Interesting discussion is surrounding NBNco's Network Extension Program which lets people in Fixed Wireless zones upgrade to fibre if they pay a 'not-for-profit' price. The problem is that the price is very high - there have been few enquiries but one house was quoted at $150,000. (Another alternative is connecting your own fibre which some farmers have been doing in the UK.)

One wonders, however, would paying this money add $150,000 (at least) to the house's value? Does this represent a trifling expense for a business setting up in an area of low property value?

In Kansas City, USA, where Google fibre is being deployed, property is becoming more attractive and attracting start-up businesses because of the top-notch broadband. Data centre operators are also looking at cheap Australian real estate to set up shop.

The effects of the Coalition's policy are less clear cut. Some have said that having the large fridge-sized FttN cabinets outside your house will lower value. It probably depends on the premises' outlook. Some won't care, but as Selling Houses Australia tells us repeatedly, they are likely to polarise buyers and reduce the market - some will view them as monstrous carbuncles some will recognise the potential for really fast internet

http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2013/02/21/3695094.htm?WT.svl=featuredSitesScroller

 

The Coalition has sought to capitalise on the split between Labor and the Greens by moving a motion of no confidence in the Government's handling of the mining tax.

Liberal senator Eric Abetz has accused the Government of "economic illiteracy", saying Australians were now paying the price for Labor's "arrogance" in thinking it could outsmart the nation's biggest mining companies.

"Never before in the history of the Commonwealth have the Australian people endured such a dysfunctional and incompetent government," he said in moving the motion.

"Those of us who recall the debacle known as the Whitlam government are beginning to look on that short-term, yet devastating era with a degree of fondness as an example of sound administration and robust policy development in comparison to the past five years."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-25/no-confidence-motion-seeks-to-capitalise-on-labor-greens-

 

MEANWHILE  A POM TELLS US ABOUT THE PRICE OF LIMES... AND NO, THE LABOR GOVERNMENT ISN'T A LEMON as it has delivered the best outcome in global bad times... And LABOR is accutely aware of GLOBAL WARMING, now wrecking havoc around the world...

 

 

Australia has managed to come out of the global financial crisis without a recession. But as a result of its booming economy, the cost of living is extremely high.

It was the limes that finally tipped me over the edge.

In the sleepy Australian seaside village where my parents live, not that far away from several citrus orchards, I was in a supermarket staring at a sign:

Limes: $2.25.

Two Australian dollars, twenty-five cents.

That's £1.50 (US$2.30). Not for a bag. Not for a pair. Each. One lime cost £1.50. Infuriated, I stormed out of the shop, limeless.

"The country has lost it," I fumed to my mum and dad over dinner that night. "How can anyone afford to eat in this country?"

"Darling," my father replied. "Look around. People here are rolling in money. We live in an unbelievably wealthy nation."

And he is right. In the 12 years since I last called Australia home, it has changed. It was always the lucky country, blessed with fertile land, abundant sunshine and plentiful natural resources.

 

Now, we are more than lucky. We are rich. Bloody rich. So rich that no-one blinks an eye at paying as much for a lime as some of our neighbours in Asia earn in a day.

Ten years ago, not one single Australian city was in the top 50 most expensive cities in the world to live in, now three are in the top 15

And you can feel it, just by looking at the small stuff.

For example, there is no litter on the streets. Nowhere. And I am yet to see a central reservation where the grass is not well-tended and the attractive shrubs not perfectly pruned.

It is the cars. I swear there is none on the road that is older than eight years. They are clean and dent-free and meet strict safety standards.

read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21519050

Of course the author of this piece is "exaggerating" a bit and she mentions the gap between rich and poor.... BUT if you believe Tony and his silly mob of doom, we're the pit of the earth, in the grip of the big bad witch...

Tony Abbott has been the worse thing that ever happen to this country... He lies with impertinence. His bad will has tainted all sides of politics and he's proud to be Detritus... Of course the media in this country has a lot to answer for Tony's position and the disinformation or whatever they call it : bullshit news.... See "a very hidden soul"...

