On 7/05/2008, at 10:42 AM, Stu Fleming wrote:

Anyone got specifics on the new fibre network being rolled out by Delta Utilities in Dunedin? Timeframes? Topology? Costs?

Have they started? If you haven't heard anything, maybe they threw in the towel when I went and talked to them, and clearly explained they had no idea what they were doing, and that they should figure out some high level goals and decide what they actually wanted before walking around the streets with a herald bell yelling "FIBRE! FIBRE! 4 MORE YEARS FOR MAYOR <whatever>!". Oh well, it's good to see they've kept stake holders in the loop, eh? As you know, when I last talked to them, several things with apparent: 1) They wanted only passive fibre (ie. dark fibre, with no "servers", which after some WTF-ing I found to mean network kit) 2) They wanted anyone to be able to connect on to their fibre network, and instantly be able to talk to everyone else on their fibre network 3) They wanted it to "make downloads faster", but had little concept of how connectivity out of the city worked 4) They already had their budget, which was based on quotes, which I can only assume don't actually deliver anything functional 5) They had no idea what costs to end users or wholesalers would be. They didn't even know whether they were charging by distance, or just a flat connectivity cost, or what... In summary, it really was just another buzzword deployment, and personally I wouldn't expect to see anything useful any time soon. -- Nathan Ward