4k streaming has arrived, with 8k around the corner and the world moving and shaping up for a mass stream and media consumption era Australia unfortunately is going to slip further behind.
Without going into the massive embarrassing mess and stain on Australia’s history that was the NBN. Essentially corruption, bigotry and personal benefits from all those involved in getting the NBN up and running have made a complete mess of it. Australians will be suffering from these decisions well into the future. If you did want to read into it then click here or here.
NBN; Will it haunt us in 4 years?
Poor speeds, reliability and pricing are just a start. The structured plans put in are a sham and are just an easy way for the Telco’s to rip you off again. From this ACCC report the average download speed of a 25/5 plan (25Mbps download and 5Mbps upload) is 21.52Mbps during a “busy period”. Netflix recommends 25Mbps for 4k streaming. Which thankfully according to the report, the 50/20 plan can do that with an average speed of 44.34Mbps.
Looking at that report I was honestly surprised by those average speeds. From reading forums and social networks I see poor speeds, complaints and NBN troubles. We will give benefit to the ACCC but it looks strange. Perhaps they tested a FTTB (Fibre to the building) or FTTC (Fibre to the curb) connection which is a rare NBN line connection that delivers a lot quicker speeds than the super common and poor, old technology that is FTTN (Fibre to the node).
With 8k needing ~50Mbps Ispreview only those who are very lucky, a small minority will be able to stream 8k media. There are murmurs of the 2020 Olympics being shot and distributed in 8k yet most of Australia can’t deal with a 4k stream.
Australia not future proof
It seems Internet in Australia is at about where America was in the early 2000’s. Obviously Australia isn’t a technological country and given our internet situation it most likely never will be. With slow internet connections in “most” areas tech startups will look elsewhere plus the rent will be cheaper.
Will being poorly equipped to participate in the new era of mass media consumption hurt the future and development of Australia? Most likely not, Education and learning can still function with internet that can’t stream 8k. If in 3 or 4 years time and the NBN is still at its current “average” speeds then Australians are going to miss out. Imagine trying to sell an 8k TV into Australia if it has no use. Whilst it’s not a drastic bleak outlook into the future, id be worried that right now Australia isn’t well equipped for the future.