NBN Introduced by Labour for the introduction of the implantation of Fibre Optic Broadband, the idea is to spend 43 billion over 8 years across Australia.

The design is to lay fibre cabling all over running it direct to premises, with the laying cost paid for by government public money and additional cost of installation burdened by the businesses, buildings or household owners/renters.

The implementation of bringing Australia up to date with everyone else in the world laying fibre optics currently is a great idea, as it does not take long to lay and if done correctly nor requiring extensive labour or machinery in laying town to city to town.

New tunnels are not required just deep lines/trenches or excising cabling tunnels below cities and suburbs, as it in total is no bigger than a power cable.

Firstly; NBN with cabling wholesaler rights sell to the competing wholesale retailers such as Optus, Vodaphone, 3 network and so on that connects the required equipment to the outside on the premises and plugs internally.

Secondly; The wholesale-retailer that you sign up with, then sells you the equipment through contract to install and setup.

Thirdly; Changing wholesale-retailers means the equipment at the nod outside your premises and internally must now be changed to your new contract, thence you are recharged for another installation externally.

Finally; This is not a good approach only one company should retain all equipment as normal and wholesale-retailers should be only making the jumper adjustment at the exchange as normal.

NBN should through profit not public money aka tax profit or surplus pay for the equipment installation to the premises externally and internally. This is turn saves the consumers pocket and retailers costs and confusion of implementation and/or rotation.

Brett J Hutton

Welcome an informative post from some one who understands.
Some will not agree, as you see we have other threads on the subject.
I find nothing in your post I do not agree with.
And the competition you want is on my wish list.
You may have noted in other threads far too many seem to forget how big Australia is, and how poor connection can be.
My regards

You are describing exactly how it works now.

If you sign up with any of the existing ISPs they provide the necessary equipment to connect to your phone line. Just as they will do with a fibre connection. The biggest difference is that now they must pay Telstra for wholesale access. In the future they will pay NBNCo.

One other point I discovered recently is that fibre is not prone to lightning strikes. As someone who has had a modem fried by lightning I consider this a handy bonus.

The main fibre cables between towns and cities will pass thousands of homes that at the moment have no hope of a decent broadband connection due to distance from the exchange. With fibre you can connect to it anywhere along its length and get the same speed and bandwidth as the person next door to the exchange.

The NBN really is a no brainer for this country and its "tyranny of distance". The benefits to the bush alone will be so great I would support it even if it cost twice as much.

The conservative parties have seen during the coward years how well divisiveness and fear/hatemongering works and they arent giving up on it now. With the help of limited news and the minions of murdoch they are running this campaign of negativity and smear the likes of which Australia has never seen before and could well do without. The "born to rule" mob have turned their backs on the egalitarianism and "mateship" that characterised Australia for so long and have embraced the bile and greed of the neoconservative agenda of power and money over all else.

Belly,

"an informative post" really? All BrettH has said is that he thinks that the NBN is a good idea, he has not given any indication of what it should cost, nor a comparison of fiber over other technologies. Your effusive praise for a post devoid of any facts is solely because it is the last policy that Labor has with even the facade of merit, and you realise that if it collapses in a heap so does Labor.

Mikk,

Obviously you have not tried surge protectors. "I would support it even if it cost twice as much" coming from a Labor supporter (Tax and spend party) it is not surprising you have no regards for taxpayers money.

Brett,

If you have anything technical or otherwise to contribute I would be most interested, however, as of yet I am left wanting.

Mikk and our authors posts had truth to carry them.
Shadow minister the world will turn on such as you.
America will get it neo conservative landslide, several Australian states too.
But the emptiness contained in post after post from you, will in time bring your party to its knees.
Right now Gillard is not impressing me, your mob by its slanders lies and rat bag support for the likes of Hockey is about the best thing Labor has going for it.
Keep up the good work SM after all you help my mob more than any thing.

is business as usual possible?

http://peakoil.com/production/the-great-transition-beyond-carbon/

Last Post is so far from our subject I have to ask.
Are you seeking posters for your forum or commenting on a thread unaware of its subject?
I thought about other forums, may join one as well but leaving such as Shallow Minister to ramble on is unpatriotic.
After all this despite his best efforts is not the comedy channel.

Belly,

Sticks and stones.

I have provided costings and links to informative posts. Your posts are statements of opinion that you expect to be taken as fact. Where is the truth in that?

The wave sweeping again Labor is not one of the neo cons, just a back lash against incompetence and corruption.

