NBN Tasmania overhead cables 'foolish'

From
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/...-15319,00.html

TASMANIANS, guinea pigs for the national broadband network, could lose their
high-speed internet for days on end because overhead cabling is vulnerable
to the state's wild climate, a senate inquiry has heard.

Digital Tasmania, Tasmania's residential and small business IT consumer
group, told the Senate's NBN select committee yesterday 96 per cent of the
network's "backbone" in Tasmania would be via overhead cable.

Spokesman Andrew Connor told the committee, taking evidence in Hobart, that
while overhead cables allowed a cheaper, quicker roll-out, his and other IT
groups would prefer the fibre optic cable to be buried.

"It's a necessary roll-out method to get the roll-out happening in a timely
period - if streets had to be dug up to lay new conduit or if existing
conduit had to be accessed, it may be at a very high cost," Mr Connor said.

"(But) aerial cabling is a non-preferred option for many and that is because
it is more susceptible to interference from mechanical interference - car
crashes, floods and storms, as we've seen in Tasmania recently." Asked by
committee chairwoman, Liberal senator Mary Jo Fisher, whether this meant
using overhead cables as opposed to underground might prove to be "pennywise
but pound foolish", Mr Connor said "certainly".

The roll-out in Tasmania, the nation's first in the $43 billion network, is
relying heavily on Aurora Energy, the state-owned power retailer, which will
string the fibre optic cable along its network of overhead powerlines.
Downed powerlines are common during gales, a regular occurrence,
particularly in spring

"Aussie Bob" <aussiebob@telstra,com.au> writes:

>"It's a necessary roll-out method to get the roll-out happening in a timely
>period - if streets had to be dug up to lay new conduit or if existing
>conduit had to be accessed, it may be at a very high cost," Mr Connor said.

It would be good to see the cost comparison.

>The roll-out in Tasmania, the nation's first in the $43 billion network, is
>relying heavily on Aurora Energy, the state-owned power retailer, which will
>string the fibre optic cable along its network of overhead powerlines.
>Downed powerlines are common during gales, a regular occurrence,
>particularly in spring

I'd certainly prefer the fibre to be laid underground, but power is more
important than internet access and if it's an acceptable risk to run the
power overhead, there's no justification to say it's not acceptable for
internet. Without power (and a generator), working internet access is
only a temporary thing ...

Nick.

In article <hautit$boh$1@aioe.org>, Nick Andrew <nick@spamtrap.nick-andrew.net> wrote:
>"Aussie Bob" <aussiebob@telstra,com.au> writes:
>
>>"It's a necessary roll-out method to get the roll-out happening in a timely
>>period - if streets had to be dug up to lay new conduit or if existing
>>conduit had to be accessed, it may be at a very high cost," Mr Connor said.
>
>It would be good to see the cost comparison.
>
>>The roll-out in Tasmania, the nation's first in the $43 billion network, is
>>relying heavily on Aurora Energy, the state-owned power retailer, which will
>>string the fibre optic cable along its network of overhead powerlines.
>>Downed powerlines are common during gales, a regular occurrence,
>>particularly in spring
>
>I'd certainly prefer the fibre to be laid underground, but power is more
>important than internet access and if it's an acceptable risk to run the
>power overhead, there's no justification to say it's not acceptable for
>internet. Without power (and a generator), working internet access is
>only a temporary thing ...

Wasn't it popular anger that killed off aerial cable laying some years
ago, on the grounds it was unbearably ugly in leafy suburbs?

Cheers, Phred.

--
ppnerkDELETE@THISyahoo.com.INVALID

Phred wrote
> Nick Andrew <nick@spamtrap.nick-andrew.net> wrote
>> Aussie Bob <aussiebob@telstra,com.au> writes

>>> "It's a necessary roll-out method to get the roll-out happening in
>>> a timely period - if streets had to be dug up to lay new conduit or
>>> if existing conduit had to be accessed, it may be at a very high
>>> cost," Mr Connor said.

>> It would be good to see the cost comparison.

>>> The roll-out in Tasmania, the nation's first in the $43 billion
>>> network, is relying heavily on Aurora Energy, the state-owned power
>>> retailer, which will string the fibre optic cable along its network
>>> of overhead powerlines. Downed powerlines are common during gales,
>>> a regular occurrence, particularly in spring

>> I'd certainly prefer the fibre to be laid underground, but power is
>> more important than internet access and if it's an acceptable risk
>> to run the power overhead, there's no justification to say it's not
>> acceptable for internet. Without power (and a generator), working
>> internet access is only a temporary thing ...

> Wasn't it popular anger that killed off aerial cable laying some years
> ago, on the grounds it was unbearably ugly in leafy suburbs?

Nope. It stopped when Optarse lost the content war to Murdoch, with sport.