NBN Rollout Scrapped

[JohnDe]

A lot of Australian grey nomads will sign up for this, internet and phone on the go, this is where personal connectivity is destined to boom.
No matter where you are in the world, you can email or call home.

Starlink Offers Cheapest Plan Yet to Entice Inactive Users

SpaceX invites users in Australia to pay about $9 per month but caps the data to 5GB.

au.pcmag.com

Yes, and it makes you wonder why the Albanese Labor government is going to spend a fortune on fibre when the world is moving on.

Labor has promised $3 billion to upgrade hundreds of thousands of NBN connections and speed up internet services.​

Labor to 'finish' NBN by upgrading FTN to fibre, PM says in election promise

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promises a $3 billion injection to "finish" the National Broadband Network and speed up internet services, as Labor and the Coalition swing into election campaign mode.

www.abc.net.au

 

[sptrawler]

Yes, and it makes you wonder why the Albanese Labor government is going to spend a fortune on fibre when the world is moving on.

Labor has promised $3 billion to upgrade hundreds of thousands of NBN connections and speed up internet services.​

Labor to 'finish' NBN by upgrading FTN to fibre, PM says in election promise

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promises a $3 billion injection to "finish" the National Broadband Network and speed up internet services, as Labor and the Coalition swing into election campaign mode.

www.abc.net.au

Well the fibre to the house, will unlock the inherent limitation on the media, so they will be able able to get the bandwidth to charge for everything you watch. Lol
Instead of having to hear tge monotonous "live and free", you will be able to watch the "pay to watch" logo.

The really funny part is, the Govt last year let off the telcos having to pay $30billion contribution to the installation, now the taxpayer stumps up another $3.8billion to put more nails in their free to air tv access.

None so blind as those who refuse to see, or those who are so rusted on they may as well be missionaries, that position would suit them IMO.

 

[mullokintyre]

Yes, and it makes you wonder why the Albanese Labor government is going to spend a fortune on fibre when the world is moving on.

Labor has promised $3 billion to upgrade hundreds of thousands of NBN connections and speed up internet services.​

Labor to 'finish' NBN by upgrading FTN to fibre, PM says in election promise

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promises a $3 billion injection to "finish" the National Broadband Network and speed up internet services, as Labor and the Coalition swing into election campaign mode.

www.abc.net.au

the world was moving on when NBN was announced.
Telsta was always going to head down the wireless path, and the needed a way to get out of the aeing and maintenance intensive copper network and pits.
Telstra laughed all the way to the bank when Turnbull flogged off the ageing copper network and pits for $11billion back in 2014.
Part of the deal original 2011 deal that Rudd set up was for Telstra not to spruik its wireless network as an alternative to the NBN for a number of years., a tacit agreement that if market forces were to prevail, the emerging wireless would become a bigger competitor to the NBN fixed fibre network.
It is a classic Government inability to understand potential changes to the direction of the world in the future.
Byt he time the bureaucracy has moved at its traditional snail pace on a planned large scale long term tech project, the world has moved in.
Mick

 

[IFocus]

95% of data still goes down cable.

 

[sptrawler]

95% of data still goes down cable.

Business data always will go down a cable, private residential consumers want the flexibility to have one plan that travels with them, well intelligent ones do.
How long has Starlink being going?

SpaceX Teases 1Tbps of Download Bandwidth on V3 Starlink Satellites

The V3 Starlink satellites will be deployed via SpaceX's upcoming Starship vehicle.

au.pcmag.com

Now Amazon want to launch low orbit internet satellites, to compete with Starlink.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/06/world/amazon-kuiper-internet-satellites-spacex-starlink-scn/index.html

it wont be long before all in one internet/phone plans become available with world wide coverage, then it will be interesting to see how residential NBN fares.

Albo throwing another $3.8billion at residential NBN, is just tossing good money after bad IMO. But as long as the faithful are happy, that's the main thing I suppose.

 

[IFocus]

Business data always will go down a cable, private residential consumers want the flexibility to have one plan that travels with them, well intelligent ones do.
How long has Starlink being going?

