Interesting take on things.
Sounds like a knee-jerk, short-term fix.
But not a very good long-term plan.

According to some experts if the Coalition policy was
put in place Australia would be faced with the cost
in 10 years that would equal the cost of the Labor
plan to upgrade from FTTN to FTTP and there would also
be significantly increased maintenance costs over the
next ten years.

Then there's the problem that under the Coalition plan
people have to pay for a faster service and the
Coalition will abandon Labor's guarantee of uniform
national wholesale prices. Rural areas could get
charged more.

The Coalition's plan also rests on the assumption that
it will not have to make additional payments to Telstra
to re-negotiate the Labor plan in order to use the company's
copper cables.

Why settle for something that's simply slower, only
because its cheaper now - when it will end up costing
more in the long term? Why not go with a faster, more
modern technology?

Sounds like an attempt to save nickels and dimes for an
antiquated system - and spend a fortune down the track.
A short term solution is never good enough.
Not very logical.

Big beat up for sure.
The copper cables do not have problems with water because they are
plastic sheathed. The only way a problem arises is if the water gets
into the pits themselves. Connections between conductors from the
customer occurs in the pits. The same applies to fibre.
Not sure, but feel certain that the customer connection in the pit
will be active and more susceptible to problems with water than the copper wires.

Each customer will have a port for the customer in the box already so
whilst not knowing the detail I don't really see why anything different
to what the linesmen do now should be done that would cause a problem
with the asbestos.

I am beginning to suspect it is becoming an old wives tale like the
signs at the dentist etc to turn off your mobile phone.

"copper is considered far more reliable than glass fiber"
"(water).. A problem for which fiber is not immune."
"The copper cables do not have problems with water because they are
plastic sheathed."
... feel certain that the customer connection in the pit
will be active and more susceptible to problems with water than the copper wires.

Plain wrong, half-true or mealy-mouthed statements that concede nothing to fibre at all. We now have more sad non-excuses for the LNP not to deliver a NBN if it wins government.

Keep the BS coming by all means. In one sad corner on fibre are SM, the LNP and Yuyutsu, in the opposite corner, the world.

I guess that the qualifications you require to believe in Labor's NBN is to have total ignorance in the field. Lucyface and Lexi are obviously armchair engineers who get their facts from the ALP talk sheet.

In new industrial projects, like the one I have just completed, FTTN is standard practise as the last 100m or so of cable within the building, to cameras etc are all done using copper CAT5e or CAT6, as the fiber cable is too fragile to run easily in small ducts and around corners. Even on the fiber backbone of the network we ran cables with 12 pairs, as even on the long protected routes 2 or 3 pairs would fail. The copper gives a more secure network with speeds of 1Gb/s, as well as carrying small power to cameras clock in stations etc, saving power cables and UPSs.

Anyone that thinks fiber is cheaper to maintain than copper is deluding themselves. Just the maintenance on the 12m UPSs in every household will cost probably more than Telstra spends today on their copper network.

The only examples of FTTP in the world are in high density areas such as in Japan or Singapore. In lower density areas, the world's best practise is FTTN.

Lexi said;
Then there's the problem that under the Coalition plan
people have to pay for a faster service and the
Coalition will abandon Labor's guarantee of uniform
national wholesale prices.

What I think the extra charge is, if a customer wants/needs fibre then
he has to pay for it from the node to his premises.
It would only be commercial customers of various sorts such as
hospitals etc if, and its a big, if they could justify the cost.
The average user would never notice or measure the difference.

In fact that is one of the big problems the NBN will face in the
future as customers expect dramatic differences in speed when they
get the fibre connected. It just won't happen, but they have been
brainwashed into thinking all will get such fast speeds.
In fact I would challenge anyone to be able to detect the difference
between FTTN and FTTP.

What everyone forgets or deliberately ignores in this discussion is
that you cannot receive it any quicker than the remote computer
dishes it out.

The argument about speed is technically ignorant.

Mmmmm.....Am I going to listen to SM, who claims practical expertise in every subject known to man, or should I believe what I read here http://www.thefoa.org/tech/fo-or-cu.htm and a myriad other links to expert opinion that detail the many advantages of fibre over copper? Sure, copper carries power too, and copper based computer cards are cheaper right now, but these are not game changing matters.

Fibre bends just fine (around corners )for the vast majority of installations and "bend insensitive" fibre is already here. The cost of a UPS needing a new DIY battery pack changeover every few years, whoopeedoo, and they'll get even cheaper too. "World's best practice" is not something that stands still. This weasel term is used as an inarguable to snow many a sensible discussion. (are Korea or Japan and many others ahead of WBP? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_to_the_premises_by_country)

What's clear is the LNP has a whole host of non-excuses lined up for doing nothing to fast-track fibre, should it win in September.

FTTP is the ultimate goal of broadband delivery and is where Australia should be headed, both as an equity issue for all Australians (fibre for all, not just for the rich to advance themselves further) and to advance us in the world.