NBN Glossary

[Hubert CumberdaleParticipant]

NBN
A future proof wholesale broadband communications network under construction by NBNco in Australia due to be completed in 2021. The network once complete will consist of a 93% FttP foot print covering ~12 million premises with the remaining 7% covered by fixed wireless and satellite. Current speeds available range from 12/1mbps to 100/40mbps with higher speeds ranging from 250/100mbps to 1000/400mbps to be made available at a later date.

NBN Gimped Edition
A redundant patchwork network proposed by the Liberal party and the National party who have formed a coalition of clowns. The gimped edition will comprise of a “mix of technologies” such as HFC, FttN, wireless and satellite. As a result of directing NBNco to build the gimped edition it is unknown what percentage of premises will end up receiving FttP as Malcolm Turnbull has indicated they will take ten steps backwards and rollout FttN in most areas resulting in slower speeds and a haphazard rollout. Completion date is unknown but not likely to finish before 2021. Cost is unknown. Speeds are unknown since the speed premises get is determined by distance and condition of the copper connecting premises to nodes. There is no known upgrade path to FttH. The coalition of clowns have indicated that they believe users do not need more than what ever the lowest speed on the FttN patchwork ends up being.

The Australian
Biased newspaper/website with a political axe to grind. Not to be taken seriously if you value facts in the NBN debate. Reporters are notorious for not only getting it wrong but in some cases reporting deliberately misleading information about the NBN.

Big Pond
See Big Turd

Big Turd
See Telstra

Clown
A Comic performer. Usually known for their hideous makeup and making balloon animals. Not to be taken seriously in NBN debates.

Coalition
A term used to describe one or more political parties/politicians that form a permanent or temporary alliance for political purposes.

Delimiter
Unbiased tech news website.

FttN Network
A redundant network type. Counties such as New Zealand tried to roll out FttN but quickly discovered that it was a waste of time due to the dismally slow speeds. NZ have since switched to rolling out a FttP network covering 75% of the population (See UFB)

FttP Network
A future proof type of network not bound by the same negatives that effect FttN networks. With FttP distance is not an issue and does not effect the speed you receive. A FttP sees the fibre installed directly into the premise practically guaranteeing the speed you signed up for.

FttN nodelotto (aka Location lottery)
Winners of nodelotto will be premises that live within spitting distance of a node under the coalition clowns gimped version of the NBN. Such premises will be lucky enough to get a maximum of 80mbps (down) according to Malcolm Turnbull but it’s still unknown if such speeds will even eventuate. The losers of nodelotto (aka everyone else) will get slower speeds but will be paying the same price for their service as those getting faster speeds. These users will be subsidising the winners of nodelotto.

GPON
Gigabit Passive Optical Network. Technology used in fibre networks.

HFC
Redundant broadband technology initially used for pay TV services. Speeds available are no match for those on proper FttP networks.

iiNet (aka iiBorg)
Known for indiscriminately devouring Australian ISPs they offer some pretty good NBN plans totally putting the offering from Optus and Telstra to shame.

Laser Beams
Used to transfer binary information various distances. Currently the most effective and efficient method for doing so, however despite the claims of certain political commentators fibre is needed to make such transfers possible.

NTU
Network termination unit. This device is installed on each premise connecting to the NBN. The NTU has four data (UNI-D) and two voice (UNI-V) ports. Each of the data ports is capable of transferring at 1gbps.

Patchwork Network
A communications network consisting of an unwieldy mix of technologies for the sake of using a mix of technologies. This is the coalitions clowns preferred method of broadband for Australians, but it’s unknown why. Some have suggested it is because they have political motivations.

RSP/ISP
Retail service provider. A RSP Buys services wholesale from NBNco who then sell retail services to consumers.

Technology Agnostic
Using a technology and not caring what type it is for the purpose your goal(s). Example: NBNco’s goal is 100/40mbps connections now and 1000/400mbps connections later. Candidate technologies to achieve this include fibre and more fibre. Thus the recommendation to be technology agnostic is roll out a fibre based network.

Telstra
Once known as Telecom they are notorious for holding back broadband developments in Australia in order to milk consumers and maximize profits for their clueless shareholders. Telstra have so far failed to deliver a FttP network to the majority of Australian premises instead focusing on easy to rollout Greenfield areas. Fibre rolled out in these areas is known as “Telstra Velocity” but the name is a bit deceiving as the maximum upload speed is a pitiful 5mbps, a good 35mbps less than NBNco’s current maximum of 40mbps. Telstra however have signed on as an NBN RSP unfortunately they are the only RSP to insist consumers keep their copper phone line with their NBN plans. Telstra are to be avoided and are not to be trusted by consumers (or politicians), it’s clear that they still want to hang on to their legacy copper network. If NBNco switched to gimped FttN mode they are the ones who will benefit the most with consumers losing once more.

UFB
New Zealand’s version of the NBN.

