Last night on the 7:30 report, Tony Abbott was grilled by Kerry O’Brien about his party’s recently announced broadband policy. Or embarrassed by Kerry O’Brien, to be more correct. In Abbott’s own words: “I’m no Bill Gates here”.
Over the course of the interview, Abbott showed again and again he had no idea about his party’s broadband policy. For example:
KERRY O’BRIEN: OK. You’ve committed a billion dollars for a metropolitan wireless network in place of Labor’s commitment to build fibre delivering high-speed broadband to every metropolitan home. How many hundreds of thousands – hundreds or thousands of towers would you have to build? How many thousands of kilometres of fibre would you have to lay to connect them all? And what spectrum would you use to deliver the wireless network?
TONY ABBOTT: Kerry, look, just as the Prime Minister says, I say as well that I’m no Bill Gates here and I don’t claim to be any kind of tech head in all of this. But we are going to have broadband running past we say 97 per cent of households and, yes, we’re not guaranteeing 100 megabits, but we are guaranteeing upwards to 100 megabits. And as I said, we just don’t believe that re-creating a government-owned telecommunications monopoly is the way to go. We think that competition and diversity of technology is the way to go.
TONY ABBOTT: Again, if you’re gonna get me into a technical argument, I’m going to lose it, Kerry, because I’m not a tech head. But we are offering 12 and up and we think in the vast …
KERRY O’BRIEN: But you’re guaranteeing 12?
TONY ABBOTT: That’s right. But in the vast majority of cases, it will be a lot more than that, a lot faster than that.
KERRY O’BRIEN: Well, are you sure about – can you really give that guarantee when you don’t seem to know what peak speed is. I’ll tell you what it is. It’s quite an easy concept to understand. Peak speed is the best speed at which you can download material, usually when people are least likely to be using the internet, like at midnight. At other times, when there is congestion on the net, the speed will be much lower than that. So how can you say as a matter of course that the speeds your system will deliver will actually, more often than not, be much more than 12?
The interesting thing about this interview is that, in conjunction with the Liberal announcement yesterday and the ICT debate, NOBODY from the Liberal party can give us any indication of how the technical elements will work – how many towers, what spectrum they’re planning on using and even how many homes will receive speeds faster than the baseline 12Mbps speeds.
The ABC don’t let you embed videos (yet), but you should click through and watch the video. It’s amazing to watch.
attila
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 2:51 PMDo you think Gillard would be able to answer how many kms of fibre would be required as part of the NBN?
Travis New
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 3:54 PMThe difference is, Is that labour wish to offer fibre. Which we know for a FACT is faster then wireless and much more stable and which is also a proven technology. As the article said neither liberal nor abbot him self can explain how they are offering what they are.
Honestly the way it’s going Telstra is going to beat them to the punch when there high speed will soon hit 82mpbs and there average hit 8mbps+.
Ward Paterson
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:54 PMThe whole NBN is a Labor sham. Its taken them 3 years to start rolling out the network, and of all places they started in Tasmania..!
And regarding Telstra’s network, even they dont reach the people that need it.
I’m surprised the government didnt just go Satellite Broadband for out west. NewSat has the technology to offer it (and are continuing to expand with 2 more satellites covering Australia by 2011), but instead was overlooked for Telstra’s ancient copper..
Sounds like Labor giving jobs to the boys.
Brock Taffe
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 9:50 PM@Ward Paterson, Do you know how bloody slow satellite internet is? Let alone the ping rate.
I’m currently using satellite internet because I live in a rural area and my current ping is 1100 ms. My mate that lives closer to the exchange but uses broadband has a ping of 17 ms (smaller the better). If anyone doesn’t understand what a ping is for the internet. Google it :D
DMZFreak
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 11:47 PMThe Coalitions broadband policy is reminiscent of the old south Australian railway system, in which they had a number of different types of infrastructure producing contradicting results. It was a joke which they spent years trying to repair. Then there was the national rail system. It was not that long ago that the rolling stock underneath the carriages had to be changed at. Albury so that cargo could flow between the states. The result was it took less time to make a whole car than it did to shift it to Melbourne to Sydney. That is not right
The point is that it is consistency in infrastructure has historically lead to the creation of industry. This was what happened when America created their interstate highway system. This is what happened with the original creation of the internet. This is what happened with original design of Steam Engines and the creation of Interchangeable Parts.
