nbn™ aces the easiest construction target it will have for two years

nbn™, the organisation building and operating Australia's National Broadband Network, has emitted new canned statements to describe its progress that, as always, have a slightly soviet feel to them because as always everything's going just fine. The company says it hit all targets and therefore “demonstrated continuing …

[mathew42]

Inevitable outcome of Labor's speed tiers decision

> There's a tiny drop off in adoption of the 100Mbps download/40Mbps upload speed tier.

14% to 13% represents a 7% decline in 100Mbps connections and still zero availability of plans faster than 100Mbps. In two years the drop from 17% to 17% is a 25% decline. Very much as expected because the percentage of early adopters is declining.

> Might that suggest FTTN users aren't able to get the highest speeds on offer? 25Mbps/5Mbps plans certainly look to be the sweet spot for punters. Which hardly bespeaks broad desire for fast broadband.

The sweet spot for punters is unlimited data. Moving from 25Mbps to 100Mbps means RSP CVC costs can quadrupe, unless congestion enters the network. Punters have noticed the congestion crippling speeds and decided that faster speeds are not worth the expense. This is the exact outcome that was predicted in 2008 when Labor published the NBN Corporate Plan with speed tiers.

In an alternate reality, Labor could have build an NBN without speed tiers resulting in 1Gbps for 93% and FTTN would never have been competitive.

[Jasonk]

Re: Inevitable outcome of Labor's speed tiers decision

Mathew can you explain why ftp users are at $87 per user while fttn at $64 per user

[Pompous Git]

The sweet spot for punters is unlimited data.

Indeed! Or even the kind of bandwidth we used to get on ADSL. For the same dollars I have 10% of my previous bandwidth. IOW streaming video is much more limited on NBN than it was previously.

[Pompous Git]

OK smartarse giving me the thumb down, explain why 50 GB @ 10 Mb/s shaped to 256 Kb/s when you reach the limit is preferable to ~650 GB @ 1500 b/s. As an OAP on $AU85/fortnight (because assets) I can't afford more than $AU50/Mo. Mandatory NBN was very definitely a retrograde step for those of us on a limited income.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Pompous Git

I'm the anonymous smartarse who voted you down. Assuming that you are single, your pension implies you have assets of ~$715,000, or are a home owner with ~$515,000 - If partnered, this changes to -$960,000 and ~$760,000. We live in a pleasant retirement complex, but we don't have your level of assets, so we both get ~$300 each. We wholesale our nbn at $70 for 150 GB @ 60 Mb/s down 20 Mb/s up, which is also shaped, but only if we run out of aggregated capacity in the complex - So far our household use has been roughly 100 GB/Mo, so we haven't been shaped. A bit of looking around found Australian nbn plans with unlimited data 12/1 Mb/s for $65; and another unlimited data plan @ 25/5 Mb/s with unlimited Australian landline calls for $80.

[Pompous Git]

Re: @Pompous Git

We are a couple with lots of assets: the farm and two properties in a nearby small town. Until we sell the farm and move into one of the properties in town, we have very little cash income.

When we were NBNed, there was a choice of EscapeNet's 50 GB/Mo for $50, IINet's 25 GB/Mo for $50 and Telstra's $85/Mo for 25 GB. IINet offered unlimited gaming which was of no interest to either of us. That's FW @"12" Mb/s; "25" Mb/s costs more. Perhaps you haven't heard of the "digital divide".

Our connection is 10 Mb/s as measured by Ookla. The 1500 b/s we had on ADSL1 was 1500 b/s as measured by Ookla. The FW connection goes down regularly for hours at a time, usually on a Sunday. I can only recall the ADSL connection going out once.

As I wrote above: "explain why 50 GB @ 10 Mb/s shaped to 256 Kb/s when you reach the limit is preferable to ~650 GB @ 1500 b/s." You have merely referred to data plans not available to me here in Southern Tasmania. I could churn to a slightly better plan, but that would mean a large exit penalty when we move to town in the new year and go back on ADSL.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @Pompous Git

Same AC here - Sorry, some of your problems are lifestyle choices. Although you did not mention telephone charges, or say initially who your ISP was, I see that Escapenet offers a 12/1 Mbps 250GB NBN data plan for $50, bundling Australian land line calls is an additional $10 - Their ADSL2+ data plan is 200GB for $50, to add a phone to this is an additional $30 with all calls chargeable. I can't comment on the relative reliability of the services or that provider, but in this case the NBN seems cheaper.