White Elephant
Default term used by the coalition of clowns when describing the NBN.

ZDnet
Unbiased tech news website.

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

“FttN nodelotto (aka Location lottery)
Winners of nodelotto will be premises that live within spitting distance of a node under the coalition clowns gimped version of the NBN. Such premises will be lucky enough to get a maximum of 80mbps (down) according to Malcolm Turnbull but it’s still unknown if such speeds will even eventuate. The losers of nodelotto (aka everyone else) will get slower speeds but will be paying the same price for their service as those getting faster speeds. These users will be subsidising the winners of nodelotto.”

lol hilarious

I will have to think of some entries of my own :)

[Tinman_auParticipant]

Eleventy billion dollars

The cost of the NBN according to the Coalition, although they also use other figures depending on how the mood takes them (63 billion, 80+ billion, etc).

• This reply was modified 7 months ago by  Tinman_au.

[Hubert CumberdaleParticipant]

I think someone on WP came up with the nodelotto term so I cant take credit for that one :-)

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

I went to put in an entry for “lasers”, but found you already had one :)

[Tinman_auParticipant]

Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is the term used in modern psychology to describe the state of holding two or more conflicting conditions about the NBN (e.g., ideas, beliefs, values, emotional reactions) simultaneously. In a state of NBN dissonance, people may sometimes feel surprise, dread, guilt, anger, or embarrassment that an Australian government could even consider doing the NBN with tax payer money (See “Eleventy Billion Dollars”). The theory of NBN cognitive dissonance in social psychology proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by altering existing cognitions (ADSL2+ is as good as fibre!!!1), adding new ones to create a consistent belief system (creation of a “Liberal NBN”), or alternatively by reducing the importance of any one of the dissonant elements (“Who needs 12Mbps anyway!!1).

The phrase was coined by Leon Festinger in his 1956 book When Prophecy Fails, which chronicled the followers of a UFO cult as reality clashed with their fervent belief in an impending apocalypse (much like the current supporters of the Liberal NBN). Festinger subsequently published a book called “A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance”, published in 1957, in which he outlines the theory. NBN Cognitive dissonance is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology.

*note: Like the “Liberal NBN”, this entry is mostly fantasy. Portions of this entry are probably copyright to Wikipedia, one of the greatest knowledge bases for “the common NBN user” on the planet ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance ).

[Hubert CumberdaleParticipant]

Green Splotches
Areas indicated on NBNco roll-out maps that the coalition of clowns would have no intention of rolling out fibre to should they win the next election and direct NBNco to build their gimped version of the NBN.

Brown Splotches
What would appear in the NBN Gimped Edition roll-out maps from the coalition of clowns. However since they have refused to give more concrete details of their plan to the public it is unknown just how many brown splotches would appear in their maps. One can assume it would cover most of Australia though.

[seven_techParticipant]

Don’t forget Mud Guts “Atomic Banana”-

Atomic Banana- See “FTTN nodelotto” – What Malcolm Turnbull would like all Australians to have instead of the NBN….also possibly what Turnbull enjoys pointing at pictures of Abbott as a gun or crushing under foot as a effigy…..

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

“Atomic Banana” lol

I would love to know who coined that term and when it was coined. What was the inspiration? It smacks of a genius-level mind :)

[seven_techParticipant]

I would love to know who coined that term and when it was coined. What was the inspiration? It smacks of a genius-level mind :)

I dunno about genius, but certainly a smart cookie. It was Mud Guts from WP as far as I can tell:

http://whrl.pl/RdhWf5

That is the first reference to it I can find. He uses it regularly over there….too regularly sometimes :P

[quinkParticipant]

Maybe it’s also time for the skeptics’ NBN Glossary:

GPON

Out of date and dangerous to our children as this comment has proven beyond any doubt:

“@Stuart L of Cranbrook: what frequency fibre are they using at residential infrastructures and is the system using L.E.D or L.A.S.E.R optics?Just for your knowledge one cut along the back bone fibre and all communications are lost completely, and what about children looking into a fibre that may have some how been dug up at a home, they will be permanently blinded and lose sight in which ever eye looks at the laser light.Not safe, not logical and not needed, this is completely about technology, anyone knows in this day and age new technologies are around the corner, and in fact since the signing of this project wireless speeds has more than doubled and are currently in use by me typing this comment, so it is you who needs to get a grip of the future, the NBN will be OLD technology before it is complete.”

Smart meters

I quote Paul Heath: “The only reason they are hellbent on the NBN is so they can hook up smart meters on everything and control every aspect of your life. Smart meters for Elec, Gas, Water and gov’t controlled internet.”

Roads and Hospitals

The things that won’t get built because of the NBN.

Lie-bor government

Everything that entity touches is doomed to failure because it’s run by unionists, therefore it is proven beyond any doubt that the NBN is doomed to failure.

White Elephant

Anything the Lie-bor government does.

