Internet access from Australia has always been poor when compared to most advanced nations in the world. We all know that, which is why we cheered when the previous Labor government paved the way for fiber to the node technology.
Whatever it’s teething problems, the full fiber to the node would have taken Australia from the tail of the pack to the front. But being at the front would not have been just ego boosting, it would have been economy boosting because the next wave of technology will rely on fiber to the node.
Try and picture a time without electricity. That’s where we are now. On the cusp of a new era of industrial development. Fiber to the node will be like electric power was, over a century ago. Those countries that invested in power plants, light poles and power lines were able to attract all the new development that needed electric power to take off. That is how important fiber to the node will be in the very near future.
Sadly Australia will not be the country making the most of fiber to the node. The US will. Read the following article from Venturebeat today:
“At SWSX in Austin, Texas today, supercomputer cloud gaming company Shinra Technologies announced that its technical beta will begin in the U.S. later this year and that those with Google Fiber in Kansas City will be among the first to get access to it. Since Google started laying the infrastructure for Fiber service in 2012, the city has welcomed several startups to the area that would stand to benefit from the groundbreaking service.”
The future is already happening, but we’re not in it.
We’re not cowards as a people. Why are we letting our future and the future of our kids slip through our fingers?
While our truly ‘conservative’ government pinches pennies and dimes from those who can least afford it, they’re letting the trillions escape in lost opportunity.
I’m too disgusted to go on.
Meeks
Meeka's Mind 
March 31st, 2015 at 1:09 pm
It’s not a good situation. I wish the government–all of them–could see and fully comprehend that the Internet is the key to economic growth; unless they invest in it as infrastructure, as being just as important as roads, they’re not going to see the economic growth they want. Then again, here in the U.S. we’re having trouble investing in our roads, too.
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March 31st, 2015 at 7:37 pm
It seems that investment in infrastructure seems to be a dirty concept all over the world 😦
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March 27th, 2015 at 2:10 am
I wouldn’t call the US the frontrunner here. As I understand it, the UK has made a commitment to install fiber optic cables as part of their infrastructure; the US has made no such commitment. I don’t know the difference between fiber to the node and the technology the UK is installing, but this technology is only available in a few select cities in the US–not countrywide.
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March 27th, 2015 at 11:54 am
Yes, the tech is being installed piecemeal rather than nationally but still, it /is/ being installed. I didn’t know about the UK one but I know that what we were originally going to get would have been fiber optic cable right up to the house. i.e. with no old copper wires to slow the movement of data.
Now, apparently we are just getting fiber optic to the junctions or whatever they’re called. From there, the data will be squeezed into old tech copper cables.
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March 29th, 2015 at 6:44 am
So it is fiber optic cables; it’s the same technology. I wasn’t sure.
From what I understand, the UK is installing fiber optic cables nation-wide. The US has installed them in a few progressive cities and a few business parks (not even the whole city) have them; and in this case it’s right up to the building and within the buildings, as I understand it.
We could do more, though. It would be a lot better if we did, but people aren’t ready to see that these cables are of a similar value with roads and other community infrastructure systems. The value is there…people just don’t see it!
So, I share your frustration. At the rate my city moves, it’ll be a decade before we see anything like that. A lot of people in this city are still clinging to the long-dead hope that GM will come back and “save” us.
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March 29th, 2015 at 11:50 am
Yes, fiber optic cable right up to the house was the original plan for us – nationwide. Now we’re going to get a supposedly cheaper hybrid system that will be better than the crud we have now, but will also be obsolete before it’s even fully rolled out.
There used to be an old saying about people who pinched the pennies and let the dollars slip through their fingers… or something along those lines.
Most of the Australia populous who use the internet want the original fiber optic plan. Only the government seem incapable of seeing past the next budget. 😦
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March 15th, 2015 at 6:45 pm
And the crap service we have costs us a fortune to subscribe…
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March 15th, 2015 at 10:43 pm
yeah, that’s the insult part of the equation
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March 14th, 2015 at 4:25 pm
Sadly I know nothing of this technology at all so can’t comment. But, I can see you feel strongly about this and know you do your homework so I can only share your disgust if for some reason Australia has missed he opportunity to join the forefront of this technology.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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March 14th, 2015 at 5:52 pm
Sorry, David, this was another one of my soapbox rants, and probably won’t make any sense to anyone outside of Oz. Thanks for the kind words and hugs. 🙂
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March 14th, 2015 at 2:25 pm
Oh this is so true, Meeks, and I share your disgust. Imagine how lives in regional Australia could have been transformed.
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March 14th, 2015 at 5:54 pm
Yup. We could have become the power house of South East Asia. grrrrrr…..
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March 14th, 2015 at 10:32 am
At this point in time, access to the Internet is like access to electricity —an essential part of modern life. People who have trouble logging on, are missing out on the 21st century. It can be argued that this is a sad fact and we should all be focusing on face-to-face communications, but this is reality!
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March 14th, 2015 at 6:00 pm
You can’t turn back the tide. The internet is here to stay and, selfish though it may be, I’m glad! I think there is a danger with any addiction, and spending all your time online instead of interacting with real people could lead to bad things. But so could getting behind the wheel of a car.
All things in moderation? lol
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