Internet speeds: Australia ranks 44th

[fourandsixpants]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-12/australian-internet-speeds-rank-44th-in-the-world/6012570

A US study has delivered an unwelcome finding about Australian internet speeds, finding that they are well behind the international pack.

One engineering expert said the nation would continue to tumble down in world rankings if the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) continues in its current form.

....Australia's relative decline was because many other countries were moving forward apace with new and upgraded networks.

"The drop is happening because a lot of other countries over this period are moving towards fibre-based access networks, or they've already completed rollouts of what we would call the multi-technology mixing/mixed networks...."

"Whatever way you look at it, what it means is that the average speeds that Australians are enjoying are slowly becoming less than most of our competitors around the world."

Copper-based network slowing Australia down: expert

Federal Government's decision to switch from fibre-to-the-home to a mixed fibre/copper network was part of the reason for the decline.

"One of the reasons is that we're falling down the list [is] that we're moving towards utilising a copper-based access network," he said.

"Whereas previously, under the Labor government, we were moving towards an all fibre-based network, which is what most of our competitors are now doing.........

We all know this!!!!!

"The key difference between New Zealand and Australia is that New Zealand made the decision to do fibre-to-the-premise, they've stuck with that decision," he said.

Even though Australia is much larger geographically, Dr Gregory said fibre-to-the-home should be financially viable for a network to cover the vast bulk of the population.

"Fibre-to-the-premise is viable in Australia, mainly because most Australians are clustered around the coast," he said.

"If you look at the density of Australians, then really we don't differ very much from most other countries in the world, we're just a large country, but with the technologies that we've got today to actually roll out fibre systems, the cost is not that different from most other countries in the world."

Average connection speed by country

1. South Korea

2. Hong Kong

3. Japan

4. Switzerland

5. Sweden

6. Netherlands

7. Ireland

8. Latvia

9. Czech Republic

10. Singapore

44. Australia

Source: Akamai's State of the Internet Report

WHAT IS WRONG WITH MALCOLM TURNBULL AND THE LNP/COALITION ???

[*mrgrizz*]

how much faster does my internet need to be?

my porn downloads fast enough

[alexander*beetle]

Well that's ok then.  I don't know what the fuss is about. 

It really doesn't matter what the previous govt or the govt before that did, it is up to the govt in power now to fix what they perceive to be the issues. And as our illustrious prime minister did state that the internet is really only there for entertainment purposes then we really don't have to do anything for the country except for the people who play games on the internet. Must speed it up for them hey. 

[poddster]

It is like I stated Hawk, the complaints come thick and fast all because some ill informed person made a promise of something that could not be delivered and had no intention of being delivered. Now people fee deprived because of that promise because most don't have a clue about what it takes to deliver that false promise.

Silly comparisons are made to other countries without taking int account all the other neglected variables that contribute to internet data transfer speed. the biggest of those is the area that has to be covered.

How on earth can you compare Australia to South Korea, Hong Kong and Andora for example.

The shrill cacophony is more about political agenda than the Internet.

Most have jumped on the band waggon saying it is because of copper but the do not know that the propagation in copper is the same as optic fibre.

[the_hawk* · Accepted solution]

---

@poddster wrote:

Most have jumped on the band waggon saying it is because of copper but the do not know that the propagation in copper is the same as optic fibre.

---

I wasnt going to reply but this gem struck me and I couldnt leave it.

Now perhaps after making that statement you can explain to all the boys and girls why our internet is so far behind others if propagation in copper is the same as optic fibre.

and why so many that live in the metro areas cant get ADSL via wire

[gleee58 · Accepted solution]

---

@poddster wrote:

It is like I stated Hawk, the complaints come thick and fast all because some ill informed person made a promise of something that could not be delivered and had no intention of being delivered. Now people fee deprived because of that promise because most don't have a clue about what it takes to deliver that false promise.

Silly comparisons are made to other countries without taking int account all the other neglected variables that contribute to internet data transfer speed. the biggest of those is the area that has to be covered.

How on earth can you compare Australia to South Korea, Hong Kong and Andora for example.

The shrill cacophony is more about political agenda than the Internet.

Most have jumped on the band waggon saying it is because of copper but the do not know that the propagation in copper is the same as optic fibre.

---

You mean like your silly and irrelevant comment that copper propogation is the same in copper is the same as optic fibre.  

The thin early 1900's copper we have is not up to providing the broadband standard demanded by the technology of the 21st century.

[poddster]

I am surprised that an amateur radio operator would question the propagation delay in copper.

May I remind you hawk of a very basic constant, in propagation in a conductor (in this case copper), is it not around 0.66  the speed of light in a vacuum? Perhaps you care to dispute that well established fact of science, no?

Now if you also care to research the propagation in optic fibre you may find that it is also around 0.66 the speed of light in a vacuum.

and why so many that live in the metro areas cant get ADSL via wire

The is the same one that exists for optic fibre or cable. The infrastructure is not in place.

[gleee58]

It's meaningless information in terms of comms networks of the 21st century as they don't operate in a vacuum.

it' more surprising that someone who claims to work in IT &Comms is still peddling the line that we don't need a solid reliable broadband network, which can't be delivered over the old copper in much of the country.

how backward is it to advocate we replace copper with better copper when we could  go for the multiple efficiencies offered over fibre.

[poddster]

Nowhere have I stated that a solid reliable comms network is not needed.

And you have missed the point of the propagation speed in copper versus optic fibre. That was to illustrate that the speed of copper as a medium is the same as optic fibre. just to puncture the overinflated claim that copper is "slow", it isn't.

Both copper and fibre have advantages as well ad disadvantages. To illustrate. an existing copper net work is far superior to a nonexistent fibre network.

As far as the general household is concerned FTTN is more than enough as is 25Mbps Fixed wireless.

The shrill demand that the current government deliver an undeliverable false promise is pure political hoo haa.

The ill informed, gullible populace has swallowed the clap trap hook, line and sinker.

[fourandsixpants]

...and that is the whole point of this thread! Australia has the $'s to fund a top quality optic fibre network-to each location.

Being 'told' and pummeled that we cannot afford or a waste of $'s is absolute rubbish!

Being 'told' that copper is 'okay' and is better than no service at all is just bs.

[lionrose.7]

Enjoying my Fibre Optic in NZ 🙂