NBN alternatives: fibre to the node or HFC cable?

NBN alternatives: fibre to the node or HFC cable?: "A third of Australian homes will connect to the internet via pay TV cables under the latest national broadband network proposal.

After scrapping the plan to run fibre to 93 per cent of premises, the government initially proposed switching many homes to fibre to the node – using the copper phone lines to cover the last few hundred metres. Now it supports a multi-technology mix with roughly an even split between fibre to the premises, fibre to the node and the existing hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) pay TV cable.

Fibre to the node will struggle to offer more than 50 megabits-per-second (Mbps) in the near future but could eventually reach 100 Mbps, depending on the condition of your copper line. Cable already offers the 100 Mbps speeds promised by fibre to the premises. Unfortunately cable is highly susceptible to congestion and regularly grinds to a halt for some users.

The multi-technology mix model increases the number of homes on the cable networks, but proposes upgrades to boost speeds and reduce congestion. Even then, cable might still be more prone to neighbourhood congestion than fibre to the premises."

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NBN Co to bring fibre-like uplink speeds to copper - Telco/ISP - Technology - News - iTnews.com.au

Might bring it, but will copper deliver?

NBN Co to bring fibre-like uplink speeds to copper - Telco/ISP - Technology - News - iTnews.com.au: "NBN Co intends to seek upload speeds on the fibre-to-the-node network that mirror those achievable on a fibre-to-the-home connection.

Head of strategy and transformation, JB Rousselot, told a Senate Select Committee yesterday that "expert advice" received from the Boston Consulting Group as part of the strategic review suggested that uplink speeds on FTTH could be matched on FTTN.

"The assumptions that we've put in [are that] all sizes of the FTTN products will deliver the same type of uplink speed that are currently offered on the FTTH products," he said."

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No guarantees on NBN download speeds: Switkowski | ZDNet

The digital divide worsens


No guarantees on NBN download speeds: Switkowski | ZDNet: "Although Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull went to the 2013 federal election promising minimum download speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) for all Australians by 2016, NBN Co executive chairman Dr Ziggy Switkowski said that the company will not be making any such guarantees.

In the press release accompanying NBN Co's strategic review released last week, NBN Co said it would be designing a "new-look NBN" to provide the guaranteed speeds to NBN Co's wholesale customers, while end-user speeds will depend on factors outside of NBN Co's control, including end-user equipment quality, software, broadband plans, and the ISPs.

The result means that although NBN Co would offer the retail service providers a minimum speed, it would not guarantee that the speeds achieved at the end user's premises might be substantially lower than that."

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NBN Co sneaks out gigabit speeds | ZDNet

Found out today that I have that speed to my wall. -Tom

NBN Co sneaks out gigabit speeds | ZDNet: "NBN Co delivered on its promise of making 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) download speed services available on the National Broadband Network (NBN) fibre network before the end of 2013, but the company did not announce the availability of the service until questioned about it by a Senate Select committee.

The 1Gbps down, 400Mbps up service sells at a wholesale price of AU$150 per month, excluding the connectivity virtual circuit capacity charge. NBN Co executive chairman Dr Ziggy Switkowski revealed that NBN Co had met its April promise to have the plans in the market by the end of 2013. He said the services were made available to retail service providers this week, but that he had not made any announcement to the public.

"I'm not aware that we've made an announcement. We're not expecting to be bowled over," Switkowski said."

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NBN trounced by regional offering from locals with an eye for enterprise | Technology | theguardian.com

NBN trounced by regional offering from locals with an eye for enterprise | Technology | theguardian.com: "As arguments on the national broadband network continue, some people have taken matters into their own hands

More than 15 years ago, an optic-fibre cable was laid from Sydney to Melbourne. It went through public and private land, up hill and down dale at a time when ordinary users and businesses were only starting to understand the potential of the great, rambling beast known as the internet.

When it came to our area, a community-minded farming family refused to let the cable be laid through their farm land unless a connection was made to our local town.

For years, the cable lay idle and its ownership changed as local business, council and community groups tried to figure out a way to use it without pouring in great chunks of capital not available to a country town."

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HFC in the National Broadband Network | Simon Hackett

HFC in the National Broadband Network | Simon Hackett: "HFC, the NBN, and the meaning of life

With the release of the NBNCo Strategic Review earlier this week, I’ve seen some very significant misunderstandings (and consequent angst) expressed about the inclusion of HFC into the mix of technologies intended for the NBN rollout.

This post is intended to be a counterpoint to those misunderstandings.

I haven’t written this post to tell you that this is the best, or the only, way to change the shape of the future version of this network.

I haven’t written this because I’ve stopped believing that the best ultimate answer wherever possible is Fibre-To-The-Premises (FTTP) – because it still is."

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Here's The Full NBN Co Strategic Report | Gizmodo Australia

Here's The Full NBN Co Strategic Report | Gizmodo Australia: "ancy a bit of lunchtime reading? Malcolm Turnbull dropped 134-pages of NBN report on us today. Get into it right here.

The full report is being hosted on NBN Co’s website (PDF).

Here are a few headline points to come out of the report:

• The Fibre-To-The-Node rollout has been canned for existing Hybrid-Fibre Coaxial cable networks in the Telstra and Optus footprint, with optimisation to take place on these networks to improve existing speeds

• Bill Morrow, former CEO of Vodafone, is the new CEO of NBN Co.

NBN Co will miss its national 25Mbps roll-out target of 2016, instead pushing the roll-out date back to 2019.

The new NBN roll-out plan will cost $41 billion."

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