Photos: NBN Co builds node on flooded riverbank

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news The NBN company has deployed a Fibre to the Node cabinet on the banks of the Tamar River in Tasmania, Delimiter can reveal, ignoring advice from local residents that the infrastructure would be sure to be breached by water during periods of excess rain.

The original version of the NBN as envisioned by the previous Labor Government called for most Australian premises to be covered by a full Fibre to the Premises rollout, with the remainder to be covered by satellite and fixed wireless technology.

However, the Coalition’s controversial Multi-Technology Mix instituted by Malcolm Turnbull as Communications Minister has seen the company switch to a technically inferior model re-using and upgrading the legacy copper (Fibre to the Node) and HFC cable networks owned by Telstra and Optus.

Most of the FTTP infrastructure being deployed by Labor is what is known as “passive” infrastructure. This infrastructure does not require electricity and can even survive being wet.

However, most of the FTTN infrastructure being deployed under the Coalition, in particular, is “active” infrastructure. It requires an active electrical power connection. The 30,000 FTTN cabinets, or ‘nodes’ currently being deployed around Australia also come with battery backup capability within the cabinet.

Such infrastructure is easily disabled by water ingress.

Despite this, Delimiter can reveal that the NBN company has recently chosen to deploy a FTTN node literally along the banks of the Tamar River in Tasmania.

A reader from the area this afternoon forwarded Delimiter extraordinary photos of an NBN company node embedded in wet mud on the banks of the river, just centimetres from the water.

node-2

node-3

The node is not believed to be ‘live’ yet, meaning it is believed there is currently no electrical power being supplied to the cabinet.

However, the installation of the cabinet at all appears to violate basic common sense associated with the rollout of powered telecommunications infrastructure. The nearby Telstra telecommunications pit is already under water:

node-4

The reader informed Delimiter that they had informed the NBN company’s construction team, while the node was being constructed, that it was likely that the node would be affected by water.

The area concerned is currently experiencing high tide in the photos shown in this article, and is also being affected by flood waters coming down the North Esk and South Esk rivers.

However, the reader stated that in the past five years, the area has had a slightly higher tide without all the rain. An area of road further north than this node has previously been under water, meaning it would be likely that the node itself would be flooded at some point.

“They just told me to piss off,” the reader said, referring to their conversation with the construction crew.

The area where the node has been deployed can be seen in the photo below from Google Maps. The node concerned is number 7EXE-01-06. It is located in the small township of Gravelly Beach north of Launceston.

map

The news comes as Delimiter has recently published a gallery of questionable locations for NBN nodes. The NBN company is currently deploying about 30,000 of the cabinets all around Australia.

opinion/analysis
What a fucking joke.

Whatever smart cookie thought this one up needs to be sent to a training course on common sense, and then funnelled into an office job that won’t involve installing electrical cables near water.

Meanwhile, here is my advice to the NBN company: Don’t power on the node. Just. Don’t. Do. It.

That much should be obvious. Right? Right?!

Image credit: Supplied by a reader

130 COMMENTS

  1. Mother. Of. God. What an embarrassment. I say do it. Power the node and get it fried.

    • If it was just taxpayer funds at risk sure, but that could honestly get someone killed!

      The only thing worse is if there was one of those flood level markers nearby!

      • Agreed. This stupidity just moved from ideology damaging Australia’s future to someone actually getting killed.

        O_O.

        • uh huh. If they don’t take notice of this there’s chance of that happening. Can’t believe they’d just install it right beside the water. I got a feeling it’ll still be powered no matter people’s concern. Then moved somewhere else after awhile.

          • Wonder if anybody will accuse the Liars of murder if the worst happens? Utter incompetence, but what else can you expect from the Liars?

        • Remember the headlines the coalition made around the Pink Bats stimulus when those sparky’s died (or at least some of the workers) and how they still try to hold Labor accountable, even after the Royal Commission.

          Man, imagine that coming back at them in spades.

          Karina, if your watching this thread, get the ‘whomevers’ to knock this shit on the head – pronto.

