[LINK] How fast is the NBN?

[Tom Worthington]

On 23/02/16 14:06, David Boxall wrote:

> ... go back to the beginning and start over ...

Our governments keep flipping between FTTN and FTTH. Perhaps NBN Co 
should install Composite Fiber/Copper Cable, to accommodate both. ;-)

Rod Tucker's info-graphic for The Conversation envisages a typical 
Australian home in 2020 having a tablet computer, a laptop, four 
smartphones and three TVs, all in use simultaneously: 
https://theconversation.com/infographic-how-fast-is-the-nbn-54392

However, that works out to two hand hand-held devices and one and a half 
TVs per person, all streaming content at the same time. Keep in mind the 
average household had only 2.6 people in 2011 and is getting smaller: 
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3236.0Main%20Features42011%20to%202036?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3236.0&issue=2011%20to%202036&num=&view=

However, how much data you can get at home is of decreasing importance. 
It seems more likely that the priority for the average citizen will be 
data on the mobile device they carry with them.

Recently an acquaintance ordered ADSL for their apartment. Only when the 
modem arrived did they discover there was no phone socket in the 
apartment. They had not noticed the absence of a phone in the several 
months they had been living there, as they routinely use their mobile. 
They sent the ADSL modem back and got a wireless one: problem solved.

Last century, if you had projected how many phones a home would have in 
2015, the answer would likely have been "a lot". Such a question now 
looks irrelevant, as: people have their own phones.

Similarly, I suggest projections of the amount of bandwidth for the 
"home" of 2025 is largely irrelevant. Dithering around with the NBN 
might turn out to have been a master stroke by Australian Governments.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
The Higher Education Whisperer http://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/
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Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science, College of 
Engineering & Computer Science, Australian National University
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