NBN

The National Broadband Network

Hmm

Currently we get our phone and internet over copper.  The copper wires are owned and maintained by Testra.  We get our phone from Telstra and the internet from tpg.
Current expenditure:
Phone Line Rental:  $44.95  (Home line advanced)
Phone Calls: $34.46  (approx 50 calls)
Internet:  $50 for 500GB.

Total monthly spend ~ $130

Current internet usage is about 50GB per month.  We tend to get a bit rate of around 5Mb/s although at times it gets quite laggy although I am not sure whether the blockage is in tpg or in our wifi router.

As a base line comparison, TPG have been advertising that for $79.99 per month you can have
phone line rental, unlimited internet and unlimited phone calls to Australian mobiles and land lines ad some overseas destinations incl UK and USA. Just be clear here that for $80 we get a lot of unlimited.

With the NBN on the horizon I figured I need to consider the economics of it for our family. 

So what will the NBN cost?

That seems easier said than done to resolve
 I will have to look harder.  TPG do not seem to offer NBN plans.

Exetel:

$50 50GB voip at 10c / call

And when will the NBN happen.  

Well according to the NBN web site:

This is the NBN rollout activity in your area.

• Fibre | Construction to commence within three years - we will commence construction in your area from Sep 2015 in phases with last construction scheduled to commence in Jun 2017*.

It is estimated that the average time from construction beginning to NBN services being available is 12 months.

Why I disagree with the NBN

philosophically

I already disagree philosophically with the idea of the government being a telecommunications provider. We are back in the days of the PMG.  I am OK with the idea that the government may decide that for the good of the nation and its citizens that we need more bits per second.  I believe that the government should do that tilting the playing field a bit to encourage business to move in that direction but when private industry have the ball, the government should not run onto the field and kick it or in this case, grab it and run off onto their own special field leaving the remaining players looking bewildered.

Cost

Then I disagree with the cost.  $40 000 000 000 of our tax dollars.

Technology

For the NBN, we are effectively being cajoled into fibre to our house.  But most things in this world are becoming more portable.  Phones, laptops, computers, tablet PCs and so on.  We bought a printer recently that only had a wireless connection.  So connecting without a piece of wire is becomming the easy way of connecting.  At work we will probably go for the fibre as soon as it become available.  At home?  Not so sure.  My suspicion is that that with the steady increase in bit rate on the mobile phone networks that a wireless solution is likely.