SM, I have never heard a lifetime for fibre glass cable.
I cannot speak from personal hands on with it so I am in the dark (pardon the pun).
They use it on the undersea cables and I would have thought that there
they would use anything that had the longest life.
Copper installed since about 1950 will last practically for ever.
It has plastic insulation and plastic sheathing, doesn't need gassing either.

I saw some techs join a fibre cable once and it took very little time.
Not as much as a 100 pair cable.
Cat 6 cable is fine for running up and down buildings and from the
NBN box on the side of your house to your computer but not much further.

However I notice that people are tending away from their desktop PC
and doing everything on their iPad and iPhone.
I look at my sons and can see the future.

So you are right, people will want/need their mobile devices and will
get used to them and baulk at paying extra for a landline account, to
say nothing of paying for a fixed line phone when they already have
a mobile phone.

Yes, I agree, NBN the right solution too late.

SM, you could have posted this thread two minutes after the NBN was announced, we knew they would make a dogs breakfast of it.

Have the next one ready for the ongoing cost blow out; I am guessing the end of project blowout to come in at 25%-30%. That is what Centerbet are giving odds on.

pepper,
6 to 10 years lifespan for fibre?

You probably don't want to hear that most of the original optical fibre installed by Telecom/Telstra decades ago is still in use and the newer formulations offer far more improved service and speed.

Optus had several fibre faults due primarily to poor installation practices - it isn't designed to be "stretched".

Most of the copper network is extremely degraded and in many areas practically held together by salt and is comparatively more expensive to replace.

The cost of replacement copper would be passed onto Telstra customers and also to those using other service provides as well, unless the government of the day wants to subsidise the cost -as they currently do for the Community Service Obligation. However the result of this expense provides absolutely no tangible benefit.

Shadow Minister,

CAT6 cable performance is only good for up to 120 metres. Not very practical for a national telephony network.

fibre optic has more uses than computers. 6--10 year lifespan, this is not the case, the job will take 20 years.
The biggest killer of copper is verdegree.
This will revolutionize medical as well as bring Qld and the outback into the modern world.

579; I think the medical usage of the NBN is hyped up.
Think how it will be used;

Patient monitoring; very slow speed needed 9600 bd plenty.

Transmitting xrays scans etc; Current speeds plenty.
Specialists won't look at them till after morning tea anyway.

Remote operations; present speeds such as adsl2 ok, what is needed is priority access.
No matter what speed the internet operates at there will always be pauses.
Do surgeons really think no buffering will occur ?

Can someone tell me what medical usages cannot be served with adsl2 ?