We had a different experience, and are entirely familiar with the "digital divide" having lived in what was a small but rapidly grown town in WA. We probably suffered from not having a coalition friendly independent Senator whose vote needed to be bought to get legislation through the Senate, so we missed out there. As you live in "remote and regional", I hope that you didn't think that privatising Telstra was a good idea?

We have had several slowdowns with the the NBN in the early days, usually when the service has been extended locally, but now things are good. Our previous ADSL service was bad with Telstra, although it improved when the rotted copper to the house was replaced, iiNet were better and cheaper, but people around here have found that since TPG bought iiNet, their service has become worse. We ran a business, and tried to avoid lock-in and exit penalties by buying modems etc. up-front...

[Pompous Git]

Re: @Pompous Git

My lifestyle choice was made before the Internet existed. That said, while you describe it as living "remote and regional", there are many living in mainland cities who wish a commute to the CBD took only 35-40 minutes.

Last time I looked (~ 6 months ago), EscapeNet were offering 100 GB for $49.95 (I was rounding up). That they are now offering 250 GB bespeaks lack of uptake*. My contract with EscapeNet is for 50 GB/Mo for $49.95.There's no penalty for exiting that plan now, but any plan I churn to will presumably have one.

Interestingly, the tenant in the house we move to in a few months has ADSL2+, reports faster speeds than I get, and has 10 times the bandwidth. Mind you, the dwelling is only 500 m from the exchange.

EscapeNet never managed faster than 5 Mb/s for the first few months and averaged 3 Gb/s. They blamed Optus and Optus blamed NBN Co. My son lives in the city and reports iiNet going to the pack after excellent service for several years.

I most certainly did not approve of the government selling shares in a business that my taxpayer dollars funded. As a long-time Labor supporter, I eagerly await someone starting a Labor party in Australia. We haven't had one since Jack Lomax was ejected from the ALP for supporting ALP Policy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @Pompous Git

Original AC again. Sorry about the lifestyle crack - I was on the Internet (DARPA/ARPANet) 40 years ago when the monthly cost was probably thousands of dollars, with an initial set up of hundreds of thousands,. The cost of a POTS connection was also a lot more than today in real terms, so I did not have one at home then. Fortunately, when we still had a society, phones were subsidised for people in the countryside. I don't know about the uptake issue - As other posters have said, mobile connections seem to have taken off, even though OZ pays very high data download charges (Perhaps to compensate providers for no longer ripping off SMS users). Perceived competition may be driving the cheaper end of the market for minimum plans. Dodo (who I really cannot recommend) spend a lot on advertising their really cheap NBN plans - $30 for 10GB or $50 for 50GB at 12/1 Mbs but the cost rises very quickly with additional phone calls. I agree about the tax payer funding infrastructure being sold too.

[Pompous Git]

Re: @Pompous Git

Sorry about the lifestyle crack - I was on the Internet (DARPA/ARPANet) 40 years ago...

No sweat; living in Tasmania is a lifestyle choice and one I was delighted to make. It's kind of odd going outside and thinking: "People pay big money to come here and see this landscape". I figure I've spent the last 46 years on holiday ;-)

You beat me to it on the Internet. I signed up to Pegasus when they started up in 1989.

The NBN rollout started here in Tasmania and far from being sweetness and light has been fraught. I guess because Turnbull is being incorrectly blamed for NBN's woes, and I point this out, it's taken that I'm a supporter of the coalition when I was in the 80s an ALP branch secretary. NBN's woes are down to the execrable Stephen Conroy and predate the coalition's electoral win 3 years ago.

I live in a small hamlet of some 40-50 houses that should have been FTTP. We all have electricity and POTS provided on poles. The poles could have carried fibre from the backbone that runs 300 metres or so from the nearest house to the main road. But no, 2/3 of us have FW and 1/3 satellite. And we all still have POTS and electricity. I was recently told the connection between the backbone and the main wireless tower cost ~$1,000,000. The distance from the tower to the backbone is a few tens of metres. The link is over 1,000 metres long. Go figure...

A significant number of my friends have decided to rely on mobile wireless and forego the pleasures of streaming video.

