Abandon all hope: Turnbull’s win screws the NBN permanently

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127 COMMENTS

  1. …insert YouTube clip of Darth Vader being informed that Padme had died

    Episodes IV, V, and VI are Labor’s NBN, Episodes I, II, and III are the MTM. Does that mean in another few years Labor will sorta-kinda fix it with a modern take on Episode IV?

  2. Anyone who votes LNP should be made to use dialup – after all this is all they need to check email.

    It is too bad – a real nbn could have been used to help “Jobson Innnovation Growth.”

    • Absolutely agree, James! Wth is wrong with the supposed corporate/ business sector in Australia (the ‘traditional’ Liberal voters)???! Oh wait…they’re all heading offshore where the internet is faster & cheaper!! Aaargh!!

    • No dial-up for me. I voted LNP and I’m enjoying my HFC I’ve had for the past 4 years running at 114/2.8. I’ll be enjoying it even more later this year when NBNCo takes over and I get 40 up instead of 2.8 :).

      <3

        • To be fair.. “I got mine” (HFC) back in the 90s. Didn’t have to wait for the NBN, thank you Telstra & Foxtel!

          • C,

            We’re on HFC too, but only 30/ 1 Mbps so far, very congested 15:00 to 23:00, and thus sometimes on mobile terrestrial wireless hotspot, lotsa new apartments not that far away. Quite a bit of scheduled maintenance by the looks of the service status page.
            How’s that in your area?
            Telstra tech has been around, checked wiring, router/ modem reset (~4 years old), ensured Wi-Fi away from that of neighbours, suggested may be looking at new router/ modem and taking it to advertised 100/ 2 Mbps.
            Which modem did you get?
            We’re not on any Ruddstra MTM mk3 of 2013 update maps that I’ve seen, till 2018 2H, so presumably that means 2019 activation …

            J

          • Hahahahahahaha

            Enjoy that connection once the NBN takes over in your area and all of a sudden the network has 4X as many subscribers!

            You’ll be back, whinging and complaining – download speeds at peek time; it was all ok when it was Telstras HFC etc etc.

            You sir, have metaphorically just shat on your own front door, and I laugh in your general direction!

            Whats your cunning plan, Baldrick? Move house?

            [laughing]

          • “router/ modem reset (~4 years old), ensured Wi-Fi away from that of neighbours, suggested may be looking at new router/ modem”
            If they’ve re-signed you onto any contracts in the last 2-3 years definitely demand a replacement modem to go with it. A friend on Optus cable had woeful cable (lucky to be 3mbps during peak hours) and after harassing them enough to finally send out a replacement modem, now get up to 60mbps. Don’t know if the modems are deigned to die slowly or if it was some sort of network reconfiguration clash that left their old modem struggling, but it’s certainly not an issue to be conveniently overlooked at your expense.

  3. The great tragedy is that Australia will be far the worse for it.

    TurnBull and his cronies should be jailed for their political destruction of the NBN, this is going to hurt our economy badly in the long term! :-(

  4. I’m still struggling to understand why people still vote for the Liberal party after what we saw the last term.

    • In this election, most people didn’t vote for them.

      In fact, in the Senate, all major parties lost power.

      It’s only due to the ‘first past the post’ system in the House of Representatives that the Coalition still holds power. Most of Australia voted against them; but they voted for parties that were smaller, so the votes eventually returned to the Coalition.

      I don’t necessarily have a problem with our democratic system — I think the separate systems in the House and Senate work quite well in tandem.

      But there is the simple fact that most Australians did not vote the Coalition into office.

      • Yes they did. They deliberately put LNP ahead of ALP on the preferences. Australians need to take responsibility for the damages they have done to the nation.

      • But there is the simple fact that most Australians did not vote the Coalition into office.

        Not sure how you draw that conclusion, so far the Primary vote for the Coalition is 42.1%, Labor 34.9% and Other 23.2%.

      • The House (federally) uses a “preferential voting” system; voter’s preferences are distributed until a majority achieved.

