NBN Co says Melton test not valid, likely uses processes developed there anyway

Far from being an “unrepresentative” document based on bad data, the NBN Co internal presentation which leaked last week was the outcome of five months' work, instigated to create a benchmark for future fibre rollout areas. The furore – Vulture South could even go as far as to call it a kerfuffle – began with the leak of an …

[Fluffy Bunny]

"The furore – Vulture South could even go as far as to call it a kerfuffle "

Since when is a furore less than a kerfuffle?

[John Smith 19]

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"

The Great Oz has spoken.

Indeed if it's so unrepresentative of the country as a whole why choose it in the first place?

And does this mean the overall bill might be knocked down a bit?

[Alister]

The furore – Vulture South could even go as far as to call it a kerfuffle

I say, steady on old chap, let's not go too far, at most it's a bit of a flap, what?

[Trigonoceps occipitalis]

More than a "bit of a flap", nibble perhaps but definitely not a byte.

[BlackKnight(markb)]

we couldnt possibly have FTTP appear to cost anywhere near what it will cost for FTTN, any suggestion that labor had a good idea (although woefully implemented) must be stomped on with the kind of religious zeal that used to be reserved for heretics of the catholic church.

[JeffyPoooh]

FTTH IS A TOTALLY SOLVED PROBLEM - T-shirts already issued

A few months ago, we had Bell Aliant FirbeOP FTTH installed. Amazingly, we live in a low density neighbourhood with multi-acre lots. They rolled an out-sourced fleet of trucks to run the main cables. Then a nice man came and ran the pre-made fiber (length per satellite map images) through the trees to the side of the house in an hour or two. Then another nice tech showed up and screwed some boxes (same ONT box as shown in the image) to the wall in the basement (2 hours). Most of the expense was getting the fiber to the pole in front of my house. The added effort to install in the next 400 feet into my basement was a trivial addition. The whole exercise is financed by the fact that the local telco can now also provide 'Cable TV' service via fiber optic cable. They've opened up a huge new business, and it's working (they're winning). The fact that we now have 175 Mbps and 3ms ping in the forest is just a nice bonus.

Anyone in the world that is still struggling with the feasibility and financing of FTTH needs to reach out to Bell Aliant and see how THEY DID IT already. IT'S A TOTALLY SOLVED PROBLEM.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: FTTH IS A TOTALLY SOLVED PROBLEM - T-shirts already issued

Fibre along poles is quick and cheap.

Fibre through the clogged recesses of Telstra's barely maintained pits and runs is another matter.

Especially once asbestos is found. Each pit drained of water is also a HazMat exercise worth AU$5K a pop, which comes out of the fixed price per splice contracts.

The most hazardous time is getting a cabler starting on the how little NBNCo pay on the fixed-price spice.

[david 12]

For those of you who haven't been there yet, Melton is both non-representative, and a good place to do base-line studies. It is a plain, flat, boring landscape with recent infrastructure.