THE Hanlon family of Hobart are big fans of Kevin Rudd’s new super-fast broadband.
Turbo-charged broadband hits Tasmania

David and Lynda Hanlon and daughters Louise and Chelsea, at home in Hobart, have had a free trial of the new system for two years.

For the past two years, David and Lynda Hanlon and their daughters Louise and Chelsea have enjoyed a fibre-to-the-home internet connection under a free trial, and they say the rest of the country should be excited at what’s coming.

More than 1500 Tasmanian businesses and homes in the state government-funded FTTH trial are hoping to be among the first Australians to be connected under the Rudd Government’s national broadband network.

“We used to get pretty frustrated with BigPond broadband — you’d click on a screen or program and then have to wait for the computer think time before it came up,” Mr Hanlon said.

The small box, or gateway device, in their house now delivers wireless internet for their two desktop computers and two laptops, cheap internet phone calls and digital TV channels.

A property valuer who normally works in an office in Hobart, Mr Hanlon has found working from home more productive thanks to the superior internet connection.

“I download quite a lot of research material, and the connection is just so reliable and a hell of a lot faster than sitting in my office in the CBD,” he said.

Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett yesterday promised towns with as few as 50 people would receive the new super-fast broadband, despite national guidelines limiting access to areas with more than 1000 inhabitants.

Mr Bartlett said the choice of Tasmania as the first state for the network rollout was as significant to the island as the hydro-industrialisation of last century.

The rollout in Tasmania, starting in July, would create thousands of jobs and help transform the economy, luring top IT companies and providing an initial edge over the rest of Australia and much of Asia.

The Premier said Tasmania would not be bound by the stipulation that only towns with 1000 or more residents would get the fastest connections. ‘I am very confident we will be able to go to towns as small as 50 premises.”

The Prime Minister was dismissive of his critics when he flew into Devonport yesterday to announce the Tasmanian rollout.

Mr Rudd accused the Coalition of engaging in “opportunistic, negative politics … that produces lists of communities that would miss out”.

However, he made no commitment to inhabitants of towns with less than 1000 residents in any state that they would have access to the fastest connection.