[LINK] NBN service accessibility [Was: web: The NBN satellite Malcolm Turnbull never wanted prepares for liftoff]

[David Boxall]

On 12/09/2015 10:29 AM, JanW wrote:
> At 09:47 AM 12/09/2015, Tom Worthington you wrote:
>> The NBN is installing fiber in urban areas, thus making the Internet
>> relatively slower in remote area.
>>
>>> ... NBN does disadvantage rural users *relatively* ...
>
> I reckon there is something important in this.
>
> Just as dominant technology companies design for their dominant markets -- e.g. Microsoft's assumption of unlimited data for updating Win10 constantly without a controlled update for home consumers -- the same happens with other components of the communications ecosphere.
>
> Websites used to design for lowest common denominator to a degree - or at least a mid-level. Remember when people shut off images entirely because downloads on dial-up lines were just too slow to make the experience at all worthwhile to get the info? And designers worth their salt tried to compress images as much as possible to not lose their audience?
>
> I don't think that happens any more. Bloated websites, dragging stuff from all over the place without user knowledge (unless you turn off scripts and get a list showing what is going on behind the scenes), autoplay videos and default auto-next-play videos (Youtube's latest stunt) -- designers aren't thinking any more. They're piling on -- because they can.
>
> So when you combine an assumption of connectivity levels it's just going to get worse -- relatively -- so that those without the expected levels will once again be shut out of full participation.
> ...
That's something that I've been seeing for some time. Until you put it 
into words, I hadn't realised what I was seeing.

My neck o' the woods is remote enough that copper 'phone lines proved 
inadequate many years ago. For a while, I had ISDN, but that maxed out 
at 128kb/s. Telstra discontinued that product. Anyway, the lines have 
aged so they probably couldn't handle it these days.

My neighbours are retired and not exactly well off. Nevertheless, when 
satellite was first offered they signed up. Their primary use was social 
media, to keep in contact with the grandchildren interstate.

They could only afford $20 per month. They signed up with Activ8 
<http://www.activ8me.net.au/internet/ipstarsatellite>. $19.95 gets them 
0.5GB peak and 1GB off-peak at 512kb/s up, 256kb/s down. That's 
$13.30/GB. Very slow gigabytes. Exceeding Data quotas costs them $50/GB.

To cut a long story short, Facebook has grown so heavy that they can no 
longer use it. For them, the usefulness of the service has declined.

To me, the ISP seems to be ripping them off. Is there a case for 
government intervention, both to ensure that adequate levels of service 
are realistically accessible and to prevent rip-offs?

What liabilities are Malcolm Turnbull's fraudband accumulating for 
whatever government has to fix the mess in the (very near) future?

-- 
David Boxall                    |  When a distinguished but elderly
                                |  scientist states that something is
http://david.boxall.id.au       |  possible, he is almost certainly
                                |  right. When he states that
                                |  something is impossible, he is
                                |  very probably wrong.
                                                  --Arthur C. Clarke