[LINK] Wireless Broadband for Regional Australia

[Tom Worthington]

Gabrielle Chan reports in "NBN trounced by regional offering from locals 
with an eye for enterprise" (The Guardian, 16 December 2013), about 
wireless broadband being offered in the town of Harden in New South 
Wales: 
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/australia-news-blog/2013/dec/16/nbn-trounced-by-regional-offering-from-locals-with-an-eye-for-enterprise

South Western Wireless Communications is offering broadband from $19.95 
a month. But the customer has to purchase the Customer-premises 
equipment (CPE) and it is not clear what frequencies (licensed or 
unlicensed) are being used: http://www.hardeninternet.com/

I get a mention in the article with my likening the of ALP and Coalition 
broadband proposals as being like the choice between a Lexus and a 
10-year-old Camry and suggesting what younger customers want is a 
scooter (wireless broadband): 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2013/08/the-lexus-and-broadband-network.html

The distinction between fixed wireless and mobile broadband is now 
largely one of business model, rather than technology. Ericsson were 
contracted by NBN Co. to provide a 4G / LTE TDD for fixed wireless rural 
broadband. The base stations and protocols used are essentially the same 
as for mobile broadband. The difference is that the customer receives 
the service via an antenna fixed to their home or business, rather than 
via a mobile device: http://www.netcommwireless.com/markets/rural-broadband

Both ALP and Collation broadband proposals have aimed at fixed location 
home and small business users. Also these have assumed a high density of 
new users served by new fibre into each home or terminated at new 
equipment cabinets in each street connecting the last few hundred metres 
of copper cable.

The major cost with FTTP is running the cable from street to the home, 
with FTTN, is installing new cabinets in the street and reconnecting all 
the copper cables to it. However, an alternative would be to install the 
optical fibre in the street and then only connect customers as they 
require a service. Copper cable can be used for up to 1 GBPS, but 
limited to a distance of about 100 m. Perhaps rugged optical modems 
could be installed in the existing pits in the street, to provide 
service to about eight to sixteen homes nearby.


-- 
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/