Well Grumbler, from your comment I suspect you do not really have a grip
on the subject.

How many weeks of TV watching do you want to download each day ?

Many people just do not realise what those speeds mean in terms of data.
Crazy !

Sam Volkering lists the benefits of the O3b medium-earth-orbit (MEO) satellites in "The future of the Internet is in space" (2 September 2013). But he doesn't mention any of the downsides of the technology or the mixed fortunes of past communications satellite ventures. Satellite communications require a clear path to the sky and so do not work well indoors, or between city skyscrapers. O3b is not intending to service individual users, but mobile phone companies and Internet providers, so does not provide an alternative to the NBN. Past satellite services have had financial problems.

Grumbler you are so far off with your "I wonder if we would have ever built an electricity/phone/road/rail network". The whole point is "WE" didn't. Entrepreneurs did, not governments. If it is worth doing, & likely to be profitable let them do it.

Oh & is the suggestion that the future of the net is in space mean that it is all; pie in the sky?

From today's Australian. No need to wait for Labor's NBN as fiber to the node can do about as good a job today http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/telecommunications/malcolm-turnbull-model-installed-with-nbn-speeds/story-fn4iyzsr-1226709390846

This is really what the election is about. Labor pretends the Liberals want slower speeds, but what they want is a greater range of options, less cost and sooner. That's what we all want.

Yes GRaham, it is a system with the prefix "X".
Just forgotten the full name .

Had an idea it was to be installed in Canberra, but don't know what happened.
People are all a twitter (pun not intended) about speed but they simply
just do not know what it implies.
It is abit like buying a Lamborgini for $250k and finding that you can
get there very quick, but so what you still have to stay at work all day.

Bazz, the Fiber to the Node (FTTN) system in Canberra you might be thinking of is "Transact". This was installed in thousands of homes by an ACT Government owned company (much like NBN Co) around the end of the last century. My apartment building had a fiber optic note installed in the basement when built and copper cable to each apartment. You can read my "First Impressions of Transact", 1 May 2002: http://www.tomw.net.au/links/20020501.html

Transact worked very well and proved very reliable, even during Canberra's 2003 firestorm. But if building it today, it is likely Fibre to The Premises (FTTP) would be used (as with NBN), as it does not cost much more.

In my case, after a few years I found I was not using the bandwidth Transact offered and canceled the service, switching to wireless. The wireless service is much less reliable and much lower speed, but cheaper and more versatile.