Some political journos are twittering every minute — like incontinent old folks and unfortunately these journos are not wearing a protection pad for their "leaks"... UGLY...

Note: I have my own lime tree... easy to grow if you get rid of the stink-bugs... The Libs are like stink-bugs... 

 

The man hoping to knock off Kevin Rudd in Queensland has resigned his position as a “champion” for the NBN, which put him at odds with Tony Abbott.

The Liberal-National Party candidate agitating to knock off Kevin Rudd in September has mysteriously quit as a National Broadband Network “champion” as his local campaign against the former prime minister ratchets up.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/02/25/k-rudds-lnp-opponent-abandons-nbn-spruiker-gig/

 

Conclusion

Comments [from the LNP coalition] like the following appear all over mainstream media, almost completely unchallenged, and they may even be ramping up:

"The approach we will take - we plan to take is about a quarter of the cost and a quarter of the time to provide an upgraded broadband service than the approach of fibre-to-the-premises that that Government is insisting the NBN Co take."

"There is no evidence whatsoever that the massive increase in speeds delivered by fibre-the-home will deliver any extra value or benefit to Australian households."

"There is not one contractor in Australia that believes the Government is going to roll out its National Broadband Network for $32 billion. Expectations are as high as $60 billion, $70 billion or even $100 billion for the National Broadband Network."

These statements are demonstrably untrue and some border on the ridiculous. This naturally raises questions about media and politics in Australia. Feel free to discuss them below, but I'm sticking with the technology debate.

We'd like to discuss the technical details, but this rarely happens and discussions increasingly descend into resembling shambolic accusation fests like this and, sadly, this.

What's most important, however, is that the fundamental aims of the Coalition's policy don't appear to be possible. The technology and governance minefield ahead of it needs a detailed map that navigates all the hurdles mentioned above in order for the following statement to ring true:

"Our broadband policy is to complete the national broadband network, but to do so sooner, cheaper - less cost to the taxpayer - and much more affordably for consumers and that is our plan."

It's not 100 per cent impossible, but based on the available information, it seems like it [impossible].

http://www.abc.net.au/technology/articles/2013/02/21/3695152.htm

 

Personally I want the NBN direct to my home... I want fibre optic to my PC... The Coalition "solution" is an ersatz that's like chalk to cheese... The LNP Coalition should be stopped on this issue alone and of course should be whacked on all the other issues as well, from their clearly stupid views on global warming to their IPA driven northern dams.

 

FEARS that consumers would be hit with massive bills after signing up to the national broadband network may prove groundless, with new research finding almost two thirds of customers who signed up paid the same or less than before.

After interviewing 282 households in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, the first research into those using the $37 billion network found just over 25 per cent said their bills had increased. But 63 per cent of households that joined the network reported their internet bills had either stayed the same or decreased, according to research by University of Melbourne and Swinburne University of Technology.

''Some of the reporting or debate around [the network] has been that the potential for an increase in household costs for internet when people take up the broadband,'' Bjorn Nansen, a University of Melbourne research fellow, said.

''From our standpoint, costs do not dramatically increase when you're shifting from other broadband to high-speed broadband on the NBN.''

The national broadband network is a key election issue before this year's poll, with the Tony Abbott-led Coalition promising to build a network more quickly and for less money, but using slower technology.

According to Dr Nansen, one of the reasons most people did not end up paying more for the network was that some households substituted their landline telephone for a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone, which allows telephone calls to be made over the internet for free - as with Skype.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/few-nbn-customers-report-higher-bills-after-switch-20130302-2fd31.html#ixzz2MQf5fQBG

 

No renegotiation for Thodey
BY: LEO SHANAHAN AND MITCHELL BINGEMANN
From: The Australian March 04, 2013 12:00AM

TELSTRA chief executive David Thodey has ruled out renegotiating the $11 billion bounty the telco giant will be paid to lease its assets and migrate on to the National Broadband Network in the event of a Coalition election victory in September.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Australian from Barcelona's Mobile World Congress, Mr Thodey defended the telco's multi-billion-dollar contract with the government and NBN Co, saying that a change of government would not affect the payments from its lucrative deal...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/no-renegotiation-for-thodey

-----------------

This does not mean anything as to the quality of the Service.... The coalition plan is clearly of a lesser quality and far more complicated service than the NBN. That Telstra does not want to renegotiate a deal, does not mean squat at this stage... All it means is that Telstra may even get more money to implement a more complicated coalition broadband plan that will work less well than the pure NBN co system... Poor sods we are... And the merde-och press calls Telstra contribution "a bounty" when it is a genuine commercial deal. What nasty sods they are at the merde-och writing festival...

