What’s interesting is that although the NBN is years away for many businesses, you might not have to wait to speed up your pipeline. Across the country, ISPs aren’t sitting idle waiting for the NBN. In fact, some are turning on faster services in areas that don’t have the NBN.

Internode is one example. The ISP offers something called Extreme SHDSL, which offers speeds of up to 40MBps. That’s faster than some entry-level NBN plans. Perhaps just as importantly, it’s the same speed for uploading and downloading.

There are various SHDSL speeds and they costs a lot more than plain DSL broadband: iiNet offers SHDSL from $400 a month. But there are also cheaper options. ‘Bonded DSL’ starts at $99
a month at iiNet and gives you anywhere from 10MBps to 40MBps, though the upload speeds are lower.

Compare this with the NBN. You can find plans that cost $129.95 for 100Mbps downloads. That’s still not at the level of private business ethernet services you can buy in cities around the country, but it’s a lot cheaper.

The key message here is you no longer have to be one of the big boys to step up from everyday broadband to something faster. And you don’t have to wait for the NBN.

The question is: what will the effect of faster data be on print? More business? Quicker turnarounds? Or will it change things in another way? Have your say at www.bit.com.au/proprint.

William Maher is editor of BIT and brand editor of PC & Tech Authority. Get free advice at www.bit.com.au/ProPrint

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