SpaceX Teases 1Tbps of Download Bandwidth on V3 Starlink Satellites

The V3 Starlink satellites will be deployed via SpaceX's upcoming Starship vehicle.

au.pcmag.com

Now Amazon want to launch low orbit internet satellites, to compete with Starlink.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/06/world/amazon-kuiper-internet-satellites-spacex-starlink-scn/index.html

it wont be long before all in one internet/phone plans become available with world wide coverage, then it will be interesting to see how residential NBN fares.

Albo throwing another $3.8billion at residential NBN, is just tossing good money after bad IMO. But as long as the faithful are happy, that's the main thing I suppose.

The data load private users chew out rises every year and is significant regardless whether its wireless, 5g, star link or what ever it all ends up in a cable.

The only reason people can use other services like above is because NBN does all the heavy lifting plus its not affected by weather to the same degree other services are.

 

[sptrawler]

The data load private users chew out rises every year and is significant regardless whether its wireless, 5g, star link or what ever it all ends up in a cable.

The only reason people can use other services like above is because NBN does all the heavy lifting plus its not affected by weather to the same degree other services are.

We still shouldn't be throwing more money at it, the telcos and media are the ones who benefit financially, they should be stumping up the money, as was the original intention.
All that will happen is less content will be free, anything worth watching will be pay to view, then those that don't have the internet get nothing, yet they will have contributed through their taxes.
Meanwhile the telcos and the media can charge the taxpayer, for what they were receiving for free and the taxpayer funded it.

 

[sptrawler]

Reality catching up with ideology yet again, the NBN should have been left to the telcos to put in and fund, at least Trumps pressure will stop our politicians having brain farts like the NBN in the future.

Highest costs, lowest speeds make NBN a financial albatross for Australia

On this trajectory, the NBN may be ultimately regarded as one of the worst investments in Australia’s history.

www.afr.com

The economics of the NBN are essentially broken. It has never made a profit and does not look like it will any time soon. To maintain its viability, it needs to increase its prices even though it has already increased them by up to 14 per cent since 2023 – yet remains loss making

Spending $3.8 billion to upgrade 622,000 homes will equate to about $6100 per premise. Meanwhile, the recommended retail cost of a Starlink (satellite internet) router is $549, with a monthly service fee similar to an NBN plan.

The only way to ensure NBNCo’s financial survival will be for ongoing cash bailouts from taxpayers. In other words, NBN prices will be masked and passed onto Australians through the tax system.

On this trajectory, the NBN may be ultimately regarded as one of the worst investments in Australia’s history.

 

[mullokintyre]

Another side of the NBN rollout, attracting new customers seems to be somewhat expensive.
From Evil Murdoch Press .

A $750m upgrade of NBN Co’s fixed wireless service has so far yielded only an extra 100 customers, new figures reveal, despite promising to benefit “thousands of homes and businesses” and inject billions of dollars into the national economy.

The government-owned telco said the upgrade – which was announced in early 2022 and completed at the end of December – would deliver “5G-enabled NBN”, providing faster internet speeds across rural and remote Australia. This would generate up to $6.1bn for regional businesses, NBN said at the time, as it helped catapult the bush into the digital era.

But the opposition and rival telco TPG, owner of Vodafone, have questioned that investment following the service’s slow adoption, saying the millions of dollars in levies and subsidies NBN Co receives every year need to be reconsidered or scrapped.

Taxpayers contributed $480m to the wireless upgrade – via a federal government funding boost – while NBN Co tipped in $270m. The federal government has also since injected an extra $3bn into the NBN to upgrade homes on the “outdated” copper network as it makes the future of NBN funding an election issue.

The service was pitched as an alternative to NBN Co’s satellite offering, Sky Muster, which has shed more than 20,000 customers in the past two years as more Australians opt for superior connections from competitors such as Elon Musk’s Starlink.

But the latest market indicators, which the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released on Wednesday, reveal that NBN added only 100 new customers to its wireless service in the December quarter, with overall numbers rising from 404,014 to 404,114.
Mick

 

[sptrawler]

Another side of the NBN rollout, attracting new customers seems to be somewhat expensive.
From Evil Murdoch Press .

