Beware Turnbull’s Triple NBN Tax – your hidden out-of-pocket expenses

By Steve Jenkin

May 16,  2013

Source: http://stevej-on-it.blogspot.com.au/

The Coalition has been very silent on one of its biggest and most invasive change to the NBN:

Every DSL-NBN subscriber is going to be saddled with three unavoidable out-of-pocket expenses. All in-house cabling changes have to be done by a registered cabler, it’s NOT DIY. You may go on e-Bay and buy a $50 VDSL modem, but it won’t work.

1. Install a VDSL Central Splitter and new VDSL modem to get advertised speed. [$250-$500]
2. When, not if, the copper phone service is turned off or you need a second line, install an NTD (Network Termination Device) as supplied “for free” for FTTP uses. The NTD contains two voice service connectors (via an internal “ATA”) and four data service connectors. [$500-$1,500]
3. Either because you want a better service or when the DSL network is turned off in, say, 2022, you’ll pay to have Fibre run to your home. Charges by BT in the UK, whom it seems Turnbull is modelling his network upon, start at $1,250 and max-out at $10,000. That’s not a cap, they just won’t go further.

Step 1. Get VDSL working

The Coalition are saving a small amount, 5%-10%, in NBN construction costs of the NBN by forcing unavoidable costs onto householders. And not once, but three times, will ordinary householders have forced and avoidable out-of-pocket expenses. What’s not to like?

When a node is installed on your line, it will be “without disruption”. Your phone will still work, and given that your ISP can and will transfer your ADSL service from their exchange DSLAM to the node, your ADSL service will keep working.

Those nodes don’t just have ~150 DSL ports, they must also have ~200 phone ports, each with a filter that works for the two different ADSL and VDSL frequencies and a second internal distribution frame or patch panel. This makes them much larger, more expensive, and more complex than they need to be. More like the double-wide refrigerators that are Telstra RIM’s (with “Top Hat” conversions) than the very modest small-beige boxes of TransACT/iiNet in Canberra.

Not only are they forcing additional costs onto subscribers, they are increasing the cost & complexity (read “less reliable”) of the nodes. They could just follow the lead of the GPON FTTP rollout and provide an NTD and massively simplify the nodes and supporting network, but in the world of upside-down economics, a lower total cost doesn’t interest the Coalition.

If you want the advertised speed, you have to purchase a VDSL2 modem. Mr Turnbull has claimed they are “$50″, but not any brand-name models and nothing in the retail shops where you can get a least a modicum of pre-sales support and post-sales service and warranty. Perhaps if you bought 1,000 directly from overseas, they’d cost you $50. Looking at British sites, I see them in the $150-$250 range.

But it won’t work when you plug it in!

ADSL and VDSL operate with different frequencies and require different “splitters”. To get reliable service – nothing special, but just what’s been advertised and you’ve paid for – your best option is to install a “Central Splitter”. If you attempt to run “in-line” splitters, they are very likely to go awry and you’ll lose your service.

The Telco phone line into your house is cut and the “splitter” is connected before the first phone point. The splitter has two output connections: one for the DSL modem, the other for the phones in your house.

The cable up to and including the first phone point is the responsibility of the Telco. Only registered cablers are allowed to touch it, with some pretty draconian legislation applying to “line tampering”.

What’s it all about, the Coalition no show for disability, no to MP to care for sick baby?

By Noely Neate

May 16, 2013

If you missed it, see last night’s awe inspiring rant by Mr Richard Chirgwin about the Coalition not bothering to turn up for the introduction of the DisabilityCare Bill. I had hoped that our media would report this lack of respect this morning, but no.

Did you know that Mr Abbott’s reply speech to the budget is more important than a mother taking time off work to care for her sick baby?  It is. The Coalition did not grant ALP MP Michelle Rowland ‘a pair’ so she could fly home to care for 14 month old baby: Opposition blocks bid to be with sick baby.

Audio

So let’s re-cap.  In one 24 hour period, our Coalition Opposition and soon to be our Rulers as the Australian media keep telling me (personally I would prefer to actually vote first) have insulted every disabled person in this country by not bothering to attend the Bill’s introduction.  I am sure the Coalition will backtrack on Ms Rowland’s dilemma, and there will be excuses of “Not being aware of the seriousness of the pairing request blah blah.

What the Coalition cannot backtrack on is their non-attendance in Parliament yesterday.  Yes a budget is important, but it happens every year. This historic Bill is a one-off.  It should have been a day of celebration for the disabled, their families and their friends, and a celebration of our nation shared by all!