        Electoral boundaries make it possible for a party to lose two-party (candidate) preferred across the country but retain a greater number of seats in the House (and form govt). It’s close this year; Labor possibly small majority of TPP, Coalition House majority (possibly a minority but form govt with the support of independents).

        Senate quota system is more complex, though also interesting.

        I’d recommend all delims register as a candidate’s scrutineers sometime. See our democracy in action up close.

        • Senate quota system is more complex, though also interesting.

          Yeah, the senate this time around is going to be interesting. I’m also keen to see how the deal with Fujitsu pans out for the AEC this time.

          I’d recommend all delims register as a candidate’s scrutineers sometime. See our democracy in action up close.

          I’ve thought about it, but as I’m a swinging voter I don’t think any of them would give me a go.

          • @tm Often you don’t need to be a member of a political party (I’ve never been). Rules are different for each candidate and/or local party, but I’ve only committed on a single election basis.

            You’ll be expected to hand out how-to-vote literature; itself an experience with the level of abuse from certain sections of our “community” (like here).

            Choose you preferred candidate and approach them; falling political engagement is a worrying trend across democracies worldwide.

          • Ah, I think we may be talking about different things, scrutineers aren’t allowed to:

            – interfere with a voter, or attempt to influence them,
            – wear a badge or emblem of a political party or candidate within the polling place,
            – deliberately show or leave in the polling place any how-to-vote card or similar direction as to how an elector should vote.

            They are the folks that can watch the sealing of the box and the counting and such and are there to make sure there is no dodginess going on.

            http://www.aec.gov.au/elections/candidates/scrutineers-handbook/about.htm#what

            Did you mean voting booth volunteers?

          • No, most scrutineers are also volunteers (nominated by a candidate). You are correct in that you have to remove all candidate advertising whilst performing scrutinisering duties inside a polling station (technically a few metres before the entrance).

      • Actually I would say even *less* people voted for Liberal since you have to take into account the only reason they ever get the numbers necessary is the Nationals are still willing to be their lil boy blue so that they can have a shot at the Senate to boost their numbers.

        Because a lot of areas vote Nats because they have always voted Nats and neither of the other parties besides Greens ever bother to campaign/contest most of those areas. If you actually break it down to individual party wins the “Liberal” vote shrinks a lot more.

  5. This is economic sabotage. I can’t afford anywhere with HFC, million dollar homes in HFC areas ? although currently on HFC. So I’d be in complete despair on faulty telephone lines where I move to. I’m stuck where to go. They have sabotaged my choice of where to go.

    The HFC will fall over and they will be wishing for FTTP.

    If they stuck with the plan they would have saved 56 billion they blew the money on.

  6. I still put the whole mess at the feet of Abbott.

    Instead of doing the right thing by the country, Abbott through sheer ignorance, spite and partisanship, politicised the NBN, saw it as a means to an end to attack labor (oh no! spending!) and win government.

    Imagine if somebody came out tomorrow and said electricity for all was a white elephant, that it wasn’t a right, that electricity was just too hard, that the only people who needed 24 hours of electricity a day were probably up to no good anyway. That somebody would rightfully be laughed out of the public arena, but Tony Abbott has been saying those things about the NBN since it was just an idea, and even today those kinds of simple, easy to understand arguments (too expensive, too hard, can’t be done, let somebody else do it) that fit into an existing narrative (can’t trust labor to spend) carry a lot of weight with people out there who just don’t know any better.

    • “saw it as a means to an end to attack labor (oh no! spending!)”
      The demolition of Australias NBN will cost us, after all is said and done, $45.6b, 10 years and result in Telstra holding the biggest monopoly it has ever had.

  7. I apologise to all of Australia.
    I knew all along that FTTP was better.
    I didn’t do enough to convince other people.
    I’m sorry.

  8. Excellent article Renai, as Hubert says “Nailed it!”.

    It took decades for that issue to be resolved in the US. And it will take decades to resolve in Australia.