Public infrastructure on the cheap does not create Industry. Just as mess of competing interests. Like the old stone circles of potato famine island, they make no sence.
Sylver
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 2:54 PMIt seems like we just can’t win.
One has the choice to vote for someone that insists on mandatory (and flawed) filtering, or someone else that says they will can the much anticipated NBN, and replace it with a wireless network. It’s which ever is the lesser of two evils. Or the Greens.
Josh
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 3:51 PMDidn’t you hear the liberals will block the filter even if labour wins… I’m not saying vote labour I’m just saying.
Jw
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 6:27 PMBut With the greens alliance, will Liberal have to power to block it?
StevoTheDevo
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8:22 AMThe Greens have been Anti-Filter from the day dot…
Assuming Liberals and Greens are true to their word, Labor couldn’t pass a Filter Law unless they inserted it into another bill that was vitally important to pass.
(Even then, the Senate could amend the bill and return it to the Lower House.)
Labrat
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:21 PMYes we can win. Vote Labor in the lower house and Greens in the Senate. Labor will get us FTTH/FTTP and the Greens (and Libs) will block the filter in the senate.
Sweet.
Flame
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 2:55 PMI wonder if Tony Abbott uses the Philips or the Braun shaver?
Tom
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 3:38 PMI reckon he’s a Bic disposable razer type of guy..
Troy MacDonald
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 3:48 PMHa, you’re an idiot. Love it.
From my experience with wireless (next G at full speed), it is horrible for gaming. Playing on xbox live was like being on dial up. Unless this will somehow be an extremely low latency wireless service, it will be useless for online gaming, which is a huge dint in the idea for me.
matt
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 4:05 PMcan’t imagine it would be too good for REAL decent quality video conferencing either…
I mean really, who cares about video and sound quality… but how ANNOYING is the latency!!
Kevin Russell
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:11 PMFixed point wireless is very different to 3G: http://www.nuskope.com.au/
I’ve got it at home and I can actually get pretty decent ping times and download speeds.
Ward Paterson
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:56 PMThe core idea of an NBN was to give the farmers out west access to quicker than Dial-up internet.
Do you seriously think they will care about playing games?? WTF?
StevoTheDevo
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8:25 AMDamn right they care about playing games!
What else is there to do socially apart from get pissed and watch the 3 channels of TV they get (predominantly ABC)?
Ward Paterson
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 11:47 AMYeah, i suppose, thats all i did when I was living in Mt Isa…. Back then, Dial-up and Half-life was still ok lolz
matt
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 3:48 PM“but we are guaranteeing upwards to 100 megabits”
how is that a guarantee at all?
really… the only guarantee in that statement is that it won’t be MORE than 100 megabits…
so…
in densely populated areas… which is better? which is more efficient? wires or wireless?
either way, I don’t think the libs go far enough. the infrastructure to support 100mb/s to a majority of households WILL be necessary in the future.
effortless bluray quality stream… never buy a disc again… imagine all of the raw materials saved. not just movies, but CDs and games… virtual class rooms, board rooms, offices. just imagine the amount of petrol, road, mass transit infrastructure saved. and even more critically for us especially: allow the spreading out of our population, easing pressure on the big centers.
distributed cloud computing and storage… a much more efficient distribution of computing resources. (you would never need a hard drive in a PVR, you would just pull it from the network on demand) where giant, specialized corporations can manage the purchasing, maintenance and upgrading of the majority of IT hardware, handling the process much more efficiently, and all everyone else has to worry about is a thin client that would never have to be upgraded short of a new IO interface.
and thats just off the top of my head.
we are in the I.T. age, of which the internet is just so crucial.
and I don’t even really care about the web… couldn’t give a crap about ‘web2.0′
Stefan
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 3:59 PMup to 100 mega bits, thats so bs. guaranteed it will be the liberal voters areas and the richest people getting that speed.
StevoTheDevo
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8:28 AM(up to) 100mbps will be in HFC areas…
I’m in an HFC area, BUT the cable doesn’t run down my street (there’s a Park on one side, I guess it wasn’t economic to roll out cable to half the number of homes).
So where would the Liberal’s plan leave me? On dodgy Wireless is where at “Up to 12mbps Peak rate”.