          • The difference now compared to then is that there was a reduction in workplace deaths compared to other times for the industry and here there will be a real increase in incidents due to there being no need for live power in the area prior to FTTN installation.

    • wow – quite a lot of responses to this article – hardly surprising given the futility of the fttn
      turnbull saw fit to invest his own bikkies in european fttp’s but appeases telstra & murdoch by giving australia this bucket of bile fttn

  2. I think you’ve cut them too much slack by only calling it a “fucking joke”, if it wasn’t so stupid you’d laugh and say “only in America”, except it’s here :(

  3. “Meanwhile, here is my advice to the NBN company: Don’t power on the node. Just. Don’t. Do. It.”

    Indeed!

    I want to know how they convinced the power companies linesmen to run power to that thing in the first place? (was it installed in middle of summer)?

    Have to love the danger high voltage sign too … so when water gets in that high voltage is magically going to stay put right? good to see its nice and close to the footpath so if it does short its bound to electrocute someone (~6m considered a safe distance in wet conditions last I was told).

  4. The CFKD’s think MtM is a good idea so it’s hardly surprising that this kind of stupidity is rolling down hill into the rollout itself.

  5. the installation of the cabinet at all appears to violate basic common sense

    We were expecting common sense from the clowns that thought the best way forward for Australia was going backwards switching from FttP to a FttN clusterfuck network?

  6. nbn ™ Face palm!
    Seriously, what more can be said. NBNCo has become a GBE totally focused on it’s own bench marks and targets to the complete exclusion of common sense and practicality.
    The management of nbn ™ Morrow et al should be hauled over the coals for this, as should it’s shareholders, the Minister for Communications Senator Mitch Fifield and the Minister for Finance Mr Mathias Cormann. It’s a disgraceful betrayal of the trust given to them by the Aust voters.

  7. copper works best when waterlogged I believe as its always here. If they can put gas mines near flood levels then they can slap copper wherever they want. If it gets water logged, they will repair it when they feel like weeks later and barely enough to get voice service working as always.

  8. Remember, the guy that authorized the switch to FTTN, was the guy who…. “Practically invented the Internet”, our glorious PM.

  9. This is so ridiculously unrealistic that it’s like a scene from Monty Python, or Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em where Frank joins a telco construction team. I can imagine the scene right now – Frank is covered in mud, the foreman turns up in his van and the audience is in uproarious laughter. The fact that the pit was built there is bad enough.

    This deserves to be on every front page and TV news bulletin.

    • I agree, remember on Q&A when silly old Christopher Pyne told the audience that there has been no hold-up in the NBN installation to be met by uproarious laughter from the audience. You would swear that it Jim Carrey telling a joke. Did I say joke?
      What a terrible indictment on the Prime Minister, along with when he was the Communications Minister to continually take the Australian people as fools- like as if we are 15th Century landless Russian serfs.
      What was Donald Horne’s quote again?

  10. Well I guess considering the fact the flood was a 1 in a 100 year event, the cabinet should be right. God, get a grip people, we just suffered the worst flood since 1929, people lost their homes, their livestock, their pets and their lives, but hey, lets carry on about a fucking cabinet!

    • I think you might be missing the point somewhat. Many people pointed out the flaws in this plan (including the specifics of the potential for a powered device in a flood-prone area to get completely shorted out) for a long time and were dismissed out of hand.

      I know these floods were a 1 in 100 year event… but wasn’t that also the case for the Queensland 2011 floods, and the Queensland 2013 floods… areas which are now slated for FTTN?

      Given the choice to use these type of nodes which can completely short out and will need replacing (instead of passive nodes that do not short out when flooded) was primarily a financial one, given the cost of each nodes full replacement will be in the order of $150k how many flooding events do we need before we’ve ended up replacing a billion dollars worth of nodes that wouldn’t actually have needed replacing under the slightly more expensive version?

