back to article nbn™ isn’t fixing HFC, it’s ‘optimising’ it

nbn™, the company building and operating Australia’s national broadband network (NBN), has revealed a little more about what it's doing to the hybrid fibre-coax networks it uses for some retail customers. The company spent billions to acquire HFC networks from Australian telcos Optus and Telstra. Optus’ network has been …

  1. Likkie

    Yeah right!

    "...and will hit its 2020 deadline for finishing the network build."

    and what is the deadline for the chosen technology to be obsolete?

  2. Tac Eht Xilef

    Fool me ... umm, how many times is it now?

    Tony Abbot, September 7, 2013: "I want our NBN rolled out within three years and Malcolm Turnbull is the right person to make this happen."

    AFR, July 3, 2015: "The 2016 commitment was jettisoned when the Government released its strategic review. Speaking on 7:30 the Minister's excuse was that: "And the fact is that the NBN Co is a much bigger mess than even we had thought it is. We have got to stop the spin. We've got to start telling the truth and have some numbers and forecasts."

    Yet in reality the review had found NBN Co in better shape than the Coalition policy assumed, with its worst case scenario falling more than $20 billion short of the April headlines.

    Undeterred the Prime Minister in June said: "By the end of the decade, that everyone will have access to, I think, it's 50 megs download speed, or better. So, this is the commitment that we have made and this is the commitment that we will keep."

    Unfortunately NBN Co is only guaranteeing minimum speeds of 25Mbps on fibre to the neighbourhood (or node) (FTTN) ..."

  3. pro-logic

    A rate of 100,000 a month

    Hmm... I guess that means they'll be doing self install kits.

    That include:

    - ladder

    - power drill

    - 20m coax cable

    - crimping tools

    - various connectors

    - wall plate

    - ntd

    - shovel

    - conduit

    - ikea style 'how to tap the street coax cable, dig a trench, run the coax into the room you want and connect a ntd'

    1. GrumpyOldBloke

      Re: A rate of 100,000 a month

      - spare ntd

      - book of excuses

      - first aid kit

    2. mathew42

      Re: A rate of 100,000 a month

      Two people I know living in different cities have had boxes placed on the side of their walls with HFC cables, However the ready date given by NBNCo is not until next year. I would assume that the lead-in to the house is the most significant part of the work.

      By installing the lead-in it might be reducing the options for changing the network to FTTC or FTTP prior to completion.

      I was sceptical of Labor overbuilding the HFC network and I still don't understand how NBNCo have taken a working network and broken it.

      1. controversy

        Re: A rate of 100,000 a month

        And now the Libs are overbuilding with...wait for it HFC! Way to go Malcolm. Is this still a good idea?

  4. Phil Kingston

    Still got to admire Telstra's balls - sell a failing network to nbn for billions. Then charge billions more to fix it up for them. Genius.

    1. Scoular

      Or the stupidity of politicians

      Politicians who decide they should make technical decisions totally out their field of expertise and make a right mess of it.

      When you are dumb in the mind the whole body suffers. In this case the whole country.

      1. controversy

        Re: Or the stupidity of politicians

        It was all about finding a point of difference to exploit with a view to gaining power and then spinning your way out of the disaster. Works too often but nobody does it as well as the Libs under Tony Abbott.

        Not stupid, just cunning.

    2. GrumpyOldBloke

      Was the skill in selling a 'failing' network or was the skill in keeping the best frequencies for itself and making NBN take the noisy frequencies at the lower end of the spectrum. It would be funny if it wasn't our money and if it wasn't the same federal government negotiating our international trade deals.

      1. julian.smith
        FAIL

        The skill was in finding someone as dumb as Malcolm the Mathematician

        The Uk had Amber "Necessary Hashtags" we have (soon to be had) Malcolm

        1. Adam 1

          @Julian, I think you'll find that the laws of mathematics don't apply here, so it's all good.

        2. controversy

          No Malcolm the Desperate. A hostage to his ambition.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Still got to admire Telstra's balls - sell a failing network to nbn for billions. Then charge billions more to fix it up for them. Genius.

      There's a substantial holding of Telstra shares in the Future Fund - that dedicated to paying civil service pensions pot of gold. I'm sure any kicker to the share price didn't go unnoticed.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So how long until they expect to 'tap' the money ?

    Too long for sure, and gee they better be quick anyway because NBN Mobile internet is growing and many may just go with it giving them a better connection to the mobile node across the way. rather than the node around the corner.

    1. julian.smith
      WTF?

      Re: So how long until they expect to 'tap' the money ?

      What is this "NBN Mobile internet" of which you speak?

  6. JJKing
    Flame

    So we get 50Mbps & Third World get 1000Mbps. Wonderful!

    So, this is the commitment that we have made and this is the commitment that we will keep.

    Is that a Core Commitment or just your standard pollie lying one?

    and will hit its 2020 deadline for finishing the network build

    Last month it was published that nbn Co were half way through the rollout. That gives then 19 months to rollout the last half of the country and by their own admission they have put the too hard ones in the last to do basket. So according to their own words, they are telling us they could have rolled out this mess called NBN in 3 to 4 years.

    How long has the COALition be in government?

  7. Andy Mac

    My street has Optus HFC. I abandoned my ADSL as soon as 4g data limits hit three figures. Once the dust has settled (literally), I’ll see whether it’s worth it. Until then, I’m as free as a bird.

    Assuming the bird needs no inbound ports of course. Bloody Optus.

    1. Jonathon Desmond

      One thing I’ve found useful - Although it costs - is that you can use a VPN service providing static IP addresses and incoming connections such as VPNUK (for example, although they only surface your endpoint in the UK, US or Italy at the moment) to work around inbound traffic restrictions.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Port forwarding

        Surely a cheap VPS somewhere would be better?

    2. john.jones.name

      the problem is that optus (and other 4G providers) intercept and cache

      they intercept your DNS and manipulate it

      they log everything you do (to improve it)

      they dont have proper backup when things fail (very few controllers)

      so yes its fine as long as you dont depend on anything...

      1. Mark 65

        That's what VPNs are for. I noticed my mobile internet is way faster when I run a VPN than without. Can only dream of how much tap/filter/intercept the mobile provider is doing to slow it so much in general use.

  8. southen bastard

    Every time Malcolm tells a lie a unicorn dies, put unicorns on the unfinished spieces list.

    The last one died before he even got into politics

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