back to article After 11 years, Australia declares its national broadband network is ‘built and fully operational’

Australia has declared its national broadband network (NBN) is “built and fully operational”, ending a saga that stretches back to the mid-2000s. Minister for communications, cyber safety and the arts Paul Fletcher declared the build complete in a Wednesday statement that admitted 35,000 premises remain unable to connect to …

  1. Winkypop Silver badge
    Alert

    Never forget

    The withered and meddling hand of Murdoch.

  2. john.jones.name
    Go

    Fibre to the Premises

    5G is a joke you only have to look at a coverage map of Australia to understand that they can only install Antenna masts where there is Fibre... your essentially sharing a Fibre connection

    Maybe the current bunch of bastards (Australia slang for members of parliament) get in again the NBN might well be sold off to the highest bidder and the highest bidder will maximise the shareholder value by doing what telstra has done for the last years, the bare minimum to keep the money rolling in (nothing but repair and slow upgrades to existing infrastructure) there will be NO INVESTMENT.

    if australia wants to be connected then INVESTMENT is the only way things will IMPROVE.

    Vote for the bastards that INCREASES investment and provide for a way to EARN money in diverse places rather than just in the city (which has plenty of fibre).

    1. theblackhand

      Re: Fibre to the Premises

      "5G...they can only install Antenna masts where there is Fibre... your essentially sharing a Fibre connection"

      It doesn't have to be fibre, there are other backhaul options - microwave/radio are common and capable of significant speeds.

      But yes, you will be sharing that backhaul connection. As you would with pretty much every Internet connectivity option.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Fibre to the Premises

        Troposcatter backhaul!

  3. Khaptain Silver badge

    "The fact that there is a certain number of premises which are not ready to connect is not of itself evidence that the network cannot be treated as ‘built and fully operational’.”

    So something that's not true can be true ? Politicians apparently live with a different set of logic rules than the rest of humanity.

    1. Morrie Wyatt
      Big Brother

      Politicans Logic

      "So something that's not true can be true? Politicians apparently live with a different set of logic rules than the rest of humanity."

      Of course they do.

      They also believe that it is possible to have secure encryption that is breakable by themselves, (or their duly appointed representatives) at any time they feel the urge, but not be breakable by any other party.

      Secure encryption is a binary choice. It's either secure, or it's not secure. There is no third option.

      (Unless you are a politician, in which case tri-state binary somehow becomes possible, and the laws of mathematics no longer apply whenever they happen to be deemed inconvenient.)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "tri-state binary"

        Isn't "fuzzy logic" more appropriate when politicians are involved?

        1. A.P. Veening Silver badge

          Re: "tri-state binary"

          Better to scratch logic completely where politicians are involved.

        2. fobobob

          Re: "tri-state binary"

          Close - "scuzzy logic"

      2. Mike 137 Silver badge

        Re: Politicans Logic

        "the laws of mathematics no longer apply"

        We were formally told quite a while back that the laws of Australia take precedence over the laws of mathematics.

        1. Anonymous IV
          Headmaster

          Re: Politicans Logic

          The Indiana Pi Bill (1897) attempted to get in before Malcolm Turnbull!

      3. Adventurer

        Re: Politicans Logic

        This can be seen as another demonstation why politicians should never be given the right to decide what type of technology should be employed in a national roll out. As you can now see, the FTTN is now out of date, and has to be replaced with a FFTC or a FTTP.

        If the homework was done correctly in the first place, this replacement should never have occurred.

    2. Kane
      Boffin

      "So something that's not true can be true ? Politicians apparently live with a different set of logic rules than the rest of humanity."

      Three and a bit.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Idiot

      How many new properties have been built over the period of the NBN build

      How many new developments are still in progress

      To take it to your extreme would mean the NBN would never be complete

      What a total and utter brain dead labor voting plonker

  4. farvoyages

    "This story was filed over an NBN connection rated to 100Mbps and delivering 52Mbps downloads and 14Mbps uploads over WiFi. Which seldom troubles your text-dependent correspondent."

    This story was read from a NZ UFB connection rated to 1000mbps and delivering 862Mbps downloads and 360Mbps uploads and costing AU$80 per month. I think the correspondent lets the NBN bastards off too lightly. Maaate, Have you really gotten value for money ?

