M. Dias, et. al’s Asynchronous Speeds: Disentangling the discourse of ‘high-speed broadband in relation to Australia’s national broadband network’ discusses the term ‘high speed broadband’ and how this term presents problems.

We discussed this reading and the issues it delves into in quite  a a bit of detail in the workshop this week. Why is Australia so behind in internet speeds that we need a convoluted, politically loaded broadband plan to try and fix it?

Firstly, Australia is a large country. Although most of the population live in urban areas, rural areas still needs to be serviced with phone and internet, which can be expensive.

Secondly: The Telstra Monopoly. Telecom networks used to be owned by the government, but it was privatised and renamed Telstra. Since then, it has been actively trying to crush competitive providers that threaten to provide better service and faster broadband speeds.

With the future of fibre to the home proposed in the original NBN plan looking grim, our internet speeds will remain inferior to the rest of the world. In today’s internet age, speeds of 1-6mbs down are not acceptable. See this article for a discussion on how Netflix has affected internet speeds.

Speeds is so important, especially media makers. A video that takes 12 hours to upload puts a significant dent in your workflow. In my opinion, it’s embarrassing to have Australia falling so far behind the rest of the modern world.

Source:  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