Shallow Minister,
You have been slammed so many times on this subject because your position is one of prejudice not objectivity. Your references don't carry any technical information of any value on this subject and on the whole are the manipulative ramblings of the conservative press. We need more visionary infrastructure programs but unfortunately we can only afford one at a time. You seem to forget that government is not a business and the whole swing in that direction over the past 25 years has been sad. Government must supply the services required by the people, all the people despite the cost. We are all meant to be equal and of value to this country and considering the real wealth of this country comes from the remote places, then why shouldn't we receive the services we deserve. Let's face it you wouldn't complain if the NBN was only being built in the 7 largest cities, actually you would applaud it

BrettH,
Yep i get it, we are going to be double billed. How unusual. I think at this stage i will await for the full release of the business plan. Let's hope that it is together and not a slap up job with more holes than swiss cheese put together to cover the lack of a cost benefit analysis. Not that i see a CBA is required as we know the the cost far out strips initial return, the NBN is an investment in future planning and direction. If we were to depend on cost benefit analysis's for infrastructure planning in this country we would not have built half the things we have.

Belly,
Is there an election on somewhere? your posts have the sound of panic. Labor will suffer at election after election until they find some renewal in their ranks and fresh policy ideas. The thing that is most illuminating is that the electorate has made it petty clear that they don't trust the coalition. Look at all the recent elections.

WA, liberal just but they have had to make hugh allowances for the Nationals and rural WA much weakening their position.

Tas, what a slap in the face for the liberals, they couldn't even defeat the most unpopular government around.

SA, Another election that the liberals should have one but just couldn't.

Federal, considering the problems that labor had in the run up, you would have to see the result as a massive vote of no confidence in the liberal party.

With the vic election going the same way my question is when will the coalition get it that no one trusts them to take government, even from the incompetence that labor has shown in recent years. There must be much encouragement in this for Christina as labors worst defeat could easily turn into a very weak coalition victory if the trend continues and the greens pick up momentum as the election approches.

Nairbe your second post branded you with a bit of shadow minister taint.
Yes I know you are a green, no never will I be.
Know about the DLP?
Right wing catholic urchins who kept conservatives in power for 23 years.
Greens are often ex Labor, often do not understand they betray their roots.
No more than 15% vote green, do you think it is ok to rule this country on Labors back.
I THINK THE GREENS are my enemy, did not always think that, Brown convinced me.
He had Labor voters NOT PREFFERENCING Labor.
While we roost on the same side of the paddock you must let me believe in what I wish to.
I like it or not, come from middle Australia, my thoughts are shared.
Election? in March Labor falls in NSW I always intended to vote green, with preferences to the incoming government.
As a thinking Labor voter that still seems the only way.

Nairbe,

The only people to slam me on this subject have no technical knowledge whatsoever, and are ardent Labor supporters.

If my posts and links don't hold value for you, it is probably because you have no clue as to the subject. Nairbe, if you wish to criticize perhaps you could attempt to offer even one rebuttal or even one fragment of information that might indicate you are more than hot air.

I seriously doubt you have the know how.

I am busy installing a network system in a large industrial plant, this includes single mode fiber, multi mode fiber, CAT 5, CAT6e (power over ethernet) and wireless. The reason that the vast majority of the network is not fiber is not because the cost of installation is much different, it is simply that other media are better in different situations. The attempt to supply fiber to everyone is technically ridiculous.

Shadow Minister, The figures are this, 43 Billion and no more, NBN supplies the equipment for business and households, out of cable profits and with my suggestive way of approach should be laying between towns per day.. order Digger, Cable Truck, Concreter (non heated) following each other.

Additional discussion part:

With the new installation over the country, once done can be connected to existing and new sea connections connecting islands and other mainlands as being done in the world already.

With NBN being the wholesaler means owning the cable rather than Telstra the past norm when it came to exchange and nod cabling and/or additional equipment.

Kevin Morgan in wonderland feels that installation cost to the households pocket in connecting to the house should be under $10 dollars; Kevin more like $99 - $200 with equipment, labour and components within and external to the premises.

He also states on public broadcast, there’s no room in current tunnels with existing cooper cabling; wrong again! Only connections take room and not much on mainland, being hair strain size a basic cable found in the household is as big as it gets.

Lastly he quoted ‘Not used in the rest of the world’ Do your homework before commenting Kevin Morgan you are behind the times its being laid in and around a number of countries.

