The cost-benefit analysis of the NBN, released by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, is a welcome addition to the debate on what sort of broadband rollout Australians want to see.

But as with all studies of this nature, its findings are premised on assumptions, in particular a critical one about what Australians will want to do with a fast broadband network in the future.

This has always been at the heart of the debate over the NBN. Do we build Labor's NBN, with optic fibre all the way to the home or business in most cases, with an eye to potential future applications, even those beyond our current imagination?

Or do we build a cheaper multi-technology network as the Coalition is now proposing and provide faster - but not as fast - connections that will do the job now and for the next 10 years?

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-editorial/coalition-must-push-on-with-a-slower-nbn-sooner-but-hurdles-remain-for-malcolm-turnbull-20140827-1093h0.html#ixzz3Be0LGYpr

The turdy solution of a fiddle-and-add-bits Malcolm NBN won't do for the next ten years. I won't even do in the next six months. People are crying out for better broadband speed... And Malcolm has no idea about what future demand will be... but which is likely to be exponential.
One thing for sure, with the need to reduce transport costs urgently for many "working people", home offices will multiply as they should. The only way to do this is to link them via high speed NBN. This can happen within the next couple of years... The cost of maintenance of a fiddle-and-add-bits NBN will prove to be higher than a simple fibre to home network. The future is in high speed communication and entertainment providers should push for Labor's solution....
Ah, I know, Mr Murdoch is totally against it... So we're going to go with the slow pace delivery and upload shit speed. The technology of fibre to home has been available for yonks, even since "cable" from Optus and Telstra were installed nearly twenty years ago in our streets electricity posts... So why are we fiddling with copper-and-add-bits erzatz NBN?... Idiocy plus that will prove costly in the long run.
Our technology whiz of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries would roll their eyes out at the retrograde installation promoted by accountants...

 

 

You can't compare fibre-to-the-premises to fibre-to-the-node without looking at the big picture.

The long-awaited NBN Cost-Benefit Analysis arrived last week and was seized on by the government to justify its preference for a multi-technology mix approach to the NBN, rather than the original plan of running fibre to almost every home. If you're still not convinced that the scaled-back NBN is a bargain, Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is happy to spell it out for you on a whiteboard – in a video explaining why fibre-to-the-node (FttN) is more cost-effective than fibre-to-the-premises (FttP).

Of all the flak the government copped in the media last week over the NBN, Turnbull singled out my comments – Government low-balling us on second-rate NBN – for rebuke. Turnbull challenged my use of the word "ignored", because I said his whiteboard calculations favouring FttN ignored the hidden costs of the multi-technology mix such as upgrading and maintaining the copper and HFC cable networks. He called on me to correct my mistake and apologise for misleading readers by claiming these costs were ignored.

It's not the first time Turnbull has taken umbrage to my coverage of the multi-technology mix debate and suggest I spend more time reading the reports. As with before, the closer I look at the fine print the more concerned I am that the government's long-running "near enough is good enough" approach to the NBN is selling us short.

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My accusations of low-balling were sparked by Turnbull's whiteboard explanation of the economics of rolling out fibre-to-the-node rather than fibre-to-the-premises. He didn't offer specific numbers but clearly said that the cost of rolling out fibre to every home in a FttP network is "typically three to four times" the cost of rolling out fibre to street cabinets in a FttN network.

Turnbull then drew a line of this graph to illustrate that it's not worth building a FttP network because "the marginal utility goes to zero". In other words, by opting for FttP we'd spend a lot more to offer faster download speeds which people wouldn't pay for because they don't need it. The jump from 10Mbps to 20Mbps is a lot more valuable to people than the jump from 40Mbps to 50Mbps. Eventually people reach a point where they won't pay any more for faster speeds – that's the zero marginal utility line. The expense of FttP puts it well above this line on Turnbull's graph.

Meanwhile the graph's FttN column comes in very close to the zero marginal utility line, because FttN is so much cheaper than FttP by Turnbull's calculations. While Turnbull doesn't use the phrase "multi-technology mix" in the video, the obvious take-home message is that the government's NBN plan is a better deal for Australians than Labor's FttP plan.

Turnbull refutes my low-balling accusations by pointing out that the Cost-Benefit Analysis does allow for the extra costs of the multi-technology mix plan. My criticisms weren't aimed at the Cost-Benefit Analysis, they were aimed at Turnbull's whiteboard lesson. While he makes some valid points in the video, it is misleading for Turnbull to use an FttN versus FttP comparison to justify the government's new-look NBN.