Mick

Yes the whole NBN plan was and is a disaster, very few people needed anything better than ADSL2 , now the general public has twice as expensive internet and the government has a huge white elephant.

Rolling optical to CBD's and businesses with high usage, high speed requirement and high security requirement made sense, but to run it to every house starting from low socio economic areas was madness.

Many will be changing over from NBN to wireless and low orbit satellite internet, of myself and my four kids, only two are on the NBN. Two use 4/5g and one uses starlink.

 

[sptrawler]

More pressure about to be applied to the NBN.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/02/amazon-to-launch-first-batch-of-kuiper-satellites-on-april-9-.html

Key Points

• Amazon will launch its first batch of Kuiper internet satellites on April 9.
• The launch is a pivotal step toward beginning commercial service for Kuiper, Amazon’s initiative to beam high-speed internet to customers from low earth orbit.
• Kuiper will compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink service, among others.

 

[sptrawler]

New Design Means SpaceX Can Launch More Starlink Satellites at a Time

The company's new 'V2 Mini Optimized' satellite is 22% lighter than the earlier model, enabling the Falcon 9 rocket to carry more Starlink sats into orbit.

au.pcmag.com

According to the progress report, the V2 Mini Optimized were introduced last year, but the satellite load was only increased to 28 in the last two weeks. Starlink capacity is stretched in certain parts of the US, forcing the company to place new sign-ups for the residential plan behind a waitlist.

SpaceX is now developing a bigger and more powerful V3 Starlink satellite designed to power gigabit internet. But that equipment is dependent on the company’s Starship vehicle, which is still going through test flights.

 

[IFocus]

Finally got home after being on the road for 2 months, NBN instant internet again its a beautiful thing.

 

[sptrawler]

Finally got home after being on the road for 2 months, NBN instant internet again its a beautiful thing.

What, having it, or not having it.

That's what I like about cruising, no contact with the outside world, unless you want it.

 

[sptrawler]

The advantage Musk has over Bezos is, Musk has his own launch vehicle, with space x.
Clever.

Amazon Wants to Build 'Tens of Millions' of Kuiper Dishes to Compete With Starlink

As Project Kuiper prepares to send up its first production satellites this week, Amazon posts a video with an inside look at the company's efforts to build a Starlink competitor.

au.pcmag.com

The major challenge facing Project Kuiper is sending up the needed satellites, an effort that's faced repeated delays. The company says it’s secured “more than 80 launches to deploy that initial constellation.” But the launch deal also relies on newer rocket vehicles, including Blue Origin’s New Glenn, which is still going through test flights.

In addition, the Federal Communication Commission requires Amazon to launch half of its planned 3,200 satellites by July 2026. If it doesn’t, the company risks losing FCC clearance to operate the satellite network, although it could file for an extension.

In the meantime, Amazon plans to send its first batch of 27 Kuiper satellites tomorrow; the launch window starts at 7 p.m. EST.

 

[sptrawler]

Despite SpaceX Protests, FCC Clears AST SpaceMobile’s Massive Satellite

At over 2,000 square feet in size, the FM1 satellite is designed to be roughly three times larger than the company's existing BlueBird satellites currently in orbit.

au.pcmag.com

Although the experimental license prohibits AST from “conducting any commercial operations” through the satellite, the FCC's approval brings the company a step closer to building its satellite-to-phone internet system —avoiding what could have been a prolonged delay

The FM1 marks AST’s first attempt at sending up a second-generation BlueBird satellite, which spans around 200 square meters — or about three times the size of the company’s first-generation BlueBirds. The FM1 weighs in at nearly 13,000 pounds and features a "phased array antenna" at about 199 square meters, letting it operate as a cell tower in space.

The FM1’s increased size and capability promises to help the Texas-based AST SpaceMobile deliver even better satellite internet connectivity to everyday smartphones through carriers including AT&T and Verizon.

The satellite connectivity is designed to power voice, video calls and data to users in cellular dead zones. But the company has been facing a growing rivalry with SpaceX, which has been developing its own competing solution in the cellular Starlink service, set to officially launch through T-Mobile on July 23rd.