    IKR, it’s like we’re in some bizarre experiment where they try to see how many times something can be tried before someone says “Hang on, that didn’t go so well when…”

  9. For a while I condemned Turnbull as the equal of Alston and Coonan as destroying the digital future of our nation.
    No longer, he should be held up us the sole destroyer of our entry into 21st century connectivity. Turnbull allegedly understood the digital age, because of a lucky investment in OZEmail, but he has continued to butt fuck it into submission.
    When history is written his name will be derided as nothing more than a self centred political hack.
    Note I dont include Fifield in this – he is barely able to decipher crayon drawings let alone serious concepts of future proofing and connectivity.

  10. Renai, your anti-LNP bias, is ruining this site and clouding your analysis.

    Despite your opinions, Australian’s did democratically re-elect the Coalition government, and I hope now that you don’t waste the next four years, complaining about how the MTM NBN rollout is inferior to fibre.

    Everybody know this, but it is what we are going to have, now the IT and Technology sector is huge and I hope you actually return to doing in-depth analysis on other issues, rather than relying on external contributors to do this for you, and you only add your opinion when it is to hate on Malcolm Turnbull or the LNP.

    • Renai your opinion is much appreciated.
      Your opinion is what makes this site so interesting.
      What Jack fails to forget is that the world will be watching the MTM FTTN and HFC performance and using it as case studies for what and what not to do.
      When it becomes more apparent of the damage the MTM strategy has caused to Australia, Jack will likely look a little foolish, having worried about you complaining, when you constructively highlight what other countries have achieved with their Broadband to help bolster the business case for further ASAP upgrade of Australia’s Broadband.

    • hey Jack,

      (while I deny that I have an anti-LNP bias, considering that I railed just as hard against Labor’s mandatory Internet filter plans)

      you’re essentially right.

      Indeed, it is time to accept that the MTM is now essentially here to stay — whether the Coalition or Labor is in power.

      Delimiter will always maintain a focus on the NBN, but this particular battle has now indeed been lost with this year’s election. As a result, I will be increasingly returning my attention to other topics of contention.

      I am currently cleaning up my master lists of article topics and re-thinking the broader scene. As a result, you’ll start to see broader coverage shortly.

      Thanks for keeping me honest :)

      Renai

      • Delimiter will always maintain a focus on the NBN

        Good, without the Dems around anymore, and with even the Greens doing deals with the Libs, we need someone to keep the bastards honest (all of them, not just one party!)

    • @ Jack,

      Sans politics, the debacle that has now been clearly demonstrated… known as MTM… does not deserve a free ride/lack of scrutiny, simply because another election has come and gone, IMO.

      Particularly with MTM having been initially promised – ready to roll fully costed @ $29.5B for all Aussie by 2016.

      It needs to be continually scrutinized regardless of one’s supposed hate on Turnbull/LNP or one’s love for Turnbull/LNP.

        • @ alain,

          You say this, then run, instead of clarifying.

          So again… why is it, in your eyes, ok for the current government to have said one thing, revised, and now all is ok?

          But when the previous (Labor – there I said it) government did likewise (in fact to a lesser extent), you called them out as liars and would never accept their revisions?

          The stage is your’s to explain.

          Apology accepted

          • Try again…

            This time put the goal posts back where they were, remove the detour signs and then grow two (well at least one) kahunas and actually answer, your own contradictory hypocrisy…

            I”ll ask again since the mouse clearly stopped pedaling. Get the cheese ready… feed mouse… now…

            Q. Why is it, “IN YOUR EYES”, ok for the current government to have said one thing, revised, and now all is ok… but when the previous (Labor – there I said it) government did likewise (in fact to a lesser extent), you called them out as liars and would never accept their revisions?

            A. (hint: this is where you place an actual answer)

            You’re welcome

    • Renai, your anti-LNP bias, is ruining this site and clouding your analysis.

      Did you complain about his “pro-LPA bias” when he supported the MtM early on?