Free Market

For all practical purposes, Telstra.

HFC

Future-proof technology that does 100 Mbps in some deployments even 300 Mbps.*

* Maybe

VDSL2

Mature and widely deployed telecommunications standard that does 300 Mbps.*

* Maybe.

Fully-costed policy

Policy that we’ll say is 75% or 80% done even months later.

[seven_techParticipant]

Free Market

For all practical purposes, Telstra.

Gold! :D

[quinkParticipant]

Wireless

Good enough. Doesn’t matter the details, it’s good enough, and future proof!

Fibre

Outdated as soon as it’s put in, because of advances in wireless technologies that are in no way applicable to fibre as well because Maxwell’s equations or Shannon’s Law don’t apply to wireless.

[quinkParticipant]

Telstra

Free market.

I think it might be time for an alternate universe glossary thread to create a glossary all those non-zealots can agree with.

[Hubert CumberdaleParticipant]

quink
Political shill unable to adhere to the topic of forum threads on Delimiter. Comments can be safely disregarded as they most likely originally emanated from a liberal party handbook.

• This reply was modified 7 months ago by  Hubert Cumberdale.

[seven_techParticipant]

HC, I think he was being sarcastic….

[Hubert CumberdaleParticipant]

:-|

You’ll have to forgive me. Sadly it’s become hard to tell these days.

[Tinman_auParticipant]

Hockeynomics

A branch of economics pioneered by the Australian Liberal Party, where any “numbers” mentioned in any given article about the NBN are added together to form the new cost of the NBN “to Australian taxpayers”.

An example: “The NBN will cost $43b, with $11b being paid to Telstra for the use of it’s ducts. NBNCo expect to pay the initial $43b back with a return on the investment of $2b”.

This then becomes:

Reporter: “Mr Abbott, what can you tell us about the NBN?”

Mr Abbott: “Only that this $99b project is something that Australia cant afford, and doesn’t need!! Stop the boats!!1″.

Also see “Eleventy billion Dollars“.

[Tinman_auParticipant]

Man, theres some absolute gold in this thread…

[quinkParticipant]

Ahhh, that reminds me of browsing some question on Facebook some Liberal supporter answered. This wasn’t a parody answer or anything, as the context made quite clear either… anyway:

Question: You open the fridge and you discover that the butter has developed a layer of mould. What do you do?

Answer: Stop the boats.

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

lol @quink stop the boats

[Renai LeMayKeymaster]

Ignorance: What it’s called when journalists forward detailed policy questions in the telecommunications portfolio to Coalition politicians. See the following:

http://delimiter.com.au/2012/07/30/turnbull-needs-evidence-for-fttn-claims/

Silly journalists, there is no need to answer such questions. STOP THE BOATS!

Also see: Accountability: A relic of a bygone era, last seen in Australia around the age of Don Chipp.

[quinkParticipant]

Tin can network

Any telecommunications network that uses copper over distances greater than about 100 m over non-Cat 5/6 copper cabling.

Additional note for FTTN network:

The definition of FTTC includes that the cabinet will be near the premise, typically under 300 metres. The definition of FTTN is basically anything that isn’t FTTC or FTTN. The nodes are thus serving premises that may be 300 meters away, an open-ended definition. Some may argue that for most Australians, they are already on a version of FTTN, where the node is in the local exchange that may be pretty close. Some may argue that nodelotto will be a more fun variant of exchangelotto, a long-running lotto enjoyed by so many. Higher prices, but somewhat higher pay-offs. Nodelotto also seeks to subsume RIM-lotto, to the hope of many. And yet others may argue, but no one can hear them, so we can’t really tell from the tiny trickle they are managing to upload. All we know is that it’s 7:30pm during a school holiday, they have an HFC connection, and they, under the coalition plan, don’t look to be joining the game of nodelotto any time soon.

[quinkParticipant]

That third FTTN was meant to be FTTH, and ’300 metres away’ was meant to be ’300 metres or more away’.

[quinkParticipant]

Also, just something else I thought of…

Let’s assume you have a FTTN node, and there’s a place with 200 premises about 2 kilometres away from a node. All the premises in that place may already have crappy ADSL over copper. Would the coalition plan build a) a new node for those 200 premises, b) keep the copper and provide no advantages with VDSL over ADSL over those distances, c) just make them FTTH or d) just provide wireless.

a) is probably a waste of money and would cost as much as c) while providing an inferior result

b) would provide no improvement over the current status quo

c) is the current plan, but the coalition says no

d) is not going to make much sense if there’s new properties, and a waste of money if it’s just those 200 premises, especially if they’re already served by some variation of ADSL.

No matter which of the options they choose, it means either shooting down their own plan or wasting money in a scenario like this.

[quinkParticipant]

(gah, I meant for it to be in this thread: http://delimiter.com.au/forums/topic/is-graeme-samuel-inaccurate-on-the-fttn-issue/ )

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