[LINK] Fwd: NBNCo Home and Businesses newsletter

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

NBN Home and Businesses newsletter
April 2013

<http://www.nbnco.com.au/get-an-nbn-connection/newsletter/april-2013.html?
cid=eml:con:nl-apr13::hdr:txt#bbroadband> 
 

Bush broadband gives double the wholesale speed

Internet connections in isolated communities are about to shift into high 
gear, with NBN Co set to double its wholesale broadband speeds for fixed 
wireless and long term satellite.

On 6 February 2013, NBN Co unveiled its plans to offer a new speed tier for 
their fixed-wireless and long-term satellite services. This means around 
half a million rural homes, farms and businesses can potentially look 
forward to faster broadband speeds..

"Faster speeds will allow people in regional communities to work from home 
like they would from the office, access video-based health services and 
make high-quality video calls to family and friends,*" said NBN Co Chief 
Executive Mike Quigley.

Customers will be able to order services based on wholesale download speeds 
of up to 25 Mbps* from their internet service providers. Wholesale upload 
speeds offered to service providers will also be up to 5 times faster than 
currently available. And no matter the distance, NBN Co offers the same 
wholesale price to service providers whether they're in the city or the 
outback.

As the network expands, more and more people in regional communities will 
be enjoying genuine high speed broadband that will enable whole families to 
enjoy their connection at the same time. It aims to give people in the most 
isolated parts of the country access to economic and social opportunities 
without frustrating drop-outs and slow connections.

NBN Fixed Wireless customers are set to benefit from the faster speed as 
early as June this year, while the Long Term Satellite Service is on track 
to launch in 2015.

No matter where you live in Australia, the benefits of faster internet 
speeds are on the horizon. The NBN is designed to provide high speed 
internet and telephone services for work, entertainment, study and for 
keeping in contact with family and friends. "Every provider has equal 
access to the network," Mike Quigley said. "The NBN is helping to foster 
real competition, and that can drive affordable prices for consumers."

* NBN Co is designing the NBN to be capable of delivering these speeds to 
NBN Co's wholesale customers (internet service providers). Individual end 
user experience, including the speeds achieved and applications received 
over the NBN will depend on a number of factors including the quality of 
their equipment and in-premises connection, the broadband plans offered by 
their service provider and how their service provider designs its network 
to cater for multiple end users.



>From Hobart to Toowoomba, the NBN ramps up the speed and rolls out the 
opportunities

Whether it's music lessons from a Sydney Opera House diva... personal 
cricket coaching with Brett Lee... or language tuition direct from a 
classroom in Japan - events enabled by the National Broadband Network's 
faster speeds and greater capacity are already happening around the 
country.

The number of homes and businesses using services over the NBN almost 
tripled in the 6 months to the end of December 2012, and communities around 
Australia are celebrating a new world of online opportunities.

In the ACT, the NBN already passes more than 4,000 homes and businesses in 
Gungahlin and Harrison in Canberra's northern suburbs. Construction has 
also commenced for around 20,000 premises in the nation's capital, in areas 
including Civic, Palmerston and Amaroo.

On 1 February, eager pupils from Harrison School in Gungahlin participated 
in the first live NBN-enabled Japanese lesson and cultural exchange with 
students from Hokkaido, Japan. Students taught each other words and songs 
in Japanese and English.

Meanwhile, as the first city in South East Queensland to join the network, 
Toowoomba has around 1700 homes and businesses able to connect, and work 
has commenced on rolling out the NBN to a total of 26,000 Toowoomba 
premises.

Mayor of Toowoomba Regional Council, Paul Antonio, welcomed the NBN. "We're 
excited about the growth and innovation opportunities it brings to our 
local businesses and industry, but also the flexibility it allows our 
students to study online and keep in touch with family," he said.

On the NSW Mid North Coast, Coffs Harbour switched on to the NBN on 13 
February 2013. NBN fibre now covers more than 2,600 homes and businesses in 
West Coffs Harbour, and construction work has already commenced for a 
further 24,800 premises in Coffs, Korora, Sapphire Beach, North Boambee 
Valley, Boambee, Boambee East, Toormina and Sawtell.

Using services over the NBN, students from the Coffs Regional 
Conservatorium of Music and Sawtell Public School participated in a live, 
two-way high definition video conference with the Sydney Opera House. 
Australian Opera diva Taryn Fiebig put the children through their paces 
with a series of singing scales and an aria from Mozart's Don Giovanni.

In Tasmania, NBN fibre now covers 14,500 homes and businesses in Deloraine, 
George Town, St Helens, Smithton and Scottsdale in the north of the state 
and Kingston Beach, Midway Point, Sorrell, South Hobart and Triabunna in 
the south. To showcase the network, one of the fastest bowlers in world 
cricket, Brett Lee, and Australian international Pat Cummins beamed live 
into Hobart from the SCG and presided over the world's first NBN-enabled 
cricket coaching clinic for young players.

