It is about time us NBN supporters started imagining some of the wonderful benefits fiber to the home will provide and articulating them for the doubters.

Aside from all the already noted benefits for education, medicine etc I can think of a few more.

Cloud computing will be a reality. No more hard drive, operating system etc. Your whole computer will reside on the net. Home computers will become just a terminal, probably linked to your TV, stereo, security system etc. No more defrags, no more installing windows etc. Once you install a game, program etc it will be there forever, probably automatically updated too. Run out of space? Just buy some more. Never again worry about crashes or disks dying and losing your data. It will all be safely stored on a remote server ready to be accessed everytime. You will never need a laptop as you can access "your" computer from any terminal. Local library, Log in theres your computer, At work, log in theres your computer. On holidays, at friends houses, even on your mobile devices. All you will need to do is log in and your whole computer, games, applications and music and photos etc etc all there any time, anywhere and you never need to do anything. No "housekeeping", no virus scans, reinstalls, defrags, bsod etc etc ever again.

Anyone ever tried to look at a surfcam or a traffic cam or a weather cam? Waste of time int it. Not with an NBN. The pictures will be so clear you will think it is a movie. You will be able to remotely view your own cameras in real time as if you were actually there.

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I also want to start a movement to have all publicly funded cctv cameras fed into the web. We the community pay for these cameras. We the community are the ones the cameras watch. Why shouldnt we be able to see what they see? Its no different than walking outside and looking for yourself. The main reason it is not contemplated now is it would be pointless with current internet infrastructure. The NBN will make it very feasible and I think if enough of us push for it the authorities would have no choice. It could also be a way of crowd sourcing security. The workers in surveillance centres are notorious for missing serious incidents and who can blame them when they have to watch dozens of screens at once, some displaying multiple cameras. A few extra pairs of eyes may pick up things the operator misses and be able to alert the operator/s or the appropriate authorities.

All video shops will be on the net and their physical stores will close. As will those DvD vending machines popping up all over the place. Good for both the merchant and the customer. The customer is not restricted to their local shop. They can use any store Australia wide. Pretty good for competition wouldnt you say. The merchant also wins as they are not restricted to only those who can physically reach their store but have the whole country as their market. With the whole country as a market I would expect many niche suppliers. Like french films? Like horror, sci fi? There will be plenty of scope for these type of suppliers and I predict a booming industry not unlike the 80s when video shops first became popular. They might even start selling TV episodes the same way they do movies. There is massive amounts of product out there as all the new digital channels are proving with their(quite popular)reruns and dredging up old tv shows.

The end of "fly in fly out" mining. Already experiments are taking place aimed at operating mining machinery by remote control.

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The NBN will allow remote operation over the net. Instead of flying to the desert to operate a big digger or dumptruck it will be possible to sit at home or in an office in Perth or Brisbane or Sydney and operate them by remote control. If the americans can do it with their war robots then we should be able to do it no problems. All that is lacking is the communications pipeline. The NBN will provide it. It could be extended to many enterprises that are amenable to remote operation. Farming, factory work, surveillance, dock work? Who knows how far it could go. Imagine the savings in just the mining industry. The saving on flying all those workers to the middle of nowhere, housing them, feeding them, training them, keeping them safe. They could probably get away with paying lower wages too. After all miners are paid a premium because it is a dirty, dangerous, unpleasant job that takes you away from your family. Once it is done from the comfort of an armchair in an air conditioned office or your own lounge room it can hardly be considered an onerous job deserving of ultra high wages to compensate. I could even see it becoming competitive as the best young people, already highly skilled from all the years of video gaming, try to outdo each other and push their machines to new limits and drive innovation and productivity, all while having fun. The first steps towards mining and exploring our universe and solar system all by remote control. All driven by Australia.

Just four things from one person. Once the whole country starts thinking the possibilities are endless. We need this to bring our country back to its rightful place as a driving force of innovation and technology and most of all a country full of switched on, connected, ultra smart, highly educated people who will lead the world in progress, sustainability and fairness and opportunity for all. Like we used to be before money became god and "the market" became sacrosanct

I have to admit that I get on to the forum to give my bit of "wisdom", and look at others, preferably to read what I believe are wise remarks and advice, and hope that any wise pieces of information get back to where ever it will do some good, we might even get some politican on who may finally realise what a lot of people think of them. You have to take every chance to exoress your feelings, and the best advice for every circumstance that may crop up.

Nairbe, I would like you to get it into your head that we do not "get cash and sell" our goods we export, we have reciprical trade, and what we get as the trade from other countries relies generally on who is buying. For instance the trade of our iron ore and coal to China, gets us those imports that K-Mart, Target, Big W, Lowes, Bunnings, Wesfarmers, and another hundred stores sell, Chinese clothing, tools, shoes, cardigans and a hundred other goods, and when you see any foreign goods in our shops, you will know that some that we have traded has been the manner of getting it. Unfortunately, there is no extra wealth in manufacturing with those those mining resources, and in that respect it is a dead loss when you realise that those reciprocal imports are directly destroying the ability of our own manufacturing industries to compete, they are gone, broke. Understand the price query, The same coal sold by BHP Billiton probably 2007 or 8 for $US98/ton, was sold to Pohang, Sth Korea for $US308.70/ton and in 1957 Federal Hansard, the Minister for mines claimed that coal was worth 40 Pounds($80), $1024 in 2008 by CBA conversion, so with comparing those two points, the price of coal could be anything from 27% and 10% of what it has been been valued at for export.

I know some of the following have been covered already, but the internet is more than a luxury now (maybe it was a luxury when it was first introduced and PCs were a rarity, but now...)

1. Health: online monitoring of patients; daily communication
2. Education: online tests; courses
3. Research: vast amounts of data stored online and easily accesible by researchers anytime and anywhere.
4. Farming: online weather reports; commodity prices etc; keeping in touch (how far do you think some farms are?)
5. Business: online retail; public forums - it was reported recently that to get a complaint sorted faster, just use tweeter.
6. Social networks (most of us are highly mobile people, not just within Australia but also overseas) - I think the benefits are obvious!
7. Email: (assuming it's not super-urgent) it may produce a lot of spam etc but you can send out a request/complaint/enquiry at any time instead of writing/posting a letter or being on hold for 10 minutes.
8. Discussions: just look at the number of comments to this one article! Imagine how long it would take to get these many responses published and viewed by all without the internet.

Having said that, the cost issue is a valid point. Let's hope we don't get burdened with another "oops, guess it's going to cost 2x as much." And definitely, let's look and see if the NBN is effective and efficient, if not, let's find another alternative, whether it's government-funded or not.

Also, there are definitely people who spend too much time on the internet, just as there people who spend too much time in front of the TV, on the phone, driving nowhere in particular etc. I think most of us would have seen a handful of people reading while walking on the street - "Book-addicts"?

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