Tunrbull's graph might be valid if you were comparing a national FttN rollout against a national FttP rollout, but that's not what the multi-technology mix proposes for Australia. You can't realistically compare the cost of FttN against FttP in Australia without conceding that, under the government's plan, the cost of rolling out FttN brings with it the extra costs of repairing and maintaining the copper network as well as extending and upgrading the HFC cable network. There are also the possible costs of coming back later to extend the FttP network in places where FttN is no longer up to the job.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/gadgets-on-the-go/turnbulls-whiteboard-nbnlite-justification-doesnt-add-up-20140831-10aowm.html

 

Labor's all-fibre national broadband network could have been delivered faster and for less money than originally forecast, according to the confidential results of a  pilot study completed last month.

The pilot took into account design changes formulated by network builder, NBN Co, last year as then chief executive Mike Quigley undertook a substantial review of the project and identified initiatives to reduce its cost and length.

The changes, which include adjustments flagged in the "radically redesigned" fibre-to-the-premises option in the government's NBN Strategic Review, were tested for the first time in a scheduled deployment to 2484 premises in Melton, Victoria.

Fibre connections to the premises began in February and included old and new buildings as well as some in rocky areas considered challenging for the rollout.

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The evaluation, contained in an internal presentation document dated August 2014 and seen by Fairfax Media, shows a team combining telecommunications firms Cemetrix, CommsConnect and Linktech Telecom was on track to complete the Melton rollout in just 104 days, compared with an average of 344 days in other areas.

Ninety per cent of buildings were serviceable by fibre by the end of August - 61 per cent faster and 50 per cent more cheaply than in areas using previous rollout models, the document said.

read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/nbn-fibre-rollout-was-going-to-be-cheaper-sooner-pilot-results-show-20140905-10cgdg.html

 

 

 

The fibre to home is the cheapest solution in the near future of the NBN... But Mr Murdoch rules the roost on this saga...

 

Community television will be booted off air by the Federal Government in a little over 12 months.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull today announced that community stations would only be licensed until the end of 2015.

After that, they would not be granted access to broadcast spectrum and Mr Turnbull suggested they use the internet instead.

Mr Turnbull unveiled the move in a speech to a conference hosted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in Sydney.

The move would affect C31 in Melbourne and Geelong, 31 in Brisbane and TVS in Sydney, as well as 44 in Adelaide and WTV in Perth.

Australian Community Television Alliance secretary Richard McLelland described it as a "death knell of community television in Australia".

Mr McLelland, who is also the general manager of C31, said he was frustrated by the decision.

"He [Turnbull] seems to have a view that community television is not worth having in this country," he said.

The community television stations currently use a small amount of spectrum that has been set aside for a fourth commercial television station.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-10/community-television-kicked-off-air-by-federal-government/5733690

Who knows, it might be a good thing as long as the minister for elastic bands allows for the fastest broadband speed with fibre to home everywhere rather than his present favoured concoction of bits... Then all TV will go that cable way and there will less radio waves in the ether...

 

Yes, Internet TV is near, but there’s too much money in cable to go there

 

The entertainment industry sees its future online, but for now most businesses are making too much money from cable and satellite providers to put their shows and movies on the Web first.

Several executives at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference in New York on Wednesday said they have daily conversations internally about when they will be able to take Showtime or HBO directly online. Viacom and Sony moved closer to that future with a deal Wednesday to bring 22 of the cable network’s channels to Sony’s planned Internet-based television service.

“We ask it all the time and are always looking at it,” Time Warner chief executive Jeff Bewkes said when asked if HBO could be offered directly to consumers online — without a cable subscription. “Now the broadband opportunity is getting quite a bit bigger. The ability to deliver something robust is stronger, so the question you are asking is getting more viable and interesting.”

CBS chief executive Les Moonves said premium cable networks like Showtime and HBO would make the most sense for that move. He said Showtime was once the “Avis to HBO’s Hertz,” but the network’s image has improved with critically acclaimed shows such as “Homeland” and “Ray Donovan.”

“What is the appropriate way to market your product? Is it good to go directly to the consumer? Is it appropriate to be streaming? What is the future, how do we grow these businesses?” Moonves asked. “I don’t think there is a media guy you’ve got up here that  isn’t involved every week” in those discussions.

But CBS also relies heavily on the retransmission fees they get from cable providers. CBS expects retransmission fees to reach $1 billion by 2016 and $2 billion by 2020. HBO, meanwhile, keeps adding new customers to its cable and satellite-only network. Last year, revenue grew four percent to $4.9 billion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2014/09/10/yes-internet-tv-is-near-but-theres-too-much-money-in-cable-to-go-there/?hpid=z14

 

Please visit: and do we have the best deal for yoooouuuuu...