[Pompous Git]

@ AC Re: @Pompous Git

We wholesale our nbn at $70 for 150 GB @ 60 Mb/s down 20 Mb/s up, ... A bit of looking around found Australian nbn plans with unlimited data 12/1 Mb/s for $65; and another unlimited data plan @ 25/5 Mb/s with unlimited Australian landline calls for $80.

That's very fast for Fixed Wireless. According to the RSPs who have local presence in the Huon Valley the best I can get is twice the bandwidth from the RSP I'm currently contracted to. I would be contracted for 24 months so the exit fee would be more than $600.

If you have evidence that I can get "unlimited data 12/1 Mb/s for $65" in Southern Tasmania I'm interested. I checked Belong's claim (1,000 GB for $50/Mo), the closest I could find to yours. When their initial sign-up finished checking my address, they were offering 100 GB for $80/Mo. And it's ADSL, not Fixed Wireless. Not even ADSL2. I call bullshit.

[Winkypop]

Pravda would be proud

In other NEWS, tractor manufacturing reaches an all-time high and the Turnip crop is a bumper this year.

[Medixstiff]

Mum's area was supposed to commence build Q1 2016, they've only just started work a month ago.

Considering they finished running FTTP literally 200 meters down the road this time last year and stated they would go FTTN for mum's area, I do wonder what the hell they've been doing for nearly 12 months.

[Colin Tree]

embiggen

Love how I learn new things from The Reg

Been watching a conduit pulled from 10km away, about half way so far, it's been months. Probably for FTTN, but the future could be FTTP.

[Anonymous Coward]

It is interesting to see that the growth is in wireless and satellite, as at the moment NBN installation contractors Hills and Skybridge are busy shitcaning privet installers, the requirments imposed on installers are high ( i have 20 k invested and only seen 6k return after expenses in 12 months) , being on the ground i can see the whole thing falling down, as the installer base gets screwed over.

[TCP/IP but mostly IP thank you huggies]

New connections to new homes

What they don't disclose is the majority of those new connections are to new builds (large estates) where FTTP is constructed as part of the sub-division ergo NBN did nothing.

[aberglas]

Use for 100 mbs?

What exactly are people supposed to do with it? Run 100 TVs concurrently? Or 20 ultra high definition TVs? The only reason people buy 25mbs is that it is almost exactly the same price as 12.5mbs, and the latter is not available on BigPond.

Meanwhile, I get by on a 1.2mbs long ADSL line. It is plenty for web, and even development (GIT etc). It can run the TV OK as long as I throttle Windows Update. But the line is slowly degrading. And it will not be improved due to the NBN.

[Pompous Git]

Re: Use for 100 mbs?

What exactly are people supposed to do with it?

Well, you get to wait much fasterer. Web pages like this one load just as fast-slow as they do on ADSL. And if like The Git you are limited to 50 GB/Mo, you get to access the Interwebs at 256 Kb/s for half the month. What's not to like?

Throttling Windows Update has a nice ring to it. Sadly, it's not alive :-(

[mathew42]

Re: Use for 100 mbs?

HD video conferencing with multiple people. Great for people who are isolated (either by location or disability).

Applications would have been found but Labor chose to implement speed tiers on FTTP and consumers have decided that unlimited quota is more important that speed, so as expected the end result has been a 1Gbps network where 83% are limited to 25Mbps or slower. For that 83% FTTN or HFC won't make a noticeable difference.

[Pompous Git]

Re: Use for 100 mbs?

HD video conferencing with multiple people. Great for people who are isolated (either by location or disability).

Speaking as someone who is "isolated", i.e. 35 minutes drive from the Hobart GPO assuming an average speed of 80 km/h, we are stuck with FW or satellite. Good luck getting 100 Mb/s from either.

[mathew42]

Re: Use for 100 mbs?

If you live in a rural community then you are another victim of Labor's FTTP ideology. Labor went to the 2007 election with a FTTN platform, but changed to FTTP in 2008 when Telstra refused to submit a resonable tender to build the network. Replacing existing ADSL with FTTN in small communities (<1000 premises) that were considered unviable for FTTP would and still can deliver significant benefits, even if the fastest speeds are limited to the main street.

[foo_bar_baz]

HTH

To summarise the article, the YOY increase in BFB (Bloody Fast Broadband) is preserved thanks to MTM, which spurns FTF (Fiber To Farmer) in favour of RBR (Ruddy Bush Radio).