  11. “your anti-LNP bias”

    Huh…and to think so many people gave him flack for supporting the LNP back in 2013 too.
    I honestly think that it is your own bias that is clouding your judgement…

    “I hope now that you don’t waste the next four years, complaining about how the MTM NBN rollout is inferior to fibre”

    I think you are glossing over what is probably the most colossal mistake an Australian government has made in living memory (with the possible exception of the Iraq invasion). The MTM will almost certainly cost us years longer in the coming recession as we will not have the proper infrastructure in place for economic growth (unless there is a sudden and massive need for iron ore again).

    In other words, if Renai does NOT keep holding Malcolm’s feet to the fire every day, he won’t be doing his job…

    • Renai did not support the LNP back in 2013, he just provided balanced and objective articles about the state of the NBN, without caving to the commentators that sought for him to condemn Turnbull, because of Abbott’s desire to tear down the NBN or as Abbott put it, the “White Elephant”.

      During this time however, Renai also wrote fairly extensively on a range of other interesting technological issues, with some highly detailed and informative analysis. Now Delimiter is home to a bunch of pre-packaged technology news releases with no analysis or additional commentary at all, a large increase in advertisements and paywall articles and NBN articles that just seem to pick apart the problems with the current NBN rollout, and blame them on the LNP, despite the fact that any infrastructure project despite the government will have delays and faults.

      Despite your statement that I am bias, I am actually a relatively young member of the community with no political allegiance to any party, I just seek Delimiter and Renai to return the site to its former glory, when I was an avid reader from around 2009/2010 onwards.

      • Part of the problem is that I get much less time to write at the moment.

        In 2009 and 2010, the advertising market was very different. You could place normal advertisements from the vendors on a page, get click-throughs and generate page impressions for their ads, and you would earn money.

        In 2016, the advertising market is completely different.

        I make about the same amount of money, but each advertising campaign takes significantly more time to deliver. They are more complex, more demanding and they include much more intrusive aspects.

        Often I spend my whole day dealing with advertising issues and only get to squeeze out a few articles in the last hour. In 2009/2010, it was rare to spend more than 1/2 an hour a day working on a campaign.

        Some of the editorial aspects are harder as well.

        There are many fewer commentators these days.

        These days we don’t have Michael Malone, Simon Hackett, Stuart Marburg, or in the enterprise IT space, knowledgable analysts such as Steve Hodgkinson to comment.

        The public discourse around technology in Australia has become significantly weakened, and people are now increasingly afraid to talk in public.

        So often I have less source material to draw from.

        There are good aspects.

        Many of the tech issues that we used to debate so much (Apple versus Microsoft, Windows versus Linux, SPARC versus x86, Gmail versus Outlook, Telstra versus Optus versus iiNet versus Internode, Internet filtering, Internet piracy etc) are now largely resolved in many ways.

        And we even have less to complain about in terms of local IT infrastructure, with AWS, Azure and probably shortly even Salesforce.com onshore.

        Because of this, journalists like myself tend to focus more on the topics that are still controversial, such as the NBN, than we used to. Because, as a society, we have actually worked out the solutions to many of the issues that we used to debate.

        The end game for much of this is that sites such as Delimiter must keep moving, keep evolving, keep thinking and planning, otherwise they become stuck in the past and become irrelevant.

        Ultimately I think the end game is that there will be almost no technology journalists in Australia of any kind in a few years.

        When I became a full-time tech reporter in 2005, there were many hundreds of tech journos, with heaps doing very significant investigative work.

        Almost all of those journalists have left the industry, and I can count the ones doing any actual investigative work almost on one hand. Things like Reddit are gradually replacing us. The need for this kind of journalism, in my opinion, is gradually fading away.

        Something to consider.

        • An important traditional role of journalism is to report “stuff” but to also hold power to account (which is why it’s the 4th pillar of democracy), I don’t think sites like Reddit will ever replace that aspect of it.