Old Timer
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 11:38 PMI recently returned from a 12 month around Oz trip. Before I left my home in the Southern Highlands mobile phone coverage was very average and I mean standing outside in winter listening to crackle from some friend saving money. I had telstra 3G and the black hole won. A lap top and prepaid telstra wireless broadband was aquired to take around Oz. Again no coverage at home. Anyway after a year of travel and returning home I found that Telstra had built new towers, the black hole was gone and I had perfect mobile phone cover and also wireless broadband. The broadband hits me for a massive $12.50 per month and I’m happy with it. So to you and Tony Jones- you can stick your NBN where the sun dont shine. For me I don’t need it, I don’t want it. The future is wireless as it can only get better at a much better price. To Tony Jones. Ask the Lab Health Minister a few medical questions. I’m sure they a well read and tech savy in this field.
Ben
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 4:03 PMOk. Let’s all take Tim Blair’s reader challenge, shall we?
“Your role: You are a researcher at The 7.30 Report.
Your task: Compose impossibly detailed questions for Kerry O’Brien to ask Tony Abbott” such as the one above.
Come on, guys. What a ridiculous question.
Namarrgon
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 4:41 PMAnd yet, the question must be asked.
If the Libs are proposing a solution as technically infeasible as Conroy’s filter, then the onus must be on them to explain publicly how it’s any more than a waste of money.
Otherwise it’s no different from me saying, “Vote for me, I promise to turn Australia’s entire desert interior into a guaranteed lush, green, garden of paradise in less than 11 months, using only the change I found in the parliamentary couch. I’m not a tech-head, I can’t explain the details, but I guarantee it!”
TOm
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:46 PMIt may not have occurred to your ‘brilliant mind’ Namarrgon but Tony Abbott isn’t the only damn bloody person in the Coalition.
StevoTheDevo
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8:34 AMFor mine, the Peak rate question is a pretty basic question that Abbott’s advisers ought to have briefed him on.
Some of the other stuff, ie how many Km of Fibre and how many towers, fair enough is harsh.
But is also something that should have been anticipated and a dodge-around response should have been created.
Abbott was severely let down by his advisers before this interview.
Asking about Peak rate however is a very fair question. When Abbott speaks of “at least” 12mbps when it’s really “up to” 12mbps. They’re completely different speeds as Kerry rightly pointed out and it’s not unreasonable for Abbott to know that (it’s not Tech speak, it’s basic English comprehension)!
Luke
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 4:23 PMOk fair enough Abbott isnt a tech head but that is not what the situation is about… He approved a policy that has no understanding about.
Matt
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 4:41 PMWhen did any journalist ask the same question of anybody from the Labor party?
The government has STILL not provided a business case to show that the NBN would not be a colossal waste of money.
Labrat
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:35 PMHave you not been paying attention to the media for the last 18 months?
What do you think the copper network was worth in 1950? What do you think it is worth now?
A $42bn fibre network is worth $42bn now, what will it be worth in 50 years time? It will appreciate in value.
Then on from that, a fibre infrastructure will be able to be used for a lot more than internet connections and downloading things at 100mbps.
By 1939 Australia was 7th in the world for teledensity ranking, with all capital cities except Darwin connected through a national network of ‘voice grade’ lines and 50% of services through automatic exchanges (significantly better than the UK and most of continental Europe).
Do you think that our government in 1939 could’ve imagined computers/internet/world wide web?
All using a connected infrastructure that they had already built?
What shortsightedness, for (a) the liberals to extended a mixed infrastructure *restricted to internet usage*, spending $6bn in the process.. and for (b) the public to think that a fibre NBN can only be used for internet.
Although it is probably the fault of the spruikers to only think it is capable of web and data internet services.
James Carson
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 4:49 PMkerry LIKES embarrassing tony abbott!! :D :D and i like watching him do it!! only time that the 7:30 report is funny (apart from those two blokes that do the parodies)
Sam
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 4:49 PMIf he hasn’t even learnt the basics, obviously he, or his ministers don’t even really care enough about it to push it.
Also, in 5-10 years time, is a minimum of 12mbits going to be enough? Think back 5 years, a lot of people were still on dial up, how many are now?
dsparrow
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:03 PMI don’t like the bias this website has been taking. It’s loosing me. Please take a more balanced approach.
To echo many people above – this is a stupid question. Could Conroy answer this detail about his own policy? No way. Kerry O’Brien needs to pull his ALP ways back.
