[LINK] Wireless Broadband for Regional Australia

[Tom Worthington]

On 23/12/13 10:39, Paul Brooks wrote:

> ... Mobile wireless broadband stats are counting USB dongles, pocket
>  cellular/Wifi routers, and dedicated data-only SIMs ... It is not
> valid to intercompare the mobile broadband and fixed broadband stats
> in a meaningful way ...

If we want to make rational resource decisions, then comparisons need to
be made. The mobile wireless broadband statistics could be scaled down 
by the average number of people per Australian household, for comparison 
with household connections. In 2011, there were 2.6 people per household 
in Australia:
http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/0

The number of people per household in Australia is falling. With only
two or three people per household, is it worth planning a roll-out of
broadband to homes?  If each home is to have a fixed connection, then 
that comes at a cost. I don't use a fixed connection at my home, so why 
should I subsidise yours?

Perhaps in telecommunications terms there is "no such thing as a
household". Margaret Thatcher is supposed to have said "no such thing as
society": http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher

Instead of a cable and wireless router for each house, one picocell in
the street could be shared by about six homes. This would provide a
service for about 16 people (plus those out and about in the street).

> Are you telling me you have never 'shared' a printer connected to one
> computer so the other devices in your home could print to it?

No, I have never shared a printer connected to on computer to others in
my home. I rarely print anything. When I need to print, I carry the
laptop to where the printer is and plug it in. Having a shared printer
is a way to waste a lot of paper and ink.

> You've never shared a drive so you can access the files from another
>  computer in your house?

No, I have never shared a drive at home. The people I share data with
are usually not in the same place I am, so a local network is not much use.

> Not if they have a low-quota broadband service, or a low-speed
> broadband service. ...

The low quotas on mobile wireless services are arbitrary limits set by
the telcos to maximise revenue. The speed could be increased by using
smaller cells. But the apparent shortage of bandwidth suits the telcos 
who can then charge a premium for the mobile service.

> ... not if you have tens to hundreds of gigabytes of photos ...

The clinical condition "Hoarding disorder" is a problem in
our consumer society. High capacity storage devices allow the digital
manifestation of this to remain hidden for far longer that with physical
hoarding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
The Higher Education Whisperer http://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/
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Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/