NBN Co: No significant delays to Townsville NBN

In theory the NBN should help in disasters of this kind especially with news coverage because it is all underground, or perhaps not has the insidious short sightedness of the Abbot government forced the Gillard government to go for the cheaper option of putting some of it above ground where its vulnerable to the elements. Disheartening to hear talk of overhead fibre being used!!!

Yasi has shown that mobile broadband will be a real competitive threat to the NBN.

$43Billion for a network of overhead cables! Are they nuts!!!!
Really, this lack of common sense is reminiscent of the pink batts and BER cock-ups.

lol @Taxpayer, or is it Phony Tony staffer? Are you nuts? Who sold you the garbage about the NBN being a network of overhead cables? Did you buy the Brooklyn Bridge while you were talking to the same guy? lol

Funny Guy I think you should read the article as It states:

"Damage on overhead fibre cables are currently being assessed by Ergon Energy."

I would have to agree with Taxpayer. They are nuts to roll fibre on overhead polls. Queensland has Cyclones every year and fibre does not like to be twisted all that much.

I Don't believe the government should be rolling this network but if we are going to be putting an NBN in we should do it the right way. Underground that is.

Everyone is complaining about the damage to the overhead fibre cable, ther hasn't even been one report yet of any damage! Does anyone have any information? I know there has not been an assessment completed yet! Everyone wants to put it underground, would you be happy if you paid double the price for the NBN service, because that's what would happen. If people would educate themselves better, there is already fibre cables on poles in Townsville and it is not the NBN, it has been there for years, it seems OK, maybe all the power should be relocated underground while we are at it, we should get ready for a huge price increase on your power bill, if we did that, Abbott and Co. didn't force the Gillard Government to place the cable overhead, it is simple economics, anyways, all the cable in Townsville is NOT overhead, there is a substantial amount underground.

The result of the assessment will be important in determining the long term advantages against cost in extreme climate areas. And considering this is a test site!

I would much prefer to see underground cabling, for aesthetic reasons!

To say as Andy does that Queensland has cyclones every year is a false lead, most of Queensland is not significantly effected by cyclones every year or even every decade, only that some areas are affected.
The comment that wireless would be better is factious. The towers are vulnerable, failure causes extensive disruption and wireless does not work well during heavy rain, not to mention that wireless does not scale well in high usage areas and is easy to disrupt or attack. And there is a growing awareness of how little is known about the long term effects on people from the radiation.
And the towers are ugly even when dressed up as palm trees.

Bear in mind that Yasi's full impact did not affect Townsville. A cyclone of that magnitude hitting directly over the city will bring down a significant number of overhead fibre cables.

i find it strange to think that ergon would spend $48 million in replacing/repairing power lines (after spending a similar amount when Larry came thru) but are not willing to help out a family f 8 with a new power connection.