FTTN: In the long term, it makes zero sense

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FTTN: In the long term, it makes zero sense

June 12th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

blog There is no doubt that until the next Federal Election is decided, the issue of Fibre to the Home (broadly, Labor’s NBN policy) versus Fibre to the Node (broadly, the Coalition’s rival approach) will be debated endlessly. Into this turgid discussion comes a harsh injection of common sense by Delimiter commenter Hubert Cumberdale, who has posted a though-provoking post on the Delimiter Forum.

At its core, the post invites readers to consider the long-term implications of deploying FTTN versus FTTH, and how some of the arguments being made now about upgrading Telstra’s copper network will no doubt circle around in half a decade or so as Australia debates how to upgrade the FTTN. HC writes:

“Think of all the complaints from those that like to harp on about the “perfectly good” copper that could still be used. Imagine if we were rolling out a FTTN network now. When it comes time to upgrade to FTTH they are going to be complaining about the perfectly good nodes that we just put in. There will be debates about exactly how much can be kept but the fact is much time and money will be wasted on a solution that has a very short life span.”

I couldn’t agree more with HC. While I do think there are many attractive aspects to rolling out a FTTN network around Australia, the fact is that technologically, such a platform would need a major upgrade within a decade or so, given the current rate of data growth and the increasing need for latency-sensitive applications. From a technology-centric viewpoint, there is no competition to FTTH. In any case, it’s refreshing to see someone taking a long-term viewpoint on this debate, rather than a three-year approach based on Australia’s electoral cycle.

Comments are closed on this post; I encourage you to respond to HC in the Delimiter Forum.