And they’re not all found only on one side of politics, either.

Now back to some objective comments about the NBN…

Because I use them, I’ll use TPG as an example. When I first started with them some 5 1/2 years ago, their $50 plan got me ADSL2+ with something like 20 gig download. May have been 50 gig, its been a while. Anyhow, that $50 plan kept changing, and kept becoming a ‘new’ plan. Price stayed the same, but that 20 or 50 gig became 100 gig, then 200 gig, then 500 gig or unlimited.

As needs increased, that plan was modified to fill the need. Pretty much every other ISP did the same thing – their plans adapted over time to account for increased needs.

Right NOW 500 gig is clearly more than enough, at least for 95% of the population. But in the years to come it wont be, particularly as IPTV moves in over the next couple of years. So whats currently a $30/100 gig plan (to pick random numbers) will change to be a $30/500 gig plan, and the $50/500 gig plan will be something like $50/2Tb.

What happens at that point, I dont know. What I do know is that the ISP’s are subsidised up to 150 Gb of… something I admitedly dont quite understand, but that once an ISP hits a certain volume of users on a specific POI that subsidy is meaningless anyhow. Bumping the bandwidth up at that point wont push prices up, it will just be a reflection of customer needs.

To put it a different way, costs are going to dictate this much more than anything else. If there is a cliffpoint where prices escalate dramatically (like going from a subsidised 100 Mps connection to a non-subsidised 1 Gps) then the cost factor will keep most users at the cheaper point. The market will fill in the gaps after that as needed.

Appologies for misusing any terminology, its been a long couple of days.

Perhaps that is exactly what they are doing. By contradicting Malcolm’s (begrudging) acknowledgement on NBN accounting, they’re likely trying to put him back in his box. Of late, Malcolm’s weighed in frequently on various topics outside of his portfolio and with Abbott’s personal approval ratings going down the S-bend, it might the right time to throttle Malcolm’s obvious leadership ambitions.

How will the NBN affect this? Is it a natural limit to the fall in prices in the market or is it a distortion based upon the monopoly status of the NBN and the way they have formulated their wholesale pricing.

Are prices going to start rising for increasing quotas?

Message is simple – use more, pay more, dont blame the boogeyman.

If you use the same as now, the prices are pretty much the same, which was all that was ever promised. Somewhere along the line though, people have gotten the misconception that because there is a fourfold increase in speed (well… 16x for most, but working on actual 24 Mps jumping to 100 Mps – work with me here), there should be a fourfold increase in bandwidth for the same price.

Doesnt work that way, the costs are still associated with how much you use the service, and as time goes on those bandwidths will naturally increase through competition, just like they always have. So by the time most people NEED 500 gig/month, that will be a base deal.

Personally, i expect most ISP’s to be offering 500 gig/month sooner rather than later at bargain prices. there are several stories going around about IPTV being big in the next 12-18 months, so those bandwidths are going to become popular. Or more popular.

So that is true for bundles using similar bandwith allowances to currently available.

But it does not address the concern of rising bandwidth. Given that the variable component is already incorporated into the pricing model they do not have to change anything. The price will automatically increase as bandwidth usage does. That component has already been approved so is it not feasible if bandwidth usage increases enough (as a lot of predictions so it will), then the price of plans will increase as well.

Hockey is saying that the capital expense is a cost that goes into the general accounting, much like the deductions in a tax return.

Stephen’s managed to summarise the Liberal accounting approach in one simple way – they want the mortgage to be a tax deduction. Not the interest, but the whole lot.

> Commitment that all prices will fall in real terms;

> Price rises on all products or services limited to 1.5% less than the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in any one year and cannot be accumulated if not used;

And, to a lesser extent: Prices of key products remain the same until June 2017;

The interest from a loan that is dedicated towards an investment is fully tax deductible. However, since the major loan most people have is the mortgage on their home (not an investment) it is not tax deductible.

Very risky form of finance.

The fixed component will not change and will maintain its value in real terms.
However, internet bundles have been decreasing in prices while data allowances have been increasing simultaneously. Is it not possible that the increase in price from the variable component will out weight the other side of the equation and cause a real price rise?

I just wish politics get on with the bloody thing.

I have never claim to be for or against any party at all.

However, Parliament has to respect & recognize those that are in need for Infrastructure (including EDU/Health and etc).

Otherwise we have classroom of idiots.

I call upon the Parliament to stop being children.