 

DAVID MARK: The cost of building the National Broadband Network could blow out by an extra $15 billion.

That represents an increase of around one third of its $41 billion original budget under Labor's fibre to the home model.

The NBN says it may have to borrow more money to meet the shortfall.

The Federal Government says its revised plan for the NBN is still going to be far cheaper than Labor's.

But one telecommunications analyst says Australia is getting a second-rate broadband network for an enormous amount of money.

 

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2015/s4299130.htm

 

It is taking Telstra overall longer to repair phone lines damaged during extreme weather than previous years, leaving some consumers and businesses without service and ineligible for compensation.

However, the cost of fixing copper network outages in the street will soon transfer to the government-owned NBN Co, under a re-written multi-billion dollar deal with Telstra.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/broken-phone-lines-taking-longer-to-fix-will-soon-be-nbn-cos-problem-20150912-gjl9kj.html#ixzz3lgMTwnzS
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook
Turnbull is unashamed of his crappy views (those of his master Turdy, of course) that have been designed to sabotage electronic communication speed in this country and please Mr Murdoch. The state of the copper wire network is a disgrace and the cost of repairing it, is not worth it. Replacing all with the blue optic fibre is the only way. And Labor knew that. Now the cost of fixing Turnbull idiotic network will triple up again. It is a well known fact in the trades that it's best to do things well the first time rather than save two bob and do a shoddy job that will cost three times the original amount to fix... 
If you've never peeped into one of those Telstra cable junction on which most telephone companies rely upon to deliver services, here is a good example. I have seen far worse than this one:

Businesses will be given the freedom to fail and get back up on their feet quickly under new US-style bankruptcy laws announced as part of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's innovation statement that will allow trading while insolvent and cut the period in which bankrupts can't run other businesses to just one year.

Declaring that Australia placed too much emphasis on penalising and stigmatising failure and not enough on celebrating success, the $1.1 billion package acknowledges that "sometimes entrepreneurs will fail several times before they succeed and will usually learn more for failure than success".

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/free-to-fail-in-new-11-billion-innovation-plan-20151206-glgzll.html#ixzz3tbAbuVkm 
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

 

 

I can tell your FROM EXPERIENCE that Malcolm needs to restore the NBN to home direct. No nodes. It is imperative. Much innovation comes from backyard innovators and people who have an idea out of the blue. Even the couch potatoes... These days, the internet communications are IMPERATIVE in the generation of relationships necessary to promote and develop new ideas. The DISGRACE that is the communication network in Australia does not help. As well we need to understand that global warming isn't a furphy. Some people with the gift of the gab who know that that the science of global warming is correct should be helped along to bash the Bolts, Akermans, Alan Jones and Devines into the ground. We need to develop better communications about sciences. AND QUICKLY. Time is running out.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2015/dec/16/malcolms-nbn-innovation-from-helpful-and-important-to-ferret-underpants

 

See from top.

 

Telstra has secured two contracts from the national broadband network (NBN), with combined first-year revenue of about $80m.

The telecommunications group is also negotiating a third contract with NBN to cover design, engineering, procurement and construction management of the network, and the agreement is likely to be finalised in early 2016.

Malcolm Turnbull is to blame for $15bn NBN cost blowout, says Labor Read more

 

The new contracts, announced on Monday, include a three-year deal to fix faults on the copper network and undertake some new connections for services yet to be moved to NBN.

Telstra will also function as one of the network operations and maintenance service providers to NBN under a separate four-year contract.

The work will involve fixing faults and connecting new services on the network for fibre to the node, fibre to the premises, fibre to the basement and hybrid fibre coaxial technologies once a customer has switched to NBN.

The new contracts mean Telstra will be paid to repair the copper network it sold to NBN in a $11bn deal in 2011.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/21/telstras-nbn-contract-win-will-pay-telco-to-fix-copper-network-it-sold-for-11bn

 

The copper network is clapped out. Whenever you have a problem with your Internet connection, whatever company you use, should you use a land line, your connection is through the Telstra copper network . Whomever you ring has a contract with Telstra:

a) to be nice

b) to be helpful

c) to go to level 2 technicians

d) to monitor your connection

e) to get repeat business because there is no chance that anything can be done about your internet problems. 

f) charge Telstra for the repeat business — having to deal with you from the Philippines, India or Vietnam. 

g) technicians (the real ones) on the ground despair at the state of the copper network which is not worth a fart.

h) since Malcolm and other luminaries made the NBN Co pay for the clapped out network, and not go full fibre to home, the system is going to be far more expensive that the original plan of fibre to home. 

i) the system will be slower than the speed of light, in relation to a tortoise trying to emulate a slow rabbit. 

j) meanwhile the call centres are making a mint, get abused for nothing gets fixed. Lovely.

k) now, Telstra will get paid to fix the clapped out network some of which is pre-WWII. Good luck. 

l) what a mess, Malcolm... brought to you by Mr Murdoch whispering in Tony Abbott's arse.

