Death Inc

So I don't really understand the difference between megabits and megabytes.

My download speed, when it is running shit hot, is about 500kB/s, usually around 180kB/s.

How does that translate to megabits? To me that is half a megabit per second?

Assuming the NBN does what it claims (25megabits per second), that's going to be a shitload faster right?

And for Budh, I live about 20km from Sydney CBD, so maybe the bush gets it tough, but I can't say it isn't blowing my hair back in metro Sydney. Everything here runs on 60 year old subterranean copper, and there are lots of trees around here if you know what I mean.

Without getting too technical, one byte is made up of 8 bits.

bit is short for 'binary digit', and is the smallest unit that a digital computer can work with, represented as a 0 or a 1.

1 kilobyte is also made up of 8 kilobits.
1 megabyte is made up of 8 megabits.
1 gigabyte is made up of 8 gigabits
and so on.


So 25 megabits per second, is only about 3 megabytes per second. This is at the basic hardware level and is the fastest rate you can pump data through. In reality protocol overheads (IP, TCP, HTTP etc) take up some of this bandwidth, and congestion at the exchange and on the carrier's network can limit the maximum rate you will be able to transfer data.

You are unlikely to actually connect to your ISP at the full advertised speed, as it may not be possible to actually maintain a solid connection at higher speeds - instead your modem will sync at a slightly lower speed to bring noise and errors down to acceptable levels.

This is why even on a 25 megabit service you are very unlikely to actually get a solid 3 megabytes per second reported on your screen when you download something.

In some cases compression can be used to boost your transfer rate especially on highly compressible data like english text - this can push your download rate above the max of your connection in some cases, but is not common with binary data.

Thanks Donut.

Considering that the infrastructure in my area is 60 year old copper, what effect do you think the new model of the NBN will have on my download speeds?

As I understand it the new model only takes the optical as far as the exchange. Seems to my ignorant ass that the super fast optical data will hit my copper and bottle neck down to about the same as I'm already getting...?

It's difficult to say for sure what the effect will be. If you already have workable ADSL then your copper is probably fine.
If your internet goes offline every time it rains... who knows. My experience working in IT is that Telstra is disgustingly apathetic and it is impossible to get them to do anything about repeated faults. Especially if the line is marginal and within parameters when they test it. Maybe NBN will test and replace copper that is not up to scratch.

I believe the NBN is using VDSL rather than ADSL which is supposed to deliver the 25Mbps promised. At least to the exchange. I've not had experience with VDSL so I'm not sure what speeds you can expect over old copper. I've seen people on 24Mbps ADSL actually syncing to the exchange at about 11Mbps.

It's pretty amazing they get such speeds out of copper wire which was only ever designed to carry voice (analog data) and not digital. They seem to come out with new technology all the time which manages to squeeze out more speed from the aging copper.

Another issue is backhaul (the upstream connection from your local exchange to the rest of the world, shared between all users of the exchange). Symptoms of congested backhaul include internet slowdowns during peak times. This is a problem I suffer from at the moment and I imagine many regional exchanges would too. I've not seen any strategy for the NBN's backhaul, one hopes it will be provisioned with sufficient capacity to support the new services. If they just upgrade the connection from the exchange to the users but don't upgrade backhaul, you can expect slower download speeds as more people take up the NBN on your local exchange and saturate the backhaul.

I manage to get about 10Mbps at times on my ADSL2+. Steam usually downloads at 1MB/s

I thought the new NBN was going to take fibre to mini-exchanges every street or two then hook into the existing copper for the last few hundred metres?

Given that the Liberal NBN isn't going to save very much money in the short term, and is going to cost a fuckload more in the long term, it's a pity they aren't sticking with Labor's fibre to the house version :(

Well we only get dial up in the bush lol........looks at Sammy bahhahahahahaha but really i get around the 1.5 mbps

Yes, the 'node' in Fibre-to-the-node is a cabinet on the street. You can sometimes see them in newish estates, a greenish color rectangular steel cabinet just chilling out near the street. It will be optical from the exchange to the 'node' and copper from the node to the premises. The labor plan was optical all the way from the exchange to the premises.

i beleive VDSL can support speeds of 100Mb+ but only over very short distances (VDSL2)

problem is you see a massvie drop in speeds, just 1.6km away from the cabinet and your back to ADSL2+ speeds
(attached is a pic i found from a study of VDSL/2+ in the UK)
(http://www.increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Chart-FTTC-speed-against-distance.png)

If you want to know who to blame for the NBN being cancelled, you can start with the NBN company itself.  Their total incompetence in rolling out the project has meant it will never happen as FTTN. Coupled with Stephen Conroys insistence that no VDSL be used, even in places (such as apartment buildings where it makes sense), has meant the project was a disaster from day 1.