Meanwhile the merde'och press from which this article is sourced has not dealt one article other than an AAP press release on the "Angry Summer" report... I believe the merde-och camp is waiting for its clique of rabid denialists to pour scorn over the report... Waiting, waiting... waiting...

 

LAST WEEK, a small media storm erupted around Nick Ross of ABC Technology & Games, with The Australian reporting that Nick had been disciplined by his superiors for failing to meet “standards of objective journalism” of the National Broadband Network (NBN). The Australian’s article was both misleading and poorly researched, giving the false impression that Nick had breached ABC’s standards.

From the onset, this article was clearly designed to smear Nick and present a falsified account of what had happened. Not only does The Australian fail to present facts, it relies on the opinion of Kevin Morgan, a long time anti-NBN pundit who has continually written factually incorrect articles for both The Australian and CommsDay.

Soon after The Australian’s article was published, Nick Ross refuted the claim he had been disciplined in regards to his opus, The vast differences between the NBN and the Coalition’s alternative. There has yet to be a correction in The Australian and I doubt there will be.

So where do the claims of bias come from and why has this not been reported on until now?

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/nick-ross-the-abc-and-what-lies-beneath-the-australians-lies/

------------------------------------

Nick Ross's articles have been spot in pointing out the convoluted version of the Liberal network which I believe is designed to stifle competition to Mr Murdoch's cable TV... Anyone with a brain would know that the Liberal alternative to the NBN is not much more than cans of baked beans strung together with the old copper network.

 

In regard to the ABC, Nick Ross spruiks the advantage of the NBN with solid facts and figures.

 

The Drum at the ABC is there for spruiking by ABC staff or external experts —  hopefully with correct facts and figures. The ABC Drum is unfortunately regularly invaded by porkying vampires, like Peter Reith who lies like ten Pinocchios and that awful spruiker for the IPA, Chris Berg — both frothing at at the mouth as they piled it on Labor and promote Tony Abbott as god...

ABC Management does not interfere with the drum... The Australian of course is lying to serve its master, Uncle Rupe...

 

The difference between advocacy and analysis

But now, let’s turn to a man who really does do meaty stories – and is causing some angst as a result.

On Friday, The Australian carried this news story ...


An ABC journalist has been disciplined by the broadcaster's management over concerns that his online posts about the National Broadband Network failed to meet its "standards of objective journalism".

— The Australian, 8th March, 2013

The journalist concerned is Nick Ross, editor of ABC Online’s Technology and Games site. We’re going to spend some time on his role tonight, but let me stress we’re not analysing the media’s coverage of the NBN. We’re looking at what ABC journalists can and can’t do.

On ABC 774 in Melbourne on Friday morning , Communications Minister Stephen Conroy weighed in in Nick Ross’s defence.


Stephen Conroy: Malcolm Turnbull is constantly attacking and trying to bully some of your journalists, and today I read in The Australian - and I know you shouldn't always believe everything you read in The Australian - but a very disturbing thing where another journalist on the ABC staff has been internally disciplined because they're not prepared to just accept every policy pronouncement or claim that's made publicly...

— ABC Local Radio 774, 8th March, 2013

Senator Conroy was talking to morning host Jon Faine, who told his listeners...


Jon Faine: Well now by way of background, the ABC has disciplined one of its editors, who, a man called Nick Ross ... 
Mr Ross has been critical of the Coalition's broadband policy and supportive of yours, and it's been determined by the ABC internal complaints process that his reporting has not been even-handed.

