[LINK] Wireless Internet Popular in Australia

[Fernando Cassia]

On Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 5:23 AM, Richard Chirgwin
<rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au> wrote:

> > RF has limited bandwidth, and it´s shared among all users within the
> > same geographical spot. With fibre (or anything "wire-based", if there
> > isn´t enough bandwidth, you lay out a second wire or fibre running in
> > parallel to the first one).
> >
> > And then, there´s overlap. The only reason I have a pay-as-you-go
> > wireless USB modem (3G) is as a backup for the times when my fixed
> > broadband stops working.

> Fernando,
>
> The reason that it's such a debate in Australia is that, even though
> these things are all known, the NBN has become a political badge. Roughly:
>
> Want fibre = ALP supporter
> Wireless is sufficient = Liberal Party supporter

Thanks for comfirming my thoughts. That´s what has been apparent about
this debate all along.

[OT]
Down here the situation is not much better, except there´s no debate.
and no NBN plan at all. The conservatives propose cableTV operators
(HFC) competition for solving the last-mile monopoly problem, and the
left proposing setting mandatory minimum speeds of 1Mbit and fixed
prices (which I´m sure will kill or at least freeze the current market
forever). The current administration, on the other hand, preserves the
status quo, and only plans to offer free Wi-Fi in public places with
limited speeds.
Back to NBN-like schemes.... while I´m progressive, it takes a
"working" (effective) government to pull off something like the NBN.
Down here, if government says it´ll cost "10" and take 2 years,
chances are that it´ll end up costing 1000, and taking 20 years. Not
only for internal incompetence, but also because the national sport is
for the opposition to torpedo everything the current administration is
doing. And this goes on across the political spectrum, if parties are
reversed, the same ends up happening. :)
I´m still fighting to get Local Loop Unbundling enacted down here,
that would at least deliver us from the last-mile monopoly in the
hands of the Spaniards from Telefonica.
[END OT]
I monitor a lot of countries´ regulatory moves with regards to the Net
and competition, and while Spain is not a role model for Internet
quality or speed, their regulating authority did something I had not
seen before... they ruledd by late 2009 that competitors not only must
be granted access to the local loop, but also should be allowed to
pass through ducts below sidewalks, that until now were of the
exclusive use of the incumbent.
http://www.publico.es/273083/monopolio/telefonica/subsuelo
Automatic translation:
http://ho.io/e3np
I wonder if something like this exists in Australia to increase competition?.
FC
PS: I personally don´t think Fiber to the home is essential. I´d
settle for FTTC - Fiber to the cabinet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_to_the_x#Fiber_to_the_curb
At least down here the telco has one distribution cabinet per block.
If you reach that cabinet (near corners on sidewalks) with fiber, you
can then reach the customer the last 200 meters  using the existing
copper. Of course, speeds are not the same.  But there´s always time
to do the last 100-200 meters to your home, for those that need the
extra speed (or want to pay for it).