          Income model aside, I think at least part of the problem is the lack of trust in MSM, and the more biased they become, the faster their subs drop. Look at the recent election, all majors (bar one) backed a healthy win to Malcolm while ignoring the polls. The majors got it so wrong they even wrote articles about how wrong they got it (http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016-opinion/election-2016-the-uncomfortable-truth-is-the-media-got-it-wrong-how-did-we-do-it-20160705-gpzatm). You know things are wrong when you see things like that happening.

          And I don’t see that you’ve been biased to any particular side (ok, maybe the “Abandon all hope” one was, but is in the “Truth” series and clearly says it’s your opinion where you call a spade a spade, and you still stuck to the Delimiter Principles https://delimiter.com.au/statement-of-principles/).

          Wouldn’t hurt to do a few more “Devils Advocates” articles though ;o)

      • “Renai did not support the LNP back in 2013, he just provided balanced and objective articles about the state of the NBN, without caving to the commentators that sought for him to condemn Turnbull, because of Abbott’s desire to tear down the NBN or as Abbott put it, the “White Elephant”.”

        You wouldn’t think that by the way I am getting slammed on Reddit today as a Turnbull shill :)

        • Renai’s posts a fascinating insight into modern-day publishing challenges. Interesting to hear more.

          The NBN “debate” is a large reason few commenters are prepared to put their hand up these days; the abuse, stalking and vitriol directed at anyone questioning FTTH was unprecedented, not even the MS-fanboys got close.

          Also true many of the old IT arguments have passed; however I’d add skilled migration as a massive issue. In recent years I’ve employed such applicants for half (real dollars) what I was paid first year out of university back in the 90s. I’ve had young Australian graduates crying after months of being unsuccessful in obtaining a position (comparatively inexperienced), begging to work for free for experience (not possible). This (bipartisan) govt policy is destroying what was a wonderful career option.

          • “…the abuse, stalking and vitriol directed at anyone questioning FTTH was unprecedented, not even the MS-fanboys got close.”

            Wow do we need to re-vist this AGAIN.

            You started the vitriol, yet now you have the chuzpah, to point the finger at others?

            Typical of the far right, cultists, it’s ok for them (squealers, fanboys, suggesting another’s opinions are of lesser significance, etc, etc)…

            Then sob when you receive in kind.

            Keep living in that bubble Richard.

            You’re welcome.

          • “The NBN “debate” is a large reason few commenters are prepared to put their hand up these days; the abuse, stalking and vitriol directed at anyone questioning FTTH was unprecedented, not even the MS-fanboys got close.”

            Richard’s right on this. I still get hatemail because I pointed out that Turnbull’s April 2013 FTTN plan was “credible”, even though I explicitly noted at the time that Labor’s plan was better on every measure.

          • @ Richard,

            https://delimiter.com.au/2016/07/12/telstra-offshores-326-call-centre-jobs/

            Conroy’s fault or bi-partisan govt policies fault?

            I’d suggest greedy private enterprise being, greedy private enterprise and not giving a fuck about Aussies…fault!

            But feel free to twist it, again.

            As for name calling, I agree Renai did cop it for saying MTM was “credible”…

            I’d also say hate mail is unacceptable… fervent discussion, such as we do here, with the odd facetiousness is of course ok, as long as the line is drawn (as we have both learnt being banned at discussions Richard)…

            But I’d also suggest that MTM has been proven anything but credible, it is a complete fucking debacle. As I believe Renai has since suggested (but perhaps not quite so eloquently ;)

            Of course the then opposition/MT suggesting (early 2011 iirc) that FTTP supporters lay off the koolaid and that we are fibre zealots, for simply supporting (IMO) the best for Australia and opposing his retrograde network, is of course ok Richard?

            You’re welcome

          • @tm nothing to do with temporary visas; I’m talking about the skilled migrant program.

            Several pages of demanded “skills” milked by third worlders looking for entrance into Australia. Travel the world and experience the real “program” our politicians are too stupid to see.

            Much like our foreign “student” visa program:-(

            @renai opportunities for additional analysis and insight; sadly missing today (all media). Give it a little more time. Monetisation an interesting discussion.