 

 

The failure of mainstream media to report on Turnbull's NBN mess, Australia's mostly costly infrastructure project, has been left almost entirely to social media. John Menadue looks at the pattern of failure including the "gagging" of ABC's Nick Ross.  

THE ABC’s outgoing editor of its Technology and Games subsite, Nick Ross, has claimed that he has been “gagged” by ABC management from publishing further articles about the NBN. He has now left the ABC.

There is a continuing pattern of failure by the mainstream media to expose the mess that Malcolm Turnbull has left us in the NBN. It has been almost entirely social media and a small number of online sites (like this one) that have carried stories about Malcolm Turnbull’s failure in his administration of the NBN.

There has been an unfortunate habit of successive governments blaming a previous government for its failures on the NBN. But Malcolm Turnbull cannot avoid his responsibility for his decision on the multi-technology mix (MTM) model which incorporates Telstra’s copper network and also for his failure to continue with fibre to the home/premises. The MTM and FTTN are his and only his to own. The ALP got one important thing right —   and that was the importance of rolling out fibre to the end-user.

If ABC carries on thus, I'll switch right off.. https://t.co/3ZvfrigdOb@IndependentAus

— Just Plain Lulu (@lulu2617) January 19, 2016

In September 2010 Abbott ordered Turnbull to "demolish the NBN". Malcolm Turnbull seems to be doing his best to do just that..

The same media failure to research and analyse what has been happening on the NBN has been apparent on many other issues. In particular there was a failure to report and analyse government spin on boat arrivals. (See Part 1 here and Part 2 here.) The ABC and Radio National in Canberra was one of the worst offenders.

 

read more: https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/turnbulls-media-censorship-and-his-nbn-mess,8600

 

 

 

The copper network is clapped out. Whenever you have a problem with your Internet connection, whatever company you use, should you use a land line, your connection is through the Telstra copper network . Whomever you ring has a contract with Telstra:

a) to be nice

b) to be helpful

c) to go to level 2 technicians

d) to monitor your connection

e) to get repeat business because there is no chance that anything can be done about your internet problems. 

f) charge Telstra for the repeat business — having to deal with you from the Philippines, India or Vietnam. 

g) technicians (the real ones) on the ground despair at the state of the copper network which is not worth a fart.

h) since Malcolm and other luminaries made the NBN Co pay for the clapped out network, and not go full fibre to home, the system is going to be far more expensive that the original plan of fibre to home. 

i) the system will be slower than the speed of light, in relation to a tortoise trying to emulate a slow rabbit. 

j) meanwhile the call centres are making a mint, get abused for nothing gets fixed. Lovely.

k) now, Telstra will get paid to fix the clapped out network some of which is pre-WWII. Good luck. 

l) what a mess, Malcolm... brought to you by Mr Murdoch whispering in Tony Abbott's arse.

 

 

Come Malcolm, do the right thing... Go fibre to fibre everywhere !

 

 

'The CEO of a government-owned enterprise has made false and defamatory remarks about Internet Australia and me, under the cloak of Parliamentary privilege.'

~ Laurie Patton

EARLIER IN THE YEAR, the head of the NBN Co Ltd, Bill Morrow, was being questioned at a Senate Estimates hearing.

Asked by Greens Senator Scott Ludlam about his organisation’s habit of blocking people who make unkind comments about his inferior broadband network on social media, Mr Morrow had the first of two "brain farts" in which he gratuitously attacked Internet Australia.

It was late at night and yet within minutes, I started receiving text messages from people telling me about his performance. On reviewing the Hansard transcript the next day, I discovered that I’d been named as having been "blocked". Trouble was, I hadn’t been and nor had Internet Australia.

Several weeks ago, Mr Morrow had his second brain fart at a Senate Estimates hearing. This time he accused me of much worse.

Patton accuses Morrow of defaming him, IA in #Estimateshttps://t.co/IAucA8Bp64‘under-privilege’-in-senate-estimates.html #nbn#auspol

—

On both occasions, the CEO of a government-owned enterprise has made false and defamatory remarks about Internet Australia and me, under the cloak ofParliamentary privilege. My right of reply (which may be viewed here) has now been published by the Senate Select Committee on Environment and Communications and, of course, also has privilege. 