You have a go at Tony Abbott for not knowing technical details – however you happily vote Labor who have a Communications minister (the person in charge of this portfolio) who goes about calling things portals and scams? Gez. A leader should know the policy – and Tony does – just not in the micromanagement detail you seem to expect.
I think the Liberals are onto something. If there really is a commercial and economic benefit (the main excuse for the NBN) why not leave it up to corporate business to fork out the money, not tax-payers? Let capitalism do it for us!
Besides, any sane person would choose to allocate these billions to hospitals, education and numerous other channels to make our country great.
Kevin Russell
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:29 PMTo be fair, Gizmodo has had a pretty good dig at Conroy over the filter issue.
dsparrow
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 10:00 PMYep true. I accept that.
It just seems now the Libs will block the filter – all seems forgiven!
greg
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:30 PMBias? The site has been consistently (and correctly) ripping into the Labor policy on internet filtering for frigging ages. *facepalm*
I think people calling Kerry biased just aren’t familiar with his interview style, he’s essentially always a super tough questioner.
Labrat
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:40 PMSorry but the Liberals are on a hide end to nothing. 6bn on wireless tech is a waste of time. I want to be able to not be blasted by yet more microwaves and end up with tumours. I also think that too many people are accepting the notion that Fibre to the premises is only capable of delivering Internet services. Just like in 1930, people thought having copper to their doors were only for talking on a telephone.. (not realising that the invention of faxes, computers, internet were still many many years away)..
We are yet to find out what we can do with such greater bandwidth services. We’ve done a lot with restricted bandwidth, imagine the services with a less restricted bandwidth. Realtime high-def video calls, realtime high def emergency services video/diagnosis.. it’s capable of so much more.. and I’m imagining things based on already-available technology. I can’t yet imagine what it could be used for once the next revolutionary device is invented. That is what this sort of network is for.
It is technology agnostic, and fast.
dsparrow
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 9:50 PM“We are yet to find out what we can do with such greater bandwidth services”
What are those countries that have faster broadband doing differently than us How is it helping their economy? I’m really asking for evidence so I can be swayed but I can’t find any.
It’s not worth the risk for future generations to have to pay off the massive debt.
Ward Paterson
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 6:02 PM@ dsparrow, you’re right on the money. If we wanted to pull hairs, how about asking Gillard why, after she bloated about her proudest moments in government as introducing advanced Occupational Health & Safety regulations during the “great debate”, did all those electricians die installing ceiling insulation???
I hope Tony pulls Labor’s NBN and opts for a fibre + satellite option. The farmers out west need the internet and they need it quick. NewSat could have the west connected in less than 6 months..
How long is Labor’s NBN going to take to reach them????
Adin Knight
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8:53 AMDo you have any idea how much satellite bandwidth costs? Do you understand that if the available satellite is available to the reselling entity, there aren’t a lot of places to go for more? You can’t just lob another one into orbit with a big stick and point a dish at it.
As for dsparrow’s “It’s not worth the risk for future generations to have to pay off the massive debt” ; as someone who has had to deal with the copper network in a wholesale capacity for the last 5 years I can honestly say that I feel lumping the next generation(s) with a far beyond obsolete and decrepit network owned by a single entity is much the worse option. I don’t understand why people can only seem to see to the end of their noses relating to the NBN. “How much is it going to cost me for internets?”. What about how much will it cost in the future when fibre has to be rolled out anyway, or mobile networks (and the necessary fibre to serve it) built out to cover the entire population? Doesn’t anyone understand the expandability of fibre? It’s practically the most future-proofed layer-1 delivery system ever devised.
Anyway, I guess I’m just trying to make myself feel better. I have no doubts people like yourself will vote the Coalition in and what could’ve been the next Snowy Mountain Scheme will go to waste.
Ward Paterson
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 11:49 AMUm, nah, I’ve never voted for the Libs or Nats, but after the farce of failed Labor initiatives over the last 3 years (you’d have to be blind if you cant see it), what choice do I have – I’m certainly not going to vote for the Greens…
AvvY
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 7:36 PMPerhaps this site is biased – I’m not going to argue for or against this since I’m not sure I really know about that.