          • @r

            Yeah, the whole thing needs a good retooling really, skilled migrant, 457 and the student thing. A proper labour test would be a good start.

        • You wouldn’t think that by the way I am getting slammed on Reddit today as a Turnbull shill :)

          And don’t forget this:

          https://delimiter.com.au/2013/12/12/please-accept-apologies-wrong-turnbull/

          Perhaps you only know your balanced when everyone slams you? :o)

          The big problem with it is due to the politicisation of the NBN, it’s almost impossible to separate the technical from the politics, if you point out that FttN is inferior to FttP, you’re a “Labor shill!!”. If you point out that HFC is good for a few years yet, or that FttB just makes sense, your a “LIB shill!!”.

          Both the ALP and LPA plans have merits, it’s a shame that people can’t see that and be more flexible, because that’s where bipartisan outcomes come from, and that’s where Australians have usually come out as winners.

        • “You wouldn’t think that by the way I am getting slammed on Reddit today as a Turnbull shill :)”

          Wouldn’t pay much attention to /r/Australia, if that’s where your getting it from. Fairly solid echo chamber going on in there.

      • “Renai did not support the LNP back in 2013”

        No, he didn’t…but many folks (like you appear to be today) did incorrectly accuse him of bias. I myself gave him flack because he was trying to give Turnbull the benefit of the doubt and I didn’t see that it was called for…

        At the end of the day, it is actually a lack of accurate information in the electorate (IMHO) that is responsible for the huge problem that the NBN has become today. It is a major problem for our future, and I would encourage Renai (and any tech journalists that may be left) to write about it and point out problems as much as possible going forward. The Fourth Estate is rapidly losing ground to Carnival attractions, and it is eating away at our ability to choose intelligently…

  12. Yes, it’s a big pity that we’re left with a second-rate network as the demands on it are guaranteed to increase. What do we do when slow internet speeds are driving us all around the twist….rip it all up and start over again? So foolish…

  13. The last legs of the NBN issue will come down to the financing of the rest of the project. I believe that changing the time frames to a medium term focus and issuing government bonds for the full value of the project is the most cost effective way of doing it.

    However, Turnbull and his Telstra gang at the head of NBN will be pushing for as much commercial finance as possible to make the numbers look terrible to justify a break up of the NBN allowing Telstra and others through privatisation to replicate the cartel arrangement of most major business in Australia. The original FTTN plan Turnbull took to the election was developed within Telstra and handed to him. In this sense Turnbull is just the muppet with someone else up his arse.

    And Ziggy is a dick, not that that is connected to the last sentence.

    • I don’t think the privatisation of the NBN part or whole would get through the Senate, not this new mix of seats or even the previous.

      • Wow second time today I’ve agreed with you alain…

        But let me elaborate…

        I don’t think it would get through the Senate either.

        But also such an archaic/last millennium, copper based, FRAUDBAND network (with associated $b’s in blowout/years behind schedule)… would be almost worthless and can really as it currently stands, only be given away.

        Perhaps that’s the current government’s goal to appease Telstra and their shareholders?

        You’re welcome

      • I don’t think you’ve had enough experience with the inner workings of conservative politicians. The current senate situation is not an issue because it will be at around the time of completing the build that the work needs to be done. Regardless, the point is to create a story that can be believed and then sell it to them all. The numbers will be manufactured and it will be presented as no option other than to wed NBN to Telstra. There will be token protections given and a great deal of hand wringing about respect for public assets.

        For that to occur, there needs to be a supportive leadership culture in NBN that could weather a possible change in government at the next election. Luckily, they replaced the whole executive with politically motivated hires and the culture will be well and truly embedded with another 3 years to work with.

        • There are a whole bunch of (not insignificant) hurdles they’d need to get over first, check “Part Three”:

          https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2011A00022

          It’s not unachievable, but it would be a pretty major effort on their part to get it to happen, and I don’t think it’s a fight Malcolm will want to pick in his current situation.

