Good points.

At the end of the day, the NBN will provide increased bandwidth, which does not necessarily translate into speed. Network speed is a fuzzy concept that has to do a lot with perception. Other aspects of a network connection such as latency, upstream load capacity, etc. (e.g. for servers outside Australia) will have great influence on the perception of `speed' by end users.

I haven't a clue about technology, but wouldn't the NBN mean more people could possibly work from home? The large files I work with at work download in a few seconds, but at home in the suburbs with ADSL2 they take ages. I couldn't do that work at home now. But if the NBN allows more of us to work 2 or 3 days a week from home, it will have big benefits in reduced congestion, pollution etc

While a peer-review process is beyond the scope of The Conversation, some kind of editorial quality control is required, merely to weed out egregious errors.

Statement: “But at a university where I can get speeds of 100 Mbps (the fastest speed promised by the NBN), I can’t guarantee a clear, unbroken Skype audio session, let alone video, with someone else at another Australian university on an equally fast connection.”

First, 100 Mbps is merely the current top speed offered. The NBN kit has already been tested to 1 Gbps and will go far beyond that. Second, the performance on your segment of the university LAN has nothing to do with the NBN.

Statement: “Mobile broadband makes up 47% of the total Australian customer base. 90% of new connections added between June 2011 and December 2011 were wireless. Convenience and the post-PC world are continuing to drive our usage of the Internet, not speed.”

As the ABS data shows, in Internet Use in Australia:
1. Downloads on mobile networks make up 7% of total downloads;
2. Fixed users are already moving to higher speeds where they can; and
3. Mobile broadband makes up 47% of total services in operation, not the total customer base, since customers buy more than one service. Since fixed technologies serve households and mobiles serve individuals, it’s dangerous to try and assess one against the other in terms of consumer preference.

Statement: “just this one feature that has been used to justify the NBN’s $36 billion – $50 billion price tag.”

Even a cursory understanding of the debate would tell you that speed is not the only argument put forward to support the NBN. Others include:

1. Lifespan (the fibre has at least a 30-year lifespan, probably more);
2. Equity (the NBN attempts to equalize the gap between services in urban and non-urban Australia);
3. Making services available to small businesses that were previously only affordable to large businesses;
4. Productivity; and
5. Industry reform.

With the exception of the fibre lifespan, all of these are legitimate subjects for debate. However, David Glance doesn’t even consider them; he merely ignores them.

"But at a university where I can get speeds of 100 Mbps (the fastest speed promised by the NBN), I can’t guarantee a clear, unbroken Skype audio session, let alone video, with someone else at another Australian university on an equally fast connection."

David, if you're having problems with video quality at UWA for work-related purposes, it's likely to related to the campus network architecture design choices. Contacting your Faculty IT support or the UWA Information Services helpdesk should get the ball rolling on fixing those issues.

I'm working in another part of UWA, using video for distance teaching, and we've found them quite helpful when sorting out core network configuration issues that were affecting video performance.

For me the key benefit of the NBN will be unbiquity. Regardless of where I live or move to I will have reliable connectivity, consistant performance and quick activation.

Improved speed will be a handy secondary benefit.

I'm a freelance software developer yet I still expect to initially sign up to a 25/5 NBN service. I will need more speed as higher bandwidth applications grow in use and I'm thankful that upgrade path will be there when needed.

The value of the NBN is that is that it will deliver consistent access spends and improved 'proximity' - for instance conference calls operate without lag. This, however, is the tip of the iceberg in terms of potential.

The outcome will be influenced by a whole range of things as others have commented on. Other factors to consider are:

1. Ensuring that as a 'public good' the 'top layer' of the telecommunications stack - content - remains open to all comers on equal terms as the NBN evolves as this is crucial to ensure the NBN does not end up being 'monopolised';

2. Designing new business models so as to displace old ones - this offers the opportunity to re-think how processes can work if you can instantaneously exchange information, link processes electronically as much of what we have is disconnected, siloed, etc;

3. Design applications that can leverage the NBN's infrastructure - for instance a series of near real time 'utilities' that support key sectors of the economy - introduce dynamic localised markets, support for health, education, government, etc, and, finally;

4. Thinking in terms of being 'local' and re-purposing the Internet from its destructive global and individualised perspective to one that is highly 'community' and 'localised' so as to invigorate local communities.

The impacts can be many and certainly more beneficial than simply speeding up the delivery of much of the dross we have now.