      Add in the greater operational-expenditure required to maintain the copper in a useable state, and the added power cost per node, on top of the replacement cost with events like this… and the justification for the slightly cheaper yet vastly inferior network dries up pretty quickly (pardon the pun)

      • These 1 in 100 year events seem to be happening with far more consistency lately…

        • So long as each flood is worse than the last or in a different location they can call it a 1 in 100 year event.

    • @d great photo, finally one worth publishing (Renai iOP 2.0 expecting 24,544 nodes btw).

      Flood prone areas around Launceston are well documented, as are local planning retrictions. Locating the node some 20-40cm above the water line for a 1:100 year event was outstanding work.

      • Yes but Richard, you call behind by 4 years and 10’s and 10’s of $b’s in blowouts outstanding work too, don’t you?

        I guess in your eye (yes eye) and with such a blinkered cult mentality, it’s purely dependent upon who instigated the work, rather than the work itself, as to whether it’s outstanding.

        … and of course worthy of hours of cherry picking and massaging figures to desperately try to push shit up hill.

        You’re welcome.

        • Not the same cloud seeders Turnbull lobbed some cash at? If so at least there was rain from this investment.

      • Soil next to a body of water absorbs much of the water. The base and cabling leading to/from it are damp/waterlogged already. That much is certain. I’ll say again that the point is: active electronics and copper cabling in contact with water upon installation. A disastrous situation itself.

        To say nothing of the pit.

        • Yeah; they should have placed the cabinet it on a concrete base locate above the high water level, ducted their cabling separating higher voltages lines, and installed a circuit breaker at the power’s source. Oh wait;-)

          Looks like that pit has been there a longtime.

          It’s a fun photo, that’s all.

          • Considering the local who warned them about the frequent flooding mentioned the road floods, I’d hardly call that “the high water level”. It hasn’t reach the road yet and that node seems to be significantly lower than the road level.

  11. Does any one here know how much these nodes are worth including installation ? Mind you a couple of more inches of rain and this node will be worthless. I have seen so much stupidity from this government over the last 3 years this is just par for the course.

    • I vaguely recall them being costed at $150k each a couple of years ago. Perhaps Renai can confirm/deny?

      • So if they are going to build 25,000 of them, that’s about 25,000 Porsche Boxer 718, and already they are out dated and will be replaced in the not to distant future and end up down the tip or recycled. LNP stupidy on a grand scale, thanks Malcolm and they call themselves the better economic managers.

  12. Can’t wait for the next senate and this photo is brought up. Morrow will either take on notice or CiC

    • No they don’t have pink bats in Tasmania only black ones but as far as the LNP is concerned its still Labors fault.

  13. Straya’s NBN is a fucking joke and the morons involved – including the brain-dead dipshits building that cabinet who told the person to piss-off! Too many low life’s in this “cun-tree” that cannot and will not try harder to make a difference – because that’s the aussie way. Fuck off.

  14. It might be your only phone link to call emergency services going through this node that has shorted out and left you with a silent line. Who can predict the one in a hundred year event, it could happen two years in succession. Think about it. Take into account that for years now the climate scientists have been warning that weather events will be more extreme-they have got that right. Communications are vital is such situations. Thanks to our current PM playing politics when Communications Minister (who knows nothing about technology and science) we not only have a retrogressive system but no common sense being used where these susceptible nodes are situated. And the LNP carried on about the Pink Batts Scheme!!!!

  15. WTF are they wasting our taxpayer dollars on this shit for?!?!

    Whenever maintenance is required on these nodes due to flooding, the funds should come from Turnbull and Morrow’s salaries.

  16. Guys come on, cut NBN some slack..

    These are just leaked photos and for all we know they could be Photoshopped. There is no way we can verify their authenticity.

    These leaked photos are not official NBN photos taken by the official NBN photographer.

    /end sarcasm

  17. Tasmania is in flood people and the nodes are designed to cope with it.

    Where is Labors NBN policy BTW? We’ve been getting our daily serving of Cool-Aide from the usual suspects, but where is THEIR policy? ANYONE? ANYONE?

