Australia's fibre rollout is officially dead.

[mr moose]

This has been like the slowest year for nbn not to mention malcom has purposly been halting fttp plans until his fttn bs has started up so he can say fttn rollout is faster even tho its not! Fttn was going to cost 42b instead of like 44b with fttp and take 2 years less not to mention going to stick thousands of ugly boxes on our streets that consume power and are easily going to be hit by the dickheads in our street also the cost of maintaining the copper infrastructure which telstra hasnt is going to be rididculous all this so we can go spend another 40b by the time fttn is finished because fttn will shit its self when it gets to 1gbps speeds!

Im just happy im still getting fttp i already have my pcd

 

Don't get me wrong, I want FTTP really I do, but if we look at the news reports over the last 3 years we can see that NBN co, Labor and the Libs have flip flopped over the cost, roll out time frame and so on.  This is because there was no actual plan in place, there was no cost benefit analysis nor feasibility study.  The end result of that was the incredibly unfair and ruthless pressure put on small business/contractors to finish the job and get underpaid for it. It also is why the expected costs has changed from $36B to $92B and last settled on $56B before being changed to FTTN.  

 

All of this was exacerbated by the mirriad of lobby groups out there with their 2 cents, trying to convince us one way or the other using incredibly inflated or biased data. 

 

The original NBN was dead in water long before Malcolm Turnbull got his hands on it. In fact the work had halted because of the asbestos debacle before we even had the election.  Remember the NBN co. pushing contractors to work so fast that they had men pulling out asbestos pits?  If there was an appropriate work order in place they would have taken into consideration that an unknown number of hte pits had asbestos in them, Telstra did tell them, even the union that represents Telstra employees knew because they don't let anyone into them until the appropriate make safes have been carried out. 

 

Basically the whole thing was a debacle and you and I are the losers. 

[mr moose]

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:btDTamcJPewJ:www.tweaktown.com/news/41937/aussie-internet-labor-nbn-plans-now-officially-extinct/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au

 

^Cached link for those who want to read the article.

 

I've really come to hate politics! I replied to a similar thread regarding NBN and Moose gave a good response, which enlightened me. I guess there are higher priority issues for this country over broadband infrastructure. But regardless of this, we can't keep delaying this issue in an age where we are becoming increasingly reliant on technology or else we will be faced with some stupid cost later on - I partly blame it on old people and their old school views (yeah I know this is irrational, rude and ignorant). I would seriously be happy with a 10/10 connection (symmetrical), with a low ping ~10ms. For reference I get around 6/0.8 and 26ms on the pingers.

 

 

Well it is already at a stupid cost now.  But you're right and that's my opinion as well - if we just bit the bullet and invested in decent network now, the return upon that investment, whilst not immediate would be much better than the absurd cost of going through this cycle over and over again.  We can't keep relying on mining and natural gases to sustain the economy - growth has to come from elsewhere, and part of that is improving infrastructure to facilitate that.

 

Exactly. 

[Plasma]

its been dead ever since we had a leader elected that has no idea about technology and a telco minister that is corrupt and in the pocket of rupert murdoch.

[You Scrub....The Floor]

Move to New Zealand. We have nice interwebz

[mr moose]

its been dead ever since we had a leader elected that has no idea about technology and a telco minister that is corrupt and in the pocket of rupert murdoch.

 

We have never had a tech literate PM, nor have we ever had a pm that was not corrupt (maybe hawke and howard? at a stretch).  What are you talking about?

[Akolyte]

Woah, apparently my cousin in Sydney has fibre.  So, I'm not sure if that will be dead too.  

 

But, what a dumb thing to do.  Over here we can get unlimited fibre, no data caps for $99NZD a month.  And fibre is still rolling out.  

 

So, theres no reason why Australia can't do it too.   

 

WHY HAVE THEY STOPPED FIBRE?!?  

[mr moose]

Woah, apparently my cousin in Sydney has fibre.  So, I'm not sure if that will be dead too.  

 

But, what a dumb thing to do.  Over here we can get unlimited fibre, no data caps for $99NZD a month.  And fibre is still rolling out.  

 

So, theres no reason why Australia can't do it too.   

 

WHY HAVE THEY STOPPED FIBRE?!?  

 

They haven't.  the article got pulled because it is BS.    FTTN is still going ahead.  they are just changing to HFC for some areas to try and save money.  The NBN in it's original state would not have been paid off by 2040, so if Australians want full FTTP sooner we have to either give everyone a slightly slower NBN now and upgrade it over time or give some areas FTTP now and others can wait.

 

And for more info:

 

http://delimiter.com.au/2013/12/12/nbn-co-abandons-fttn-rollout-hfc-areas/

 

With the current plan more people will have faster net sooner at a lower overall cost than had the labor plan kept going at the rate it was.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Move to New Zealand. We have nice interwebz

Would love to, but PC parts cost more, offsetting the Epic Internet value choice

[Mooshi]

Hey Aussies, as our cousins, I believe we should layeth the smackdown on our given leaders for being complete shit on the state of communications.

[Luca Vinciguerra]

Haha I got 500Mbit/s down and 100 Mbit/s up here in Germany...

Not as fast as Google Fiber, but quite decent

[mr moose]

Hey Aussies, as our cousins, I believe we should layeth the smackdown on our given leaders for being complete shit on the state of communications.

If things keep going the way they are (and there is no reason they won't) 91% of Aussies will have 50Mb/s minimum in 4 years.  That is all metro and majority of built up rural areas. 

 

This is excluding the possibility of developing new technologies which might make it cheaper/earlier.

