[LINK] NBN widening digital divide in bush

[David Boxall]

On 13/07/2011 9:17 AM, Tom Worthington wrote:
> Nikki Tugwell, of ABC News Online's Investigative Unit reports that the
> NBN will widen the disparity between city and country Internet users
> ("NBN disparity threatens to widen the gap", July 12, 2011 14:15:00):
>
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-12/nbn-disparity-threatens-to-widen-the-gap/2791840
>
> It is reported that those in remote areas, beyond the reach of fiber
> optic cable and terrestrial wireless, will receive satellite broadband.
> This will be limited to i Mbps upload speed.
> ...
The area I live in is not very remote. That doesn't guarantee good 
communications. For a bit of history, see 
<http://david.boxall.id.au/History.html>.

My Internet is satellite. I also have a copper land line. Apart from the 
inherent limitations of copper, the main problem with the land line has 
been lack of maintenance and necessary upgrades. Of course, Pair Gain 
and RIMs have added their bit. See <http://david.boxall.id.au/Phone1.html>.

Apart from the inherent limitations of the technology, my satellite gear 
is currently suffering from a well-known issue with water in the feed 
horn. Of course, my ISP denies there's a problem. 
<http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1391585>.
...

>
> This is not to say that the disparity of urban and remote NBN speeds
> will not cause problems,...

Nor should the disparity be permanent. Where there is currently copper, 
why should there not eventually be fibre? If our forebears could lay 
copper, can't we lay fibre? Is it significantly more difficult? Are we 
so much less capable than them?

OK, there probably will always be some disparity. The more remote the 
location, the lower probably will be the achievable bandwidth. It is, 
however, a movable feast. It isn't a case of what the current plan 
delivers is all we'll ever get.

Fibre will and must replace copper. Not immediately, but little by 
little over time. Wireless will precede fibre and satellite will precede 
wireless. Eventually, something will succeed fibre, but that's far 
enough in the future to make investing in fibre worthwhile.

What really disadvantages remote telecom's users is parsimonious 
providers. Whether the provider be government or private enterprise 
makes no difference.

-- 
David Boxall                    |  Any given program,
                                |  when running correctly,
http://david.boxall.id.au       |  is obsolete.
                                |       --Arthur C. Clarke