          • An alternative strategy is to pay enormous fees to Telstra from NBN. Not that you would know it from the NBN finances because it’s more transparent nowadays but fortunately Telstra has to declare things because it’s a publicly listed company. Last financial year they received about half a billion dollars $270M of which was as per the $11B agreement. The extra was for management fees, operation of the systems to provide the running of the FTTN/HFC networks and rehabilitating their duct work. The extra $300M will balloon (it’s a per year figure) as the build expands. At this rate the “not a cent more” deal will be more than $20B by the time the build is done. This gets buried in operational costs for NBN but Telstra is sitting pretty.

            So NBN is dependent on Telstra for running an asset it has already paid for twice. I’m sure when the FTTN has to be upgraded that the Liberals will work out a way for NBN to buy the upgrade from Telstra two or three times over.

            That’s how you do privatisation when you can’t do privatisation.

  14. In Australia, it is unfortunate that the conversation by industry, journalists, politicians & commenters have been constrained to just residential broadband speeds as a case to support an argument for a ubiquitous Fiber To The Home telecommunications network. This is the reason why the case is lost and a much more holistic approach is required. A telecommunications network is not the means to an end. It is an enabler of various applications and technologies.

    adjective: Ubiquitous
    present, appearing, or found everywhere.
    synonyms: omnipresent, ever-present, present everywhere, everywhere, all-over, all over the place, pervasive, all-pervasive, universal, worldwide, global; rife, prevalent, predominant, very common, popular, extensive, wide-ranging, far-reaching, inescapable

    If all you want to do is surf web pages, download a few songs, send and receive some photographs, or watch streaming video at current picture quality levels, then the bandwidth provided by today’s cable modems and DSL services is probably good enough for your average Joe Blow residential customer.

    However the world is moving swiftly to applications that require higher bandwidth which utilize any combination of Cloud, Big Data, Machine-To-Machine (M2M) technologies, Internet Of Things, VR, realtime 4K, Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) and much more. All of these technologies are utilized in applications for transport, advanced manufacturing, education, energy, public safety, health and many others touching just about all today’s modern & innovative businesses in the post-industrial era.

    Case Study
    Chattanooga in Tennessee was once a heavily polluted post-industrial town. EPB Electric Power is one of America’s largest publicly owned electric power providers.

    In 1999 it entered the telecommunications business to develop a fiber-optics based network which launched 2000 and publicly approved in 2002 allowing it to provide Internet services.

    In 2003 EPB launched it’s all-fiber high speed Internet service which allowed them to compete with other telecommunications providers.

    In August of 2007, EPB’s Board of Directors announced approval of a Fiber To The Home initiative, designed to generate new jobs, improve services to electric customers and to provide high speed broadband to every customer in it’s service area. Chattanooga’s City Council, after overwhelming public support, unanimously votes to approve EPB’s plan.

    In 2008, EPB secured a bond to begin construction of a Smart Grid, a next-generation electric system building on ten years of research, that includes communications capabilities in order to reduce outages, improve response times, reduce theft and so that customers can manage their power usage.

    In 2009, EPB was awarded a Federal stimulus grant of $111 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to expedite the build

    In 2010, EPB collaborated with Silicon Valley’s Bloom Energy National Center for Computational Engineering to install a Bloom Box to evaluate and alternative energy source, which is an energy server based on fuel cell technology. In September of the same year, EPB announced the availability of speeds up to 1,000 Mbps.

    In 2011, EPB took the final step to complete deployment of it’s Fiber To The Home network making it available to every home and business in it’s 600 square mile service area. The network also serves as the backbone for EPB’s Smart Grid. In April 2011 the entire service area was hit by a violent & devastating storm in it’s history, leaving 75% of it’s customers without power (126,000 homes & businesses). Power was restored in record time and during the restoration the community saw many benefits made possible by EPB’s Smart Grid such as isolation of outages and self-correction of various minor problems.

