[LINK] National Broadband Network - except it's not national.

[Tom Worthington]

Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> David Boxall wrote:
>> On 7/05/2010 10:31 AM, Tom Worthington wrote:
>>   
>>> ...
>>> If the primary way to access the Internet is from a wireless mobile
>>> device, then most of the need for fibre to the home disappears.
>>> ...
> 
> ... given enough demand for bandwidth, is that the cell-to-households 
> ratio would eventually have to approach parity.  ...

The Australian Government seems to be having a bet each way on fibre
versus wireless. Minister Conroy has cancelled the Australian Broadband
Guarantee (ABG) in areas with Telstra NextG wireless broadband coverage
(removing it from 99% of the population). On the one hand the Minister
is talking up the benefits of a 100 Mbps fibre optic cable NBN and on
the other hand saying 1 Mbps (with 256 kbps upload) 3G UMTS mobile
network is good enough under the ABG:
<http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2010/043>.

A wireless cell for every household with NBN access is an option I
suggested and would provide much more than 1Mbps:
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2009/12/nbn-ceo-on-our-broadband-future.html>.

Homes will need a powered fibre optic modem for the NBN. Rather than
have the householder plug a WiFi device into that, I suggest there might
as well be an NBN Co managed wireless device built into each modem,
similar to shared WiFi services:
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2009/11/wifi-share-service-to-supplement-nbn.html>.

Assuming 30% of homes have an NBN fibre connection and wireless cell,
that should be enough to provide wireless access for the remaining 70%
of homes in a suburb. As well as entertainment devices in the homes and
street outside, this could be used for smart electricity meters:
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2009/10/smart-electricity-meters-may-displace.html>.

ps: The figure of a 30% take-up of the NBN comes from a media report:
<http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/industry-sectors/only-30pc-to-log-in-to-national-broadband-network/story-e6frg9hx-1225864251610>


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Lecturer, The Australian National University t: 02 61255694
Computer Science http://cs.anu.edu.au/user/3890