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99% of Australians With Broadband By 2009?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-strine-for-"fast" dept.

Recently a study of broadband penetration rates around the world was in the news, because the US has fallen to 24th place worldwide, at 53%. Now comes word that the Australian Prime Minister has announced a $1.68 billion (US) plan to move Australia to 99% penetration within two years. If they accomplish this goal they will be the most-wired nation (South Korea currently occupies the top spot with 90%). The Prime Minister's plan was attacked by his political opponents because it would create a two-tier system with the country's vast (and almost empty) interior served by wireless at "only" 12 Mbps.

6 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. The Real Reasons Howard Wants Broadband = Spam by tpgp · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Remember - This is the same Prime Minister of Australia (John Howard) who phone spammed the continent prior to the last election, then paid his smug looking son to email spam the nation.

    The reason Howard's talking about broadband (apart from the fact that he's running scared from a buoyant & surprisingly competent opposition with a better broadband plan) is because this will give him access to more Australians to spam, spam spam.

    My apologies for being ontopic. I now return you to your scheduled 'why broadband is crap in the US' offtopic flamewar.

    --
    My pics.
  2. the measurements are wrong!!! by flukus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I saw our communications minister (Helen Coonan) on lateline last night. She had the perfect solution to change all our broadband woes, change the way the measurements are taken. That sums up the current government though. If you don't like the statistics change the methodology.

    1. Re:the measurements are wrong!!! by Snad · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Here in the USA, the standard is "200kbps in at least one direction".

      Here in New Zealand, the definition of "broadband" is essentially "anything that isn't a dial-up modem". Hence the telecoms monopoly gets aways with a 128kbps ADSL link being referred to as "broadband" and although I've never actually seen it as such I'm sure there will be those who consider a 64kbps ISDN line "broadband".

      Note for the geographically challenged : NZ isn't part of Australia (yet ... give it time) but we like to whine with the best of them...

  3. Potential Problem by Frogbert · · Score: 4, Interesting

    While this would certainly be a great improvement for Australia I have to wonder if we will have enough offshore bandwidth to keep up with the demand this network will create. Australian offshore bandwidth is in short supply after Telstra gave everyone access to 8mbps ADSL1 plans, I can only see this getting worse. As far as a short term solution I think it is time that the Government reformed library laws to allow an "Australian Online Library" that hosted television shows and movies for the country. It wouldn't be popular with the media companies, but then again Australia is its own nation so there isn't much they could do about it. I know it would never happen but it would be sweet.

  4. 99% of Australia upgraded, but read the fine print by jimmybishman · · Score: 4, Interesting
    According to Tasmania's leading newspaper, The Mercury, the whole state is classed as regional and does not get the upgrades. Currently down here, the main connection we have is ADSL 1.5mb/256k. Some have a connection with a theoretical maximum speed of 8mb, but they have to pay twice the cost and, in practice, may only get 4-5mb based on how far from the phone exchange they are. The contract only says a minimum of 1.5mb. I currently pay AU$49.95 for my 1.5 meg plan with a 10gig download limit per month. Download any more and it's slowed down to a 64k connection. This is actually the fastest and best value plan available to suit my needs and I live in a suburb within 10kms of our state's capital city centre!

    Some really lucky people get ADSL2, but AFAIK, that's only 1 exchange down here in the whole state, servicing Hobart (the capital city) with a radius of only a couple of kilometres.

    So, while we're classed as broadband, we'll still be stuck on connections with a fraction of the speed of our other Aussie counterparts. And forget wireless. Unless they lower the prices significantly, only businesses and the wealthy can afford that!

    Source:http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,2288 4,21929477-3462,00.html

  5. Re:Problem is links going out of Australia. by Matt_R · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The total over(under?)seas capacity will increase 10x in the next year.

    Telstra are building their own 1.2Tbps cable to Hawaii, Pipenetworks are building a 640Mbps cable to Guam, and Southern Cross are upgrading their cables from 240Gbps to 1.2Tbps.

    So things are actually looking good.