It obvious that to do this we have to install it all the way to the premises for full benefit, rather than to the jumper exchange and adapting it to our current exchange server boxes.

The Problem; Senator Stephen Conroy Minister of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy project is not the layout of cabling, it’s the nods and equipment outside and within the household.

hi belly; have a guess what oil is mainly used for

good, thats right transport

and what will high speed internet do?

how about (a) make business trips redundant

(b) holograms

(c) virtual meeting rooms

we are hitting the limits to growth and we will need to prepare for dramatic and possibly painful decisions

we have entered the transition phase

Belly,
sorry you felt so offended. I was trying to point out to you that there is no need to dispair as you seem to do when an election is nearing. the current trend in the electorate is to distrust the major parties and considering the direction they have led use over the past 30 years that is understandable. You think me a green voter, ok think what you like but you are way off, i just prefer to allow all parties to air their true opinions and the greens do that well. What they say might be a worry but at least it's the truth.

Shadow Minister,
Wow now thats some techno babble BS. So what about cat5 and 6 copper. Then the single mode optic, man ground breaking. The NBN is not a tech park or high rise network it covers the country. One of your main complaints is that we just don't need it. That might at this point in time hold much relevance, but the NBN is not an investment in the next 10 years it is a generational investment. With what is clearly a very good knowledge of IT you are pushing a very short sighted vision of the needs of a country as aposed to a corporation. You constantly offer a narrow conservative view of all things, which is your right but non the less boring. Can you not understand other points of view on the world? I refer to what i said earlier, Government is there to serve all it's people equally not just the high density population zones. A country like Australia that involves great distances and sparse population, the bad news is that equality in infrastructure will always mean the cost benefit analysis will be bad. If we could not see through this then we would never have put the power on to that 30% of very remote Australians that enjoy it, nor would the PMG have given them the telephone. All these projects were just as expensive and unnecessary as the NBN but we don't question them now.

Nairbe no offense taken,I run on passion ,and hopefully truth.
Right now my party needs both.
Kwickchick ,welcome, sorry your point is now clear I agree.
BretH you have understanding, and obviously SM has technical knowledge BUT.
See SM lets personal politics, conservative ones, rule always.
He very often, charges others with? having opinions not evidence.
He has totally failed to be open to anything Labor has put forward.
Over a long time here his threads and posts give evidence that can not be defended.
I TRULY have thought him to be, Christopher Pyne, Bronwyn Bishop, and others who taint a once proud party with a barge in and do not worry about truth style.
WHY? read his post history look for a way you can not think of him as such.
I have not won gold stars in my battles with the bloke, tried for balance the whole list of attempts was time wasting.
Great posters Foxy for a start appear to have left,I did for a while, but the answer the real defense to Shadow Minister is not to fail to understand he not me as he charges is totally free of balance and fairness.

Speaking for myself, I'd much rather see a fibre backhaul link between major centres and available for connection to businesses and homes at a premium, with wireless technologies, such as the 3G broadband I'm using to access the site as I write, this providing the majority of home or business connections.

I'm not sure of the cost savings, but I suspect it would save at least half the $43 billion and provide more than adequate service.

Nairbe and belly,

I am not simply trying to flaunt my IT credentials, what I am trying to show is that businesses that are building networks today that are designed to meet requirements for the next 20+ years (beyond 20 years is considered unforeseeable), and while fiber is used, it is only a small part of the solution.

In simple terms, the fiber can be compared to a concrete freeway. We have a problem with the farm roads, but no one in right mind would suggest concrete freeways to every farm house, or even in suburbia.

I receive internet via the foxtel cable, and a speed test over the weekend reached 20Mb/s. In the cities most homes are connected via Telstra's coax (foxtel) network, and is capable of reaching nearly 50% of Australia's household. The NBN is going buy this network and shut it down.

When no one can come up with a single function that requires more than 20Mb/s what benefit is there in replacing it now?

BrettH, considering that in every aspect the NBN is costing more than in the $43bn plan, you optimism that the cost won't exceed $43bn is extremely optimistic.

My political bias aside, the facts speak for themselves.

Your facts SM are not mine,your biases are no help in your refusal to see why we are getting an NBN.
Better communications, not just for the city's but whole country are needed.
The very nature of this country, at present stops radio being every one or even mosts answer.
As much backing comes for the NBN as opposition.
It is not just an ALP populist idea.
However we will not agree here.
I am not unaware of tec matters radio and its ability's are my hobby.