    Less than 4 weeks to go folks to the election, perhaps we need to report Labors NBN policy to the missing persons department of the local constabulary because from what I can see, Labor haven’t got a clue what their policy is so can those who tell everyone to vote Labor please cut the shit. Thanks.

    • Where is the Coalition’s NBN policy?

      At least Labor is promising more fibre than what is currently being delivered.

      • OOOOHH! “More Fibre”! Very Specific Policy that one.

        As to the Coalitions NBN Policy we already know what that is because it will be a continuation of the current roll out.

        Just over 3 weeks to the election folks.. don’t hold your breath for that elusive Labor NBN policy, they need to treat you like children and hope and pray you don’t notice they don’t have one other than following what the Coalition has already achieved.

        • Well one thing we know for sure it will be cheaper to roll out than the Liars 19th century shit, billions less to maintain and you’ll still have communications when there’s heavy rain.

        • Coalition has done

          Sweet

          Frig

          All

          That’s the actual truth.
          They have fucked up the biggest project at the biggest scale imaginable.

          Defending the indefensible Malcolm Turnbull mess.

          • The Coalition has connected TEN TIMES as many people to the NBN in it’s first 3 Years than Labor did in 6.

            Just the facts.

          • TDH…

            And how much of the planning, infrastructure, backhaul, contracts etc, etc that were instigated by the original NBN team and in place for the new NBN team, form part of your calculations?

            You do know too that the FTTP network was announced April 2009, so 4 years from scratch vs. MTM which was ready to go (supposedly) in this 3 years and fully costed (bzzzt) for all by 2016 (bzzzt).

            Just askin… since the so called facts don’t seem to actually be very factual.

          • “The Coalition has connected TEN TIMES as many people to the NBN in it’s first 3 Years than Labor did in 6”

            Again, a complete lack of knowledge.
            The rollout didn’t start until March of 2012 when the last Telstra Contract was put in the drawer and the first POI was installed.
            Also, almost all of the Coalition installs were from Labor’s rollout (all FTTP, FW, and Sat)

          • Umm TDH ask Richard what the ACCC wrote about the breakdown of customers connected to NBN and what tech they’re connected with.

            FYI MTM barely connected more than are on a satellite (that had to be lauched into space) ~40k are connected using Malcom’s methods (in 3 years) just the facts …

            NBN were avg 16k premises per week when they were ramping down to conclude the FttP contracts!

        • @TDH don’t hold your breath for that elusive Labor NBN policy,
          So far Labor have achieved, FTTH 723,000 activated, FTTH majority/FTTN minority, no individual figures.
          Fixed Wireless, 112,000 activated
          Sky Muster, one satellite in orbit and the second only months away from orbit. 36,000 activated
          and they have promised more FTTH roll out than the LNP, that’s good enough for my vote.
          Over the last 3 years all the LNP have delivered is some shitty FTTN.

    • “in flood people and the nodes are designed to cope with it.” Yep, they teleport to another dimension, then come back when it’s dry…/s

      Really, Devoid? Is that the best you can come up with? They are NOT designed for flooding, they rely on air vents for cooling, and a little surprise for you, air vents let in water! Shock horror.

      • “Is that the best you can come up with?”

        It is quite obvious that he has no idea about how telecommunications work and blindly follows the political instructions he is given…in other words, “he’s no Bill Gates”. :)

    • “Tasmania is in flood people and the nodes are designed to cope with it.”
      Stupidest thing I’ve heard this decade.

      A cabinet which is air cooled via the vents on the side is not going to become flooded?
      How does that work?

      • batteries are at the bottom and I doubt the connections are designed to deal with full submersion for an extended period.

        Never mind local residents I’m sure they’re mistaken when they say it floods regularly or has high tides etc.

    • Alain, when someone is so one eyed they can’t even admit sticking a node right next to a river that floods on a regular basis, well it just shows any form of discussion on points you may raise is a waste of time. Most posters already know this anyway and treat you with all the respect you deserve, zero.

    • People like truthdoeshurt Should be confined to dial up at a pop of $5 an hour for life.

