[AusNOG] NBN Review shows FTTN blowout of 12bn, FTTH blowout of 29bn

[Paul Brooks]

On 15/12/2013 4:18 PM, Gavin Rogers wrote:
> On 12/12/2013 12:02 PM, Beeson, Ayden wrote:
>> That's the poke in the eye for me, I always saw fibre as a great way to get more
>> speed, but more than that, a much more reliable medium with a clear resolution path
>> for faults, to say I'm disappointed in this would be an understatement.
>>
> This.  I could (almost) put up with my 10Mbit ADSL2 service at home if, when it goes
> bad - and it goes bad every winter for the last 11 years - that there are clearly
> defined and published fault thresholds and minimum performance  specifications and
> if the line isn't up to scratch, then it's *replaced*. Not jumpered onto an almost
> not-quite-as-rubbish pair on the same rubbish multipair cable, assuming that my ISP
> pesters Telstra enough that they begrudgingly do so.
>
> So sick of this, "lol. you have dialtone, your line is fine" nonsense. If we're
> stuck with FTTN, then how are copper CAN faults handled? If a line really, truly
> ends up being bad, does it just get "remediated" (bodged up) or is it a shot to the
> head of the queue for fibre?

While its not much of an improvement, for the first time you'll have a minimum speed
guarantee of 25 Mbps. Everybody is supposed to be able to achieve 25 Mbps or higher,
with 90% achieving 50 Mbps or higher. If your line goes so bad that you get less than
25 Mbps line-sync then you should be able to call this in as an objectively verifiable
fault and have it fixed - before the water in the cable/pit dries out. Since its FTTN
and there is likely to be no more than 700 metres between you and the node, the 'fix'
*should* be a stroll down the road towards the node to find the dodgy
no-longer-watertight joint, and a repair/replacement of the bad joint.
(Not much comfort if you become used to 70+ Mbps, and in wet weather you get knocked
down to 30-something Mbps, but thems the breaks on copper).

Paul.