'(a) make business trips redundant

(b) holograms

(c) virtual meeting rooms'

Hahahahaha!

Like the paperless office, this will never happen.

a) Bosses like to go on expensive munch-a-thons.
b) Bosses don't trust workers to work from home.

'have a guess what oil is mainly used for

good, thats right transport

and what will high speed internet do?'

It will expand new transport markets via trading goods on ebay and Amazon. Go DHL you good thing. Go Aussie post!

nairbe,

I think the difference is the internet is for entertainment. The vast majority of bandwidth on the internet is porn. Followed by Hollywood movies. Hardly a 'service' the government should provide in preference to roads, railways, schools, electricity (heat / cooling).

Sure, to sell the NBN, there is all this paperless office type talk about tele-conferencing and virtual doctors, but that's just an after the fact justification. The core business of the internet is porn, entertainment and online shopping and banking. Porn and movies taking up the vast majority of bandwidth.

When you think of your average older Australian who barely has the ability to send an email, giving all these people a fibre connection is very wasteful. Put the backbone in place, and those who want to pirate movies and look at porn can pay for the connection to the home. And leave the copper in there for redundancy and to cater to those who are only using dial-up currently (655000 households) who don't even have the need for ADSL let alone ADSL2 let alone fibre.

As the need arises, and if they are willing to pay for the extra bandwidth (which can be a standard price regardless of location, where the city subsidises the bush), they can connect their homes to the backbone.

But no, the NBN wants to do the equivalent of closing surface roads to make people use the toll road tunnels. They want to get rid of the copper wire because they are frightened of competition.

Shadow Minister,

In respect to the fact to the reference of business plans being 20 years would not be a wise not appropriate measure for any business.

10 years is optimal for reasons taken in to account of new technology, direction including the bases of the fact that companies should not be purchasing equipment that’s not only going to become redundant but irrelevant past 10 years.

Technology being an ex IT consultant is updated on a 30 days bases worldwide meaning products that are the oldest are no longer supported due to refitting for newer tech as common process for manufactures for cost saving.

The reason I outline 43B is not being a optimist, but because this government would be failures in budgeting not taking into account delayed integration because of technical problems.

This of cause to sew up their demise of financial lost implementing infrastructures.

Houellebecq,

Time is money there is no reason why businesses meetings need to be within a boardrooms physically but rather virtually, holograms are a fact and 360 degrees is already here currently being finetuned.

There is no reason why companies these days don’t operate with a paperless environment, Telstra is one of the leaders using paperless environments opting for Intranet instead that’s plausible for even multi locations. The only paper ever needed is training manuals and brochures really.

Someone made reference to adaption for cost savings, this made be a suggestive idea but not a plausible one as this just means delayed installation not a long term resolution.

In the broader sense the aim is to complete fibre optics worldwide, through each country contributing to such installations within and outside their own mainlands.

I think the thing will be nothing but a disaster. With more investment in the net, firms are going to try to avoid any real customer service, even more than today.

When an almost new computer of mine went bang, [yes it actually went bang], the makers insisted in wasting 2 days trying to fix a physical problem with talk. What was needed was parts & solder, but they can’t do that over the net, or the phone.

That’s another one. When the phone stuffed up I found myself talking not to a technician at my home, but foreigners, a number of times, with moderately heavy accents that I found very hard to understand, in some call centre in the Philippines. Just how these people were supposed to handle equipment failures in Oz I really can’t imagine.

I have sworn a solum oath never to do business again with any company who connects me to a call centre staffed by people with accents. Cheep, fast communications is only going to increase this stupidity.

I was a member of an oil company motor racing team for a number of years, & a loyal customer ever since. A while back I rang them with a technical lubrication problem having failed to find an answer on their web site. Again I found myself talking to a little lady in India, who had no idea which way was up, & was unable to connect me to anyone who did know. I now do business with an oil company with a local call centre, connected to technical advice.

I have yet to find any advantage to me conferred by the communications revolution, in fact I find only disadvantages. The next time I call 000 I really would like to be connected to someone in south east Queensland, rather than Perth. I still wonder if her distance was the reason the ambulance took so long.

