FYI | Jun 21 2007
The following is a letter received on my request from reader Adam Dennis who has taken me to task this week on my article “Telstra Down But Not Out” (Australia; June 19). I have also included below Adam’s professional assessment of WiMAX technology (which was questioned by Telstra following the OPEL announcement) included in earlier correspondence – Greg Peel.
Dear Sirs
I read Greg Peel’s 19/6 article with interest, but was concerned at the perception that rural and regional Australians are automatically unhappy with proposed solutions for Internet access. The truth is that country Australia – like the metropolitan areas – is home to interest groups whose business seems to centre on criticism and stone-throwing, hence are not really representative of community opinion.
Rather than seeing the country as a poor cousin to the city, most people here value their lifestyle and freedoms; they wouldn’t move to the city for anything. Not even bandwidth. As I move around rural Victoria, I’m regularly struck by people’s common sense; they talk commonsense about water, about crops, weeds, exports. Tourism, even. There’s a lot of smart people who choose not to live in the city, and with that choice comes a recognition that the economics of providing infrastructure and services to the country are different. Nobody is expecting FTTN outside of reasonable-sized towns. It doesn’t make sense to dig a trench alongside every existing copper cable and lay fibre; the cost would be prohibitive, and people here understand the bottom line: if it costs a lot to roll out, we’ll pay a lot to use it. And frankly, we don’t generally have the disposable income to be paying for premium services. WiMAX will be just fine, thanks.
There’s a high awareness of the cost of infrastructure outside the metro area. We don’t expect handouts. Sure, we ask for a helping hand when the drought bites, or fires destroy our livelihood. But when it comes to day-to-day services and infrastructure, I believe that country people are more than reasonable. Indeed, the prospect of getting any half-decent broadband is exciting. As an IT professional living in the Strathbogie ranges, 20km from the nearest town, I’d personally love to graduate from my ISDN to something around 512kbps. I’m figuring that it might happen in a couple of years, and I can wait. I’m really not complaining – and yet I’d be in the top 5% of people needing quality Internet access on a daily basis. I think it’s astonishing that I live on a mountain, with an average of 300 metres between houses, and I’ve got 128kpbs synchronous. Life’s good, and if I can get access to WiMAX in a couple of years, I’ll be over the moon.
Out here we’re watching the government vs opposition broadband bidding war with bemusement. If we can get everyone off dialup and onto something just fast enough to carry VOIP (as my ISDN connection is), then we’ll have achieved miracles – without bankrupting the country into the bargain. Meanwhile, there’s farmers facing huge debt, there’s the constant spectre of global warming, appalling long-term prospects for water supplies. That’s where we’ll be looking when it comes time to cast our votes.
This whole escalating debate over Internet access is pathetic. It really doesn’t speak well of either side’s ability to address the real problems facing us all.
Regards,
Adam Dennis
Consonant Pty Ltd
And on the suject of wireless technology Adam wrote:
Calling WiMAX ‘untested’ and ‘in its infancy’ is misguided. The first WiMAX IEEE standard was released back in 2001. That’s eons ago by technology standards. WiMAX, otherwise known as 802.16 or WirelessMAN, has been thoroughly tested and implemented as a commercial service overseas; TowerStream have a point of presence in San Francisco delivering wireless access to a 10 mile radius. Here in Australia, Intel invested some $37 million in Australian company Unwired back in August 2005, specifically to support its rollout of WiMAX services. Does that sound like a technology in its infancy?
I thank Adam for his responses. FNArena encourages debate from our readers and will, from time to time, publish such correspondence.
