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One thing that always puzzled me about the NBN rollout was why they chose to do the least populated areas first? It seems that it would have helped to allay the

One thing that always puzzled me about the NBN rollout was why they chose to do the least populated areas first? It seems that it would have helped to allay the cost concerns if they had brought it to more populated areas where the customer uptake would have been greater. By doing places like remote Tasmania (among other small customer base areas), they pretty much guaranteed disappointing numbers up front.

jacques_chester 13y ago
The rollout plan is based on engineering reasons. The close correlation between rollout priority and marginal electorates is purely coincidental.
- ajtaylor 13y ago
  Was the reason to try and find the most challenging installations and do them first? Availability of local contractors to do the actual work of digging holes, stringing fiber and connecting it the the equipment? I'm honestly curious because after seeing my suburb wasn't on any list for the first few years I didn't look too much further. My ADSL connects at 18Mb so I'm not complaining in any case!
  - jacques_chester 13y ago
    I'm not sure that NBN ever published actual reports on rollout selection. They just said it was for legitimate engineering reasons. The frequent correspondence between priority rollouts and marginal seats is just a coincidence. Perhaps there's a reason why it's better to have a weird patchwork of rollouts, rather than progressing geometrically or geographically or according to the network topology or whatever. I am genuinely prepared to hear it.
    - ajtaylor 13y ago
      If there were a correspondence between the two, it wouldn't surprise me. But you'd think that even if the selection process was political you'd dole out some juicy areas too. Maybe I'm asking too much of a politician...
vacri 13y ago
Brunswick in Melbourne is a pretty solid medium-density suburb, and the area within it that got the NBN is the most dense of the lot - and was one of the first rollouts. It's also one of the politically safest seats in the country, held by a no-name MP, Kelvin Thompson. Maybe he has a lot of behind-the-scenes power? I've certainly never seen his name outside of local papers. Or maybe someone high up in the NBN planning committee lives there? I never could figure out 'why there?', and simply assumed that the rollout areas were political. The NBN rollout area missed my house by about two streets...
- contingencies 13y ago
  The NBN rollout area missed my house by about two streets... Aha! So maybe FTTN (Fiber To The Neighbour) or FTTO (Fiber To The Others) would be more accurate topology summaries?

jacques_chester 13y ago

The rollout plan is based on engineering reasons. The close correlation between rollout priority and marginal electorates is purely coincidental.

ajtaylor 13y ago
Was the reason to try and find the most challenging installations and do them first? Availability of local contractors to do the actual work of digging holes, stringing fiber and connecting it the the equipment? I'm honestly curious because after seeing my suburb wasn't on any list for the first few years I didn't look too much further. My ADSL connects at 18Mb so I'm not complaining in any case!
- jacques_chester 13y ago
  I'm not sure that NBN ever published actual reports on rollout selection. They just said it was for legitimate engineering reasons. The frequent correspondence between priority rollouts and marginal seats is just a coincidence. Perhaps there's a reason why it's better to have a weird patchwork of rollouts, rather than progressing geometrically or geographically or according to the network topology or whatever. I am genuinely prepared to hear it.
  - ajtaylor 13y ago
    If there were a correspondence between the two, it wouldn't surprise me. But you'd think that even if the selection process was political you'd dole out some juicy areas too. Maybe I'm asking too much of a politician...

vacri 13y ago

Brunswick in Melbourne is a pretty solid medium-density suburb, and the area within it that got the NBN is the most dense of the lot - and was one of the first rollouts. It's also one of the politically safest seats in the country, held by a no-name MP, Kelvin Thompson. Maybe he has a lot of behind-the-scenes power? I've certainly never seen his name outside of local papers. Or maybe someone high up in the NBN planning committee lives there? I never could figure out 'why there?', and simply assumed that the rollout areas were political. The NBN rollout area missed my house by about two streets...

contingencies 13y ago
The NBN rollout area missed my house by about two streets... Aha! So maybe FTTN (Fiber To The Neighbour) or FTTO (Fiber To The Others) would be more accurate topology summaries?