I may have got a new thread up after reading this mornings effort.
Hasbeen I see a link, faint as it is to the NBN and your post.
Not something new being linked to another country and unlikely to change.
No idea how we change that, or even know before we pick up the phone.
Yesterday ABC Radio national interview spoke about some country's even watching TV via the nett with speeds 100 times more than mine.
I am hoping to be around for some of that.
Hasbeen as you like to be informative about your life of luxury thought I could share mine.
Bought a second hand 4x4 12 years old but rust free as new.
never been on beach, about to change.
2 great weeks at 10 this morning from my departure I still miss ex workmates [not boss] and mates/members
And hasbeen still, every day I learn some thing new

BrettH,

There is no reason now, but it doesn't happen for the reasons I stated. The NBN will do nothing to change the work culture. It has nothing to do with the bandwidth and everything to do with playing the high flying exec and dining out. ie Ego, getting laid and rubbing shoulders. Cant be done on even 3D (what a laugh, 2D is more than adequate and we have it now and nobody uses it) as then meetings would be dry and boring and involve actual work.

Good to see you can afford a nice modern car Belly, enjoy that beach mate, but don't forget the aerogard. On most Qld beaches the sandflies are a bit viscous, if the winds not blowing.

Oh, & my life of luxury, not what most aspire to. I have 2 cars, the youngest turned 30 in May this year. Ones a 1979, the other a 1980 model. You wouldn't expect a reactionary like me to drive a modern thing like you, now would you.

I see that Telstra has ramped up the capabilities of its wireless systems, now offering 20Mb/s. This is up from 7Mb/s only a few years ago. The prices are still more than fixed line but coming down fast.

In a decade, the fiber may well be redundant.

Shadow minister,
Yep they have been offering that for a while now. Wireless broadband is what i have where i live. They can not offer me adsl2. The 20 mega bits per second sounds great but what you get is another thing altogether. Don't get me wrong i am happy enough but the wireless has it limitations if you want to use video conferencing, voip and skype. It works most times but always freezes and the telstra contract requires you don't use voip and is very expensive, it would want to drop in price. Try $49 for 3 gb, 59 for 7gb and you must have a telstra land line. No alternative here either.

Nairbe,

I am aware of the limitations of wireless, but for a technology that did not exist a decade ago, this is a huge step. I remember paying $29 p.m. for dial up in 2003. As it gets smarter, sleeker and has more infrastructure, the costs will fall dramatically.

At a certain point, land lines will no longer be necessary.

In this case Shadow Minister I have to agree with you.
Wireless may one day do the job.
However not yet.
a Few of us here in OLO know quite a bit about wireless.
More than one repeater sits on top of a hill because of involvement of such.
Right now,in my area radio black spots block mobile phones police radio Ambos and yes ham radio.
Greater problems exist elsewhere,in time we could find answers.
Right now, silly talk of $400 per room to install cat 6 cables deliberately over looks fact.
Wireless routing can send signals to every room in any house.
For now the Gamble of NBN seems better than sitting on our hands.

Shadow Minister:"In a decade, the fiber may well be redundant."

As I said...

Considering that the NBN roll out is only planned over the next decade, there is plenty of time.

Increasing the number of towers is far cheaper than burying cables.

I'm not so sure, Shadow Minister.

>>I see that Telstra has ramped up the capabilities of its wireless systems, now offering 20Mb/s. This is up from 7Mb/s only a few years ago. The prices are still more than fixed line but coming down fast. In a decade, the fiber may well be redundant.<<

Fiber optic cable has two distinct advantages over wireless. The first is that it is capable of handling substantially greater bandwidth, and requires little maintenance. Speeds can also be enhanced over time with improved endpoint technology, so there is built-in expansion capability within the same fiber.

Secondly, wireless connectivity is subject to significant variation in performance, due to its inherent susceptibility to noise and other unwanted signals.

The two are of course not by any means mutually exclusive. Both will continue to be used for different applications and for different personal and business requirements.

But there is a zero chance that fiber will be "redundant" at any point in the foreseeable future.

As a replacement for copper - which is a reasonable objective all on its own - it is a sound and sensible technology choice. This view is supported by Masayoshi Son, CEO of Japan's Softbank/Vodaphone K.K., who states that "Copper networks more than 20 years old should be taken away and 100% replaced with a new fibre network".

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/10492183 (n.b. video)

The remark comes around 36:40, in response to a question from an Australian journalist.

Pericles,

Maybe I should rephrase my earlier statement. Fiber may well become redundant to houses.

Mobile phones are now coming with Wifi connectivity, so that one can make a phone call using your mobile on your broad band rather than you mobile contract.

