Decrypting the NBN

Once again please let me share a little bit of my writing from beyond the 'blogger'-sphere. This is my second piece to grace the (web)pages of FBi 94.5 Sydney Radio.

My posts have adopted a moniker: 'Pub Politics' (ta-da!) The idea being that we are taking the some of the major topics in Australia today and trying to deconstruct them in the same way you might over a drink or two at the pub.

Hopefully we have something to say. At worst I hope a few people feel more engaged in topics they otherwise might not have approached before.

As always I have retained my original text for this post, but if you'd like to check out the published version...

Decrypting the NBN...

You're reading a blog, good for you! I'm guessing that means you're into this whole internet thing that's been going on. It's okay I guess, what with the music, Facebook, the widespread intelligent discussion of Game of Thrones...

There, there Malcolm...

But will you be voting this September on the National Broadband Network? Well probably not if the poll is held online as traffic slows our upload speeds to a crawl and the election drags into early 2014.

Nothing about the NBN conversation is running smoothly at the moment as Stephen Conroy found while frantically clicking 'refresh' on his browser at the Sydney media launch on Sunday. So I thought I might have a look at some of the issues slowing the data down.

Infrastructure

As both parties attempt to score points for their NBN plans most Australians just want to know how much, how fast and when they'll get faster Youtube clips.

But that's not the point of the NBN and you might just scare Tony back into his old anti-NBN thinking talking like that. Because the National Broadband Network is an infrastructure project designed to

"...give 100% of Australian homes and businesses access to high-speed, affordable broadband through a mix of three technologies." 

There's already 54,000 people in Australia today using the NBN. Unconfirmed reports suggest that it's so fast they're already downloading Season 4 of 'Game of Thrones'.

Faster's Better Right?

It seems like everyone's promising something faster when it comes to the NBN. Perhaps the first and most important thing to note is that any NBN represents an improvement on the current situation. Gizmodo Australia reported in 2011 average download speeds of 348 KBps. When the NBN finally rolls out we are being promised speeds between 25MBps up to 1GBps (fast!)

Why wait for breaking news from Westeros!

Labor has said that they will deliver faster download speeds by way of fiber optic cables right through your letterbox and up through your toilet. The Liberals however have said it might save a few bucks if they just go fiber to the nearest public convenience and then a copper carrier pigeon lugs the data the rest of the way.

To illustrate "the large performance differential of the Labor and Coalition NBNs", James Brotchie built a website called How Fast is the NBN? Brotchie's point is illustrative if not precise and highlights the need for more transparency and details from both parties. It portrays a far swifter Labor NBN for both upload and download speeds.

But the Coalition promise they can deliver the whole system faster. Two years faster! That's shorter than most teenage engagements...

Money Matters

Getting the NBN we want is not going to be cheap though. Sure you can score some free wifi here and there these days but whichever plan you prefer is going to cost Australians billions of dollars.

The policy being spruiked by the coalition also promises to be cheaper. They are emphasizing fiscal responsibility by suggesting that we aim to create only speeds that will be utilised at the moment (ie: slower). Whether this leaves us short in the future is yet to be seen. Certainly we can expect more users pays, especially if you want fiber right up your home.

Huh, Uploads?

One thing we're not hearing a lot about in all the NBN discussion is what the upload speeds will be like. Uploads become really important when you start doing stuff, instead of just watching stuff. From what I could find upload speeds are going to be adjustable on a user pays basis; faster than today but it'll cost you.

Innovation and Future-Proofing

FBi without an NBN?!

Nobodies died of slow internet speeds yet (apologies Call of Duty fans, I see you waving). As we become increasingly inured to our online existence, our work and productivity will likewise be increasingly tied to competitive broadband speeds. Here at FBi we wouldn't last too long if we relied on you all listening us on crystal radios. 

The proof of the NBN pudding will be in how it tastes. Many critics suggest we already have plenty of capacity for email, Facebook, Youtube… all the stuff we’re doing now. This attitude severely curtails innovation and future growth; the point of any infrastructure development.

On the horizon E-health and education are just two sectors touted as potentially huge growth areas as we have access to faster broadband. The point is that we are not operating in a worldwide vacuum. As other countries develop their infrastructure, Australia risks being left behind. 

Probably the most important function of the NBN is the one that hasn't been thought up yet. That toddler in front of you on the bus glued to her mum's tablet? She could be the innovator that's takes our online lives to the next level.

If she has the infrastructure to support it...