The National Broadband Network has become an issue again in the lead-up to Saturday’s federal election but for Dubbo, the digital divide looks set to continue.
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If elected, Labor has said it would look to find a solution to improve the speeds of fibre to the node (FTTN) technology so it is closer to fibre to the premises (FTTP) but that could take time and money.
If the Coalition is elected, and the betting agencies are still suggesting that is the more likely option, then FTTN will continue to be the method of choice because it is cheaper.
Cheaper doesn’t mean better, especially in the long run. The Coalition said its FTTN will provide a minimum speed of 25 megabits a second, maybe more if you are lucky enough to be close to a node.
FTTP is easily capable of 100 megabits a second and potentially much more. The original idea of the NBN was to create a technology network that was future-proof and FTTP would have done that.
It wasn’t about ensuring five televisions could screen Netflix in a single household at once. That was a side benefit, and a way to sell it to everyone, but at its heart, the NBN was supposed to help businesses and industries reach their potential.
It is rare for a government to schedule projects that are as forward-thinking as the NBN was. While the technology wouldn’t have been fully-utilised for perhaps 20 or 30 years, it would have meant that the communications network needed little in the way of maintenance and upgrades.
What we now have, especially in Dubbo, is a network that will ensure half of the city is future-proof. The CBD is FTTP, which is important, but other businesses fall into the slower network.
It may be good enough now, or it may not, but in 10, 20 or even 30 years will it be good enough? Twenty years ago we thought dial-up was incredible and 10 years ago ADSL was lightning fast.
In reality, a really top quality ADSL2 connection isn’t much slower than what the Coalition is promising for FTTN.
The Coalition said 25 megabits is all people need and can be provided adequately by FTTN.
But the NBN wasn’t supposed to be about what we need now, it was about what we would need in the future.
It’s almost a safe bet that if the network being rolled out is meeting our needs now, and being questioned by some, it’s not going to meet standard in 20 or 30 years time.
