Top 5 Benefits of the National Broadband Network in Australia

As anyone who has lived in Australia for any respectable amount of time will tell you, the Internet connections available are a bit shoddy to say the least. Compared to the rest of the world, Australia has pretty weak Internet service offerings, for both consumers at home and business owners. This is why most Australians are on the edge of their seats in anticipation for the solution to all their problems: The implementation of the National Broadband Network, or NBN for short. While there's virtually an infinite amount of reasons why the NBN will be beneficial for all of Australia, there are five general reasons that sum up the major changes that this national network will bring.

• Faster Speeds

This is probably the most obvious benefit. To be blunt, most of the ISPs in Australia offer dismal speeds, both on the consumer level and on the business level. Even the local broadband speeds are among the lowest in the world; when it comes to international speeds, it's marginally lower. The NBN will change this, since the entire Internet network infrastructure in Australia is being revamped. The current infrastructure is built upon inefficient and aged copper lines, while the NBN will be built from the ground up with the latest in networking technology. These innovations will put Australia on par with the rest of the world in terms of Internet speeds.

• Availability Of More Technology

Certain technologies and web design tactics are unable to be used to their fullest potential in Australia, due to bandwidth limitations. For example, let's take a look at Flash. Flash is arguably the most widely implemented animation platform in the world, and it's used on an innumerable amount of sites; most video websites, including YouTube, use Flash to deliver their videos. Although Flash consumes a lot of bandwidth, rendering it almost unusable in Australia, this will change with NBN, as home broadband speeds will increase to the point where Flash's bandwidth consumption will be a non-factor.

• Less Bandwidth Limitations

As if the low speeds weren't enough, there are also bandwidth limitations that are enforced on home consumers. These limitations prevent broadband users from exceeding their bandwidth quota for a given month; this limit is usually a rather low number of gigabytes, which heavily curtails Internet usage in Australia. Once the NBN is fully realized, bandwidth limitations will be a thing of the past.

• Less Overage Fees

If you're Australian, then you know the punishment for exceeding your quota: Heavy fees. Since the Internet infrastructure in Australia is so old, it's costly for ISPs to provide Internet service; this is why the quotas are in place. After you've exceeded the quota, you are charged an exorbitant rate for each extra gigabyte of data transfer you accumulate. The NBN will greatly diminish the existence of these bandwidth fees, if not fully eradicate them altogether.

• Bring Internet To The Entire Country

Although people who use Australian broadband are quick to complain about its shortcomings, they're a lot more fortunate than people in the rural areas of the country, who don't have Internet access at all. Since the infrastructure is so weak, extending the service to areas off the beaten path isn't feasible. The National Broadband Network will change this, since the stability it will bring will allow ISPs to build extensions in order to service regional areas. Even though the network isn't completed yet, it's good to know that Australia is making a conscious effort to improve their Internet.

Hugh McInnes is a freelance writer with a passion for the Internet. He likes to keep an eye on the latest offers from the various internet service providers.