[clug] stupid Communications ministers

[Steve Walsh]

> Why do you need > 1.5Mbps except for playing WoW or downloading porn?

Hmm..let me take a stab at this....Work?

> 
> Here is what most people use the Internet for these days, that I'm aware 
> of:
>  - World of Warcraft
>  - Internet banking (paying bills by BPay makes life so much easier)
>  - emailing the latest batch of photos of their baby/puppy/new house
>  - catching up with friends' blogs
>  - software updates for their OS of choice

Here's what I use it for;

*Constant (ie 24/7) access to my servers, via NFS, IP Tunnels, ssh and VNC.

*Throwing multi-Gb files around my network. It is currently easier for me to 
have a blank DVD in each drive and Burn them, and have a tech in the datacentre 
replace them, and post the burnt ones to me than it is to pull it down a 1.5Mb DSL.

*Downloading ISO's to stay abreast of new trends and topics.

*Voice and Video oIP calls

*working with partner businesses transferring 4Gb+ ISO's between sites in 
Canberra, Wollongong and Sydney. (note that all the sites are on the same DSL 
provider, so very little of the delay is due to backbone limitations.)

> It is already possible to waste your entire life sitting in front of a 
> PC connected to the Internet. Do you really need it to be faster?

Sh*t Yes. when we throw the DVD ISO's around, it's easier to kick it off at 5pm 
Friday and have it there Monday morning. Hell, it can be quicker to Post the 
damn things than to wait for it to download. When 4Gb can travel faster on the 
back of a postie bike than it can down our Internet Infrastructure you know 
there are issues in there somewhere.

> 
> Rupert wants faster Internet so that he has another (unregulated) 
> channel through which to pump his particular flavour of Kool Ai... I 
> mean... propaganda.
> 

Erm, no, he wants faster internet so he can have more active content. Bigger 
pipes = Better traffic flow = other knock on effects.

> Internode seems to be pushing faster ADSL out as fast as people are 
> buying it. The only reason to inject Government funds would be if a 
> similar company was having trouble overcoming some barrier in entering 
> the market. Telstra doesn't need help entering the market, since they 
> *are* the barrier to market entry.

Hm..Ok, so our ISP (Powerband) should invest several million putting their own 
DSLAMS into exchanges to service us, even tho Telstra is supplying the rest of 
the Infrastructure? There are more ISP's out there than Internode, Bigpond and 
Optusnet, and not all of them have multi-million dollar budgets to put their own 
equipment into exchanges, they sometimes have to suck hind tit and use the big 
boys networks for part of their supply chain. Fact of life.

> 
> Why do we need faster broadband, asides from playing games and keeping 
> up with the Joneses?

Broadband use in Australia isn't just Domestic, a lot of us use it to help earn 
a crust. I'd love faster broadband, I'm just getting sick of people who say we 
don't need it because they can read a webpage as fast as it can render.