harpo....all those eff-wits who voted for Abbott can be blamed for the fuck-up that is the [now] NBN.

The Liberals watered it down to the point we will ALWAYS be playing catch-up with what is [these days] a seriously important infrastructure.

Clearly they are all-to-a-man technologically ignorant.

...as is their voter base.

Prices for things vary according to what country you are in.

So, internet here is half the price, but, petrol and diesel are double the price...

You aren't comparing similar economic systems.

What Fuzzy Logic said and I would also add that it can and does even differ greatly between regions in a country (rural vs urban).

Yeah, Australian internet is slow as ass. And forget about large uploads, our upload speed is horrible!

To be fair Jafo, Oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them.
Labor was a total mess of in fighting, backstabbing and candidate swapping along side the default of broken promises (Which is a default for ALL politicians as far as I am concerned)

It's no surprise they failed to win the election.

I've continued to email my local reps though about the NBN and signing petitions. Hopefully the Liberal Gov will realise that while they won the election, it wasn't due to their NBN policy.

Wouldn't worry too much about them....they're screwed come the next election.  Too many broken promises....and Putin will off the twat for 'shirt-fronting'....

Essentially we're still suffering the tyranny of distance....too many miles of infrastructure costed over too few people.

A quarter the pop of England and about a thousand times the land size....

I pay US$41 to AT&T for 3.0Mb/s download and 0.5Mb/s upload DSL. I live in Muskogee County Oklahoma outside of the city limits so I don't have access to cable, but I manage to get by just fine.

I have no sympathy for those who whine that 50Mb/s is too slow!

This is what happens when Europe forces companies to compete, and the US/Canada/Australia allows them to collude.

One group you can blame in particular is ALEC for sponsoring legislation that banned communities in some states, such as North Carolina, from doing it themselves.

ALEC got several Senators elected to Congress this time, so the FCC overruling the states is DOA.

Well, I know for a fact in Australia that Telstra is restricted in their prices and are actually not allowed to lower them past a certain point to give the 'smaller' telco's a chance or whatever excuse they use.

So it always makes me laugh when Optus or biased opinion 'news' like Today Tonight say that Telstra has such high prices. They're actually forced to comply because they own the majority of the infrastructure (as a legacy of once being Government owned)

Either way, our phone and internet industry stinks. Australia tax is everywhere these days =P

So what's new?  The paying public have been overpaying for goods and services for decades/centuries.  As somebody above mentioned, it's all about greed, governments and the mega-wealthy lining their pockets with more and more of our money.  Sadly, they control the markets of things we want or need, thus we keep paying through the nose so as not to be left behind.

Fortunately, I do not smoke, run a car or very often buy clothes, etc - not to mention that I'm as tight as a fish's bum when it comes to spending on groceries/essentials - so I manage to save quite a bit there and can afford a better internet connection when one is available.

@ Jafo.

As for Abbott and his cronies diluting the NBN, several experts provided reports to the parliament and the plan is on hold, with Labor and several other MPs blocking the move, telling the government it would defeat the purpose of 'high speed internet' and that consumers would outright reject the NBN should it be altered/watered down with copper to the premises.

You are quite correct, however, about Abbott and his cohorts not having a feching clue.  I questioned the Lib. member up here about the watering down plan and he dared to suggest that copper from the node could actually be faster and would save customers money.  What an effwit, no feching idea at all.

@Fuzzy - 

While it's true there is a comparison being run on differing economic systems, I stated in the OP:

"This report also implied that about 75% of American homes have only a single source for an ISP. That means that there’s no competition for that essential infrastructure. In Europe? Quite different: Governments try to encourage rivalries between ISPs by requiring them to share infrastructures. That doesn’t happen here."

Also on reply #14:

"Exactly...but, how much do you pay in taxes? Is your internet subsidized at all by the government"

The wisdom of these subsidies and laws becomes apparent when discussing the importance of the internet and infrastructure...as well as the apportionment of profits and taxes towards improving that infrastructure. I'm really glad you responded to that, as that was one of the thrusts of the source and I think it should be considered.

jafo, wintercross, starkers you are far TOO MILD on those total failures called politicians, they should be shipped over to the middle east as LIVE SHEEP

harpo, the NON-subscriber

Fact is all the politicians suck. The best we can do is try to pick the least suckiest at the time.
Which as Labor showed us with the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd 'switcheroo', can't even be guaranteed anyway.

edit: I mean, do you really think that slime ball Bill Shorten will be any better?

Pity we can't fire ALL the politicians and start fresh.

Or bring back/revive the careers of politicians past.

Dunno 'bout many of 'em, but I say we bring back Gough!!!!!

Now there was a gentleman... a true statesman... and there hasn't been one since.

Met Bill Hayden years ago... nice bloke from Ipswich, Qld... he too was a gentleman and statesman.

Anyhow, let's not turn this into a politician bashing exercise... plenty of deserving media/telecommunication moguls out there with parasitic desires on your/our back pockets.

And in the famous words of Ted Bullpit: "Somebody ought to blow Telstra; Optus; Vodaphone, etc up."

While on the subject of Aussie internet speeds, I was getting up to 94 - 95mbs on the NBN [fibre from the node] until my feching mother feched it up for me and I had to move... and the bill keeps growing... despite arranging with Telstra to temporarily suspend my service until I find suitable accommodation. Went into my account earlier and they reckon I owe nearly $700 for the months of September, October and November.  All my services were disconnected on August 30, so somebody's getting a right royal blasting later on, with the ombudsman being brought in should I not receive a satisfactory result.

Again, I put this behaviour down to greed, as many people wouldn't question it and would pay the bill to avoid making a fuss... well not me!  I will demand the bill be wiped, and if they don't do it willingly I'll kick 'em in the corporate gonads [metaphorically speaking], and I have a few ways to skin the proverbial cat, so it will be interesting should the fechers decide to be awkward.

starkers, if we did manage to bring back gough, then it would REALLY be the DEAD leading us, as even a non news/idiot box person like myself heard of his death.

harpo, the NON-subscriber

You know, I've worked for Telstra in the past and you would not believe the crazy regulations forced upon them.

For one, all the prices are regulated to stay above a certain amount which is why Telstra tends to be more pricey.

Here is one of the dumbest restrictions though; if I had a customer call me regarding their account, be it phone or internet or whatever...

I'd punch the number into our system, and it would bring up their details of their connection (exchange, connection address etc.) and show me if they were a Telstra customer or not. Now if they were not a Telstra customer, the regulations state I was not 'allowed' to tell them they are with another carrier and had to tell them 'I can't find your account'  This obviously leads to people getting irate and it was such an idiotic restriction. 

I also had to deal with a lot of abuse from people who had odd ideas in their head. Like one guy who was yelling at me because a call he made to a number in a different exchange should have been a local call because he could see the other house from his roof.

So I guess I have a little sympathy for at least the people working in Telco companies.

despite arranging with Telstra to temporarily suspend my service until I find suitable accommodation. Went into my account earlier and they reckon I owe nearly $700 for the months of September, October and November.  All my services were disconnected on August 30, so somebody's getting a right royal blasting later on, with the ombudsman being brought in should I not receive a satisfactory result.

That is pretty bad and probably falls into incompetence or lack of caring from the person who should have suspended the account.
If you had gotten hold of me I would have refunded everything back on your account (it's pretty easy to confirm an account hasn't been used) and apologised for the inconvenience.

As long as customers didn't abuse me and give me a chance I'd try to help them best I could.