Why do I have to live in Australia? I live in a place where we are the furthest from the internet hubs of America and Europe, and to make matters worse, we have fairly slow broadband internet connections, with undersized usage limits.
We currently pay $45AUD (or $36USD) per month for our internet connection, which I would call a fairly average plan within suburban Australia. It has a 10GB download limit, and a speed cap of 512kbps.
Now if I go and look at an equivalent priced American internet service provider (I’m struggling to find anything remotely in the same price range), I found a $35USD plan for California from AT&T. The plan includes a down speed of 6.0Mbps and up of 768kbps. I’m not sure if there is a cap on downloads, but I would jump at a plan like that in a heart beat here in Australia.
We are just so far behind the game when it comes to broadband internet, it just isn’t funny anymore.
The federal government has proposed, and budgeted for the National Broadband Network following the failed tender process for the construction of the network. The Government proposes that the network will provide 100Mbps internet connections to almost 90% of residential homes within Australia. It is proposed that the network will provide fibro optic internet directly to the residential property. Such an ambitious feat for the current government. It won’t be fully constructed for eight (8) years, however, they will be starting construction in Tasmania in the next few months.
What I find ridiculous, is the fact that there is no plan, no business plan created, BUT they are asking regular tax paying Australians to help finance a project privately, that has no business plan behind it. Now my tax dollars are already financing it, plus they want me to invest more, yeah right.
I don’t quite think they have thought it out properly yet, not sure if they actually will, only time will tell.
What are your ideas about this scale of network being constructed?