However in regards to the rest of your comments:
The Libs may be right that the NBN as proposed will not be as great economically as touted. However the idea of leaving everything to the private sector is crazy – if you put your faith 100% behind that, you may as well forget about government services and say the same. Some things work well privately done, some public and some a combination. ALL have their faults, ALL have their benefits. So no one system should be relied on 100% of the time.
The other argument is if Abbott does win, then would you still feel good about $6bn being used to do effectively very little to improve things – doing only things which the private sector as it currently stands should be doing (upgrading/dealing with the copper network).
It boils down to – spend big to get a lot, spend little to get nothing much. Both plans are risky, but despite the potential pitfalls, I’d rather the government spend my money building something which is there to replace 100 year old tech with current and future, than to patch 100 year old tech with 10 year old tech.
Jason Ranieri
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 6:17 PMludlum for PM
Stephen Earp
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 6:28 PMSkip to around 15:00 – and Kerry brings the convo back to the NBN, blowing Abbot away with a line about what future development Australia stands to experience via the NBN, or rather what the Coalition stand to deny the Australian population. Pure gold.
Dale
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 6:48 PMUntil we can get an proper estimate of how much the proposed NBN 100Mb services are going to cost (and for instance when it’s going to be available in my street!) there is no way to validate the policy as good, bad or just complete vapourware.
The only guestimates I’ve heard of were based on 80% takeup by current broadband subscribers at $300/month for 100Mb. I think it’s highly unlikely that they would reach anywhere near 80% at that price.
I’m paying $70/month for a delivered 8Mb service (ADSL2) and to be honest I don’t know what I’d do with the extra bandwidth as I can already download hi-def content faster than I can watch it (what else do you do with it?). You dont need 100Mb fibre for low latency it’s more important to have faster interconnects as at times of peak load it is them that add the greatest latency not the last leg into the home.
As for Kerry’s interview with Abbott – neither of them had a firm grasp of the concepts. I think maybe Kerry’s lining up for the ABC retirement plan for their top journos, that is, standing as a Labor candidate ala Maxine McKew in the last election. They don’t call him Kerry ‘Red’ Obrien for nothing (and its not just his red hair).
dsparrow
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 9:55 PMSpot on Dale!
matt
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 11:57 PMfiber optics… speed of light not fast enough for you? trust me, if latency is your issue, you’d pick this over the lib’s wireless any day.
Fod
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 10:22 AMhttp://www.internode.on.net/residential/broadband/fibre_to_the_home/nbn_plans/
More value than dsl2 pricing.
and it isn’t about what you are doing with it now, it’s what you are doing with it 10 years from now. 1440p+ 3d iptv with hd audio, multiple channels at once to record shows and having your voip phone maintain it’s quality of service while you are doing all that (and most likely more at a higher bandwidth requirement.)
… and that’s only from a residential perspective.
polymath
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 6:48 PMHey, I’d like to drive a Ferrari. They’re much faster than my Ford.
Will the government subsidise that for me too?
Same goes for the NBN.
BTW I just got an 8X speed boost to my internet connection by changing ISPs. No subsidy, no govt. mandated scheme just free enterprise and competition. It costs me less per month now too.
I really think that is the way to go.
nmartin
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 9:22 PM@polymath
At least with the NBN Australia will get a tangible benefit, you may not agree that it will pay for itself or have the desired benefit that many in the tech industry do.
But at least we get a network worth $30-50 Billion, with the Libs they want to give everyone wireles…well I’m sorry, I’m going to stick with my 4mbit adsl 2+ (distance from exchange) over their incredibly crap up 12mbit wireless.
They want to talk about pissing money up against the wall, well using government money to get a wireless network for home/office use is doing exactly that, because nobody will want it because its RUBBISH.
Not to mention Telstra’s 3g/nextg services will be better and cover more people anyway, talk about waste.
Lipka
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 8:10 PMYeah I agree with dsparrow. $43 billion could be better spent.
Want to know something funny?
I briefly visited the National Broadband Network website and I just don’t buy it. In the “Who does the NBN benefit?” section you will find:
1) “Time to download an average compressed movie (1 GB of data)… 1m 20s.” ROFL. Seriously! $43billion dollars so that the family can download a movie faster? I suppose, faster Youtube loading time means increased in productivitiy.
2) “Medical expertise need not be affected by distance. It will be real and immediate with face-to-face contact across Australia and the world.” LOL too. Where will the medicals be when there is a shortage of that!
