Service may only reach the speed range once within 24 hours
The company building the National Broadband Network, nbn, has released details how it proposes to classify premises where “remediation is required”.
In the most recent draft of the Wholesale Broadband Agreement (WBA 2.2) released Access Seekers for FTTN Business Readiness Testing, nbn revealed that “NBN Co will designate that Remediation is required” where “25 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream for all bandwidth profiles other than 12 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream”. The company also included an exception clause for the Fibre to the Node network where the speed is limited to 12/1 Mbps during the co-existence “transition” period.
While a premises is being designated for remediation, nbn™ says that speeds may be “significantly less than” the speeds ordered by the customer.
NBN Co outlines how premises that require remediation are classified
The company has also revealed for ranging speed tiers such as those used for the Fibre to the Node and Fibre to the Basement products, the performance criteria for the Peak Information Rate (PIR) may only be reached the specified range “once” within a 24 hour period.
NBN Co outlines its speed performance criteria for Peak Information Rate (PIR)
However, this performance guarantee applies only applies to the network that nbn™ provides to the service providers. Additional factors such as service contention set by service provider may further degrade services received by the end user.
While legacy services such as ADSL2+ exist on the Telstra copper network, speeds will be limited to reduce interference.
Despite what the documentations says, nbn™ has now denied (on the record) that they will “limit” speeds to 12/1. Please refer to this post here for more information.
In the most recent draft of the Wholesale Broadband Agreement (WBA 2.2) released Access Seekers for FTTN Business Readiness Testing, nbn has revealed that speeds will be limited to 12/1 Mbps during the so-called “Co-existence Period” on the Fibre to the Node network.
During this period, all bandwidth profiles will be restricted to reduce interference with existing legacy services that run on the Telstra network. A similar limitation will apply to Fibre to the Basement, however, the maximum speed will be limited to 25/5 Mbps rather than 12/1 Mbps.
Table showing the speed limitations for FTTN/FTTB during Co-existence Period
In the document, the company said that the speeds will continue to be limited until “NBN Co is satisfied that Downstream Power Back-off is no longer required”:
11.5 Co-existence Period
NBN Co will disable Downstream Power Back-off in respect of an NBN Co Node when NBN Co is satisfied that Downstream Power Back-off is no longer required in respect of that part of the NBN Co FTTB Network or NBN Co FTTN Network (as the case may be). The Co-existence Period for Ordered Products supplied by means of that NBN Co Node will cease at such time.
During the period when NBN is upgrading a suburb with ADSL to VDSL2 speeds will not be limited to 12/1Mbps. During this so-called ‘co-existence period’ line speeds on the NBN FttN service will still be substantially faster than those being delivered via ADSL2+ from the exchange
For customers who live close to the exchange, the speed attainable over the Fibre to the Node network may actually be lower during the “Co-existence period” than what’s possible over their existing ADSL2+ service. The typical theoretical maximum speed for ADSL2+ is 24/1 Mbps and is delivered from the Telstra exchange.
ADSL and special services will “co-exist” with FTTN/FTTB during the transitional Co-existence Period
However, since the duration of the Co-existence period varies depending in the area still using ADSL or special services – customers who experience greater speeds over ADSL2+ (greater than the 12/1 Mbps offered) would still need to migrate to NBN before NBN Co can declare the “Co-existence period” over.
Once the Co-existence Period is over, nbn™ will provide 12/1 Mbps and 25/5 Mbps speed profiles similar to those on Fibre to the Premises with higher speeds only available as an “up-to” range. However, NBN Co also states in the document that it is considered acceptable if the customer only receives speeds set out in the PIR or PIR range “once” in 24 hours.
Table showing the FTTN/FTTB AVC speed ranges in the draft of WBA 2.2
Thought you understood the terminology behind the National Broadband Network? Bets are that you probably don’t even know what to call the name of the company.
Today, we look at the names that the company building the National Broadband Network uses and how confusing it can get:
Name
What it means?
