[Politics] The NBN for Luddites
Advertising for the NBN has basically been "It's shiny! It's expensive! It must be good!" Without giving any useful information at all. So I've been collecting information, and squeezing technoshamanic friends for details.
Currently, where possible people use ADSL. This uses the copper phone lines, but uses the frequencies that aren't needed for human speech, allowing it to operate at the same time as telephone calls. It was a great system - but the copper system is cactus.
The copper system is referred to by the politicians as '30 years old' - blatant lie. The system is four times that age, having been begun in the 1880s! However, while the PMG and later Telecom maintained the system rigorously, Telstra has neglected the network. Under Telecom, each connection had two 'pins': if one failed it could be replaced without any interruption of service. For the 30 years of it's existence, Telstra has only been doing repairs when both pins have failed, hence the much worse service. While Labor privatised the phones, they had the full support of the Liberals (and the Nats sold out to keep their alliance) so this is a case of a curse on both their houses!
So basically the NBN is a replacement needed because of political stupidity. However, there are also some things that the NBN can do better than ADSL. The primary advantage is 'upload speed'. A message sent down the copper networks gets weaker as it travels - not a problem when it reaches your phone, as there is no other messages to worry about. Going from your phone to the hub though, your message is a faint echo fighting every other message, all of them at full strength! So while an ADSL connection has no problems downloading a movie, uploading it onto the web is a slow painful process. The Liberals' plan will make this worse, as the message needs to fight the new boxes.
The second planned advantage is to break the Telstra monopoly. Telstra doesn't control NBNco (it's fully govt owned); any internet provider will be able to use the NBN.
Finally, the NBN will be able to handle far more traffic, faster. The assumption is that internet use will continue to rapidly rise. But what do '5MB', '500 GB' etc mean in practice?
I found this site useful for exploring: http://www.comparebroadband.com.au/IDontKnowWhatIWant.aspx
For emails and surfing the net you only need a few MegaBytes. Movies, youtube, music tracks, online radio and skype all require Gigabytes.
Anyone wanting to spruik the NBN should point out the vast array of free resources available on the web. Of course, free =/= good, and the good stuff is often buried. Checking with Eric, a good starting place for classic out-of-copyright movies is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_in_the_public_domain_in_the_United_States
Yes, that's wikipedia. Any classic movie will have a wiki article, and so the collection has accidentally created a list of classics! Similar principle for classic TV:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TV_series_with_episodes_in_the_public_domain
So you can watch Dick Tracy, Drag Net or Flash Gordon for free - if you have the download.
Classic Illustrated comics:
http://bookscomics.blogspot.com.au/2008/03/012-classic-illustrated-comics.html
Finally, the NBN might be cheaper at higher GBs. This I have not yet been able to work out.
Of course, there are also some things that ADSL does better than the NBN. Some of these are the result of having been around when systems were being built - to quote the Telstra site: "Some older telephones (such as a rotary dial phone), back to base alarm systems, medical alert systems and fax machines will not work with your voice service on the NBN." https://help.telstra.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/21288/related/1
More seriously, a phone connection on the NBN will no longer work during a blackout! Currently, during a major disaster (flood, fire, earthquake) you can call 000 on your phone so long as the physical line hasn't been cut. With the NBN, this will no longer be the case - and the mobile towers commonly go down during crises. So I fear that this is going to result in many pointless deaths as we lose the ability to contact emergency services.
Finally, the copper network is recyclable, while the NBN won't be. In the short term this is great, as Telstra expects to recoup some of their costs by recovering much of the copper network.
Currently, where possible people use ADSL. This uses the copper phone lines, but uses the frequencies that aren't needed for human speech, allowing it to operate at the same time as telephone calls. It was a great system - but the copper system is cactus.
The copper system is referred to by the politicians as '30 years old' - blatant lie. The system is four times that age, having been begun in the 1880s! However, while the PMG and later Telecom maintained the system rigorously, Telstra has neglected the network. Under Telecom, each connection had two 'pins': if one failed it could be replaced without any interruption of service. For the 30 years of it's existence, Telstra has only been doing repairs when both pins have failed, hence the much worse service. While Labor privatised the phones, they had the full support of the Liberals (and the Nats sold out to keep their alliance) so this is a case of a curse on both their houses!
So basically the NBN is a replacement needed because of political stupidity. However, there are also some things that the NBN can do better than ADSL. The primary advantage is 'upload speed'. A message sent down the copper networks gets weaker as it travels - not a problem when it reaches your phone, as there is no other messages to worry about. Going from your phone to the hub though, your message is a faint echo fighting every other message, all of them at full strength! So while an ADSL connection has no problems downloading a movie, uploading it onto the web is a slow painful process. The Liberals' plan will make this worse, as the message needs to fight the new boxes.
The second planned advantage is to break the Telstra monopoly. Telstra doesn't control NBNco (it's fully govt owned); any internet provider will be able to use the NBN.
Finally, the NBN will be able to handle far more traffic, faster. The assumption is that internet use will continue to rapidly rise. But what do '5MB', '500 GB' etc mean in practice?
I found this site useful for exploring: http://www.comparebroadband.com.au/IDontKnowWhatIWant.aspx
For emails and surfing the net you only need a few MegaBytes. Movies, youtube, music tracks, online radio and skype all require Gigabytes.
Anyone wanting to spruik the NBN should point out the vast array of free resources available on the web. Of course, free =/= good, and the good stuff is often buried. Checking with Eric, a good starting place for classic out-of-copyright movies is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_in_the_public_domain_in_the_United_States
Yes, that's wikipedia. Any classic movie will have a wiki article, and so the collection has accidentally created a list of classics! Similar principle for classic TV:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TV_series_with_episodes_in_the_public_domain
So you can watch Dick Tracy, Drag Net or Flash Gordon for free - if you have the download.
Classic Illustrated comics:
http://bookscomics.blogspot.com.au/2008/03/012-classic-illustrated-comics.html
Finally, the NBN might be cheaper at higher GBs. This I have not yet been able to work out.
Of course, there are also some things that ADSL does better than the NBN. Some of these are the result of having been around when systems were being built - to quote the Telstra site: "Some older telephones (such as a rotary dial phone), back to base alarm systems, medical alert systems and fax machines will not work with your voice service on the NBN." https://help.telstra.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/21288/related/1
More seriously, a phone connection on the NBN will no longer work during a blackout! Currently, during a major disaster (flood, fire, earthquake) you can call 000 on your phone so long as the physical line hasn't been cut. With the NBN, this will no longer be the case - and the mobile towers commonly go down during crises. So I fear that this is going to result in many pointless deaths as we lose the ability to contact emergency services.
Finally, the copper network is recyclable, while the NBN won't be. In the short term this is great, as Telstra expects to recoup some of their costs by recovering much of the copper network.