[LINK] Queenstown NBN Forum

[David Boxall]

Text of speech given 8 March. A pdf with graphics can be downloaded from 
Facebook:
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/BIRRR/478514965690529/>
> Queenstown NBN Forum
> Tuesday March 8 2016
> Written & presented by Taz Huxley
> Ladies & gentlemen, distinguished guests, I would like to thank you 
> all for coming
> and giving us this opportunity to discuss the issues surrounding this 
> extremely
> important step into the future development of the west coast region.
> We West Coasters are a resilient lot, we have survived numerous boom & 
> bust
> cycles, which is the nature of mining, we endure some of the worst 
> roads & health
> care facilities in the State, we survive the inundation of rain the 
> region is
> notorious for. Should we now be forced to also crawl into the future 
> on the back
> of the worst possible internet & telecommunications infrastructure, an 
> internet
> service that cannot possibly cope with the demands of current day 
> life, let alone
> the demands of tomorrow.
> In a comment to the Advocate newspaper, on March 7 of this year, Brett 
> Whiteley
> stated that “we all need to focus on what is in the best interest of 
> the long term
> future of our children & grandchildren”. It is vitally important that 
> we do not
> simply think in terms of our internet needs & usage today, but that we 
> look to the
> longer term, & focus our attention on the kind of world our children &
> grandchildren will grow through, & what their needs will be, if we are 
> to have any
> kind of future at all.
> The slide currently on the screen gives us a glimpse into the future, 
> and the
> bandwidth demands that the average household in Australia can expect to
> require in order to maintain an average modern day lifestyle. It has been
> prepared as a result of research undertaken by Laureate Emeritus 
> Profess Rod
> Tuckey of the University of Melbourne. Sky Muster promises us speeds 
> of up to 25
> megabits per second, though, due to factors such as the rain, wind, 
> snow, cloud,
> fog, the total number of users online, & a range of other things that 
> will reduce
> your speeds, the average person can never hope to see speeds at the 
> top of that
> range. That is why they are very care to use the term “up to”. In 
> reality, up to 25
> Mb/s can be anything from dial up speeds to the full speed, but no 
> promises will
> be made about the actual speed you can expect. Anyone who tries to 
> tell you that
> you will get a definite speed is telling you some very large porky pies.
> Professor Tucker shows us that in just four years the maximum speed of 
> satellite
> internet will be less than half the average household needs, and that 
> in less than
> a decade satellite will only cope with less than 20% of our bandwidth 
> needs. This
> certainly does not inspire confidence, & it means that we will be far 
> worse off
> than we ever were in the bad old days of dial up.
> Data allowances on Sky Muster are going to be heavily enforced, with 
> penalties
> for anyone who exceeds, what is termed fair use. The Australia Bureau of
> Statistics, in a report dated December 2015, showed that there had 
> been a 35%
> increase in the amount of data used by Australians, & that the average 
> household
> consumed an average of 85 GB per month, with an average of 8 devices per
> household connected to the internet.
> NBN Co’s fair use policy means that you are not allowed to use more 
> than 75 Gb
> of peak time bandwidth in ANY four week period. Peak time is defined as
> between 7am & 1am, which is when the vast majority of families would 
> be using
> the internet. Those who are awake between 1am & 7am can use up to another
> 75Gb. The ABS statistics showed that two years ago, the average 
> Australian was
> already using far more than the peak allowance will allow. As we move 
> into the
> future it is easy to see how inadequate the data allowances will be. 
> Especially on a
> satellite system that was originally designed to cope with 200,000 
> users, but has
> since been expanded to allow double that, or over 400,000 users to be 
> connected.
> Those who are demanding we accept this sub standard service are trying 
> their
> hardest to convince us that we will be no worse off than other NBN 
> users. On the
> screen you can see a comparison of plans available through one 
> particular ISP.
> The satellite plan represents their maximum data allowances available. 
> With only
> 60GB of peak time data allowed, @ a cost of almost $200 per month, and 
> certainly
> more when you add the cost of your telephone to that, it is more than 
> double the
> cost of either fixed wireless or fibre NBN, whilst giving you less 
> than 10% of the
> data allowance. Even after you have signed up for a deal that will 
> cost almost two
> & a half thousand dollars per year, you will still be 90% worse off in 
> terms of data
> allowance when compared to NBN users on other forms of service delivery.
> This must surely be the most favourite saying of our MP Brett Whitely 
> in regards
> to satellite, that families will be able to stream movies with ease, 
> he also likes to
> tell us about how we will be able to tele-conference with medical 
> specialists. If
> you read the fine print in the agreement you will be making with any 
> ISP you will
> find the second statement on that slide. It clearly states that live 
> streaming, &
> other interactive software are known to perform poorly, and so the 
> satellite
> service is deemed not suitable for those purposes.
> Other interactive software includes, share trading, online auctions, 
> interactive
> gaming, and a range of other applications. But this is not even to 
> consider how
> quickly new technologies and experiences are being developed for 
> delivery via
> the internet. No matter how many times Brett Whiteley & others want to 
> try & tell
> you that you will not have any problems using these types of internet 
> activities,
> the fine print wiill always defeat them, because it is there in clear, 
> albeit very
> small, print…The service is unsuitable for those purposes!
> Fast, reliable internet, with reasonable data allowances opens up a 
> world of
> ecnomic & employment opportunities. As we move into the future, we are 
> already
> seeing a trend towards people working from homing, visiting the office 
> only
> through the internet. This means that people are free to choose where 
> they wish
> to live, but retain their big city jobs & salaries. These are the 
> opportunities that
> our children & grandchildren will miss out on because of the short 
> sightedness of
> this current government. On one of the websites I run I have seen an 
> upswing in
> the number of mainlanders looking to buy homes and relocate to the 
> west coast.
> Many are now seeing an opportunity to pay off their mortgage and still 
> be able to
> purchase home in this region without the need to borrow. The capacity to
> e-commute will have a great influence on the decision as to which area 
> they move
> to. Ordinary families are now looking at the quality of internet 
> provided in a
> region, and basing their decisions on where they will purchase their 
> next home
> on which area offers the best internet services. An area with 
> satellite only
> internet would turn away any family that has the slightest concern for 
> the future
> of their children. This could see our local real estate market slump, 
> and certainly
> drive home prices downwards.
> Our local school will now be offering years 11 & 12 to our children, a 
> part of any
> child’s education that is of the utmost importance if our children are 
> to compete
> in the future job market. How much do we disadvantage their learning 
> potential,
> their research capacity, and their ability to perform well in those 
> final school
> years, when we cannot provide them with an internet service that will 
> allow them
> the speeds and data allowance to properly learn and complete those 
> important
> stages of life?
> Ladies & gentlement, I beg you to think of tomorrow, not today, to 
> look beyond
> the simple internet uuse of movie streaming, but to see the economic &
> educational opportunities that a quality internet service can offer 
> your children.
> It is their future, we cannot screw them over by accepting this 
> service which is
> outdated, & over subscribed, before it has even gone fully live. If we 
> do not fight
> this decision every inch of the way, we are throwing the future of our 
> children
> onto the trash heap.
> Thank you for listening.
> Further information contact:
> Taz Huxley mystic at realtasmania.com
> Ph: 03 6471 2877

-- 
David Boxall                    |  My figures are just as good
                                 |  as any other figures.
http://david.boxall.id.au       |  I make them up myself, and they
                                 |  always give me innocent pleasure.
                                 |                     --HL Mencken