Moving to Japan shortly...

[Admin1]

[ QUOTE ]
Softbank has spent close to $2 billion building out a gigabit Ethernet network and leasing copper wire from Japanese telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. The result is a service, offered under the Yahoo! BB brand, that provides Internet access to Japanese homes at 12 megabits per second - eight times faster than what Americans are used to - for about $21 a month. Every day, as many as 7,000 new subscribers fire up their plug-and-play DSL modems, making Yahoo! BB the world's fastest-growing broadband service

[/ QUOTE ]

The price is nice, the speed is great too (almost three times faster than Australian cable).

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.08/pipedream.html

[Macoz]

Broadband internet access in Australia is an absolute disgrace.
It is too dear, a farce where it comes to
download limits, is only offered by organisations that
wouldn't know customer service if it bit them in their
big hairy a*ses. Further, the content provided is a
joke... and is normally based around the organisation
offering it. It is only offered in certain areas and
for pete's sake who would be stupid enough to pay in
excess of $150 for a five gig limit. Please !
Broadband ? No ...........Broadfarce !

Other than that it is quite good !

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[Admin1]

Well said Paul. Don't forget about the way Telstra includes uploads in the download count.

Lucky we have a cluey federal IT minister, always up with the latest trends (well certainly the latest model plasma tv anyway - thanks Telstra).

Do a search on "luddite" on http://www.theregister.co.uk when their search function is working again, and guess who's name comes up most.

[Admin1]

Hmmmm

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/29581.html

broadband at about the same price as ADSL here, but with 150Gb a month download limit.

THAT would be almost reasonable.

[Macoz]

That federal minister for communication should be the federal minister for stupidity ! Fancing putting someone
with no idea about technology in charge of its development.

In twenty years time, nothing will have changed if he is still around.

Yeah right....federal minister for burying my head firmly
up my backside and hiding in there... more like it !

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Sorry Mr Admin...but I am quite passionate about this topic.
The ignorant perspective of politicians are destroying the
development of Broadband in this country and they should be strung up for it !
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[Sue]

/webboard/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hairaiser.gifOh dear me...Paul do you feel better now.. /webboard/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/moon.gif /webboard/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/moon.gif /webboard/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/moon.gif
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[Macoz]

Yes thank you Sue

Much better now !!!

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[Saniqua45]

i agree paul that broadband is disgusting.telstra just seems to want money and do nothing to improve the service.

[Sue]

hehehe you tricked me again, you are tricky liddle Bart tonight..

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[Admin1]

Its ironic funny to think that politicians have the power to change these things, but don't use it. They seem to be too scared of their departments.

If they won't/can't do the job, install someone who will. Give me the job for a month and you would see a whole new attitude from Telstra.

[Macoz]

Peter

The Big T aren't the only culprit in this....Optarse are just as bad if not worst for copying the disgraceful service offered by the Big T. I have had cable on both and would rate the Big T at 1/10 and the Big O at 2/10 (which I still have and no further alternatives to choose from)
They should both hang their heads in shame !
RIP Broadband in Australia !
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[Macoz]

I'll come with you Mr Admin....I would nuke the whole
department and start from scratch. And as for allowing the
further privatisation of Telstra...that would be out of the
question until a genuine and fair competition can be provided
by other players in the industry.
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[Saniqua45]

as i have only tried telstra and no others i dont know what their service is like so i cant comment.but when my contract runs out im gonna change to a different broadband suplier.

[Admin1]

Lets go Paul. Shake the departments up and get something good happening.

[Macoz]

Just packing my thermo-nuclear warheads Mr Admin.....

Come to think about it.....might take out a few other
departments whilst there !

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[Admin1]

I have booked the tickets, lets roll.

http://www.whirlpool.com.au is full of people unhappy with Australian so called broadband.

[Macoz]

The staff of Whirlpool are my heros.....have you seen some of the activities
of the majority industry players exposed by that site ? They must cause the
big players considerable indigestion......And my thoughts on that ?

GOOD !

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[Admin1]

Oops.