In this exchange, as reported in Hansard (p75), Mr Morrow’s attack was particularly vicious.

Senator Ludlam: Let us go to the merits of some of the concerns that they have raised rather than attacking the conduct. What about the merits of the issues that they have raised about NBN? Nothing?

Mr Morrow: No. He has no merits. He lies about everything he puts on there. He fabricates things, without fact. He has no knowledge. He has never worked in the telecom industry. He has no understanding of the technology at all. What would you want us to do?

Had he made his comments outside Parliament, Internet Australia and I would obviously have been able to pursue a clear case of defamation.

My response:

My reply to those comments made by Mr Morrow is a denial and a repudiation. I have access to a range of extremely well-qualified engineers and technicians on whom I call for the technical information and background that is used by me on Internet Australia’s behalf. The comments that I have made on Internet Australia’s behalf are factual and relevant.

Internet Australia has called on the Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield to demand Mr Morrow apologise for and retract his false and defamatory remarks. Internet Australia’s chair, Anne Hurley, who has herself been subjected to personal attacks by NBN, believes it is time the government put a leash on NBN Co and its CEO.

 Ms Hurley has stated publicly:

“Rather than deal with the very real and increasing complaints about the product, Mr Morrow and his team of PR spinners would prefer to attack people making genuine and evidence-based calls for change.”

Surest sign of inability to rebut the argument is to go after the man. Morrow can't defend NBN so he goes after Patton. #NBN ain't an NBN.

— Greg Bean (@GregLBean) June 18, 2017

For my part, I say there's no excuse for the head of a government enterprise to be allowed to use Parliamentary privilege to attack people simply because they draw attention to serious issues — in this case, the questionable technology choices being pursued by NBN Co and the negative economic and social consequences for Australia.

In my opinion, failing an apology and retraction, Mr Morrow should be sacked.

I passionately believe Australia needs a 21st century NBN if we are to maintain our place as one of the most advanced and prosperous nations in the G20. On Internet Australia’s behalf, and on behalf of all internet users, I have merely sought to draw attention to obvious flaws in the current NBN strategy – flaws that are increasingly reflected in customer complaints – and to provide solutions based on expert advice. I’ve raised my concerns directly with the prime minister and with the leader of the opposition. Each has listened respectfully to what I’ve had to say. On the other hand, Mr Morrow thinks it appropriate to use Parliamentary privilege to attack me and the board of Internet Australia rather than heed what we, and many other respected people and organisations, are saying.

This is also from Hansard (p75) and is included in my right of reply to Mr Morrow’s comments:

'Senator Ludlum: ... you did go in pretty hard on Mr Patton. We checked back in and discovered that actually he was not one of the people that had been blocked at the time [as Mr Morrow had stated].'

And this from my reply:

My reply is that Senator Ludlam is correct and I was not blocked at the time of the first abuse of Parliamentary privilege. Mr Morrow, therefore, gave false evidence on the earlier occasion ...

I also respectfully request that Mr Morrow be required to unreservedly apologise to me and to retract his comments or else be appropriately dealt with by the Senate for his blatant abuse of Parliamentary privilege on two occasions.

read more:https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/nbn-boss-attacks-internet-australia-under-parliamentary-privilege,10423

Trumbull's NBN is a con. It was designed to limit YOUR access to higher technology under false pretences of cost and Labor Party inefficiency. Malcolm and Turdy (Tony Abbott) had to please Mr Murdoch. Murdoch is a (not silent) partner in the only cable TV outlet in Australia. The NBN was going to drive his business below the grassy surface in a cemetery. So Abbott who is an ignoramus of most thing except George Pell's integrity, wanted to do a favour to Uncle Rupe by killing off the NBN. Turnbuckle salvaged some bits... Labor was planning the best thing since sliced cheese. At first, it was going a bit slow because it takes a long while to lay cables over thousands of kilometres. This "slow" was used by the Abbott/Turshit combo to sell you an inferior "cheaper" (read more expensive) product to the node, then hooked up to the Telstra/Telecom/Post-and-Telegraph from before the war (WWII) copper network, in your street, which is already clapped out. If you reached half of your promised NBN speed you would be delighted. But some people reached worse speeds on the NBN than on "dial-up", which was far less than brilliance on a sunny day. When it rained, everything went crap.. So what do we make of this?

There is an organisation called Internet Australia that tried to keep an eye on the progress of the project. They have been attacked by NBN Co., for no other reason that NBN as it stands still stink. You should watch this educational video:

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/gruen/LE1627H001S00

 

Otherwise read all the NBN comments on this site... An endless supply of horror and disappointing hypocrisy from the Liberals (CONservatives)...

 

See toon at top...