Would I pay $100-200 to access all FTTH offers, inc the world’s TV on my computer (no need for fancy TV sets, “cable TV”, movie hire, newspapers etc etc etc)? Dumb question!

Yeah, but what cap are they going to stick on this? 50GB-80GB sounds like a lot at first, but not when you consider it as a replacement for TV, radio etc. You can get uncapped internet at a reasonable price in most other countries but in Australia we have to have these piddling little caps and we’ll probably still have them with RuddNet.

As for monthly cost … When Internet was a pup, I paid $750 py for my initial “uncapped” dial-up private internet connection; by 2003 $49.99 pm; later $24. Would I pay $100-200 to access all FTTH offers, inc the world’s TV on my computer (no need for fancy TV sets, “cable TV”, movie hire, newspapers etc etc etc)? Dumb question!

I don’t think you’re the common case for how much people are willing to pay for an internet connection. Remember content will in most cases be an additional cost unless you’re willing to break copyright. Good to see in the news that Labor are looking at the cost of international data (and a bit at interstate data as well) – high speed connections are not much use if you can’t afford to use them.

Huggybunny @ 144 – agreed that software as a service is the way we’re heading. With a good enough network most people who just want a web browser and a word processor may not even need much of an OS at home – back to dumb terminals again I’m getting increasingly skeptical over the costs though – but hey if the government wants to hugely subsidise something I like to use who am I to complain

The list goes on and on. In short a total revolution that cannot ever be supported by “broadband”. Well the only way you could do it would be to install waveguides to every home.(Sort of like fibre optics except slower and more costly). Oh and did I mention that a National system of broadband service with the same speed and capacity as fibre optics would require about 2 GW of extra power stations to be built?
Huggy.

This is what Telstra was going to roll out instead of a decent NBN plan, what a laughing stock.

If I have a faster speed, I need a higher download limit, it is inevitable as I will be able to peruse video content much faster.

I just finished “The Return of Depression Economics” – brilliant and terrifying read. Have you read it? Be honest.

True, Krugman’s fallible like the rest of us, and I’ve heard people dismiss Krugman – though I’ve yet to pin down the reasons why. I understand the Right’s reasons – they started attacking him once he became an unabashed liberal, even though, awkwardly, some right-wing intellectuals once praised him. But what are your reasons?

I often wonder how much the centre-Left really reads the centre-Left. Perhaps it’s capitalism imploding around us, but lately I’ve found myself reading all those dusty old secondhand John Kenneth Galbraiths I bought years ago but never got around to reading. After all, I had the gist of Galbraith nailed down, so why bother? I have the sense that many on our side don’t bother to properly read the likes of Krugman or Galbraith, that they’ve been subtly influenced by the Right’s tactic of automatically dismissing anyone not on the Right as “discredited”.

The thing that impresses me about Krugman is that he was once considered a moderate (read neoliberal-ish) and seems to have changed his views on the basis of evidence.

And like Galbraith, is Krugman now dismissed because he’s admired by plebs like me and can write an intelligible sentence?

That the tubes should be made wide enough to allow the grubby proletariat access to all the tools and services that are now the province of the academic elite is an unthinkable situation.
The smell of threatened privilege is wafting across the land.
The hairy palmed wannabe professors we are going to have to learn to share – get it?
Huggy

Lemme at those tools and services; I’ll buy the wannabes some razors and suck up the stench of threatened privilege. Ahhh! like the odour of a bbq in full flight on a lazy Saturday arvo.

As for monthly cost … When Internet was a pup, I paid $750 py for my initial “uncapped” dial-up private internet connection; by 2003 $49.99 pm; later $24. Would I pay $100-200 to access all FTTH offers, inc the world’s TV on my computer (no need for fancy TV sets, “cable TV”, movie hire, newspapers etc etc etc)? Dumb question!

DeeCee, I’ll second and third that.