[PerfectTemplar]

If things keep going the way they are (and there is no reason they won't) 91% of Aussies will have 50Mb/s minimum in 4 years.  That is all metro and majority of built up rural areas. 

 

This is excluding the possibility of developing new technologies which might make it cheaper/earlier.

Huh? The government already said they won't be able to guarantee 25Mbps once the rollout is complete. FTTN and Cable are unreliable, expensive and fairly slow. Fibre is the only viable option, according to Telstra, the ACCC and our previous government and their many advisers.

[mr moose]

Huh? The government already said they won't be able to guarantee 25Mbps once the rollout is complete. FTTN and Cable are unreliable, expensive and fairly slow. Fibre is the only viable option, according to Telstra, the ACCC and our previous government and their many advisers.

source?

 

EDIT: I've got some:

 

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/382817,nbn-co-drops-speed-guarantees-for-fttn-service.aspx

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/9/9/technology/coalitions-nbn-speed-forecasts-are-right-track

 

Unless they guaranteed more than 25 (I don't recall that happening) then nothing has changed.

[Mooshi]

Data caps are also a disgusting thing that we used to scoff at that is now ridiculously common stateside. An Aus friend sometimes has to wait an entire month just to download a game from steam.

[Derranged]

As soon as Copper lines are added into the equation it makes it unreliable. If they're going to use existing routing then it's going to be useless for me. I was getting 600KB/s from about 200 metres away from where I live now. Now I get 170KB/s max, using the current lines even with the mixed technology will still end up with horrific speeds, nowhere near the 25+Mbit/s that I require.

 

And seriously, how do they expect it to be cheaper to maintain the copper network than to replace it entirely. Sell off the copper for profit, and replace it with Australian made Fiber.

 

I also remember reading somewhere that each strand of Fiber that they are using can throughput 1+ Gbit/s. So once the backbone is upgraded they could just switch it over to much faster speeds.

 

I should also add that my area is up for the FTTN upgrade by 2016, so I will be the judge of how it performs. They're already out here hydro-digging new lanes for the Fiber to the node.

[mr moose]

As soon as Copper lines are added into the equation it makes it unreliable. If they're going to use existing routing then it's going to be useless for me. I was getting 600KB/s from about 200 metres away from where I live now. Now I get 170KB/s max, using the current lines even with the mixed technology will still end up with horrific speeds, nowhere near the 25+Mbit/s that I require.

 

And seriously, how do they expect it to be cheaper to maintain the copper network than to replace it entirely. Sell off the copper for profit, and replace it with Australian made Fiber.

 

I also remember reading somewhere that each strand of Fiber that they are using can throughput 1+ Gbit/s. So once the backbone is upgraded they could just switch it over to much faster speeds.

 

I should also add that my area is up for the FTTN upgrade by 2016, so I will be the judge of how it performs. They're already out here hydro-digging new lanes for the Fiber to the node.

 

After all the discussion regarding the quality of the copper, I cannot wait to see some real world FTTN speeds.

[Derranged]

After all the discussion regarding the quality of the copper, I cannot wait to see some real world FTTN speeds.

 

Yeah, I can't wait to see how it turns out; but as the lines degrade, the resistance in the copper will go up and cause the connection to become quite sluggish. I know somebody who lives closer to the exchange by about an entire kilometer, and they get 30KB/s down. There's most likely issues with the line going into the house, but I've told them to report it to the ISP as they are paying for ADSL2+.

[Dabombinable]

Its worse for those who are stuck in broadband black spots , and have to rely on Telstra for wifi. My Mum has to pay $150 a month for 25GB of wireless internet as the street has 'pair gain', and Telstra refuses to switch unused ports in a nearby street to the street she lives in because the networks are of a 'different age', utter BS of course as the whole estate's network was installed at the same time. As far as I can tell even if we do get the NBN, people are still going to be stuck paying through the nose for wireless from people like telstra.

[mr moose]

Yeah, I can't wait to see how it turns out; but as the lines degrade, the resistance in the copper will go up and cause the connection to become quite sluggish. I know somebody who lives closer to the exchange by about an entire kilometer, and they get 30KB/s down. There's most likely issues with the line going into the house, but I've told them to report it to the ISP as they are paying for ADSL2+.

right now is not a good time to get anything repaired,  Telstra are not giving the existing copper priority. Anything they get to keep, or will profit from after the NBN goes through will take a degree of priority.    So when the NBN goes through, Telstra's role changes and the NBN (supposedly) becomes the boss, things might change.

[Suika]

ITT: australians complaining how their internet, which is faster than mine (I'm american), is "slow."

Hell I'd love 300KB/s. I wish I got close to 200KB/s.

[mr moose]

ITT: australians complaining how their internet, which is faster than mine (I'm american), is "slow."

Hell I'd love 300KB/s. I wish I got close to 200KB/s.

average DSL connection speed in Australia = 16Mb/s, yes there are people with disgustingly slow connections, but they are the exception not the rule.

[mr moose]

Just found this:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/nbn-co-telstra-and-optus-reach-deal-for-copper-and-hfc-networks/story-fnjwncel-1227156324494

 

So the government has bought back the copper from telstra and under the new deal the NBN co. will be responsible for maintaining the network.  So if you had no luck with Telstra, at least after the NBN goes through you will never have to deal with them again (unless you chose to of course). 

 

 

@Derranged

@Dabobminable

[Dabombinable]

The latest news I've actually heard about it (last month) was that they were going to do copper lines into homes, but have the main infrastructure as fiber optic to save money. And not having to deal with Telstra would be awesome.

[wrath]

thats sad

[LifesCompanion]

Such a shame that my phone (4G/LTE) is faster than my internet by a massive margin. 

fibre pls