That should have been http://www.whirlpool.net.au

[Macoz]

I knew that Mr Admin....it is the only other forum on the internet I am a member of other than this one. It is essential reading for anyone contemplating the installation of broadband.
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[Macoz]

You know the sad part about this debate is the two big industry players will continue to hide behind the relatively small population base in Australia together with the wide geographical span as providing the reasons why the broadband base won't be developed any further.
What the government needs to do in response to this is provide conditional funding to a new player to develop an
appropriate system that a large part of the population can get access to at an affordable price. This is a very important area for Australias future development in the
world arena. But what have we got ?
Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dee in charge of affairs.
Sheesh !
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[Admin1]

Digital TV, broadband, IT policy generally - this government has no idea. The problem is that politicians generally don't seem to have any idea about IT.

South Korea has about 87% broadband usage because the government got behind it. The duopoly you have pointed out Paul is undoubtedly the reason for Australia remaining a bandwith backwater.

[Macoz]

Yes it is definately a cosy relationship and for the ADSL
players needing to be resellers of the Telstra product,
what hope have they got ?

As for digital tv, does anyone have it if so did you have to mortgage your house for it ?

(Writes himself a note to write letter to local members
of parliament (all levels) )

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[Annsheree]

I dont care how cheap or fast it is in Japan.....i would NEVER live there!!!
GOt stuck there for 3 days once due to a visa mess up and it was horrible! Soon as you step out of the airport you can barely breath from all the polution....you can literally see thick dirty air! Plus its very expensive....i had my littlest one with me (she was 2 at the time) and she needed milk for her bottle..... Cost me $12 australian for 250mls of milk!! $50 australian for a can of coke and a large size pizza /webboard/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
Security is strick at the airport too....you cant enter the airport to pick anyone up without showing your passport and being searched by men with guns!

Bout time our cable, adsl got cheaper though!!! When i was in USA the guy i lived with only paid $20 australian a month for highest speed cable and unlimited downloads.

[Admin1]

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/13/1058034872589.html

I think the following paragraph sums it up pretty well:
[ QUOTE ]
The $14 billion invested in Optus didn't give households one telephone that couldn't have been provided off the existing Telstra network. The parallel roll-out of the pay TV cable wasted $7 billion that could have been spent upgrading the network or providing free local call service and, arguably, the $2 billion investment in the Hong Kong mobile market has been wasted.


[/ QUOTE ]

Telstra management needs a good slapping. /webboard/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/5smackbottom.gif /webboard/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/5smackbottom.gif /webboard/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/5smackbottom.gif

[Admin1]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/26876.html

Almost a year old that article, but still amusing.

[Macoz]

It basically confirms what we already knew. The minister
is an utter [not very nice word] ! He should be tried for crimes against
humanity...or at least the internet community !

And then they should find him guilty as charged and
/webboard/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shoota.gif him !

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[Admin1]

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6772188%255E15306,00.html

Typical Telstra.

[Macoz]

I see...Lets have a bet that Optus follow suit very shortly ...they, over time have let Telstra make the
bullets and then fired them. This sentence in that
article sums up the entire situation for broadband.
"Telstra's group managing director of broadband, Bruce Akhurst also said it would be "years and years" before the broadband market became intensely price-competitive kicked in, forcing Telstra to drop its prices further."

There is no competition so we are going to nail you
to the wall with pricing. And where is Richard Alston
whilst this is happening ?....oh yes head firmly planted
up backside !
Sheesh !

[Admin1]

You can buy bandwidth on the international market now for about US$1 a gigabyte (about AUD$1.50).

Telstra charge AUD$130 for exactly the same amount of download.

I think the term is "gouging".

[Macoz]

Didn't you love the comment about 99% uptime ? At those prices it should be 100%.

And the thing that bugs me the most....Both companies when they want to change the rules even for those on contracts,
can vary the terms and the maximum liability they have is to let you out of the contract. I find this immoral !
What other industry can get away with this legally ?
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[Spyone1 (Greg)]

At the moment I can get ADSL here in Canberra from a local company for $88 per month, unlimited time and downloads.

Given that my record for a month is 65 gigabytes, that is not bad value.....

I just have to get back to the point where I can afford to get it connected again!!