Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Monday, 23 September 2013
Informative NBN Links
How Fast Is The NBN
This site does a simulation based on the
differences in speeds between Fibre-To-The-Premises and Fibre-To-The-Node.
The vast differences between the NBN and the Coalition's alternative
A very
detailed report on the advantages of FTTP over FTTN.
Ookla Speedtest
Want to know
how fast your current Internet speed really is?
NBN Infographic
Interesting
YouTube clip comparing and explaining the speed differences between FTTP and
FTTN.
NBN alternative: Is Australia's copper network fit for purpose?
Examining
the if the state of the network would support FTTN.
TL;DR The NBN
YouTube clip
in support of FTTP
FTTN a huge “mistake”, says ex-BT CTO
BT FTTN is consistently
being used as an example of what the Australian NBN should be.
http://delimiter.com.au/2012/04/30/fttn-a-huge-mistake-says-ex-bt-cto/
No Confidence or No Clue
Opinion
piece by Sortius about Malcolm Turnbull having asked the NBN Co Board to
resign.
http://www.sortius-is-a-geek.com/vote-confidence/#more-3465Optic Fibre's Superiority Over Copper
Thought I
would keep this brief. There are in depth articles all over the web covering
each of these points in detail. This is just a summary.
Optic fibre
is better when compared to copper because it...
- is the fastest medium known to man for transporting data, both upload and download.
- uses considerably less power saving around $900 million a year.
- has a virtually unlimited life span.
- is cheaper to maintain.
- is upgradable simply by changing the electronic equipment at each end.
- is not affected by moisture.
- sets a very high standard in reliability.
- provides for new business and employment opportunities for businesses screaming out for higher bandwidth.
- allows for telehealth services that can treat patients at home.
- does not need a noisy double fridge sized node containing battery backup and cooling every 600 meters along every street in every neighbourhood.
- will give guaranteed access to online education for all.
Replacing
the copper all in one go with optic fibre will...
- allow for economies of scale with the upgrade.
- finally see the end of the aging and degrading copper telephone network.
- give everyone ubiquitous Internet speeds.
Thursday, 19 September 2013
Light Signals Along The Communications Infrastructure
I was
talking to my sister just the other day about the NBN. Turns out she knew very
little about it. Sure she was aware that fibre was the better and faster option
when compared to copper, but that was pretty much it. It occurred to me that
what has been missing in the NBN discussions was some mechanics on the nitty
gritty. Well here goes.
The Labor
FTTP plan had a cost that was on track to be around $43 billion dollars. $30.1
billion of that was to be borrowed from the Australian Government Future Fund
to be paid back at the rate of 7% on a plan that had been confirmed by a senate
estimates committee as being fairly well on track. The rest of the cost was to
come from profits of completed connections and some privately funded equity.
This
method, the method currently being
rolled out prior to the election, would have brought Fibre into 93% of premises
across the country. The remaining 7% being
too impractical or remote to run fibre to, would have access to fixed wireless
or satellite. The interim satellite currently used for regional areas, will be replaced with an all new purpose
built one that will supply greater speeds (not as fast as fibre, but fast
enough considering the impracticability of running fibre to these areas).
Optic fibre
is a fantastic product. Supposedly backwards engineered from discoveries of the
spacecraft that crashed near Roswell in 1947 (according to a General Corso in
his book: The Day After Roswell), it
is to this day the fastest medium for the transference of data between two
points. It has been demonstrated that absolutely staggering speeds can be
obtained with optic fibre not dissimilar to that currently being installed.
This optic fibre is limited only by the electronics at each end. These
electronics can be upgraded relatively cheaply over time. The laying of the
fibre, which only needs to be done the once, is where most of the cost is
borne.
No one
really knows how long the optic fibre will last. Whilst arbitrary figures of
around 25 years have been bandied around, truth is, this is just an estimate
used mostly for accounting purposes. Original cables laid commercially in the
1970's are still going strong. Optic fibre cable is inert to its surrounding
environment and there is no reason for it to ever wear out (excavation damages
excepted).
Not only is
optic fibre orders of magnitude faster than copper, it is also cheaper to power
than copper. These power savings have been estimated to be around $900 million
a year. Copper wire needs periodic power boosters to keep the signal alive.
Signals that travel along optic fibre, however, can go many thousands of
kilometres before degrading to the point of needing boosting. Effectively,
light entering the optic fibre at the exchange can go all the way to the
premises without any extra power input at all. This is a big saving on energy
costs; pretty good if you like the idea of being green.
But this is
just the start. Some clever boffins are working on something they call Photonic
Routers. Photonic Routers will replace electronic routers and use light to direct
the signals along the various paths to reach its destination. Originally
started as a project to help save on power, it has the added bonus of being
extremely fast - much faster than
today's routers. Testing is showing that
they can take virtually anything the specially made lab equipment can throw at
it.
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