Well, yeah ... but: 1. The original NBN design specified that the 7% of Australia not covered by the FTTP would be covered by a mixture of satellite and/or fixed WiFi. They didn't really mean conventional wireless or WiFi however, they meant 4G.
2, The guaranteed MINIMUM speed for any of these connections was 12Mbs (with the fibre connected wireless station using 4G LTE from memory). Think of it as a fibre connected 4G phone tower providing access. 3. Satellite probably would have been more pervasive, available and quicker than fixed 4G WiFi in many cases (which involved fibre to the wireless node) but the NBN was running short of channels on satellite in 2012/3, and had planned to launch a couple of new K-Band satellites in 2015 adding another 160 Gbs capability. More satellites were slotted for 2017 to up the bandwidth available. 4. The 4G WiFi could have been expected to suffer from the same limitations as overused 3G and 4G points near urban centres, and siting and channel availability for 'always on' Internet may have been problematic in so called 'WiFi' situations - especially if subnetted routers weren't involved at the 'premises'. Of course for really flat low population situations (like the Nullarbor Plain, Gibson Desert or the Centre ... except for that damn Rock) it would have been ideal. 5. Personally, I think that satellite (with regular upgrades) or eventual laying of pervasive fibre, was the answer to maintaining universal coverage in the bush, rather than 4G towers dotted over the landscape .... unless the NBN was to cater to two classes of Australians permanently. 6. Given our past commitment to a Universal Service Obligation I had no problems paying a premium for universal access to broadband services. I thought the NBN Mark 1 design was quite feasible, and indeed early adopters in the bush loved it. They did get speeds and services an order of magnitude better than they had been getting. It looked like it could provide communications an order of magnitude better than what's available now What we're getting now however is a dog's breakfast that will serve everybody poorly, particularly those future generations I mentioned in my missive. Now, Tom is questioning whether the bandwidth will be necessary (and I still think it will), and citing his lack of use of networks and networked services as a justification for this. I still think he is in error and that there are any number of services that will require high bandwidth communications in 10-15 years, I still think the 'compromises' involved in the 'new NBN' make it effectively useless (for remote country as well as urban users), and I still think that the original design was the most cost effective for easing the 7% of remote and rural users not covered by the FTTP into the network ... as long as they could look forward to full network connectivity and services in the near future. That is now unlikely to happen, and that's what I still see as the tragedy of my generation. We're selfish shortsighted users rather than builders ... as I said. Just my 2 cents worth ... --- On 26 Dec 2013, at 5:54 pm, [email protected] wrote: >> Hope I'm not intruding: > > Ditto. > > Appears that every post in this thread is thoughtful, and quite correct. > > But, Tom's thread-subject is *regional* Australia. And the original NBN > proposal (whomever the politician was that initially proposed and drove > the original NBN concept should be awarded a medal) included a wireless > and satellite component for regional Australia. Imho, Tom is being very > imaginative with this Link exploration of various and original regional > wireless modus-operandi conceptualizations. > > Indeed, any newer wireless distribution ideas may well apply to ALL of > us Aussies, with this current government's NBN plans. Personally, I am > hoping for a above-gound cable compromise. Same speed but much cheaper. > Whatever I seriously doubt small country towns will even see ANY cable. > > But, you too will only have NBN wireless yourselves, wherever you live. > > So please guys & gals, encourage any and all left-field wireless ideas! > > > Cheers, > Stephen > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
