@rstuart: A moments googling finds http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2011/02/17/3141215.htm

Bugger. I quoted from a different google hit: http://www.hsia.com.au/wireless-broadband-or-wired-the-experts-ponder-the-future-for-australia/

The original like isn't bad reading either, if you want to find out what the limitations of wireless feels like in real life.

I have a friend who is visiting the big smoke for a family medical reasons. He has been here for a week or so now, and is pining for his fixed line connection from home. Yes, he has a 3G connection, and yes he is using that 3G connection to telecommute to work. But every time a large enough gaggle of iPhones near him decide to check for new email, his connection drops out. It can happen several times an hour. It drives him nuts.

'The Liberals privatised a monopoly, and left it intact. It wasn't their finest moment.'

That's the plan with the NBN. To privatise it.

From you rlink rstuart...

'I agree that fibre will almost certainly be faster and have higher quotas than wireless.

What concerns me is that having read the NBNCo Corporate Plan, on page 118 there is a chart showing that 50% of customers will connect at 12/1Mbps for the foreseeable future (2028) and 1000/400Mbps plans only show on the chart in 2026!

13% of premises (page 116 of the NBNCo Corporate Plan) are wireless only. The diagram with this information states that people choose a wireless connection because of price sensitivity. Page 105 has a chart with estimated retail pricing. The cheapest plan is estimated at $53-58 for a 12/1Mbps plan with 50GB of quota. Wireless plans are already cheaper than this.

There is a real risk (page 132 of the NBNCo Corporate Plan) that if wireless operators can capture part of that 50% who are price sensitive that the NBNCo forecasts will not be met.

I don't understand why the NBNCo don't remove the speed tiers. This would make it much more difficult for wireless operators to compete. 12/1Mbps meets the optimal requirements for only one of the example applications on page 131 of the NBNCo Corporate Plan. Higher speeds are also likely to drive revenue as customers download more.'

Let alone if they kept the wires in the ground.

BTW: 'Page 105 has a chart with estimated retail pricing. The cheapest plan is estimated at $53-58 for a 12/1Mbps plan with 50GB of quota'

So it is assumed the ISPs are marking up from $24 to $58?

Just what is the price that is likely? You say $30, SM says 50, and the NBN doco says 55.

I can get a better price for 50Mb quota now at a good enough speed for me.

PS: Why are you selling the land line aspect when most people are ditching them for naked ADSL?

'Use one of those newfangled Wireless 802.11N ones, so you don't need to run cat5 through the house.'

I have cat 5 through the house because wireless doesn't make it through the cement. Though I have wireless in the lounge as I would like to fry my brain if at all possible.

Incidentally, Wireless N only goes to 300mbps, and CAT-5 is rated to 100M isn't it, so that 1000mbs bandwidth is wasted on your average broadband customer.

I think it's all about quotas over speed. You can offer people 100000000mbs lines, but if you limit them to 50MB they cant pirate all those hollywood movies and porn (What the internet is for, anything else is a sideshow) so it's a waste of time.

Rstuart,

Iphones use the mobile network not mobile wireless, which gives preference to calls. If he wanted mobile internet, then he would get a mobile wireless on his notebook.

I know of several people with no fixed line at all, using only mobile phones and wireless.

Dear Rstuart,

"It just dawned on me (sorry for being slow), your concern is you will have to replace the telephone wire to your office with ethernet cable. Sorry, it's unavoidable."

In that case, I should consider buying a DSLAM and placing it next to the NTU.

I understand that the government hates Telstra and wishes to punish them with a vengeance by taking away their copper network, but what I can't understand (or accept) is why should the government punish ordinary Australians who have done no wrong. If they have something against Telstra, they could simply legislate to outlaw it (say by declaring Telstra a terrorist organization), confiscate its assets and imprison all its executives, but then what prevents the government from continuing to provide the existing copper service to ordinary Australians, side-by-side with fiber-optics and even continuing to charge the same exorbitant prices for it towards general-revenue?

@Houellebecq: The cheapest plan is estimated at $53-58 for a 12/1Mbps plan with 50GB of quota. Wireless plans are already cheaper than this.

I haven't seen wireless near that cost. Here is a typical wireless plan, used for people who can't ADSL or cable:

http://www.internode.on.net/residential/wireless_broadband/wireless_dsl/plans/

It's dammed expensive in every way. But it does work and is reliable, unlike say Vodafone 3G wireless. I suspect if a private operator could so this cheaper than the NBN they would gladly hand it over. Every wireless connection looses money. They do it only to meet their Universal Service Obligation.

By the way, people in the comments rabbit on about 4G, aka LTE (Long Term Evolution). It doesn't exist. 2 years ago they said they had it working, they just had to shrink it down a little as it didn't fit through the door. This year they gave up waiting and decided to allow "enhanced 3G" to be called 4G. Work hasn't stopped on the original 1Gbit/sec 4G, but don't hold your breath. The other thing to remember about that 1Gbit/sec is it means 1Gbit/sec on a still electrically quiet day, when you are stationary and no one else is using the network. In other words if there are 100 houses in your cell all going hard at it, and someone is using a welder nearby, then be thankful if you have a connection at all.

@Houellebecq: Just what is the price that is likely? You say $30, SM says 50, and the NBN doco says 55.

It was never going to be $30, unless you included the $24 in the phone bill as is commonly done now. The problem is comparing like with like. Current naked plans are probably the easiest to compare to, as they have the equivalent of the $24 bundled in the plan price. Here is a typical set of naked plans:

http://www.internode.on.net/residential/adsl_broadband/easy_naked/

They start at $60/month. TPG which is the ISP equivalent of the $2 junk store has Australia's cheapest naked offering at $60/month for unlimited. Compared to that, $50..$60 seems in the ball park to me.