Attending today’s National Broadband Network (NBN) Collaboration Forum in Melbourne, I managed to get a few moments with the hardware that end users will receive when their premises are connected to the network progressively over the next nine years.
Firstly, we have the externally mounted network termination unit (NTU). The first shot is an external view with the front closed.
Next we have an internal view of the top part of the unit, clearly showing two voice ports (UNI-V1 and UNI-V2), and the four data ports (UNI-D1, UNI-D2, UNI-D3, and UNI-D4).
The final shot shows the lower portion of the inside of the NTU, showing where the backup battery will be mounted, and a wire block for status indicators.
Next we have a single shot of the internally mounted version of the NTU, which is smaller than the external version, and a little bit larger than an average existing ADSL/ADSL2+ broadband router. Once again, clearly seen are two voice ports (UNI-V1 and UNI-V2), and the four data ports (UNI-D1, UNI-D2, UNI-D3, and UNI-D4).
Finally, a single shot of the battery backup unit that would be supplied for an internally mounted NTU.
While which unit you receive – (internal or external) – will be largely up to the end user, NBN stated today that the experience in the pilot network in Tasmania is that only three end users have so far chosen the external unit.
I’ll have more on the forum tomorrow once I get my notes together.
UPDATE: Here is my more detailed write-up on the NTUs.