Tuesday, January 13. 2009NBN (Via Wireless) Much Nearer..........John Linton ....and of course at a much lower cost and much faster than Stupid Stephen's nonsensical/election sound bite 'project'. Getting on for three years ago now I became interested in delivering data over the current mobile networks (long before the Australian carriers began to roll out their versions of their various implementations). I became interested because we had begun to consider our own ADSL2 DSLAM roll out, conceptually, and I wanted to get an idea of alternatives and also some general direction of where data communications might be going in the future. I knew, just as everybody else who had been associated with communications in Australia for more than five minutes, that any future solution that was dependent on 'land lines' of any sort would have the cost controlled by Telstra and therefore literally ANY OTHER solution would be more viable for a tiny company like Exetel. Now, I would be the first person to unequivocally state that my engineering and technical knowledge is at best conceptual and mostly pretty useless. However faced with a major, to us, investment I had no option but to try and work out what were the best, in financial terms, options for a tiny company with only it's director's personal money available to it and no 'business track record' to make it easy to get a substantial lease. The provision by Optus and Powertel (as it then was) of residential ADSL2 services shortly after I started looking eased the immediacy of the decision which we gratefully deferred but I continued to investigate wireless via the various European web sites and news letters that were devoted to its progress. I became aware that 3G and its successor 4G/LTE was going to play a very significant part in data communications before the end of the 'noughties' and this article today shows that the improbable scenarios being 'painted' back in 2006 are now not only becoming a reality but becoming a reality ahead of what looked like, then, unrealistic schedules: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22608/127/ It will be interesting to see just where the Scandinavians, Germans, Japanese and Verizon deploy 100 mbps data over mobile and what they do with it in the initial stages. So far, it's very impressive the ways in which these developments have continued, mainly in the EU, not only on the projected schedules but continually ahead of the original estimated schedules. I'm not beginning to say that LTE is the be all and end all of data communications (I have only a very limited understanding of what spectrum costs and availability might be at these speeds) but you have to wonder why Stupid Stephen and the equally stupid Krudd (who admittedly both know damn all about any aspect of communications technology) are still pursuing an "NBN" when it must be perfectly obvious to people of even their limited intellects that the obvious 'way forward' is to 'allow' the major cities and regional centres to continue with the development of the copper/fibre networks already in place and use GSM/LTE to provide high speed access in the rural and remoter regional areas. Even they, completely knowledge bereft as they continually demonstrate themselves to be, must have noticed reports such as this: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22620/127/ which give some indication of how data over HSPA is growing around Australia. As I said well over a year ago now - providing 'assistance' to FOUR commercial GSM carriers to upgrade their data over mobile commercial roll outs in rural areas (oh wait - that was the OPEL concept wasn't it?) is going to provide true competition with no need for new regulation (and the concomitant legal issues) and it will be an 'immediate' solution. Obviously far too simple and obvious for the current bunch of morons in Canberra to figure out - maybe they haven't got a proverbial "back of a bus ticket and a blunt pencil"? Now that Exetel is an 'expert' on data over mobile (having activated a huge 1,000 HSPA users!!) I can unequivocally state that our obvious thinking from three years ago about how to provide high speed broad band to rural Australia by 2009 at the same, or very similar prices that it's supplied to Sydney and Melbourne users, has turned out to be absolutely correct with a Yagi antenna proving itself very useful in adding significantly to the range of the current 3G mobile networks. I, obviously, don't know what the current mobile carrier's plans (and budgets) are to continue to boost the speed and true coverage of their mobile networks. However it must be stunningly obvious, even to SS and Krudd, that if the current proposed "NBN funding" was used as a long term LOAN (or in the current 'new Labor' concept - providing Federal AAA rated borrowing guarantees to the carriers who then get the loans themselves - even cheaper for the tax payer) to the current mobile carriers on some tender basis then rural high speed broadband would be a reality practically 'over night' at NO cost to the Australian tax payer and they would avoid the extended 'litigation' and pointless delays that their current course of action will involve. The Federal Government would, as a matter of policy, license the spectrum at no charge to the mobile carriers in rural areas to ensure the widest possible deployment at the lowest possible cost - wouldn't they? - of course they would. Hey - and Australia would get true, and true ongoing, competition in the provision of high speed data communications throughout Australia without 'touching' Telstra and new low pricing would be a permanent reality!! Why on Earth didn't I get to be Minister Of Communications in Australia - it isn't rocket surgery? Trackbacks
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John,
from what you say it seems a self evident fact that hspa / 3g / 4g for the regional areas would be a viable option for regional areas. However- The ping times to me seems to be the only downfall i can see ----- as a hspa tester for exetel and ultimately a hspa user from exetel -- the ping times were just not acceptable for someone who was a " gamer " with pings from what i would consider to be a relatively large regional exchange - Medowie (MDWI)exchange, being 300ms or above regularly. Personally i dont care as gaming isnt a priority for me but for some it would be. HSPA is an excellent option but some people need a quality ping time -- should people in the regional areas accept poor ping times. Surely there needs to be an arbitary figure set that specifies if their is -- 5000 phonelines or whatever, that they should also be given access to " city " quality fibre / at least adsl2+ broadband as well.. Oh yes -- most important to me is VOIP AND im sure for most people in regional areas as a major proportion of our calls are at STD rates . We would need a Suitable HSPA Modem / Router with Voip / ATA included in the unit. -- without this -- Ive always wanted to say this --------- Tell him, (john) hes dreaming. Comments (2)
I'm sure there's a rational explanation as to why the latency is so high in some areas at the moment (and around 100 ms even in the centre of the city).
