Imagine an alternate universe. A future, or a past, where a fibre-to-the-premises NBN already exists and is being built out around Australia. Coming up to an election, an opposition campaign to dismantle that network is countered by a series of government advertisements about the advantages of FTTP, and its uses for high-definition video calls, telehealth, and Ultra HD video streaming. This is that universe, and these are those ads.
The incredibly-well-named ‘asscopter’ on Reddit made these three ads, focusing on a fibre to the premises NBN’s advantages — lower latency, higher bandwidth — over the fibre to the node tech currently being rolled out around the country’s metropolitan regions as part of the Liberal government’s multi-technology mix.
Says Mr. Asscopter: “I guess it’s set in a parallel universe where Labor held on to the last two elections and the Liberal Party, led of course by Cory Bernardi, is still vying to destroy a FTTP network.
“Obviously this would only ever exist in an alternate universe now, but I thought it was worth submitting for the discussion. This sub (Reddit’s r/australia subreddit) is pretty up on the tech and benefits of a proper FTTP network, but I think a lot of regular “mums and dads” weren’t (and aren’t), and there was never much of an effort to communicate the benefits to real people. How can we change this?”
A ubiquitous fibre to the premises NBN would be an expensive proposition — fibre to the doorstep of (almost) every home in Australia, whether it’s metropolitan or suburban or rural, would cost a lot of money. That’s the entire idea behind the (supposedly) cheaper MTM, with a wider spread of FTTN and fixed wireless and satellite. And, all politicking aside, it’s unlikely that we’ll see a significant roll-out of curbside fibre any time soon. But it’s nice to dream.
You can see the ads on Imgur, on Reddit, or below.
Image credit: u/asscopter, Imgur / Reddit