[LINK] The Lexus and the Broadband Network

[Tom Worthington]

Political commentators in Australia are struggling to explain the 
difference between ALP and Collation broadband proposals to the voters 
in nontechnical language. The ALP proposes continued roll-out of Fiber 
To The Premises (FTTP) for the National Broadband Network (NBN), whereas 
the Collation wants to use mostly Fiber To The Node (FTTN). My suggested 
analogy is: "Should you buy a new car or fix up the old one" or:

THE LEXUS AND THE BROADBAND NETWORK

The ALP FTTP proposal is like the car salesman offering you a new Lexus: 
sure it is expensive but it will be fast, reliable and last a long time. 
The Collation's custom auto centre says your ten year old Toyota Camry 
(copper cable) is mechanically sound, it just needs some new parts 
(FTTN) and will be much cheaper. Your kids say they don't want a Lexus, 
or an old Camry, they want a cool Italian scooter (Wireless Internet). 
You tell them they will grow out of the scooter in a few years and then 
want useful transport, to which they reply "Whatever". ;-)

ps: In my view, if the government, whoever they are, want to save money, 
they could prioritize fibre roll-out in greenfield sites and areas with 
no, or poor broadband: 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2013/08/the-lexus-and-broadband-network.html


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
The Higher Education Whisperer http://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards
Legislation

Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/