Coonan vs Conroy - Lets talk nerdy
I recently watched the Sky News/ ZDNet debate between communication ministers which is available here. Stephen Conroy, the Labor minister didn’t seem to be very well spoken, often tripping over his words and seeming confused at a lot of times. Helen Coonan, who is the current Minister, and part of the Liberal party seems to be rather spiteful in General.
Labor hasn’t really given many details apart from how much they are going to spend. Some of Helen’s Questions to Stephen were not answered, like how long will it take, and how much will it cost (the most important question). I really didn’t like it how Stephen continued to laugh when Helen was speaking, to me - that shows really bad form!
I’m not fan of Helen - but I tend to agree, with her in some aspects of the debate - Broadband is hard in Australia, it is a larger country than the USA, and broadband is ever increasing. Only a few years ago, I had dial-up, back then, and an IDSN connection was blistering fast ( 64kbps to 128kbps ) - now, I’m on 1.5 mb at home, and 8mb at work, and I can upgrade to DSL2 @ approx 20mbps, but 1.5mb is more than I need for anything.
I laugh when I hear people say we need over 20GBPS internet - that’s a laugh, seriously.
Australian Broadband, Internet, Labor, Liberal, Helen Coonan, Stephen Conroy
Technorati Tags: Australian Broadband, Internet, Labor, Liberal, Helen Coonan, Stephen Conroy
Helen “PIE IN THE SKY” Coonan. She barely knows what a modem is.
Ben,
Both political parties have got it wrong. 20 million people spread over a large land mass. We will never have the same standard of broadband as Japan or Europe. We could have supported one provider and had a good service, but split, it will never work.
Telstra was the only way to go, once it was sold, goodby to world class broadband.
Regardless of how daft the woman is Mike, you still manage to read my website on a 1.5mb/s internet connection… I think it’s the same as interest rates, both are better than 10 years ago, both aren’t perfect- but people will just complain for the sake of it.
I read a quote today, and sums up how I feel about the Labor Party -
“I’m begrudgingly for Howard too. I just don’t think there’s anything wrong with Australia that Labor could fix.
Rudd seems like a nice guy, but I worry he’s a smoke screen for the Union movement.”
Jonangle - you’re dead right. Now there is a complete stuff up with Broadband cabling - and the possibility of things like duplicate networks in some areas - just because some ISPs/ Telco’s don’t want to play the game.
1.5mb/s may be okay 10 years ago but not now Ben. Compared to the rest of the industrialised world its shithouse. Yes I compare us to the rest of the industrialised world.
If we want to be in the 21st century with the rest of the world we need faster speeds and not in 10 years but now. We can’t stand still and leave it as it is because you don’t think you need faster speeds. If we don’t move now, 5,6 years down the line your mind may be changed as technology moves and as will the amount of audio/visual material online which will require more bandwidth.
As with what Labor might do differently how about abolishing Work Choices, Getting us out of Iraq and doing something about Global Warming. Or aren’t you interested in things that you don’t think effect you personally?
Mike,
Who are you? Do you need to download high definition content in 30 seconds? No. It’s not perfect, but it is hard. If you actually look at places like the USA - there are still heaps of people on Dial up. Australia, as Jon said, is a lot more difficult than small places like Japan etc.
Do you need faster internet? NO
Do you WANT faster internet? YES - We all want more. You can’t deny it.
Work Choices are a good thing - the only people complaining about them are those in TV ads, Keeping an ALLIANCE with the USA requires it - I think having the most powerful country on our side is a GOOD thing.
Do I need it? No
Do others in the bush? Yes
In reality Mike, farmers have survived for 100’s of years without broadband.
Granted there are more internet based applications for Farmers etc, But there are things like Satellite Broadband available - I think that’s available anywhere, is give basic speeds for farmers………. better than nothing
Yeah they did, in times when it didn’t exist! Alot of companies (not just farms) can be ran outside of the major cities and they need (and continue to need) better speeds than the slow “broadband” currently offered to them. Satellite for example is rather expensive and very slow and laggy as you would know. Running a business relaint on the net (especially if you ran your own website, uploading files etc..) would be extremely time consuming and frustratingly slow.
You are oversimplifying the situation by saying sat and slower speeds will do for farmers. Not only is the rural internet service necessary for farmers its necessary for other businesses (especially home ran) outside of cities and inner regional centres. Where sat/dial-up just isn’t fast or reliable enough.
The internet will in the future be a bigger tool for rural businesses to expand and make money, if there isn’t infrastructure planted now it will hurt the economy in the long run. I find it almost insulting that you and others think that because they’re rural that basic slow speeds is good enough. If you relied on the net and lived in a rural area with only dial-up or sat to make ends meat I know it would be a priority to you.
I’m not saying that the internet is not important, nor is it unimportant. But are things not currently improving? yes. We’ve seen things like DSL2 being switch on in more and more locations around town.. I think we’re slowly improving… there needs to be improvement -