I’ve recently gone to ADSL2 for my broadband service on this new fan dangled naked deal where the voice component is stripped from the copper that connects me to the telephone exchange. So far I’m not all that impressed with the purported 20 megabit speeds that are theoretically possible.

I’m ostensibly, not all that far away from the exchange by any stretch of the imagination, however on Australia’s enfeebled copper it is a struggle for telecommunications to achieve theoretical maximums, apparently. Where I was achieving around a 6.5 megabit connection on ADSL1, it is near neigh impossible for me to get anywhere near those speeds even when Internode have upped me onto a faster line profile.

The maximum speed achievable by my line seems to be around 5 megabit, which in the scheme of things is more than the most people opt for, but in my addiction to speed I feel a little jibbed by not gaining at least a slight boost over ADSL1. Probably in the same sense as a meth addict feels if short changed by scoring a dose of powder rather than ice. I can certainly feel the edginess of not quite getting into the zone, of not reaching the synaptic rush of dopamine flooding the gap, sending electric waves of binary euphoria pulsating through open connections to my Usenet client.

I can’t fault Internode for the service and technological limitations of what seems a locality or geographical issue. The process of converting my existing service to nDSL was flawless, from order to installation – all went smoothly with no downtime as far as I’m concerned and spot on with the estimation to complete. There are some advantages which are hard to argue with, most notably a $30 cost saving a month, however it leaves me rather listless nonetheless – my fix has been cut with lactose or rather, aging copper.

With the National Broadband Network on the horizon, it seems my last salvation, my last hope to break the 1000kbps download barrier – a waiting game now for the first fibre to be rolled out to a node near you. Although, by the looks of things it may be a double edged sword. With the proposal comes the hitch, which is; that the existing copper be cut off, essentially disabling the existing infrastructure. This is disconcerting because it has the potential to end in tears for the end user – You and I!

Tears because cash will be flowing faster from our wallets than the rise in bowser rates from your local BP service station. Cutting off the existing copper, a totally unnecessary requirement as I understand it, will quell competition and once again Australia will be held hostage to a Telco Monopoly – so faster speeds could also mean higher prices. My last hope to break the hour barrier to download a Linux ISO may very well come with a hefty dent in my back pocket.