According to Mike Quigley, NBN Co CEO, the roll-out is building up speed 
fast. "We are targeting to pass more premises in the final quarter of the 
financial year than we will have passed in the entire project up to the 
beginning of that quarter," he said.



Switched-on students and teachers connect with the NBN

As schools around Australia begin connecting to the National Broadband 
Network, teachers and students are finding it a powerful tool capable of 
lighting up young minds and improving educational outcomes.

In 2012, 60 teachers from three Australian schools participated in a 
comprehensive, three-month study to explore new teaching methodologies and 
to put them into practice in their classrooms using services connected over 
the NBN.

The participants found that the connection speed and quality of superfast 
fibre broadband opened up unique opportunities for learning. Expertise 
could be brought into the classroom live from other parts of the world to 
teach students specific skills relating to their curriculum. Using the NBN, 
Willunga High School drama students participated in a live workshop with 
the Bell Shakespeare Company to supplement their study of Shakespeare's The 
Tempest.

One striking result of the NBN study was that teachers found that students 
were more likely to write and to participate when using services connected 
over the superfast fibre broadband. By using social networking tools, class 
discussions that usually only involved a handful of the more confident 
students, began to involve every member of the class.

Prior to their NBN connection, St Peter Chanel Catholic School's slow 
internet speeds made it difficult for teachers to adopt online learning 
methods in the classroom.

"Our download speeds were much slower and we had a lot of problems with our 
equipment," explained Headmaster Clynton Scharvi. "Although we had budget 
for newer technology, we were still restricted by slow internet speeds and 
found it difficult to download large files such as videos and audio 
recordings." Now, Mr Scharvi has found that children are immersing 
themselves in new learning experiences and relishing the opportunities that 
the NBN offers.*

The new approach is designed to increase enjoyment at school, expose 
children to new ways of learning and communicating, foster creativity and 
curiosity, and ultimately deliver better learning outcomes and results.

But it's not just the children who benefit. Superfast fibre broadband is 
also useful in helping teachers in their professional learning and 
collaborations. Teacher training and other interactions are now less 
limited by location.

Moving into an online learning environment where everyone is connected to 
services over the NBN, could also deliver more accessibility and 
potentially lead to cost and time saving benefits. "Those who can't join 
the online learning sessions live, can watch the recorded sessions at a 
time which suits them," said Jennifer Dunbabin, an e-learning coordinator 
with Skills Tasmania. Virtual classrooms can also be used to teach students 
online and offer courses to other schools. Using a camera in the classroom, 
training sessions can be broadcast live over the NBN and enable real-time 
questions and online discussions with students in remote schools.

Australian students face a very different world and a very different 
workforce where they will be required to be skilled users of modern 
technology. Access to technology and high speed broadband in education 
offers the potential of individualised instruction for every student as 
they become actively engaged in and more responsible for their own 
learning.

* Your experience including the speeds actually achieved over the NBN 
depends on some factors outside our control like your equipment quality, 
software, broadband plans and how your service provider designs its 
network.



NBN benefits our blossoming smartphone and tablet market

Smartphone use in Australia has doubled in a single year, with almost half 
of the population now owning one, according to a report released on 1 
February 2013.

Take-up soared by 104 per cent to 8.67 million units over the 12 months to 
May 2012, according to research released on 1 February 2013 by the 
Australian Communications and Media Authority:

 http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_600063

ACMA "Smartphones and tablets: Take-up and use in Australia" found that
9.2 million Australians went online via their mobile phone and 4.4 million 
accessed the internet using a tablet in the six months to May 2012.

What does this have to do with broadband? As it happens, quite a bit.

Most people tend to think of 3G or 4G wireless phone networks when they use 
their smartphones and tablets.

But a lot of data downloaded on these devices is actually downloaded via a 
Wi-Fi network ­- a wireless network that connects a device to a fixed line 
network.

So when people use Wi-Fi to connect to the internet, they're almost always 
making use of fixed-line broadband net works, such as the National 
Broadband Network.

More broadly, global consultancy firm Deloitte has labelled 2013 'The Year 
of the Device', and is forecasting that a billion smartphones will be 
shipped around the world this year.

Deloitte says "Australia's investment in the NBN puts it ahead of most 
other nations in the developed world - but only in broadband."

With a billion smartphones to be shipped this year, the installed base of 
all smartphones is likely to be close to 2 billion devices by year‑end, 
according to Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) 
Predictions 2013.

For further details, see our blog article Why 2013 is "the year of the 
device:" 

 http://www.nbnco.com.au/blog/2013-the-year-of-the-device.html

--
Cheers,
Stephen