There’s a new technology on its way to Australia, and it could speed up the roll out of the National Broadband Network, but there’s one catch: you’ll need to head to your local watering hole to use it.
The government has this week signalled a new tactic to get the public interested in the NBN while also getting it to communities as quickly as possible, using the first Friday — the day of “TGIF” — to announce that it will be introducing “FTTPub” or “fibre-to-the-pub”.
“We’re more than satisfied with the speed in which we’re building the NBN,” said a spokesperson for the NBN, “but we want to reach more people at once, and we think we’ve come up with a brilliant plan to do that.”
Fibre-to-the-pub is that plan, and it’s essentially a deviation of fibre-to-the-premises, the original plan the Labor government was building when Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard were in power, with the NBN being wired through fibre directly to a pub or hotel to provide speeds between 15 and 250Mbps down.
Once connected, publicans that take part in the FTTPub plan will be expected to provide a free WiFi service to patrons allowing access to the NBN while they consume beverages, food, or just enjoy the atmosphere of the pub.
“We’ve had a lot of requests from venues that wish to watch sporting events at a picture quality greater than Full HD, and we think the NBN is the best way to do that,” said the same spokesperson, who told GadgetGuy that the FTTPub network will also benefit communities by getting people interested in what the NBN can do.
“The best way to see what the National Broadband Network can do is to give people a taste for that,” they said.
“Even if the roll out isn’t in your area yet, a pub or hotel that supports FTTPub will show customers what high speed broadband can do, whether it’s for watching the Socceroos throttle another team or downloading research papers at the fastest speed possible.”
Roll out of fibre-to-the-pub isn’t expected for another few months, and as far as we know, NBN is still going ahead with the fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) concept for homes, meaning you’ll still have to wait.
But if you’re desperate for the NBN, the news is looking up, especially if you’re keen for a drink at beer o’clock.
APRIL FOOLS!
Despite this being a joke, we think it’d be a great idea. Think of all the work you’d get down at the pub!
