Posts by mikeinnc

Dyson moans about state of UK science and tech, forgets to suck up his own mess

Re: With two-faced "friends" like Dyson, Britain doesn't need enemies

Love it!! And totally agree.....

A volt from the blue: Samsung reportedly ditches wall-wart from future phones

Re: Thoughts

The dual wall sockets (we call them GPO or 'General Purpose Outlet') with USB included have become very popular and relatively inexpensive in Australia, and I know many, many people - most not at all 'technically' inclined - who have replaced a standard dual plate for one with in-built USB sockets. Way to go!

Morrisons puts non-essential tech changes on ice as panic-stricken shoppers strip stores

Re: I refuse to panic

'BBC reports titles seemed to suggest that - until the article revealed that it was Australia where people were literally fighting over shelf contents.'

Live in Perth, WA and can confirm you won't find a loo-roll anywhere in a shop in Oz. All the supermarkets are completley sold out - and there have been in-store fights over the remaining supplies in Sydney. As many have said, it gives you the sniffles - not the shits! And not only loo-rolls - also pasta, rice, tinned foods, long-life milk - anything that lasts. Empty shelves everywhere. Crazy!!

Oi, Queenslander who downloaded 26.8TB in June alone – we see you

Re: Quick maths

Yes, but as pointed out, uploads are often included here in Oz, and not necessarily 'split out' of the total, so it may well have been a combined total.

The Great British Curry: Put down the takeaway, you're cooking tonight

Re: Cooking Basmati

Almost correct - but a few changes to make it perfect!

1. Boil a kettle

2. Put one cup (it's not that difficult to get plastic cup measures!!) of Basmati rice in a saucepan with TWO cups of boiling water from kettle (1 cup rice is enough for two - always two:one ratio of water to rice)

3. Stir briefly once; cover with pan lid and bring back to boil - it will take a minute or two as water is already boiled.

4. Simmer for 11 minutes - 10 is a minute too short. Make sure steam can escape or you will have a hell of a mess to clear up as rice bubbles over!

5. Remove heat; fluff and leave for a few minutes

Perfect every time.

FTTP NBN gone from draft Australian Labor Party policy platform

No FTTC for you, Sangropers!

FTTC might be an option for some - but not, it would appear, if you live in WA. We are informed by our Grand Poo-Bar Fifield that our ' NBN Is already fully designed' and so that means FTTN for the vast majority. As there is NO budget, nor the political will to upgrade this, it looks like the State will drift slowly backwards over the next thirty or so years. Yet another example of how we are ignored and sh*t on from the eastern states parliament.

Telstra drops nbn™ in it as it wears compo for broadband speed ads

This has got absolutely nothing to do with whether Telstra (or any other ISP) buys sufficient or insufficient CVC ("capacity"). It is simply that these particular copper lines - because that is what they are - will NOT physically support the speeds that were sold to their subscribers. The doubters and naysayers can spruik all they want - if Telstra were to buy ten times as much CVC as it needed for this particular subset of subscribers, they would NEVER, EVER get download speeds above 25Mb/s (which is Telstra's default offering). In fact, many of them are incapable of getting even that paltry speed. Spin it any way you want - you cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear. And the NBN is - putting it politely - more like a sow's turd than its ear!

nbn tries to shift the conversation to future copper upgrades

Re: Chicken & Egg Problem

:Second the $8B is tax payer funds, whereas fibre on demand is your own hard cash."

Except we haven't seen a single fibre on demand connection. Not one. It's been touted; it's been talked about but it is as ethereal as the fairy at the bottom of your garden. The current FTTN network architecture cannot support it, and NBN Co really do not want to supply it. It's just another blatant lie from an ex-communications minister who nose must exceed the length of Pinocchio's by now!

No FTTH under alternative Oz NBN plan, says Oppn. leader

Re: Nice writing Richard...

Actually, I think it is demeaning of the village idiot........

The NBN questions Malcolm Turnbull won't answer

Why we will never get an answer.

The answers to these questions are insignificant. The whole plan is a huge deception; a giant scam to convince voters that the LNP will 'do something' about 'broadband'. As a communications policy, it is a complete dud. A non-starter. There are so many holes in the plan that blind freddy could drive a truck through it. The only conclusion is that if the LNP gain power, they will immediately find myriad excuses why the continuation of any sort of Government plan for a communications upgrade is not possible (and, no doubt, most of them will involve horror stories about the 'unbelievable levels of hidden debt left behind.....'). NBN Co will be sold at fire-sale prices to Telstra, who will do the bare minimum in those areas where there is the greatest profitability. The Australian consumer will be stuffed for a couple of generations - and Turnbull will walk off into the sunset, clutching his brown paper bag full of used banknotes, courtesy of Telstra, completely disillusioned with the Abbot antics but confident in the knowledge that his shares in France Telecom are doing very nicely, thank you.....