— ABC Local Radio 774, 8th March, 2013

Well Senator Conroy got one thing right – you shouldn’t believe everything you read in The Australian. And Jon Faine got one thing right – Nick Ross is a supporter of the government’s National Broadband Network, and a critic of the opposition’s alternative policy.

But he hasn’t been disciplined by ABC management. And no formal complaint about his NBN articles has been upheld. 

Though some of them have proved controversial. As Nick Ross told Jon Faine later that morning ..

 

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3713148.htm

----------------------------------

NOTE: The Liberal (CONservative) alternative to the NBN is as simple this:

 

 

It is recorded in Hansard as a question from Turnbull, who was teasing her to answer:

“My question is to the Prime Minister. If this week she is unable to persuade the parliament to establish a public interest media advocate to regulate the content of newspapers for the first time in our peacetime history, will she have the courage of her convictions and commit today to take that policy to the next election and pledge to legislate it if she were to win government again?”

Gillard’s reply:

“I understand that the opposition have decided to seek some political advantage by bandwagoning with media interests and media organisations. Transparent — and bordering on the laughable. To the member for Wentworth, I would say that before we get into any sanctimonious nonsense of freedom of speech, it was under the Howard government that two News Limited reporters faced jail for contempt of court. The reaction of the Howard government was: do nothing. It was under the Howard government that churches would have their government grants taken away and their services smashed if they spoke out against government policy.”

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/business/media-2/honest-politicians-must-hold-nerve-on-media-reform/

NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley has defended criticisms after it was revealed that more than 100,000 fewer homes are expected to be connected this year than originally forecast.

Syntheo, a contractor that had been responsible for building the broadband network across three states and territories, handed back the remainder of its design and construction activities in the Northern Territory to the NBN Co on Wednesday.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-24/quigley-defends-criticism-over-nbn-rollout/4591080

------------------------

 

Yes, bros and sis, some people at the ABC think they can write and can understand a situation while still being in nappies..

 

Now I am sure you, the reader here,  all are intelligent enough to see the prob in the article above.

 

How can one defend criticism when one is the one criticised? It makes as much sense as a Galaxy poll organised by the Daily Telegraph... It twists the meaning of things. Either the boffins at the ABC are fully incompetent or they try to write their ideas in a very confusing way, so that their idol Malcolm stays on top... Come on guys and dolls at the ABC, you can do better than that...

And No, I won't tell you what to write... You fix it yourselves, you mutts...

 

Fiber

The Coming Tech Revolution—and Why America Might Miss It

The world of fiber optic connections reaching neighborhoods, homes, and businesses will represent as great a change from what came before as the advent of electricity. The virtually unlimited amounts of data we’ll be able to send and receive through fiber optic connections will enable a degree of virtual presence that will radically transform health care, education, urban administration and services, agriculture, retail sales, and offices. Yet all of those transformations will pale compared with the innovations and new industries that we can’t even imagine today. In a fascinating account combining policy expertise and compelling on-the-ground reporting, Susan Crawford reveals how the giant corporations that control cable and internet access in the United States use their tremendous lobbying power to tilt the playing field against competition, holding back the infrastructure improvements necessary for the country to move forward. And she shows how a few cities and towns are fighting monopoly power to bring the next technological revolution to their communities.

 

Susan Crawford is the John A. Reilly Clinical Professor at Harvard Law School. She lives in New York City and Cambridge, Mass.
Read more:https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300228502/fiber

Read from the top.
No problem, Yamerika. Australian, under the stupidity of Liberal (CONservative) governments, missed the boat as well.
To save a few bucks, they completely destroyed the spirit, the purpose, the speed and the importance of connecting people, by mixing old technologies that saw telephone cables installed in the 1930s still be used to carry morse code to your home... Tony Turdy Abbott was the main culprit and this idiot still shamelessly seeks re-election. He'll probably win with a stupid grin, by pushing obsolete ideas from the 11th century (the Dark Ages)... We're idiots to let people like him through the front door of politics but hey, that's our problem...