Why? Here we are in September 2013. By this time, according to the NBN company plans, they should have rolled the fibre passed 1.5 million homes, and had over 250K connected to fibre. So what did they actually achieve in that time and with over 5 billion dollars spent? Barely scrapped past 250K homes (and that includes wireless), and only 23000 homes connected on fibre.  They have met just 2% of the build, whilst spending 14% of the project’s projected total budget.

I even have some anecdotal evidence for you. I am down here in Tassie, where they started the roll out. Since the initial trial sites which were put together and rolled out before the 2010 election, the NBN co has been releasing new updates on their progress here quite often. The only problem is, it has been largely BS. They announce suburbs as complete, when they have practically just started (as they did with Sth Hobart in 2011, wasn’t completed until july this year). They update the roll out maps regularly, but they are not worth the paper they are printed on. My area, has according to the NBN company, had a status of “ Work Commenced June 2012, expected completion July 2013”. Of course, on June 29th, 2013, that changes to “Work not yet commenced in your area”… (not a great surprise, as never saw them….)

It is no big surprise that a company that couldn’t even get an updated business plan out on time (due out this year in May, still yet to be released…), cannot manage a major infrastructure project.  It has been one incompetent step after another.

And here is the rub for pro NBN people: If the NBN had met its targets, most of the coalition attacks would have been blunted, and most likely they would have been forced to continue the roll out as it was. The network would have been over 10% built, there would be a quarter of a million households singing its praises, and the attacks about cost blow outs would be hard to continue.  And most importantly, it would have actually been something Labor could point to in the election. 

Now to Turnbulls plan:  It is a minimum speed of 25mb.  Seeing as the NBN company business plan predicted the cast majority of connections would be on the minimum 12mb  connection, this means the average user will actually end up with a faster connection than they would have chosen (not in uploads however). And at least with the Fibre to the Node, it will be a LOT faster to roll out. And if you want fibre to the home, you can pay to have it installed. Some of the Telcos (I know optus have said as much) are even thinking of offering free fibre to the home install if you agree to a 2 year contract.

So in short: complain about it to Mike Quigley.
(http://phildobbie.com/main/media/k2/items/cache/a9ccd7cd1c4267a50c67ac0bd7180172_XL.jpg)

sorry.. had to rant...

man that is a fair rant, still would like FTTH but yeah it being run like that i can see the appeal for the quicker option. spose it would be to late to get another company to take it over as well.

don't they go though audits on certain progress points to make sure the contract is being held up? wouldn't there be penalties for not meeting SLA's for progress.....  I know that is how it would usually go. well at least to the service contracts i have worked for. 

Might be a company but might as well be a gov department, efficiency is not a feature.
Asbestos problems work stops, contracts go unpaid etc rather than shifting them to new areas with out the problem i.e. any housing area less then 20 years old. Stick to the schedule or else.
should have let a telco do it rather than jobs for the boys
 

Bahahahhahahha, fucken owned Tiger :) I can get up to about 3Mbs per sec :D I thought you had satalite out in them thar hills.


Your rant is FACT!!!! They fucked it from day dot! It is the biggest smoke and mirrors campaign EVER!!!!!! Biggest load of shit. This NBN is much like the home insulation program.

Funniest part is, labor was flogged like a dead horse at the elections, so it seems the NBN was an even bigger fucken joke :D

Unfortunately it seems a lot of Australians are homophobic, racist, sexist morons that don't think climate change is real. I no longer feel that the general Australian has the basest understanding of the internet, also known as "that magic on the computer that lets me watch cats and read "news" about celebrities"

Just to say. This is and has been a great read by all.

Ok. Back to looking after my baby boy....

