1 Gb's to the home?

[Mitra]

Labor says its National Broadband Network will deliver internet speeds 10 times faster than first thought, at 1 gigabit per second.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy are in Hobart today to officially launch the first part of the national fibre-optic broadband network.

When the Government first unveiled the $43 billion NBN plan it promised to deliver speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps).

But Senator Conroy now says fibre-optic speeds will hit 1 gigabit per second, 10 times faster than first thought.

"The announcement by NBN Co to increase capacity on the network shows that fibre technology is truly about future-proofing the nation," he said.

NBN Co chief Mike Quigley will outline further details in a speech in Sydney later today.

The announcement comes just 10 days before election day but Senator Conroy said he was only told of the increased speeds last night.

Senator Conroy was also quizzed on whether it was known all along that the network was able to deliver much faster speeds than the originally announced 100Mbps.

"They're now confident that they've actually robustly tested it, that the interfaces can sustain the gig," he said.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he doubts the Government's claim of super-fast speeds.

"This idea that, hey presto, we are suddenly going to get 10 times the speed from something that isn't even built yet, I find utterly implausible," he said.

Ms Gillard used the NBN launch to attack the Coalition's decision to scrap it.

"I am completely determined that we will build the NBN," she said.

"I will build the NBN. Mr Abbott, if he is elected as PM will not. That decision would cost Australia jobs."

The Government says the NBN will provide fibre-optic connections to 93 per cent of the population. The remainder would receive wireless or satellite technology.

The Coalition also revealed its broadband policy this week, pledging to spend $6 billion to deliver internet speeds of up to 100Mbps to 97 per cent of Australians through a range of technologies.

The Coalition has vowed to dump the NBN because it says it is too expensive and it does not support a nationally owned network.

[jacob]

93% of the population basically means major cities lol.

I remember working at telstra and looking at the coverage map of '99% population cover' which was basically big towns/cities and nothing in between.

But still, thats kick ass IF she does it. She could just as easily be using this to get votes then not do it.
I live my life by one rule that has never served me wrong, never trust a red head.

[Cartollomew]

I chuckled a little at Abbot saying this is something he finds "utterly implausible" - he's not really known for his technical acumen, and pretty much any new tech appears to work via magic until we understand it.

On the other hand, Conroy et al have been roundly ignoring the limitations and real world implications of the net filter since forever, so I don't really see how we can trust their word on this.

It's not really affecting my position one iota - I still think we should be installing fibre networks, and I don't particularly care if it's only 100Mbit for the moment. Such infrastructure can be improved as and when it needs to be.

Our aging copper infrastructure should have been replaced years ago.

[Scharla]

The good thing about fibre though is to boost people from 100mb to 1gb you just need to modify the hardware at the exchange not the user. The fibre itself assuming they do it properly is good for much more.

[Johnnyrico]

i haz question:

Which party is supporting the stupid internet filter?

[Lellybaby]

i haz question:

Which party is supporting the stupid internet filter?

Labour was, they have since dropped it

[midi]

Place your bets... 100mb bandwidth for plans with only 10Gb of data.

[Mitra]

i haz question:

Which party is supporting the stupid internet filter?

Labour was, they have since dropped it

i thought they had "deferred it" you know...worry about it after we get elected with it a non issue....

[Cartollomew]

i haz question:

Which party is supporting the stupid internet filter?

Labour was, they have since dropped it

Not strictly speaking true; the opposition finally came out and said the filter was plainly unworkable, that they wouldn't vote for it either in opposition or in government and that they strongly supported the measures taken by the Howard government (which were fruitless, but relatively low cost and didn't bother anyone).

Pretty much the most sensible thing Joe Hockey ever said.

At any rate, since the coalition openly stated that they would block the filter legislation and since we know the greens would also block it, the filter is dead in the water, so Labor has just quietly stopped talking about it.

Ho-hum.