LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: John Edwards <isplist@pinnacle.net.au>
  To  : David Newall <davidn@rebel.net.au>
  Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 22:35:25 +1030

Re: Broadband options in SA (was Re: ADSL talk suggestion)

>> I would rather see SA get broadband down every street than tuck away a
>> few more power cables, and the former is a lot more feasible.
>
>Standard politican's trick: imply that one thing is contingent upon
>something else.

Except that unlike a politician, I have no hidden agenda. [1]
I would personally like to see SA support more high-tech industry and
communications, and to do so in a timely manner to win contracts and jobs
that might otherwise go to other states and countries. I believe that more
broadband in the suburbs is a step towards this.

>I point out that putting new services underground is in no
>way reliant on putting existing above-ground services underground.  They
>simply are not related.  I'll also point out that the cost of putting a new
>service underground is much, much cheaper than the cost of putting the same
>service above-ground and then later moving it.

It doesn't make much sense to dig a trench underneath power lines just to
lay fibre when it could be hung with the power lines, especially if someone
is planning to move the power lines underground (and with it the other
hanging cables) later. It is simply too costly to dig new trenches to get
fibre everywhere, or else it would already have been done by Optus, AAPT, or
one of the other 45 Carriers in Australia. By hanging fibre from poles we
can have networks built fast. Telstra had 50 years headstart to get the
copper in the ground for ADSL.

There's also the stupidity of trenches and ducts side by side where Telstra
are too arrogant to reach an agreement (even though there are probably
carrier-related laws for this). Would you really rather have your street
and/or front lawn dug up 5 times by 5 different carriers, or have some extra
cables overhead. Which would be uglier?

Perhaps some sort of levy could be charged on hanging fibre that's
contributed to a local council underground cable fund. At least that way we
could all have fast networks soon, and know that there is an effort being
made to get rid of ugly cables eventually. But that would be a policy made
by government, and I've already established that I'm not a politician.

John Edwards

[1] Perhaps I'm biased towards Etsa since they invited me to a nice dinner
at a sporting event, although I'm not a currently a customer of theirs for
anything besides electricity.


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