[LINK] Labor to deliver lightning internet speeds

[rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au]

The Sun-Herald could do better than this:
> Most broadband users currently receive only 256 kilobits per second - 
> 100 times less capacity than 25 megabits - using ADSL technology. 

According to *last year's* ABS Internet Activity in Australia, catalogue 
8153:

Up to 256 Kbps - 22% of all subs
Over 256 Kbps - 45% of all subs.

Since when is around 1/3 of the broadband population equal to "most" users?

RC

Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
> Labor to deliver lightning internet speeds
> Jason Koutsoukis
> March 2, 2008
> SMH
> This story was found at: 
> http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/03/01/1204402249626.html
>
> Most homes will have broadband communication speeds up to 100 times 
> faster than what is currently available, under the Rudd Government's 
> plan to wire Australia for the 21st century.
>
> Federal Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy told The Sunday Age that 
> early discussions on the Government's promised broadband network 
> indicated that it would be much faster than previously thought.
>
> "This is going to revolutionise the way Australians live their lives," 
> Senator Conroy said.
>
> Before last year's election, Labor promised to contribute $4.7 billion 
> to help build a national broadband network accessible to 98% of homes, 
> with a guaranteed minimum speed of 12 megabits per second.
>
> But by deploying VDSL, (also known as Very High Speed DSL) technology, 
> Senator Conroy said the new network would be able to carry up to 25 
> megabits per second.
>
> Most broadband users currently receive only 256 kilobits per second - 
> 100 times less capacity than 25 megabits - using ADSL technology.
>
> With internet speeds like 25 megabits per second, people living in the 
> same house will be able to use the network simultaneously for 
> different purposes.
>
> This could include a broadcast-quality video telephone call , while 
> someone else watches high definition internet television, and another 
> person plays online gaming.
>
> Pay television would also be delivered through internet cable, with 
> people able to watch different channels at the same time in different 
> parts of the home, while a feature length film was also being 
> downloaded to a computer hard drive in another room.
>
> Other applications such as "smart" electricity meters, which say how 
> much electricity is being used and at what price, would also be 
> instantly available.
>
> "Labor would welcome the newer VDSL technology as part of its 
> broadband network. This will greatly enhance Labor's current plan, 
> making available a wide range of applications at the same time and 
> begin to fundamentally change the way people live," Senator Conroy said.
>
> "The extra speeds will simply allow more bandwidth-hungry applications 
> to be run at the same time without shutting each other out."
>
> The Rudd Government's broadband network will be built using a 
> "fibre-to-the-node" network design.
>
> This means laying new fibre-optic cables and extending them to the 
> telecommunications pillars found on many street corners. These are 
> called nodes.
>
> Technicians will then attach the fibre-optic cables to the existing 
> copper wires that run out of those boxes into telephone subscribers' 
> homes.
>
> "People imagine that the really hard part about this is digging the 
> trench and laying the new cable," Senator Conroy said.
>
> "That's actually the easy part — the more difficult task is connecting 
> it to every copper line that runs into every home," Senator Conroy said.
>
> On Tuesday, Senator Conroy is expected to announce who will sit on a 
> special expert panel that will assess the bids from Telstra, Optus and 
> other telecommunications consortiums that are competing to build the 
> new network.
>
> The expert panel will assess each bid and make a recommendation to 
> Senator Conroy by July.
>
> "I expect to be able to give final Government approval by the end of 
> August or early September, and hope construction will commence before 
> the end of the year," Senator Conroy said.
>
> The new services would be available progressively, as the new network 
> was rolled out over the next five years, he said.
>
> "It's not like in five years I will stand at a switch and turn it on. 
> New services will be available to people as it is installed in each 
> neighbourhood," Senator Conroy said.
>
> What is VDSL?
> VDSL stands for Very High Bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line technology.
>
> DSL technology transfers data digitally using standard telephone 
> system copper wires at a much faster rate than the old analog modem 
> connections. It is the fastest DSL service available.
>
> Its main advantages are speed and the fact that it is always "on" and 
> does not tie up the phone line.
>