In order to ensure revenue for the cross city tunnel, and the Lane cove tunnel projects and to try and make them viable, the only way to do this was to close off the slower but cheaper alternate routes. For example, Epping road was narrowed from 3 lanes either way to 1 lane either way forcing commuters to pay nearly $9 per day for their commute to work. The same strategy is being employed by the NBN where the plan is not only to buy the access to all the houses, but the $billions of infrastructure (much of it new and fast) and shutting it down.

My proposal is that for the new state governments to pass legislation forbidding Telstra from destroying the existing infrastructure, and either selling it on to other second tier companies that can provide real competition to NBN.

If the NBN is all it claims to be, the slower speed systems will only take a small share of the market, and the government and NBN Co have nothing to worry about.

If the Government opposes this, then it is an open admission that the NBN is not viable in its own right.

I am a skeptic of the NBN. That it will work is not really the problem.
When probably 95% of users would not notice the difference in time
taken to download a web page perhaps there is a cheaper solution.
My idea is to run fibre to every town from very small to large.
Also in those towns run fibre to high traffic users such as hospitals,
councils, businesses etc. All domestic premises to be on adsl+2.
Remote farms could use Wimax on analogue TV channels. They will get a
service almost as good as fibre.
That should fix all problems.

There is a more important matter however against removing the copper cable.
When oil depletion starts in earnest there is no guarantee that the
telephone system as we now know it can still be maintained.
When that happens the internet will also be finished.
However there will still be enough older retired telephone techs that
could at least organise a local old pots system using the copper wires.

Just in case someone thinks all that is way out there, remember that
complex systems are very prone to catastrophic failure.
It will only need the failure of supply of very few chemicals or rare
minerals or a combination of them to set off significant failure.

Do some reading on emergency management planning.

We will all be ruined said Hanrahan, Bazz you know better mate.
You and I are aware of the roll you have played in communications.
So indeed we both know first the copper system is increasing in costs to keep it working.
It can not go on forever.
To have two systems in fact increases the NBN costs GREATLY.
Peak oil in fact will not put us back in to the dark ages, I suspect big capital ,its influence on government.
Impacts of not using all that infrastructure oil has, is the only thing keeping it as our fuel.
We could run this country's fleet on LPG, we could do it and take ALL TAX'S from it, and instantly stop importing ANY fuel.
The fact is I think like me, you are concerned that radio, not NBN can cover half or more of this country's INTERNET and give speeds required.
Bazz the death of the net is not ever going to happen, we also are not going to complain about costs of renewal, then propose we keep two systems working at great costs surely?

Belly, I am not suggesting two systems.
I am just suggesting not connecting fibre to every premises.
Cable installed in, say the last 20 years, will be in good condition
for a very long time.
We will certainly not be running our cars on LPG as that is made from oil.
We can however run our cars on compressed natural gas CNG.
Provided the Chinese don't buy it all.
If we keep selling it, we will not get all that long with it before
it peaks. Gas depletes very fast once it peaks.

Belly said; Bazz the death of the net is not ever going to happen,

Now thats a confident statement if ever there was one.
It won't happen overnight but it will happen.
We are in a zero growth era already.
At some time not too far ahead we will be in a contraction economy.
The US is already showing signs of contraction.
Just one example, there are less cars on the road in the US than in
previous years. The number of cars in the US are falling each year.
Knowing what the US is like then, that has to be significant.

Belly,

That retaining different networks will increase the maintenance costs is only superficially logical. If this was so, monopolies would be the only efficient business model. In comparison, the Mobile networks all run in parallel and the competition forces them to upgrade the technology and reduce costs. A monopoly only encourages complacency, inefficiency and waste.

This will not add one red cent to the cost of the NBN in fact it can reduce as the majority of the cost is in the final cable to the door stop, and in the cities other ISPs such as Optus and AAPT have substantial fibre networks, which will become redundant, and for which the government will have to compensate.

Long term reduction in costs and improvement in technology comes only from competition, never from monopolies.

Belly; The copper in the street is no longer cotton & paper covered
lead sheathed cable.
The sheathing is plastic and I think the insulation is teflon, although I am not certain of that as I have not felt it.
This combination would last for at least a thousand years given no earthquakes.
Many country exchanges probably have fibre run to them already or they
have microwave links. Getting fibre to all country exchanges should
be very economic and then onto all the heavy traffic sites in each town.
Domestic premises more than three KM could have fibre to the street node.
It would then cost less than a years worth of oil expenditure.
I really don't think we can afford to compete with the Korean game
players or have 10 decond down load of movies. If they need it that
badly let them pay for it as only very few need it.
It is typical public servant extravagance.
It is right up there with gold passes.
Actually I don't think the politicians involved have any technical
concept of what they are doing. Certain consultants are pushing this
barrow for their own purposes, and it is just the same as the push
for power line broadband which was pushed by the same people and you
know what a disaster that turned out to be.

We are in for trouble in the longer term Belly. You and I may escape
it by the skin of our teeth but my son's won't miss it.
Anyway, many of the technicians will have to take up farming by then
as we will need about ten times the number of farmers that we now have.
I just hope that enough farmers survive to teach the new farmers.