[LINK] Indonesia Overtaking Australia with Wireless Internet

[Tom Worthington]

Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> Indonesia is jumping from zero or low access to the Internet ...  People
> using fixed connections are already habituated to low latency, and have 
> become demanding about performance. ...

Having limited fixed Internet access may not make much of a difference 
to mobile users perceptions. I see many people in Australia on buses, in 
cafes and at meetings with an iPhone or iPad using the Internet. These 
people did not previously have fixed Internet connections at these 
locations. I don't think they necessary equate their experience of the 
hand held device with that of sitting at a desktop computer.

The latency for a fixed line is much higher than wireless, when you are
sitting on a bus: you have to get off the bus before you can use the
fixed line. Unless you have a trolley bus, with a pole
connecting it to an overhead data cable.  ;-)

> For example, ISPs have had to revise their architecture to minimise 
> backhaul contention. This has been in response to people complaining 
> about poor peak-time performance. ...

Yes, I suspect the major use for the NBN will be back-haul for wireless.
Outside small business, few people will spend much time using a device 
which has a cable plugged into the NBN: most will use a wireless 
connection for the last few metres.

Most of the NBN backhaul will be WiFi in homes and small businesses. 
But the NBN may also be used by carriers to provide micro-cells for 
mobile networks, over a few tens of metres, in high use areas.

> People aren't actually the same: they are the product of their 
> experiences as well as their genetics and culture. ...

Motivations for people seems much the same across the world to me: to be
entertained, fed, clothed, housed, to get on in life, impress their
friends and have their children do well. These will motivate their use 
of telecommunications.

>  To a no-net or  dial-up user, I'm sure a widespread wireless network looks like all the 
> wonders of the universe ...

Many people in developing nations already have mobile phones and know 
what the Internet is. If you offer them a very high speed fibre
optic connection they will not shout "White man's magic!" and bow down
in gratitude. They will say: "How much will it cost? What extra features
will I get? How will it work when I am out of the home or office? Can I
choose my carrier? Will it work when the power goes off? Will it work in 
a flood or earthquake? Will the government use this to monitor me?".


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
Visiting Scientist, CSIRO ICT Centre: http://bit.ly/csiro_ict_canberra