    1. iron Silver badge

      > I think the correspondent lets the NBN bastards off too lightly

      Me too. My connection is rated to 80Mbps and I get the full 80Mbps download. If I only got half of what I'm paying for I would be seriously pissed off.

      1. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge

        I am pretty sure that connected over a wired LAN the author would get the full 100 Mbps.

        But writing from the garden is hopefully better where it is not snowing for Christmas.

      2. Mark Zero

        nbn MTM aargh!

        Me three, I'm on a FTTN connected 'telstra small business package' for a 50Mbps service inc phone and domain hosting for $89/month, when its working I get ~40/9Mbps but regularly due to 850m of 80+ year old copper it either suffers frequent dropouts or the speed is retarded, currently 8/6Mbps.

        The fact that it's a business service means I get much faster responses on tech support and quicker nbn tech appointments but overall the end result is still crap!

        Our neighbours are worse off and I'm trying to get a quote for a community build but that option with nbn has been shut down for now.

        FTTP is the only way!

        Simon, may I suggest that you drop your contract to a 50Mbps one which should be lower cost and the end result is the same.

    2. Clunking Fist

      Kiwi HFC Customer

      An Aussie mate (who is in IT and often works from home) told me he was pleased to be upgrading his plan from 30/1Mbps (down/up) to 60/2. I was stunned. I am on an old HFC network in NZ that gives me 650/100 + "landline" for $70. We can now get what they're calling "hyperfibre" 4000/4000 for the home for $199pm in urban areas. Unfortunately, rural areas aren't getting the same access, but I understand they they're "working on it".

    3. Brad Ackerman
      Pirate

      Australian ISPs are "value for money" only when compared to the US and Canada. NBNCo's (wholesale) ARPU is substantially higher than a retail ISP's in a competitive market.

      1. Mark 65

        Yep, my monthly fee when moving to the NBN when I can no longer stay on HFC will be $20 higher for no real gain.

  5. TeeCee Gold badge
    Facepalm

    I'm amazed...

    ...that politicians ever approve state investment in infrastructure.

    It doesn't matter what a government builds, there'll always be some bunch of ungrateful tossers to slag it off[1]. They'd be better off just staying out of it and allowing whatever it is to merge into the usual background drone of "We should be doing something about this".

    [1] For a start, in any proper democracy there'll be something called an "opposition", who get paid for doing this.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'm amazed...

      First, install a proper democracy...

      One that actually represents people rather than a two party state.

    2. farvoyages

      Re: I'm amazed...

      re: "I'm amazed...that politicians ever approve state investment in infrastructure.

      It doesn't matter what a government builds, there'll always be some bunch of ungrateful tossers to slag it off[1]. "

      I think that's a fair comment and I have upvoted your post -it's just that I thought the politicians' job was to mandate that investment *and* make sure it is done wisely/efficiently/for the benefit of the people and the country, not the telco's.

      what bewilders me is that Aussies have not taken to the streets with pitchforks over this whole NBN misadventure

  6. kneedragon

    Why is that in WTF stories? Well ... read it. Does that belong in serious news articles?

    The Broads_Banned network we have, is not the same as ADSL, and if I'm honest I should say it's much better, but it's still not a pimple on the arse of what fibre to every house would have been. Now if it'd come in at 1/3 or 1/4 the price of what the real Broadband Network was going to be, then I'd forgive them, but they've spent pretty much what Kev & Co were planning to spend, except they've donated it to a bunch of wankers, and they've communicated all their high tech thinking through a Mini-sister for Broads_Banned communications who wouldn't know the difference between DOS and Apple. He thinks a command prompt is when he elbows his secretary. He got the job of Prime Monster and he was about as convincing in that role as he was as shadow communications and broads_banned minister.

    And so now they tell us it's finished. Gee ... great. Whoopty-fkn-doo .... Now watch somebody come along in about 10 years and explain how it's all now obsolete and needs to be completely ripped out & replaced. If they'd just done the whole thing properly the first time... The backbones would still need periodic upgrades, I admit, but the last 5 or 10 km, that'd be fine.

