When it was revealed that Telstra held back the activation of hundreds of ADSL2 DSLAM Exchanges across Australia in 2008, many people where left bewildered. On one hand it was very disappointing to learn that Telstra was basically holding back the access of High Speed Broadband to thousands of Australians and therefore holding back potential economic growth. Then again, Telstra, as per usual, makes business decisions based on the best intentions of their shareholders. Sour grapes or smart business?

Now that the incumbent has been dumped from the National Broadband Network process, it’s forced the Telco to rethink their strategy and it’s through this that another Telstra Broadband revelation has emerged. Sol Trujillo, Telstra’s CEO, told a Citigroup EMT conference recently that Telstra is now capable of rolling out DOCSIS 3.0 technology that could deliver their Cable Broadband customers a staggering 100 Mbps broadband speed. WoW! Not only could they deliver 100Mbps high speed broadband connectivity, but using this technology Telstra could match the Broadband speed of the upcoming NBN. On top of this they could also roll out this 100Mbps network upgrade faster than any competitor could instill their own.

This technology basically means that Telstra could compete with, if not exceed, the speeds in which the new NBN technology is likely to bring. Of course Telstra’s DOCSIS 3.0 technology integration would be limited to major metropolitan areas where Telstra’s existing HFC network already exists, however this is still a very large chunk of Australia’s population. So when can we expect this to happen? Once again, it sounds like Telstra are going to hold back until they are forced to do so by competitive pressure.

 - Sol Trujillo

“Well the [DOCSIS 3.0] technology is now real, the technology is being deployed and we have that also as an option if somebody chooses to compete and to compete with us, the only difference is we’ll be there a lot quicker a lot faster a lot bigger, a lot more integrated and with more capabilities than anybody else.”

Direct Brain Surgery, conduct climate change experiements and interpret human genome in real time with precise definition through state-of-the art broadband. This could be the not so distant future according to a recent article that appeared on AustralianIT.com.au.

The cutting edge technology, founded by Phil Scanlan, is 250 times faster than a standard Broadband connection and offers ultra high definition resolution that could allow an emergency surgical operation that is conducted by a surgeon on one side of the world who operates a robot to perform the sugery on the other. The mind boggles to fathom the potentials that this kind of techonology could offer. I imagine that only time will tell to see if this new technology is ‘the real thing’ and kicks off. The Rudd Government seems to think it might, and has vowed to test the ultra high res Broadband technology in Australian Institutions and Households.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said the ultimate aim was “to deliver this sort of technology to everybody’s home”.

“A surgeon in Australia could direct an emergency surgical intervention by operating a robot in Antarctica; scientists in Australia and Japan could share research tools or operate an underwater robot exploring the Great Barrier Reef.”

Read the entire article at AustralianIT.com.au.

It appears that ‘interference’ is the underlying contributor which impairs Broadband speeds using DSL technologies. Although this type of complication has been cleaned up within ADSL and ADSL2+ technologies, interference is still dominant.

In a follow up to a recent article on Broadband Guide, further information has been produced supporting a research by Dr John Papandriopoulos that states DSL Broadband speeds can potentially break the 100Mbit barrier using a variation of DSL technology referred to as VDSL. Depending on further research and development, it could be likely that we may witness the new VDSL technology hit the scene over the next 3 to 4 years.

From a consumer’s point of view, the news gets better as aside from network upgrades, it appears that firmware upgrades for you’re current modem/routers or relatively inexpensive new modem/routers may be all thats required to use the new technology. VDSL Broadband is certainly a topic that we’ll be keeping a watchful eye upon in the future, especially if 100Mbps+ Broadband speeds can be produced.

“Typical broadband in Australia is around 1.5MB/sec for ADSL1 and anywhere up to 24MB/sec for ADSL2+ connections. We’re looking at increasing those rates up to about 100mbs per second by managing the interference between the lines” he said.

What Dr John’s breakthrough does is reduce interference on copper telephone lines to the extent that you can run VDSL lines on them. “What we’re doing with newer versions of DSL such as VDSL and VDSL2 is employing technology to widen the broadband further, the trouble with doing that is you really need to manage the interference, which is what the research has focused on” Dr John said.

Read the entire article at IDM.net.au

If you think 12, 30 or even 100Mbps is a fast speed for Broadband? Then how about 250 megabits per second! Thats the calculation set by a Melbourne PhD student who claims that speeds at this limit are reachable using telephone lines and DSL Broadband.

Dr John Papandriopoulos won a Melbourne University academic major prize (Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in the PhD) for a mathematic Broadband theory that suggests speeds of 250Mbits are attainable. Dr John has also applied for patent rights in the U.S. and Australia. Maybe the Federal Government should award this clever fellow a $4Billion dollar grant to develop a high speed Broadband Network?

A MELBOURNE PhD student has developed technology to make broadband internet up to 200 times faster without having to install expensive fibre optic cables.

Dr Papandriopoulos’ research, which took a year to complete, uses mathematic modelling to reduce the interference that slows down downloading.

Read the entire article at News.com.au

As the forthcoming Federal Election gears up a notch, Prime Minister John Howard says Aussie Broadband Speeds are OK, Labor talks $8billion dollars for new joint Network, and reports show Australia is lagging behind leader Japan with speeds 35 times slower. Howard says Broadband Internet speeds will be improved over the next couple of years, but it might be a case of too little too late. A recent report also suggests that we’re paying 9 times as much for our Broadband services compared to other countries. While the Libs appear to have dropped the ‘ball’ on Broadband, Labor commits to plans for developing a Broadband Network in conjunction with the Private sector which will pave the way for Broadband speeds 40 times faster than whats currently available.

Opposition communications and information technology spokesman Stephen Conroy says Labor wants to use the $2 billion Communications Fund to build partnerships with the private sector and roll out an $8 billion national broadband network.

Prime Minister John Howard has defended Australia’s broadband speeds.

“We are laying out speeds of 12 megabits per second for 99 per cent of the community,” he said.

Read the entire article at ABC.net