  18. Mr Truth must be an LNP troll. The ALP had a very fine policy but the LNP destroyed it. Very hard to formulate policy now because the NBN won’t release crucial details of their rollout.
    The policy will be Start Again and taxpayers will be 50 billion out of pocket.

  19. Alternatively – make the genius who recommended the node placement be the one to power it on. Or the genius who insisted that MT destroy the NBN, or MT himself. ;)

  20. Let’s think this through logically.

    Nodes need to be placed near the existing Telstra pillar. If the pillar is in a flood prone area it doesn’t leave nbn many choices where the node can be placed unless you want to increase the copper loop length. Increasing the copper loop length decreases the speeds achieved.

    So would you be happy having 15mbps less just to cater for a 1 in 50 year event?

    • Or, as described in the article, use a system which is not electrically sensitive – such as fibre.

    • That’s the problem with FTTN because you can’t really put the node it anywhere else without using more copper. The node must be near a pillar. With FTTP you have many more places you can plonk it. In an area that isn’t next to the water for example. Another reason why copper was, is and will always be a bad idea.

      • With FTTP, it doesn’t matter if the fibre and splitters are submerged in water or not. It’ll still work. All the equipment is passive, and only uses light, no electricity.

    • The node can be placed anywhere as the government has bought tonnes of copper wiring to replace bad copper which has been effected by water ingress and age.
      The cabinet should have been placed elsewhere as they have now introduced an electrocution hazard as well.

    • That’s an argument for installing FTTP, not for dangerously installing FTTN.

    • Because the node itself couldn’t have been placed next to the road and the cables then connected to the pillar from there? Come on, some common sense please. It doesn’t have to be right next to the pillar, hell, multiple pillars connect to a single node, so a node cannot be literally near every single pillar that connects to it.

      The node didn’t need to be there.

    • @unLogic check the photo gallery there’s plenty of node installations on plinths to elevate them out of the risk of flooding. That this was installed as it was whilst the water was that damn close and that locals say its normal for water to reach those levels …

      “Nodes need to be placed near the existing Telstra pillar.”

      Pity there isn’t a technology that doesn’t suffer from this constraint ….

      • nbn’s placement rules have evolved over time. Thus there will be difference in deemed acceptable locations over time.

    • You’re all missing the obvious solution here. Put it on a pedestal above the flood level. It’s been done previously with RIMs in flood prone areas. The real world has three dimensions, not just two.

      • Well that would make sense if it wasn’t located on a riverbed…….
        You can already see the mud around the node.
        Meaning that putting more weight on the ground is going to make it sink, making the pedestal and flood prevention near to useless….
        But hey, if you want to throw money at trying to defy the laws of physics and basic science then go right ahead there buddy…..

    • So would you be happy having 15mbps less just to cater for a 1 in 50 year event?

      More speed is important. Got it. Hardly an issue for FttP. FttN fail highlighted.

      Nice to see node nerds are already concerned about a 15mbps difference too. Very telling.

  21. Shows how smart this government is. Can’t even understand the simple idea that water and electricity do not mix.

  22. What utter, utter UTTER morons.

    “Such infrastructure is easily disabled by water ingress.”

    And drunks smashing their cars into them, deliberate acts of vandalism or terrorism, extended power outages…

    The NBN is a joke. An expensive joke being governed by morons.

  23. So how long do you think these nodes will work on batteries – when new and then after a few hot summers when the batteries are crapped out?? I know the mobile network is good for maybe 4 – 8 hours without power. This stuff is going to run our landlines too. I might start breeding homing pigeons for emergency comms – they might even be faster and provide greater bandwidth

    • You probably could stick a USB drive on a pigeon, send that to a friend somewhere and that would MOST definitely be faster than using the craphouse upload speeds this country has.

    • I can answer that.

      When new, the batteries last at least 9 hours.

      I’m on NBN FTTN (groan) and we had a 9 hour outage a few weeks back during which I was running on generator and patrolling the interwebs throughout.