    In April 2012, EPB installs the 1,170th IntelliRupter® PulseCloser. When an outage occurs the IntelliRupters communicate with one another through EPB’s fiber optic communication network to determine the location of the outage. Power is automatically rerouted and restored to as many homes and businesses as possible. The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that the national cost of power outages for business and residential consumers is at least $150 billion annually. Because the Smart Grid is self-healing costs are reduced dramatically and reduce outage duration by 40%. In July, another storm hit causing an estimated 41,300 homes to lose power. In response, 59 IntelliRupters automatically isolated problems. About 7,000 experienced automatic restoration. Another 35,000 could have lost power for an extended period, but instead experienced no outage and automatically restored in less than 5 minutes. Full restoration was completed in less than 3 days. In addition, the Smart Grid’s automated metering infrastructure system eliminated 95 truck rolls to restore power. In September of the same year, EPB celebrated it’s 3rd anniversary and it upgraded residential & business Internet speeds at no additional cost. (30Mbps > 50Mbps, 50Mbps > 100Mbps, 100Mbps > 250Mbps) Also reduced the cost of Fi-Speed Internet 1,000 service from $349.99 to $299.99 per month.

    In 2013, EPB completed the installation of Smart Meters for all residents and businesses in the service area. By integrating the meters with the Smart Grid System, six billion data points are collected annually. The data (Big Data) provides automated meter reading & billing, outage & voltage anomaly detection, automated connect and disconnect and theft detection. Customers have online access to their power usage in 15-minute intervals. In September, EPB reached a milestone with 50,000 residential customers now signed up. By end of December, they served more than 53,000 homes and 4,200 businesses, with about 3,600 residential and commercial Gig subscribers.

    In September 2014 the community Smart Grid was put once more to the test by heavy wet snowfall (11 inches). Affected about 76,000 customers, but the Smart Grid automatically restored or prevented about 40,000 outages. The remaining customers restored within three days. This would have taken 8 days prior to the Smart Grid. In March, EPB completed a new Distribution Center which is a single state-of-art command center to share cutting-edge technology, increased workspace and massive amounts of real time data. For a customer this means faster and more efficient respons to needs and weather related outages. In July, EPB reached and agreement with U.S. Department of Energy to installed EV chargers at its downtown public parking garage and operation center. In July, EPB filed a petition with the FCC in response to neighboring communities for access to gigabit enabled Internet service. Surrounding communities either don’t have access to high speed broadband or any Internet service. The FCC where then considering pre-empting State laws in 19 States that either prohibit or restrict municipal high-speed broadband deployment in underserved areas. In August EPB launched Smart Build that gives incentives building new homes that meet energy efficiency standards and ready for next-generation fiber optics services. In September, EPB reached a 5 year milestone. Since launching in 2009 EPB Fiber Optics now serves 61,000 homes and more than 5,000 businesses. In October, EPB established a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to use Chattanooga’s smart grid as a living laboratory to test and develop new energy technologies and to analyze billions of data points & smart grid processes to design the electric grid of the future that further enhances reliability, security and efficiency.

    In February 2015, the FCC approves EPB’s petition to expand it’s footprint outside it’s territory. In August EPB reached the milestone of serving 75,000 residential and commercial customers. An independent study showed Chattanooga’s fiber optic network has generated at least $865.3 million in economic and social benefits while helping to create more than 2,800 new jobs. The study examined the network’s value to quality of life, education, health care, business, arts and culture, homes and improved municipal services. In October EPB launched a community-wide 10 gigabit service available to all homes and businesses in the service area by implementing TWDM-PON broadband technology. One of the first 10 gigabit subscribers was Chattanooga’s radiologist Dr. Jim Busch. In March, EPB completed installation of 10 gigabit Internet connectivity at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus. The service available through 18,000 wired Ethernet ports and more than 1,500 Wi-Fi access points becoming the first commercial 10 gigabit customer.

  15. If it weren’t for the fabrication of lies, the truth could never be unveiled. “look to the left, look to the right,..looking for some explanation”-;!

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