  7. bigtreeman

    there yu go

    Fuck eh, there yu go,

    learn something new every day

    I am so tired of Scotty from Marketing

    do nothing

    pretends he's done it all

    wake up Australia

  8. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

    I don't get it.

    "“New premises are being built all the time,” the minister said. “This means that there will always be a number of premises around Australia that are not yet ‘ready to connect’. ""

    Why? Surely whatever their equivalent of Building Regulations are have already been amended such that providing the ductwork for quick connection to the network as part of the finishing out process is in place. No new build should be sold without the infrastructure already in place. After all, connecting new builds ought to be easiest and cheapest since they can do it while the other utilities are going in rather than having to dig roads, paths, gardens etc and reinstating.

  9. Phil Kingston

    I'll not bore you with the saga of getting my FTTN to be actually usable (suffice to say months of complaints and TIO escalations eventually came good). But I am very happy to be on one of the exchanges that will be first to have its copper ripped up and fibre laid. Like it should have been in the first place.

    1. Beeblebrox

      Please do bore us!

      "I'll not bore you with the saga of getting my FTTN to be actually usable"

      Our FTTN NBN is still usable for the time being; when it was rolled out we almost managed a 50/20 connection; around 2-3 years later we can't quite manage 25/5. Maybe we can soon look forward to 12/1 or whatever comes next.

  10. Blackjack Silver badge

    5 G in Australia?

    HAHAHAHA!

    Really?

    Hahaha...

    5 G has a such short range it will never ever offer full coverage in Australia, as least not for like the next five years and by then they will already be pushing for another standard...

    1. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: 5 G in Australia?

      You are in Alice's Spring, aren't you?

      1. Blackjack Silver badge

        Re: 5 G in Australia?

        There are places on the USA still stuck with 1 MB or lower Internet speeds and no that's not the download speed.

        1. Alan Brown Silver badge

          Re: 5 G in Australia?

          Such places can at least switch to Elon's T1000 network

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Still on unlimited ADSL plan

    My area is fixed wireless broadband. When the NBN installer came out he couldn't get a decent enough signal. showed me the line of site photo to the mast and all you can see are tall trees. Planning rules in the are prevent clearing more than 50% of a block without planning permission so I am unlikely to get access anytime soon.

    ADSL service still works fine for my needs at the moment. Allows remote access to work even while the kids are streaming stuff. Possibly there are not many others sharing the PoP.

    1. Adventurer

      Re: Still on unlimited ADSL plan

      Are you eligible for Satellite NBN ? You can keep your landline for that type of NBN connection.

      I am surised there are 359 connections in the small area of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) who have not taken up the satellite connection, according to the latest rollout report.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Australian broadband

    Australian insecure broadband. Courtesy of your government.

    TFTFY.

    For the children.

    You're welcome.

    Scott.

  13. FlossyThePig

    USO

    However Australian outlet itnews points out that over 230,000 premises can't connect at 25Mbps, the speed deemed to represent "broadband" in Australia.

    The Universal Service Obligation (USO) for Broadband in Blighty is a download speed of at least 10Mb and an upload speed of at least 1Mb.

    BT says my 9Mb down and 0.4Mb up is within their parameters.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    That press release in full...

    “Streets Sheila! It’s a fair dinkum! Put down yer esky and drop yer doona! Nah you can get naked pictures of yer favourite sheep right there on yer phone yer bastard! Old croc Dundee would’ve been proud of our Aussie dial up dodahs - we’ve got more of them than we have roos! Strewth! God bless sheep! Pet yer uggs on! Time fer a four-ecks!”

  15. Imhotep

    I Hope So

    "Now watch somebody come along in about 10 years and explain how it's all now obsolete "

    Like my dial up was rendered obsolete by DSL. That is pretty much how technology works and it keeps many of us employed.

  16. Mark Zero

    As George W. Bush said:

    Mission Accomplished

    and we all know how well that worked out...

  17. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Facepalm

    "legislation governing the NBN build requires a declaration the job is done before December 31st"

    Oh, so that's when a project is finished : when there is a law that says it has to be.

    Not when the job is actually done.

    Thanks for the heads-up.

  18. gr00001000
    Headmaster

    surely a typo?

    The plan was said to >>>>>>>>>>retard<<<<<<<<< wide adoption of digital services such as telemedicine or videoconferencing.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like