NBN Co Limited
The actual (registered) company name for the company building the National Broadband Network
nbn
The trading name of NBN Co Limited. Refers to the company
(nbn must be in bold!)
nbn™
An occasionally acceptable way to refer to the company, NBN Co Limited.
(nbn must be in bold, ™ is not in bold)
nbn™
Refers to the products and services of nbn, and not the company.
NBN
Refers to the network that the company is building: the National Broadband Network
nbn co ltd
Another name that refers to the company NBN Co Limited that’s usually used in footers. Generally inconsistent usage
NBN Co
Used to refer to the company NBN Co Limited before the rebranding.
nbn spent $700,000 to rebrand their company late April, in a hope to “streamline” the brand. But in truth, it has probably caused more confusion than anything. Hopefully, this guide has helped clear up some of the ambiguities of calling the company.
But if in doubt, just continue to use NBN Co. No one really cares.
FAQ
Help! I only have pen and paper… how do I write nbn in bold?
Just continue to using “NBN Co”. No one really cares.
Help! I don’t have a rich text editor… how do I write nbn in bold?
Just continue to using “NBN Co”. No one really cares.
Publisher’s note: This, in no way, constitutes the view of nbn, nbn™, nbn co ltd, NBN Co or NBN Co Limited (or however you want to write it). If you haven’t realised by now, I find this naming convention absolutely crazy and unnecessarily confusing.
With the “level of confuse” I have right now, I probably got something wrong up in that table. Please let me know if I do 🙂
Earlier, ZDNet reported that the antenna design for the 3.5GHz network will be similar to a “baseball mit”:
“that the antennas installed on top of the premises as part of the trial were designed similar to a “baseball mitt” in that although the 3.5GHz beam is relatively narrow, the capture of it on the antenna was wide to ensure that line to sight between the NBN Co tower and the premises’ antenna was maintained.”
However, the Department of Defense had raised concerns that utilising the 3.5GHz spectrum may interfere with radar capabilities.
While the actual assigned spectrum is 3.56GHz, the assignments were issued under nbn™’s existing 3.4GHz license which it acquired from the now defunct Austar satellite TV company. A full list of ACMA assignments can be found here.
Multi-Technology Mix replaces the full Fibre to the Premises rollout
It’s been known for some time that the Fibre to the Premises rollout will come to a head. As expected after the introduction of the Multi-Technology Mix (MTM) rollout strategy as directed by the Government’s Statement of Expectations to nbn™, the FTTP rollout era is expected to end next month in June. According to the 18 month rollout plan released to service providers in March, there will be no more FSAMs (Fibre Serving Area Modules) expected to commence build beyond June 2015 encompassing a “pure” Fibre to the Premises rollout.
The past two months (March and April) saw a consecutive lows of 4 FSAMs entering into build preparation phase. The 19,900 lucky premises over the past two months are one of the final groups of communities to get the full FTTP rollout. Provided that nbn™ doesn’t remove them from the map again, these areas are expected to commence build within the next 2 months.
One final rollout region, somewhere in the Wollongong Fixed-Line Serving Area, is expected to be the final FSAM to enter into the build preparation phase this month and appear on the rollout map in June. From there on in, it is expected that nbn™ will transition to the MTM, dropping the word “Fibre” from “Fibre Serving Area Module”, releasing Service Area Modules (SAMs) that will encompass multiple technologies in a single module.
nbn™ has clarified some of the contents of the original post. The post has been updated in light of this new information.
As part of nbn™’s industry consultation on the Long Term Satellite Service launching next year, the company released a list of proposed charges for the satellite service to Access Seekers (service providers) for feedback last Friday. A summary table was released to the public this morning.
The table lists a number of new proposed charges, including a reactivation fee, installation, installer travel costs and a range of late or missed appointment fees.
Table 2: showing some proposed charges for the NBN Long Term Satellite
Under the proposed charges, the company will charge the customer through the internet service provider an installation fee based on the distance the installer has to travel (charged at $1.40/km) and also pay an hourly rate for the time they spent driving and installing the equipment (at $98/hour). This is in contrast with nbn™’s current cost structure for the Fixed Wireless and Fixed-Line products where the installation is free for the customer.
