Posts by Internet Australia CEO

Internet Australia chair, directors, won't seek re-election

1. So far as NBN Co accusing IA of being “economical with the truth” is concerned. Pot, Kettle, Black!

2. The directors who’ve left have done so for a variety of reasons – in some cases they’d perhaps prefer were not raised, while others had maybe just been on the board far too long?

3. As The Australian has been told many times, my association with the ALP is well known, especially in Canberra, and has not affected my role at IA any more than it did when I was a working journalist.

4. The need for FTTN to be replaced (within 5-10 years of the completed roll out) is the view of Dr Paul Brooks and others with similar tech credibility.

5. I’m not aware of IA ever claiming that XG-Fast would require new copper. All we’ve stated is that it won’t work over many of the longer copper runs in the existing Telstra network.

6. Does anyone seriously believe NBN Co will be able to upgrade (replace) FTTN out of its revenues in any timeframe likely to be in accord with customer needs and expectations? Bill Morrow certainly doesn’t seem to think so. He told Senate Estimates that people wanting faster broadband would have to fund their own upgrades (replacement).

Sure, we could replace FTNN, says nbn™, if you let the unwired wait even longer for broadband

Thanks for the wrap Simon. It's been an honour to fight for something as important as a decent nationwide broadband service. As the Internet Society says, "the Internet is for everyone".

Re: It is NOT FTTC in Australia

The fibre runs through ducts under the footpath not under the kerb anyway!

Re: Why do think they think the copper will be need to be replaced in 10-15 years?

It's simple really. G.Fast, and later on XG.Fast will provide very high speeds over short copper runs, but not over the very long sections of copper wire involved in FTTN. Therefore FTTdp, which only uses copper from the footpath to the premises, can deliver speeds that will suit most people for some time to come, whereas FTTN speeds are already being found insufficient for many nbn customers. But the clincher is that once you've run the fibre through the ducts under our footpaths you have a simple upgrade path to full fibre by replacing short copper runs with fibre. FTTN will not go the distance and all those expensive nodes and their bespoke power supplies will be redundant.

Australian randoms are chill with Internet data retention

Despite being 'sold' as part of a national security / terrorism response, the Data Retention Act is mostly used in drugs related investigations http://www.itwire.com/government-tech-policy/75110-metadata-access-sought-mostly-in-drugs-cases-study.html

Source: nbn™'s fibre-to-the-kerb will be VDSL at 100/40Mbps

It is to be hoped that this is the beginning of the industry's long desired return to building a 21st Century broadband network. The next stage needs to be abandoning the ageing Telstra copper wires in favour of an all fibre rollout, except in the remote areas where fixed wireless or satellite is the only answer.

Australia's broadband policy is a flimsy, cynical House of Cards

Re: Sold down the drain

#FibreToTheFuture

Telstra costed fibre to the premises before it was Telstra

Kerry Packer's successful lobbying on behalf of his Nine Network stalled the introduction of Pay TV for more than a decade. It also shaped the Hawke Government's telecommunications policy and prejudiced the debate about a fibre network. It was an era when the Luddites were in charge in Canberra.

Council of Europe gets tough on net neutrality

I prefer the term "Net Equality". Net Neutrality carries too much inference from the US principle, which is a different market structure to that here in Australia.

Internet Society of Australia changes name to Internet Australia

Re: Hello, I want to complain about my download speeds

Changing the public facing name is an important move. Outside of a small, enthusiastic but largely 'techie' constituency no-one I've spoken to in six months had heard of either the Internet Society or ISOC-AU. The board of Internet Australia is extremely talented and experienced and is committed to making a difference. Increasing the organisation's profile is a necessary prerequisite to achieving the objective of becoming a trusted advisor to government and industry in order to foster our digitally enabled future. The only way to improve download speeds (and upload speeds for that matter) is to have a well known, neutral advocate for everyone who uses the Internet. That's the role to which Internet Australia aspires.

Changing the public facing name is an important move. Outside of a small, enthusiastic but largely 'techie' constituency no-one I've spoken to in six months had heard of either the Internet Society or ISOC-AU. The board of Internet Australia is extremely talented and experienced and is committed to making a difference. Increasing the organisation's profile is a necessary prerequisite to achieving the objective of becoming a trusted advisor to government and industry in order to foster our digitally enabled future. The only way to improve download speeds (and upload speeds for that matter) is to have a well known, neutral advocate for everyone who uses the Internet. That's the role to which Internet Australia aspires.