Bazz,

Thanks for the info.
Have another question for you. What will or could happen if wireless broadband gets to capacity? I've been told it is a comparitively narrow band, and will quite likely be unable to support future demands placed on it.

The concept of a high speed broadband is good. The problem, as with every other Labor initiative is the implementation.

It costs too much,
It is taking too long,
It is at risk of being overtaken by other technologies.

Well world watcher, there are a couple or three things they can do.
They can reduce the tx power and insert additional base stations
between existing ones. or they can buy additional spectrum, rather
expensive exercise though, but if the traffic is that heavy they could.
I think the trend is towards radio technology and people are even using
it at home !
To be a spectrum purist, no traffic that could go on wires should be
on radio spectrum, but unfortunately thats not what people do.

I think you can see that in the small percentage takeup on the NBN.
That may improve in the future. I can forsee landline type handsets
being available via mobile phone systems.
Take my own case, my wife & I each have a mobile phone.
We could decide not to have a landline phone and not have the NBN
at all and use a wireless connection for the internet.
I would not pay for a 100Mb NBN connection because you would never get
100mbit data anyway.
All you would be paying for would be longer time between packets !

I think I said here once before fibre is the ultimate connection.
It will not go obsolete. all they will do change the kit on each end
of the fibre. That is why it is, together with micowave bearers,
used to link the base stations.
But that is not quite the point and thats what the pollies miss.

NBN or no NBN there is one determining factor that has to be of major concern, and that's labor's inability to deliver ANYTHING cost effectively.

Let's face it, they have stuffed up pretty much everything they have touched, from the simple things like grocery watch, to the major things like insulation, which despite the expert advice, cost young lives, and the illegals debacle which could well break this nation,and now they have even stuffed up achieving a MUCH PROMISED surplus, and that's even after they took out an IOU from big business in the form of advanced tax collections.

Ill bet they will not reverse that one.

Sure, we may have fast broad band, even in the bush, but it will be useless if people have no money to spend.

Bazz,
Thanks for your reply to my question.
With all that is going on in our world at this moment, I have paid scant attention to the relatively [by comparison] small matter of NBN. I don't know if it is planned to implement it and give us no choice other than to have to use it, or whether we'll still have a choice.
Remember reading somewhere that a company in America was given permission to use a very narrow band adjacent to the exisisting broadband used by the Pentagon, but that the traffic from it could generate overlap. Article said this would compromise security of government departments.
I like to be able to understand 'How Things Work' [as demonstrated in the t.v. programme with that title].
Just picked up a dvd about Tesla, which I'm looking forward to watching. Have read countless articles about his genius, but hope for even more insight through watching this.
I wish you and your family a Happy Festive Holiday.

The contracts for NBN connections have just been let. If you are going to have connections made it's best to have a head start with the thing you are connecting to.
Telstra using rim service is a worry for people in sub devisions. This is capable of adSL 1 only, which is almost a defunct item. Very few carriers are still offering this including Telstra, which now only offers adsl 2.
The telstra copper wiring is stuffed, suffering verdegree, it is continually breaking down.