broadband policy, although predictable, was a more sensible option.

He said that the NBN posed an unacceptably high risk to the public purse and offered little guarantee of achieving the government's broadband policy aims.

The main problem is that while ever Telstra restrict access to, and overprice the national telecommunications infrastructure, it can never move forward. Take away Telstra's ability to do that and market demands will dictate what's best for the market based on investment and what people are willing to pay. Replacing one monopoly (Telstra wholesale) with another one (NBN Co) won't change a thing except the fact NBN Co will be in control of a newer network.

Something else I find interesting is so many people seem to be blindly for the NBN, but are they going to be willing to pay $100+ per month for access to it NOT including any data allowance? Because that's what it's going to be like.

The Coalition's plan is not only affordable and sustainable from a Govt's point of view, it's affordable to the public (dare I say it, the "working families" NOW!