… if takeup of wireless broadband continues at its present rate”

Robert, the very premise is absurd, as is the notion that web traffic will remain constant. And of all people who should know better than to scaremonger or rain in the parade, Malcolm “OzEmail” Turnbull is it. More.

The only thing that is likely to get us out of the deep trouble we’re in is if governments fill the gap in private demand. Problem is, as Krugman writes, the people who know better and should be pushing wholeheartedly for maintaining aggregate demand lack conviction.

25,000 jobs can provide a lot of stimulus to the economy. And as with the other public works, the spending is about as evenly spread across the country as you can get.

You seem to me like a thoughtful, intellegent sort of person but your economics seem stuck in the ’80s and ’90s. I’d really encourage you to grab a copy.

Optus may swap fibre-optics for broadband stake

Nor is Optus likely to be the only one. As Mr Krishnapillai (Optus) says:

There’s other players I’m sure who would be looking for similar sorts of arrangements.

“What we would be doing is saying we’ll give you a head start in terms of using the fibre.

“We’ll give you some committed, potentially some committed customer base so you’ve actually got, if you like, the revenue flowing through from day one on this business, in order for us to be integrally involved in rolling out the next generation network.

In other words, a great deal of RuddNet’s basic delivery system – fibre-optic cabling & satellites – and established customer bases are already in place, currently owned by Telstra, Optus and other telcos. If they & the government are prepared to negotiate a fair, fast “swap my infrastructure for a comparable stake in RuddNet Pty Ltd”, both proposed cost & delivery roll out time have been greatly overstated. In fact, much of it will be in place before the next election.

As for monthly cost … When Internet was a pup, I paid $750 py for my initial “uncapped” dial-up private internet connection; by 2003 $49.99 pm; later $24. Would I pay $100-200 to access all FTTH offers, inc the world’s TV on my computer (no need for fancy TV sets, “cable TV”, movie hire, newspapers etc etc etc)? Dumb question!

from what you wrote earlier I suspect you may have just typed “wordpress” into a search engine and ended up at wordpress.org, which involves downloading the core files to host on a server that you pay for via a web hosting service. You don’t want that.

The free blog service at wordpress.com is just a simple sign up service, with all the files hosted on their servers. This is the one you want to check out. It’s easy.

90% of what? Homes eh rental etc…this is 18% Mr T poll dancing pre budget jiggery poky; of course we await the rules & regs post budget; meanwhile…

I note Singtel Optus are cock a hoop as any LKY 1 party 1 state slipper would be; but lets see the detail first and if the norty Telstra (and all those mumsndadsnfamilies investors) regulation ramp it up trade off begins to unravel as the ‘economy’ recovers.

I’m wondering which way Fielding and Xenophon will jump when they get to vote on it. Frankly, I don’t think they’ll dare to give it the thumbs down, because the voters will likely crucify them.

Reading Malvolio’s desperate rabbiting in the link you provided made me laugh. I’d like to know why this clown thinks super fast to broadband is unpopular and inferior to the crap now on offer. The Libduds just get further and further out of touch with what people want. He has proved a real dud, and I still have a sneaking suspicion that he’s really an ALP mole sent in to wreak havoc on the Libduds.

I haven’t made my mind up about the policy. I of course like the idea of restructuring the telecommunications sector to address the mess created by Beazley et al, but I too wonder whether it is the most cost-effective option.

There is the continuous need to compare any big infrastructure project with the snowy river scheme – but not all “nation building projects” end up being either economic or socially useful. They each have to be assessed on their merits.

And on this proposal, not being an expert in the area, I’m not qualified to judge. I’d say that I will reserve judgement until the government publishes a rigorous, independent social cost benefit analysis of the current proposals. However, we all know that won’t happen.

KR set himself for this course years ago and we are about to pay for his ambitous goals. We will all just have to hope that his vision is the right one.

Evidence based policy? Kevin’s got a date with history!!