At this point, wireless will offer roaming broadband, home and mobile telephony. Signing up to a fixed line would as inconceivable as not having a mobile phone, and the only reason for fixed connectivity would be for super fast bandwidth in Gbps.

Fibre Optics will not become redundant; a majority of projects and designs on the table easily make use of this technology better.

We on the curb of Sci fi when it comes to technology, working out the bugs you might say..

This is a benefit and helps these projects realise their potential.

in 1932 11,000 vehicles used the Sydney Harbour Bridge

in 2009 160,000 crossed the bridge....... each day!

just as well they made it more than one lane each way

as Bill Gates once said the internet today is like cars were in 1910

how many people here have shares in Amazon or Google or Microsoft?

Kiwichick,

A better comparison would be between mobile phones and land lines.

Land lines have better quality and are cheaper, but there are 4-5 times as many mobiles as land lines, and the value of calls is probably 100x. Landlines are decreasing, and Telstra's revenue is from the broadband usage not calls.

To spend $50bn on a system that may only receive partial usage in a decade is criminal.

The small steps of upgrading the back bone, and then rolling out fiber where required, will deliver most of the improvement for 1/10th of the price.

Wireless simply will not do the job, particularly as the number of users increases.

At best it's a stop-gap measure and will likely need new hardware for the user as the frequency band is changed to cope with demand.

Remember how Howard and Fisher trumpetted how Mobile CDMA was going to fix all the rural mobile reception problems left behind when the Analogue Mobile Network was pulled out?

Despite the huge taxpayer subsidies paid to Telstra to provide this service and its popularity with many users it was switched off within 11 years, to be replaced with 3G because it had reached its limit for providing facilities.

Fibre does not have these limitations. It's building for the long-term future, not just for the next couple of elections and whatever we get, we will be stuck with for many years to come.

Spend 50 billion I rest my case no such amount is being spent.
No further comment needed

Given the Building Education Rort, and the about $5bn of additional costs that have suddenly appeared, the $43bn is but a dream, and I am prepared to stake my reputation that $50bn is probably the lower end of the final pricing.

Belly is right when he says that fibre is forever.
The problem is paying for it on the never never.
It is the best technology, but I think it is just too expensive.
If it was done on the basis of the need to replace cables as they
deteriorated to the time for replacement then put in fibre.
I have seen the cable in my street and it is in first class condition.
I get 10 Mbit/sec which is faster than I can use. It seems that the
idea is to compete with the gamers in Korea !
I don't think wireless,better known as radio, is a better alternative
for home and office use as it is a waste of spectrum.
Spectrum should not be used for non mobile services.

I can foresee a ban on radio for non mobile services as spectrum is
far too valuable, and much more valuable than the internet.

Who says fiber is forever.

Fiber is far more fragile than copper. It is common practice to pull cables with at least twice as many cores as required, as any bump can an often does break a couple.

Copper can withstand much more movement, and if damaged can be patched. Fiber normally requires the replacement of the entire cable.

This is far more likely to require more maintenance than the existing copper cables.

As fibre is used underground I don't think there is much risk of
disturbance, leaving aside earthquakes and plumbers.
When it is damaged they splice it.
The only problem that I see is as the capacity is so high, there were
only two fibres running up the North coast of NSW and both crossed the
same bridge at Telegraph Point.
When a break does occur it usually has widespread interuption.

Yet for day to day operation it is successful.
Still radio is good for data, but should NEVER be used for fixed
location operations, excepting impossible geographical locations.
I think the use of the analogue TV channels would be a waste of
spectrum for other than mobile data internet.

Bazz,

For the short runs to the houses, CAT6e is cheaper, easier to run, more robust, takes speeds up to 1000Mb/s and can power telephones, thus removing the need for battery back up.

Until anyone can answer this, the NBN fiber to houses remains a joke.

ShadMin; I presume you mean from the street into the house.
Yes I agree, but I don't think that is their plan.

What I object to is the miracle applications that are claimed.
Such as the latest; recovering patients could be at home with 100 Mbit fibre.
What a load of rubbish, if they need such intense monitoring they should
be in the Intense Recovery ward.
Would you risk your life on such a setup ?
Hospitals in regional areas might need 100 Mbits to send High
Definition Xrays to city specialists. The fibre will probably already
be in most regional towns anyway. If not it should be done first.
However not every premises in every town would need it.

It all sounds like snake oil salesman to me.

Agreed.

Complete BS.

Even the OECD warns against the NBN.