      In a few years, I’ll answer the second part of that question…..

        • There is no way, short of them running a separate feed from at least 1km away that my node was powered. the whole area for 1-2km radius was out for 9 hours.

          I repeat, the whole area, for a 1-2km radius (nearer 5km to the W/NW) was without power due to severe storms.

          I’m not an idiot. This wasn’t one phase out in a small localized event, this was a major disruption in severe weather conditions affecting a significant area. Nobody had power – the streets were pitch black. The node is just round the corner from me and I personally drove past the node to the filling station 700m away after 4.5 hours (that was closed, because of no power) to get more fuel for the generator, in the pitch black. I had to drive nearly 2.2km to the nearest open servo with power to get fuel.

          So either

          a) my node has a rat powered hamster wheel style generator,
          b) a sparsely populated node with brand new batteries can survive the 9 hours that we surfed the web, checked on Western Powers website for status updates, and listened to Spotify (and not pre-cached playlists) and watched netflix on our HTPC.
          c) It does have its own dedicated electrical feed, from a great distance away, and is not drawing power from the lines running directly above

          Happy to provide further details if you want them.

          Related posts on Whirlpool – I was not the only one running on generator for the duration (we are on different nodes, about 600m apart as the crow flies AFAIK)

          http://whrl.pl/ReC0yX
          http://whrl.pl/ReC2XX

          I’m not defending the technology, I know that FTTN is crap, and I’d rather that I had decent FTTH but I can also say with absolute confidence that this node had no power.

          • Even if the node was only drawing 1kW (unlikely considering normal load is 1.3kW), that’s 5 hours runtime tops.

            The math doesn’t lie, and that’s being generous by assuming a very optimistic power factor of 1 (read very efficient conversion which is possible with a Telco DC to DC design).

            Work it out for yourself if you don’t believe me.

            https://www.backupbatterypower.com/pages/ups-run-time-calculator

          • Derek,

            I’m not doubting the math – for a fully populated node – but do you have firm figures for the power requirements of these nodes with only a handful of subscribers, or the actual wattage consumed at full/half/no load vs the rated wattage – which I assume will depend on line length of connected subscribers so could vary from node to node.

            The area at the time of the outage had been live for under a month.

            Its all very well making bold statements that the node draws this or that, but how did you get these figures? Have you personally measured one, fully loaded/not loaded, with a meter rather than just what the rated wattage is from the manufacturers spec, which is a worst case figure, at full load. Can you point me to figures where somebody has, from which you are referencing?

            My experience in this outage is very different to your statement.

            Unless I was hallucinating the whole debacle, one of us has to be wrong. I conceded that the node could be fed from far away – so are you going to come to the party here – or do you want to discount the experience of those who kept our connections up via generator throughout the outage?

            According to this article

            (http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/549704/nbn_fttn_power_bill_89m_year_/)

            “According to NBN Co, annual electricity costs run at around $1404”

            If we assume a discounted commercial rate for supply of $0.2KWH, that would indicate a full node to consume around 800w fully populated. I appreciate that’s an assumption – but it could be indicative that a node with a handful of subscribers could plausibly run at 500W – at which point the very same calculator says that is an achievable runtime.

            Also, I would expect a new battery to achieve over its rated capacity by 5%.

            Look, you clearly know stuff about power – but I’ve personally experienced this runtime, so unless you can explain the runtime in another way, I will have to conclude that you are not the fountain of all knowledge that you claim to be, or that NBN co are also running extremely long feeds from outside the area to power the nodes, adding billions more to the already bloated cost of this 3rd rate network.

          • My background is in the Telco / ISP space including managing a tier 3 spec data center for a few years.

            The industry info I have access to suggests including overheads the current nodes use an average of 7 watt per user.

            Good point regarding number of users, It seems that the low user count is likely what allowed your node to get 9 hours. Once everyone else is on it you’ll be lucky to get 5 hours on a 192 port node. Much less on a 384 port node (they aren’t very common tho).

  24. I’m sorry, but, I gotta do this :)

    A Wild Node has appeared!