The House of Representatives as PM @JuliaGillard introduces legislation to cover some of the costs of DisabilityCare http://t.co/jlPlP0BZ49—
andrew meares (@mearesy) May 15, 2013

The relief for so many in this country who live in fear that they will die and not be able to care for adult disabled children is more important than a budget response. The fact that a family with a disabled child will be able to move State to better their circumstances if the opportunity arises due to standard nation-wide care is more important than a budget response. The simple promise that carers of the many disabled in this country has some surety about the future of their families is more important than a budget response.

I could give many more examples.  The very least the Coalition could have done was attend this sitting to show that they supported these people.

It has been suggested this morning that the ‘No-Show’ is not really that big a deal, as  it has already been made clear that they would support it. I am sorry, but I disagree.  Our MP’s are employed to represent US, the Australian people, in the electorates where they were priveledged enough to receive a vote of confidence from us that they would represent their interests to the best of their ability.  Unless all these members that did not bother turning up for Parliament do not have any disabled in their electorates, I fail to see how that is representing your electorate?

Mr Abbott will have nothing to offer in his Budget reply except to say ‘This is a bad Government, ‘This Government can’t be trusted’ blah blah.  You can guarantee that all of the Coalition have bums on seats to cheer Mr Abbott on.

The media are already setting the stage for Mr Abbott’s wonderful reply speech, as it will be – just ask them.  It has been the lead story on all the TV stations.  Not one whimper about the total lack of respect afforded the disabled community yesterday, barely a mention of the pairing rejection. though anyone want to take odds when they invariably backflip on that there will be plenty of airtime given to it.  The producers of these News shows that decided the lack of support for this bill and blatant disrespect shown to the Disabled by the Coalition was NOT News should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

The genesis of the @ch150ch Abbott gaffe list

View this document on Scribd

Margo: I’ve begun asking tweeps who’ve had a go at activism in the political sphere to write about their experience  for @NoFibs. Here is the first post of what I hope will be a series, by the tweep who compiled a list of Abbott gaffes which has already attracted more than 15,000 views. The  tweep has given me a good reason to be anonymous.

---

By choosing @ch150ch

May 15, 2013

The genesis of the Tony Abbott gaffe list

During an interview with Leigh Sales on 25 March 2013, Prime Minister Gillard listed some of the ALP government’s achievements. To which Sales responded “Well, Prime Minister, you’ve given me a laundry list there, so let me give you one back.” Sales then gave seven examples of what she described as failures by the Gillard government. Needless to say, the PM disagreed with the premise of the list. [1]

But it got me thinking. If the PM has made x mistakes between becoming PM and now, how many has Tony Abbott made? What would a laundry list for him look like?

Some laundry list items sprang to mind immediately, such as when Abbott ran out of parliament to avoid Craig Thomson’s vote; his disastrous interview with Leigh Sales about BHP; the bat phone jokes; and his strange behaviour during the ‘shit happens’ Mark Riley interview.  [2]

Over a couple of days I recalled other incidents but in the end I resorted to googling his name month by month from June 2010. That’s how the Tony Abbot list of forty eight gaffes between August 2010 and May 2013 was compiled; an average of 1.4 per month. I update it as appropriate.  [3]

As to what constitutes a gaffe, my test was whether his words and/or behaviour attracted criticism and/or ridicule from across the political divide, over and above standard policy debate.

I envisaged the laundry list as a resource for journalists who might have forgotten just how often and in what way Abbott has screwed up; and more generally as a resource for people to quote from or show to friends, relatives and colleagues so they can see for themselves that Abbott is not fit to be PM. Last month Peter Costello claimed that Abbott has changed over the last three years. Based on the list, I doubt it.

I love Twitter

I’d joined Twitter about two weeks before compiling the list. No particular reason, just decided that it was about time. But the value of Twitter quickly became obvious. By the time I was ready to publish the list at the end of March 2013, I had maybe twenty followers but a couple of those had far more.  As is the way with social media, once someone with a big following retweets, or links to, an article, video or whatever, it’s off and running.

The list had about 5,000 reads within days, plateaued at that number for a few days, then off it went again, reaching about 8,500 reads by mid-April. In fits and starts, it’s now had close to 17,000 reads on Scribd.com, and been published on other sites. While the positive feedback and read-count might be gratifying, I would really get a kick out of hearing that someone changed their vote because of the gaffe list. So if that happens, please let me know via twitter at choosing@ch150ch

---

[1] Transcript of interview 25 March 2013 accessed at http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3723490.htm

[2] See gaffe list

[3] Gaffe list can be accessed at http://www.scribd.com/doc/133134121/Tony-Abbott-Gaffes