The National Broadband Network promised by the Labour government was to provide fibre connections directly to our households with speeds of up to 1 gigabyte per second.
On the contrary, The Liberal party proposed the Multi-technology mix National Broadband Network (MTM NBN). This entails fibre to the node where fibre is attached through a box on the street and delivers a speed of 25 to 50 megabits per second on copper wire to the household.
With this whole “complex assemblage of infrastructure networks, communication devices, software, location, user subjectivity and political input”, Australia’s ranking in the global ranking for internet speed has lowered from the 30th to the 60th position. Thanks to today’s workshop, I’ve discovered that we Australians are paying for how much data we are given as supposed to other countries who pay for the speed of their internet, again it relates back to politics.
Since the privatisation of Telstra, competitors struggle to attract consumers. For example, TPG offers $69.99 worth of unlimited data and calls to Australian mobiles and landlines. But the problem is, landlines have become almost obsolete in every household. Again, what we as the consumers are most interested in is SPEED. As a media practitioner, I constantly hear the familiar screeches of “why is the internet so slow?” for every single time I’ve had to upload a video or re-upload just in case the first and second time didn’t work out. Check out Waleed Aly’s response to this whole political debacle.
Reference: M. Dias, M.Arnold, M.Gibbs, B. Nansen & R. Wilken, ‘Asynchronous speeds: Disentangling the discourse of ‘high-speed broadband in relation to Australia’s national broadband network’, Media International Australia, Incorporating Culture & Policy, Jun 2014, Issue 151, p.117-126