    River uses flood, it’s super effective! :P

  25. This raises questions about the planning behind the rest of the rollout Australia-wide.

  26. Yes, you are all right, lets spend 20 or 30 or however as many billion more is required because someone somewhere in Australia someone has found a piece of equipment that is close to the water at high tide during a flood.

    The comments posted above reflect the infantile level of debate that columns written by a hater like LeMai encourage. As if anything as big as an NBN, using any technology, could have been built in this country without some stupid screw-ups somewhere.

    • Yes lets not worry about electrical things near water, got to save money where we can right?

    • As if anything as big as an NBN, using any technology, could have been built in this country without some stupid screw-ups somewhere.

      Right. So when the the roll-out was FttP scrutinizing it to the nth degree was in the public interest (coffee machines) while legitimate concerns about active equipment in flood zones (that should not be in the streets to begin with) is just to be dismissed as “some stupid screw-up” Well it is certainly is one expensive “stupid screw-up” and given it is coming to us courtesy of a party so retarded it wanted to cancel the proper NBN to pay for the Queensland floods I think complaints here are more than valid because if they had continued the FttP roll out as planned we wouldn’t be having this conversion AT ALL. The words of Tony Windsor spring to mind here “Do it once, do it right”

    • ….because ignoring the rules of nature and doing it on the cheap to look out for the bottom line hasn’t ever bitten us on the ass anywhere else huh?

      What’s even more infantile is ignoring the faults in this picture and saying that it will be OK. As for any screw ups, sure I can understand that as much as the next guy. But you would have to think that the person installing this cabinet may have seen the YELLOW WARNING LIVE ELECTRICITY warning on the cabinet while standing on a riverbed that has a chance of flooding.

      So if you can honestly tell me that this will last for another 20 years without wasting money then you really are on an infantile level yourself

    • The problem I have with this statement is that the geniuses saying it will cost $20 or $30 billion more are representing a line of thinking that results in a (intended to be) powered node being built on a riverbank.

      From my own point of view never trust a merchant banker over an engineer when it comes to project management. They will promise you the world until they get what they want and then you’re left high and dry (unless you’re a poorly positioned node then you’re just sunk with mud all around).

    • @ Gordon

      “…lets spend 20 or 30 or however as many billion more…

      Are you referring to the disgraceful and hopeless MTM blow outs?

      Yes indeed.

  27. Not surprising, I’m in a property with FTTP and the laying of the cable in the property is pathetic. It has been simply stuck to the walls with the boxes put in the most inconvenient place. I have a 25Mbit connection and get 6Mbit on a good day. It is slower than my old ADSL when I lived in New England. I asked NBN Co about it and they told me that 6Mbit from a 25Mbit fibre connection was within parameters, ridiculous. I got 9Mbit on my ADSL. The whole NBN has been a waste if this is the best we could expect with either tech.

    • @ez Always interesting to here others’ actual experiences. Tragic to think $20+b spent for so little value.

      Maybe Renai can ask for the best photos of FTTH equipment installs?

  28. West Coast TAS NBN policies perfectly encapsulating the major parties broader NBN policies:
    http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-11/nbn-fibre-for-tasmania's-west-coast-towns-coalition-pledge/7502292

    Coalition: Half the cost and half the time, utilising existing infrastructure where possible through negotiation. Available revenue unable to recover the lower “investment”.

    Labor: Without knowledge or experience, and a disastrous track record, they continue to believe they can do it all themselves. Cost, all borrowed money, is irrelevant. Financially innumerate, as are our voters, we’ll proclaim 7% IRR (which they’ll believe is ROI). Actually loses will be massive, but we’ll have moved onto the next project.

  29. why has no one else come up with the many other examples of cabinet location blunders other than this one.there are many: keep looking: foi request the design defects that have been downgraded to minor to allow an area to be rfs.all states have cabinets and nodes built in less than ideal flood and traffic areas against design principles then over ridden post build as the fixup would take too long and be embarrasing…fttp and n.just ask.

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