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The Forum > Article Comments > NBN: The long toll road to nowhere > Comments

NBN: The long toll road to nowhere : Comments

By Geoff Dickinson, published 27/10/2010

The current history of traffic infrastructure will be the future of the NBN - overestimation, overdesign and in over our heads.

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Dear Rache,

I should have been more explicit: having more of something than we want is just like having things that we don't want at all (disease for example), it does not count towards happiness.

Having more bandwidth than you need, is bad: soon web-sites will know/assume that you have that bandwidth and increase the size of their web-pages, adding more nonsense, more ads. This will not only force you to wait longer (or pay more for the extra bandwidth), but also make it more difficult for you to find the information you were looking for. As you search the page for your information, you are also more likely to be side-tracked, forgetting what you wanted in the first place. Having a higher bandwidth will also make your computer download more when you click on a wrong/unintended link, and before you know it you will be paying more to your ISP (and spending more time slaving in the office to get that money).

3rd-world people are happier than we think, at least happier than how we would be in their place, but yes, it is very hard to renounce wants that come from the body itself, such as to satiate hunger and be healthy and pain-free. It seems easy to make 3rd-world people happier, but in fact, without some discipline, once they have the basics, they start wanting other things (such as the internet) and never be happier, so discipline must be given along with the food.

"You can be unhappy about the NBN but are powerless to do anything about it."

Not exactly: in the next elections, I can still vote for party(s) that will legislate against the removal of the copper network - I can then offer more money for whoever will be keeping my existing service; I can refuse to be connected to the NBN, I can stand with my body blocking the installers. I can destroy their equipment (and perhaps be taken to jail for that); I may rely just on satellite phone for emergencies and give up the internet; I can move to another country.
Posted by Yuyutsu, Monday, 1 November 2010 8:07:25 AM
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I notice they're wanting to rip up the copper wire because they know it cant compete with what we have for price. I've seen this before with the lane cove tunnel.

It's not build it and they will come. It's build it and then force them to use it and pay through the nose, and if it fails they'll pay anyway through their taxes. Hahahahaha!

If you have to force people to use such a wonderful new toy there is something wrong. 10% takeup in Tasmania. Sounds promising.

Next step is to close down all the existing telecoms infrastructure, and charge each ISP $100 per month regardless if their customers only want a phone. The customer can foot the bill for the new IP phone that wont work in a blackout, oh, then you can sell them a UPS! Great idea this!

rache,

'left behind the rest of the world.'

Yep, gotta keep up with the Joneses!
Posted by Houellebecq, Monday, 1 November 2010 8:11:48 AM
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Houellebecq,

Very well written, but I see no point in continuing to argue with Peter: he will always keep finding hypothetical needles in the hay-stack; his determination is just like the one happy to pull down their house in order to recover a 20c piece that fell into a slot in the basement, or hit their wife with a hammer in order to kill a fly sitting on her.

I can understand that Labor's socialist blood boils at the insult of a private company holding a monopoly over basic infrastructure. I can understand how they would do EVERYTHING to destroy telstra, but in their blinding rage they care not who else they will be destroying on the way.

I actually agree with Labor's position that privatising Telecom was probably a mistake, especially given telstra's poor quality of service (and a medal for the worst web-site ever!) - I just don't think that a responsible way to deal with it would be to drop nuclear bombs on the telstra offices in every city...
Posted by Yuyutsu, Monday, 1 November 2010 8:53:21 AM
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NBN is likely to be a monumental waste of money. No matter how fast the internet, it can't put food on the table, it can't get you from A to B and it can't put a roof over your head. All the great expectations of the internet faded in the great dot com bust of the late 90's.
Posted by Robert__, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 8:59:09 PM
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Houellebecq

Teaching an old dog new tricks:

"People who don't like or use the internet just aren't capable of using it ever, and don't even want to learn. That you somehow think they'll all somehow soon be maintaining a home network is laughable."

Juvenile prejudice oozes out of that, along with illogicality.

If people who don't use the internet aren't capable of using it ever, where does the usage increase come from ? Another bloody dimension ?

Your clichéd view of what it's like to be a bit older is crap.

I'm 70. I took up working with PCs at the age of about 40 and then started to take it seriously. At about age 50, in between doing other things, I taught myself assembly language programming. I switched careers. I installed Linux. I set up to work through BBSs I've since set up LANs, documented programs and networks and encryption systems, and I'm still doing it. I've taught IT, with the bulk of my best students being people over 40 who wanted to learn new stuff, including use of the internet.

So I don't see why I should bother much further with an idiot who thinks anyone over the age of 30 is decrepit.

I note that you show all the empathy of a rock for people who need aged care. No-one's suggesting non-consensual installation of internet devices in the home. Nor are they saying that you have to teach people to use a computer to let them talk to a GP remotely. All they do is sit in front of a monitor with a camera built in. That's so hard and impractical ? Get real !

First you say people are people are "perfectly happy" with dial-up, but then when the stats show they're leaving it in droves, you take this as proof that the remainder are "happy".

Someone should employ you in retail work, where, when you lose three quarters of your customers, you can tell the boss it's ok because well, the customers you have left must be happy.

And good luck with that, Sonny Jim.
Posted by PeterGM, Wednesday, 3 November 2010 10:05:03 AM
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If the size of pages remained the same as it was back then, then dialup would suffice, but with all the nonsense now imbeded in them, no wonder it does not. If work-places did not demand using more and more Hi-Tech for ordinary jobs, just to remain in the "work-force" and be able to fill one's stomach, then there would be more time to do the real part of the job, rather than playing around with electronics, serving them, feeding them and mis-believing that something useful was achieved (but then they excuse the time taken to serve the machines as "teething problems", and of course systems will remain "teething" forever because no one dares to stop anywhere). This is how the devil works, employing the slippery-slope to remove people from real life, making food expensive and electronics cheap.

Next, it will become widely acceptable that old people do not need a human touch, because a monitor with a camera can do the job instead. Why should grumpy old grandad be unhappy when his family and the community deserted him, as they are too busily absorbed in their High-Definition, 5-dimensional 7-sense entertainment to care? after all, he got his high-bandwidth devices too and they take care of keeping his body alive (whether he wants it or not), and if that's not enough, he will be implanted with all kinds of body/brain-enhancing chips to allow him to function with no one around. Any concern for grandpa's spirit or soul will be considered a snobbish luxury.

Someone working in retail should be proud to have the courage to tell 3/4 of his/her customers: "There is nothing here you really need, go home and be happy", to tell them the truth no matter what the boss says. This is true bravery, as opposed to the Cowardly New World that the NBN promises - the works of the devil!
Posted by Yuyutsu, Wednesday, 3 November 2010 11:11:21 AM
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