Good call. This is one of the reasons why I currently prefer the government in Australia over the opposition. They are rolling out a national FTTH network [0], rather than the opposition which seems to think that wireless broadband is the way to get fast internet into homes.
As an example of the attitude of the opposition (from 2009, but their views are the same as far as I'm aware) [1]:
"What they are proposing is the effective re-nationalisation of the fixed line network in this country ... But it certainly should not please the rest of Australia to have the re-nationalisation of a fixed line network in this way, particularly when there will be some $20 billion at least of taxpayers’ money put at risk in an investment in a particular fixed line technology which many have noted will take another 10 years to roll out. And by then we have no idea what the capacity and possibilities will be with alternative communications technologies—most particularly, of course, mobile and wireless. There is a massive flight from fixed line to mobile and wireless broadband going on right now. What will it be like in 10 years time when this thing is finally built? I suspect this will be one of the all-time great white elephants this country has seen."
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Good call. This is one of the reasons why I currently prefer the government in Australia over the opposition. They are rolling out a national FTTH network [0], rather than the opposition which seems to think that wireless broadband is the way to get fast internet into homes.
As an example of the attitude of the opposition (from 2009, but their views are the same as far as I'm aware) [1]:
"What they are proposing is the effective re-nationalisation of the fixed line network in this country ... But it certainly should not please the rest of Australia to have the re-nationalisation of a fixed line network in this way, particularly when there will be some $20 billion at least of taxpayers’ money put at risk in an investment in a particular fixed line technology which many have noted will take another 10 years to roll out. And by then we have no idea what the capacity and possibilities will be with alternative communications technologies—most particularly, of course, mobile and wireless. There is a massive flight from fixed line to mobile and wireless broadband going on right now. What will it be like in 10 years time when this thing is finally built? I suspect this will be one of the all-time great white elephants this country has seen."
[0] - http://nbnco.com.au/
[1] - http://www.openaustralia.org/senate/?id=2009-05-12.77.1&...
Yes - I was until 5 weeks ago living in Melbourne, I'm aware of the NBN and Tony Abbott's delusions about technology ;-)