Coalition's NBN plan: where's the cost of the copper?

The actual costs are insignificant. The whole plan is a huge deception; a giant scam to convince voters that the LNP will 'do something' about 'broadband'. As a communications policy, it is a complete dud. A non-starter. There are so many holes in the plan that blind freddy could drive a truck through it. The only conclusion is that Turnbull is - again - lying through his teeth. If the LNP gain power, they will immediately find myriad excuses why the continuation of any sort of Government plan for a communications upgrade is not possible (and, no doubt, most of them will involve horror stories about the 'unbelievable levels of hidden debt left behind.....'). NBN Co will be sold at fire-sale prices to Telstra, who will do the bare minimum in those areas where there is the greatest profitability. The Australian consumer will be stuffed for a couple of generations - and Turnbull will walk off into the sunset, clutching his brown paper bag full of used banknotes, courtesy of Telstra, completely disillusioned with the Abbot antics but confident in the knowledge that his shares in France Telecom are doing very nicely, thank you.....

Australia's alternative NBN plan: some taxpayer-friendly questions

Re: I have a question

Strychnine might be one suggestion. They are certainly brain dead.

Opposition leader raises ‘your Internet will cost you more’ spook

Re: Let's be clear about this

"...our kids are going to wonder why they have a fibre network which provides speed in abundance but is sold as a scarce resource."

So this is a reason not to build it? Might I suggest from your comments, you have a very warped, obscure and hopelessly confused attitude to technology. Oh, and by the way, can you please advise all the readers what these other "justifiable" technologies might be? I'm sure we'd all like to buy shares in them.....and, BTW, I've a nice bridge in Sydney you might be interested in.

Let's be clear about this

What seems to be so conveniently forgotten in all these arguments is that the NBN is NOT just about speed. Indeed, one of the biggest problems is that this has become the mantra by which it is judged. There is no doubt we are living with a telephone network that is at 2 minutes to midnight in terms of its useful life. And,

note my careful use of the word 'telephone' That's what the copper network was designed for, and by some marvellous and very clever technology, we have managed to overlay a data network on top of it. But, have no doubt - we are virtually at the end of technological development on copper as it exists in the telephone environment.

The NBN - itself an unfortunate choice of name, since it really is a National Communications Network - is designed to replace the dying copper network. It is a replacement program - replace the dying copper with fibre that will probably see three or four generations of use. To be effective and efficient, this needs to be done in a ubiquitous fashion. It will not be either effective nor efficient - and certainly will be far more costly - to do this in a piecemeal fashion. The value of the NBN comes from doing it once, and doing it with fibre. It is like taking the plunge to buy a new car when the old one is 20 years old. Sure, you can buy a new engine;

buy a new gearbox; buy new steering components because the old ones have worn out. You will keep it on the road, but at what price? And, when do you get to a point that it is more cost effective to buy a new one. Now that new one will almost certainly be 'faster' than the old - but was that really why you bought it? Probably not!

The lack of foresight; the petty politics and the sheer selfishness of the NBN detractors is staggering. This isn't about us - today's' generation. It is about tomorrow's, and the one after and the one after that. Our kids and grandkids will look back with despair if we don't do it - and Australia as a country will be so much the poorer as our Asian neighbours overtake us in the digital future.

NBN zealotry in the ultra-high definition age

FTTN Speed

In your article you suggest that ... "FTTN and wireless are both touted as capable of delivering around 100 Mbits/s to each end user as soon as or faster than it will be possible to install near-universal FTTP."

I think you grossly misunderstand the speeds that FTTN - and wireless - are capable of. FTTN is more likely to offer a top download speed of about 75Mbps - and that only if the copper tails from the cabinet are less than 500m long AND the VDSL is used. However, VDSL requires two pairs of wires - most all premises in Australia only have one, and do you seriously believe we should be laying new copper cables in 2012? So, given the NIMBY situation of where the fridge sized, air-conditioned cabinets will be placed as well as the dire shortage of acceptable copper pairs, top speeds of some 30Mbps are more likely. In fact, many subscribers would only see a 20% increase on current ADSL2+ speeds. The other issue that is NEVER discussed - because it just knocks FTTN into the outfield is upload speed. Currently, the HUGE limitation on cloud computing is the paltry upload speed - often well below 1Mbps on ADSL. On FTTN, this might rise to 5Mbps if you are VERY lucky. FTTP has no such physical limitation. The upload speed may be limited by the ISP for marketing or financial reasons, but there isn't any physical limitation. Most consumers would die for a 25Mbps upload! Wireless is another issue. Unless you were next to the transmitter, with a point to point link, you will be lucky to see 25Mbps! No, sorry - given the small incremental cost of installing FTTP now instead of FTTN now and FTTP within ten years, and given the ubiquitous and certain nature of the resulting network speeds, all the FTTN arguments fade into obscurity.