I fail to see the link between homophobic, racist, sexist morons and climate change disbelief or how either of there relate to the internet.
why not add some other ists to the list like extremist, rapist . sounds like a bad loser to me

So now that you sound like one of the morons you denounce  how bout you prove you are not by expounding on what the internet means and its benefit to society, the economy and national security.

You may exclude the following from your arguments
The meaning of cadamite and the many varied wonderful word I wish I did not know but do thanks to the internet and cowcar
how if everybody was better informed about the internet there would be no homophobic, racist, sexist moron bad drivers and we would all agree climate change is real I mean any one who cant see summer and winter are different what a moron
That it is possible to read news and watch low resolution videos on a poor quality connection.
That a really good connection will allow us to do the above but with more higher resolution adds.
Solar panels are not the solution to climate change Bageleds magnet motor is
Global warming will lead to an ice age

But as a taxpayer I would like to know where my $2-3k (based on 34biil/11mil full time jobs) is going to, cause I can sure see many other places it use would benefit me more directly eg roads, schools, hospitals, police, renewable energy research infrastructure, space mirrors, trade subsidies and rail line upgrades

 

So.......space mirrors.....?

The link is that they are all key policy differences at the last election.
Homophobic: Coalition is strongly opposed to marriage equality. This is Australia, we shouldn't give a fuck about anything, including the gender of the person someone loves.
Racist: The whole "stop the boats" is racist scaremongering. I'd rather see a decline in illegal immigrants through an increase in legal immigrants, and a global decrease in refugees.
Sexist: The Coalition is religiously opposed to women's rights. The makeup of the cabinet either shows that, generally, only dim women are Liberals, or that women aren't respected enough by the Coalition to be put in places of authority.
Morons: They've ditched having a science minister in favour of a fucking sports minister. That's going to secure our future infrastructure and aid our economy on a global scale. The resources sector will not last forever, eventually we'll have to have more to export.
Climate Change: Tony Abbott is a vocal climate change denier. That's fucked for people my age who are going to have to live with the decisions made over the coming years. It's fine for current politicians, they'll almost all be dead before shit gets real bad.

Admittedly it's only a tenuous link between those issues and the NBN, but they're still the main issues people voted the Coalition in for.

While the Labor NBN was wasting money, the Coalition NBN is a waste of money in itself.

Given the population density of Australia, improving the latency and bandwidth of our internet will aid many areas. It'll make working from home more feasible, and should help reduce the amount of vehicle usage. Plus we'll be able to stream 4K stuff to our TVs once they come down to an affordable price. Have you seen a 4K tv? They're fucking beautiful.

Don’t buy into the hype Zoo. Those issues you listed are just examples of how we are ruled by minorities and minority extremist reactions to them.
Take gay marriage.
Gay’s represent 2.5% of the Australian population, and what percentage of that actually wants to get married? Not everyone homo or hetero even agrees with marriage at all. Cordless is a case in point, long term relationship, hetero, unmarried and content. Lets say 30% of the gays want to get married. That’s 0.75% of the population. Then who gives a fuck, who actually cares if they get married or not, some handful of religious extremists who get themselves on Today Tonight. I’d  expect the percentage of population to be even small for people who actively don’t want gays to marriage, say 0.75%. So here we have a situation where about 1.5% of the population give a fuck either way, yet it is an issue everyone has an opinion on it. The result is an issue 98.5% don’t really care about gets treated like it is a real issue.
I’ll never forget back when global warming first really started to pick up steam, and the Howard government was under a lot of pressure, Kyoto was starting up, Australia wasn’t signing. Global warming was big fresh new news. So John Howard hems and haws as he did for a couple of weeks. I remember being pretty thrilled to see him under so much pressure, I thought he might do something proactive about the environment, the media had him against the wall about a real issue. SO anyway, John Howard calls a press conference, they start asking him about global warming, what is Australia going to do, why won’t you sign Kyoto. And John Howard looks at them and says “I’ve decided to outlaw gay marriage”, then walks out. Suddenly global warming is off the front page, and is replaced with  gay marriage. True story.
Every time you buy into one of these extremist non issues you are being played.

It doesn't change the fact that because it's such a non-issue gay marriage should be legal, or that the rest of it is fucked. Not saying Labor had the answers, just saying the Coalition certainly don't have the answers.