The current incarnation of the NBN, which was meant to be better, faster and cheaper but seems to be less reliable, slower and more expensive to deploy has crossed a new threshold – more than half the population can now access Australia’s “bleeding edge” mashup of copper, coaxial and fibre to connect to the Internet according to NBNCo.
NBN says they are adding about 100,000 new properties to the network’s footprint each week and is now available to 5.7 million homes and businesses across the country.
If this was FttP, Fibre to the Premises (author’s note – autocorrect changed “premises” to “promises” which I was going to leave as it seemed apt), I’d be excited but it’s hard to give Bill Morrow and his team a pat on the back when a bunch of those properties include folks on HFC from the Bigpond network.
And while our internet speed has dropped out of the world’s top 50 – at least mobile connections are pretty good.
So, while NBNCo celebrates delivering and repackaging a network to half the homes and businesses in the country, let’s not forget that the point of the NBN is to provide infrastructure so we can lead the world, or at least keep up. and that is something that is not being delivered.
Comments
2 responses to “Half Of Us Can Connect To The NBN – So What?”
Granted the roll out isn’t the most simple thing in the world, but I’m constantly frustrated by the changing goalposts. Like flying cars, it seems like I’m perpetually “18 months away” and when the deliver it.
First I was in line to get it at the end of 2016. Then the first half of 2017 with a Hybrid Coax. Then the second half of 2017 FTTP. Then the second half of 2018 FTTC/FTTdp. I’ve done from “planned” to not.
I’m close to a large metro exchange, in an area with easy to access pits and posts.
It was easy for the NBN to service the new apartment block next door, which has rentals for $200p/w more than mine.
It should be easy for the NBN to continue down my street connecting hundreds of apartments in a short period – an easy win for the government. But no.
But maybe when I do get the NBN, I’ll get a better network than those currently complaining about speed (HAH!, I’m sure they will blame the copper in my unit block for any issue)
We were due to get FTTP in the first half of 2013 now it’s FTTN by the second half of 2018. I shit you not, FTTP is available at any property 800m in any direction of my house as we live on the last little Island of adsl2+ in our suburb.
hah… sounds like you’re in Como. moved out of there in 2013 to, well, 800m up the road. fttp is great.
I think no one will ever truly be happy with the NBN.
I am unhappy because our area has had HFC on a horrible private network (LBNCo) that could have been bought out 9 years ago and the NBN could have said they now service multiple suburbs nationally and overnight, instead they setup a clause saying if area’s have existing fibre, no matter how poor and monopolised, your at the bottom of the list.
People that are on the NBN are unhappy if they are on bad technologies like FTTN suffering from congestion and wont see an upgrade until the rest of Australia gets NBN and then they start going back to their rushed out areas to upgrade them.