3) “The NBN will make lodging BAS, online banking or share trading easier and faster and create new channels for delivering products.” How much faster do you need to bank online? Besides what makes a website easier to navigate is the design, help guide and users’ level of computer literacy.
4) “Students will also have access to research materials such as documentaries, educational software and digital books transmitted in real time.” Seriously, can’t they be posted DVDs with course material before/at start of the course/subject?
miles
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 8:11 PMBalanced as in ‘fair and balanced’?
The catchcry of the scoundrel. Balanced journalism should be about reporting facts to support (or otherwise) differing opinions. Not reporting opinions to support differing (ie untrue) ‘facts’.
Just because the one party’s policies are rubbish, does not mean you have to happily vote for the other. That thinking is just the kind of dumb, small minded, sheep mentality that keeps these bastards in power.
The beauty of a representational democracy, since you fail to appreciate its finer points, is you get to vote for a candidate willing to stick up for your interests. It is not just a contest to see if you can pick the winning side.
miles
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 2:01 PMsorry, that was aimed at dsparrow..
doesn’t make sense out of context..
“damn you crappy messaging system!”
(shakes hand wildly at the portals)
Si Mon
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 8:34 PMHAHA oh man that vid was gold.
Tony: “From what i understand they’re stringing uh, cable, on telegraph poles which uh, i’m sure you’ll agree isn’t that impressive in our day and age”
Kerry: “It’s fibre optics which transmit at the speed of light.
uncommon sense
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 11:12 PMI think that both plans will be shelved at the slightest sign of a double-dip recession in the USA.
Creating another monopoly is going to hurt productivity.
Wok
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 12:40 AMMeh, how many people really know.
The plans for the NBN are pretty shit.
How much was spent buying the copper network?
How much more will it cost? Directly and indirectly.
At least liberal can manage the economy. Leave private companies to provide infurstucure.
WTH is my spell check heh.
Grant
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 4:50 AMRemember the internet filter is only on hold till after the election and don’t forget the secrecy around the data retention plan that labor want to introduce which means that everything you do on the internet will be retained for years so they can invade your privacy at will. Big Brother is alive and masquerading as the Labor Party.
I also would like to know how much it is going to cost for a 100MB connection and what the download limits will be?
Will their be bandwidth bottlenecks unless they upgrade the international lines and businesses upgrade their servers-networks and will we pay more because of the upgrades?
How many years will it be before I get connected in a Major City?
Seeing how comrade Conroy and his Labor mates seem so hellbent on introducing a censorship filter and invading our privacy with secret data retention regimes and doing it in a behind closed doors sneaky way I know who I won’t be voting for.
matt
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 9:52 AMhey Giz, seems like we’d all be interested in a “NBN: yay or nay?” article. weighing up the points and – if there even are any – facts, for and against it.
Will Jones
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 10:37 AMHey guys….
You think Abbott actually needs to know how tech infrastructure works? How many Pharmaceutical company board members know the method of action of their products? How many engineering firm CEO’s could tell you about rheology?
The fact Abbott knows nothing about tech is irrelevant. As is the fact he is bad with the economy. We’re voting for him to run the COUNTRY as a whole. Not those two parts of it. Leave tech to the Communications ministers and the economy to the treasurers.
Let Abbott manage the people, not the individual facets of political issues in Australia.
Honestly. You think Jules is any better? She’s probably less intelligent that two poo flinging monkeys at a zoo, and she’s certainly less civilized – being a card carrying member of the Australian Communist party in the 80′s and now beholden to the union factions that control the ALP.
Fuck. He doesn’t know what theoretical peak is? Anyone care to explain the origins of the Westminister system of government and how that pertains to our foundations as a constitutional monarchy, now do it on national tv in 30 seconds or less, on the spot. Can’t do it? Fuck, you’re not qualified to vote.
Rappo
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 12:58 PMI think the interview was a good thing, I’d much rather a polititian who freely admits not knowing the technical aspects and has people to nut such things out, than one who refuses to listen to others (like Conroy).
As for the NBN, the Labor NBN is a joke, we pay for it all to get installed, and then get charged hideous amounts of money to use it and they’re paying insane amounts of money to Telstra for no reason that I can see.
Pete
Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 7:27 PMIf the Liberals have no idea on broadband policy how do they know it is better for the country than the NBN that is considered the gold standard by industry experts?