However VoIP works fine in rural areas and the overall issues will continue to be addressed with successive re-works of the network topologies. In the mean time we will continue to look for the elusive 'magic box'. Dreaming is a key element in a happy and fulfilled life. Comments (3)
"Why on Earth didn't I get to be Minister Of Communications in Australia?"
Yeah, why didn't you. The federal Government should be reading this, take heed, swallow humble pie and move on. Running a cable (fibre, copper, whatever) to the back holes of .au is a waste of money that the majority will pay for. People who live in remote Australia should realise it "is" remote and will not get the same service as their city cousins. HSPA "should" be fine for them. However, I do take the ping time onboard. As a gamer, ping is king! With all the hops associated with HSPA, the magic box will be some time away I guess. Comment (1)
**People who live in remote Australia should realise it "is" remote and will not get the same service **
remote australia ----- Damn my wife will be so upset at our remote location for internet. please sir - can i have some bread .. I mean decent fibre broadband too. I know we live in the sticks it must be at least 500mtrs to the bi-lo supermarket / also 5km from an internatioal airport -- well if you include new zealand.. the nearest Mercedess dealership is at least 30kms ---- damn i have 7 McDonalds and 4 KFC Franchises within 30kms --------- i feel so remote -- if i could only live in a city and get all the benefits --- sigh.... Comments (2)
Totally agree with the sentiment billdev.
People who live in the cities have very little appreciation for exactly what is considered "remote Australia" and what isnt. One only has to get more than 5~6km from an exchange, and they are in an ADSL void. It's not so bad if you have access via a RIM (ADSL1 only... unless you want to be held to ransom by the big "T"), but of course RIMs are only deployed in areas where there is a larger population. Pity help you if you live more than 6km from an exchange, along a country road. (a normal situation for a huge number of people) Wireless will easily reach a great number of people in these situations, where ADSL can only be a dream. Comment (1)
There are a few 'magic boxes' from Billion that may suit these requirements. They are a little pricey at the moment ($250+) but they are available.
Billion BiPAC 7404VGPX - ADSL2+, 3G, VoIP, 802.11g Wireless http://au.billion.com/product/voip/bipac7404vgpx.php Billion BiPAC 7404VNPX - ADSL2+, 3G, VoIP, 802.11n Wireless, Gigabit Ethernet http://au.billion.com/product/voip/bipac7404vnpx.php Comments (4)
Thank you for the information.
Whenever we have looked at Billion HSPA boxes they seem to reire a 'dongle' rather than accepting an HSPA SIM - adding to the cost. We will look at the models you are suggesting. Comments (3)
Both of the modems "feature a USB 2.0 port for plugging in a 3G / HSDPA modem". I would have assumed that it had the 3G modem built in. Requiring the dongle certainly adds to the cost. I'll keep my eye out for an integrated solution.
Comments (4)
The Huawei E960 is getting close - http://www.huawei.com/policy/simpleres.do?id=1063&type=abouthw. Unfortunately it still doesn't have VoIP.
Comments (4)
The Huawei E968, B970 and B933 may be decent solutions. From the information listed on their website they are 3G Modems, Wireless Routers, have ethernet ports and provide 'telephone services' (one can only assume VoIP).
More info: http://www.huawei.com/mobileweb/en/view.do?id=741 Comments (4)
The problem with the current Huawei modems is that they have not
provision for an external antenna. Comments (3)
"People who live in remote Australia should realise it "is" remote and will not get the same service "
Perhaps people in the cities should realise that if there were no people in "remote Australia", there would be no food/wine/beer in the cities. I have lived in both city & country, and prefer the country by far. You know your neighbours, get to walk unhindered & unafraid down the street (even at midnight), children are safe to walk themselves to school & most of the time, I don't even have to lock my doors. It's nothing to have to travel a 75km trip to see a specialist dr or the big supermarkets, but then 75km here only takes 45 minutes. How far do you travel in peak hour in 45 minutes? Give me the country any day Comment (1)
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