Actually, it's just 9 minutes. Perhaps you can listen to it later. It might make you think for a change... Look up "noise cancelling" for a start, if something that complex can make it through your firewall.

The point is that they shouldn't be "rolling out the NBN now". Do you normally have this much trouble with comprehension?

It has nothing to do with my political outlook and everything to do with simple principles of prudence in investment. There is no compelling reason to do it. Simple. Bevan Slattery has a world of experience and expertise in running high-capacity fibre in a competitive business environment. I tend to think he might be able to shed some light on the business case.

Have a look at that book on management of major projects, you might learn something from that too.

The point about the fibre bandwidth is that it's based on a relatively crude version of the technology that effectively exchanges the "C" part of the HFC network with fibre, to all intents and purposes. The HFC model only lasted about 15 years. Conroy expects this to last no longer than 20, if the non-compete clause is any indication.

We might almost be getting to the point that having a fibre connection will be desirable by then, if some new form of interaction is invented and widely adopted.

@Shadow Minister: The evidence to date is that the NBN prices will equal one of the more expensive providers today in 5 years time, defying the global downward trend.

Actually the evidence we have is from the two providers who have NBN plans. In both cases their NBN plans are priced either identically, or less than their ADSL plans. You are claiming other providers will do it differently. Do you have a basis for this, or are you just making it up as you go along?

@Antiseptic: Actually, it's just 9 minutes.

The amazing changing link. It works now - with different flash player and different format, and its 3min 30sec. My he is enthusiastic about his own ideas, isn't he? I on the other hand am struggling to see how this will be an improvement on WiGig, which unlike his stuff it out of the laboratories and actually has a chance of being released in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately I can't see many uses for WiGig either.

@Antiseptic: There is no compelling reason to do it. Simple.

Actually there are lots of good reasons to do it. You don't find them compelling. But since the average broadband speeds here in Australia are under 7Mbit/s in Australia, a lot of people do.

@Antiseptic: The HFC model only lasted about 15 years

Possibly because fibre was already better than the cable, when the cable being rolled out?

@Antiseptic: Conroy expects this to last no longer than 20

You acknowledged there is nothing faster than fibre earlier. Please don't make yourself look like a complete idiot by claiming LED's transmitting through sunlight are one day going to be faster than laser's in a glass wave guide.

@Antiseptic: We might almost be getting to the point that having a fibre connection will be desirable by then

Having something of the order of 20Mbit/s is desirable now. 12Mbit/s is what the NBN is charged with delivering. Circumstances are such that the only way to achieve this is to roll out fibre.

Rstuart,

The NBN prices are not lower than the most competitive ASDL prices available, such as TPG.

There is no indication that the NBN prices will decrease over time. Whereas the ASDL prices have been decreasing on an almost annual basis.

rstuart, do try to keep up:"You acknowledged there is nothing faster than fibre earlier. Please don't make yourself look like a complete idiot by claiming LED's transmitting through sunlight are one day going to be faster than laser's in a glass wave guide."

Nobody is suggesting that, merely that the PON approach is not using the fibre to its capacity. In 20 years, when the need for fibre is there, it will need significant upgrade. In the meantime, many other technologies are emerging that make it ever-less viable prior to that 20 year window expiring.

It's a matter of planning for the likely need, rather than "build it and they will come". As that book I referenced earlier makes clear, that NEVER happens - they never come at the rates predicted by the technology spruikers. It's wishful thinking of the worst kind. Was HFC a great success do you think? Having worked on both the networks for 10 years I can tell you it was far from that. A great deal of the Optus network was simply switched off in the early 2000s because of lack of a subscriber base. It remains off to this day. HFC was chosen because it was relatively cheap. AS I recall, Telstra's original network was second-hand from somewhere in the US. Around $10billion was spent on rolling it out in the late 90s.

[cont]

Modulation of light signals is old hat. What do you think fibre works on? The only difference is that with no wave guide there is no huge infrastructure needed. You're obviously unfamiliar with the huge developments in LED technology and CCD as well, which make "naked" light networking much less problematic.

Other advantages include: no crosstalk, no EM interference, ubiquity.If every source of artificial light is potentially a broadcast point, there is a completely immersive network.

I suggest to you that there will be working gear for sale using this technology within 5 years. As he made clear, they plan to work on applications for areas that are sensitive to EMI initially, which also happen to be high-profit.

It won't take long for it to become widespread. Even with the NBN, wireless will become the standard model, except for some larger firms. Homes won't have any need for anything else.

Having 20Mb/s may be "desirable", but it's not necessary. Having a Rolls Royce is "desirable", but if a Governemnt came up with a policy of a Rolls Royce for every home it would be seen as obviously ludicrous.

I have an 8Mb/s connection via ADSL. It slows a little when there are 3 people wanting to d/l or stream at the same time. Big deal.

And then there's this...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/nbn-cost-to-widen-the-digital-divide/story-fn59niix-1226120000176

"THE company rolling out the National Broadband Network wants the ability to increase prices for business broadband and super-fast services by up to 5 per cent more than inflation for three decades, prompting warnings of an end to the era of falling communications prices. "

"The discussion paper, released late last month, argues that NBN Co needs "commercial flexibility" because despite multi-billion-dollar deals reached with Telstra and Optus, there was still "demand uncertainty"."

Did you get that? "Demand uncertainty", so they want to be able to jack prices up to cover the losses. That's even WITH a guaranteed monopoly.

What a deeply stupid program.