nowwearetalking is about telecommunications and you. It's where you can become involved, have your say, and Telstra listens - on issues affecting all Australians and the telecommunications industry. nowwearetalking is managed by Telstra. Find out more about this site.

Customise Page

Customise topic view

Please select items below for your custom page.

Re-organising your page

Log in here

Forgotten your password?Use ssl security

Register now

Use ssl security

Customise topic view

Customising your topic view will tailor your user experience by only displaying content which is relevant to the topic/s you have selected.

This setting will apply site-wide and will remain applied until you wish to change it.

Customise your modules

Customise your modules allows you to add or remove panels of content which appear on the homepage.

These can be added to or removed from the homepage at any time.

Re-organising your page

Print

Broadband-almost-NOW, but not for everyone

3 July 2007

Posted by: Rhonda Griffin

Topic: Telstra , Shareholder

Tags:    adsl  blog  broadband  locator-tool  rhonda-griffin

In its haste to look like it is doing something – anything – about broadband services, particularly in the bush, the Government has rushed out with a faulty and incomplete broadband service “locator” tool (broadbandnow.gov.au).

According to the Minister’s press release (www.minister.dcita.gov.au), BroadbandNow is meant to be “a one-stop consumer help centre offering a unique broadband information service to all Australians” in order to allow them to “identify the various broadband services available to them at their premises.”

If that is the purpose, it fails miserably. The web-based locator only identifies certain services that meet bureaucratic criteria, which excludes 3G wireless broadband services and entry-level broadband ADSL.

I put in an old address in Gulargambone – a town of less than 500 people – and got over 120 ADSL service providers, and a bunch of satellite operators.

Wow. This is roughly one ISP for each household in town, though they don’t have offices or staff or anything locally. Most of them I have never have heard of, and some of them are so small they will probably go broke when the government funding stops... but I digress.

Almost all are able to provide the service because they resell a Telstra wholesale service.

But wait…Telstra’s BigPond ISP is not on the list? How can this be when Telstra provides the underlying technology?

To speed things along, the department has “repurposed” the locator it developed for another program that excludes the entry-level 256Kbps plan offered by Telstra.

The department has determined what is “metro equivalent” broadband, and that starts at 512Kbps – a plan type Telstra shelved last year in preference to offering a higher 1.5Mbps plan (or the entry level, which is below the departmental radar).

When you get bureaucratic over-engineering chased to the gate by political expediency you end up with substandard information.

The consequences are serious, however. When you give Telstra’s main competitor nearly $1 billion to duplicate Telstra’s services, then leave Telstra off the list of broadband services you would think it were a conspiracy.

Thankfully the government has undertaken to remedy asap.

Comments

First commentLast comment

Jason Torrento
3 July 2007
5:13pm

Comment Permalink

Rhonda, Maybe it is because all of Bigpond's plans all fall below the maximum price threshold of $2500 over a period of time? I don't think its got anything to do with any bias at all, considering they provide a link to Broadband Choice, to allow consumers to search for plans among all listed ISPs (and that includes the poor value of Bigpond). You might take a look, you might find yourself a better value service, even if it opens Bigpond!

Alan Barrow
6 July 2007
11:25am

Comment Permalink

"The department has determined what is “metro equivalent” broadband, and that starts at 512Kbps....." Think positive. Perhaps this would be a good time for Telstra to capitalise on this potential free advertising. The Governments idea of a Metro-comparable is 512b/128k 1GB/Month costing $2500 over Three years. Telstra's $59.95 plan misses out because it offers a speed of 256k/128k and Whopping 12Gig Data. (Sign up for 24 Months and get free connection 36 x $59.95 = $2158.20). Perhaps a remodelled $49.95 plan with more data/less speed for those without a Telstra full service fixed phone would also make the cut.

Mark Young
6 July 2007
1:11pm

Comment Permalink

Even better - if you put in the Telstra Canberra main office address, Telstra only turns up as a satellite option (and the link to the Telstra website for that does not work!). No Wireless, ADSL2 or ADSL Telstra offers. There are however 146 ADSL suppliers available to choose from, strangely enough including some who only operate in Tasmania or specifically state they do not operate in the ACT. My favourite is Rabbitnet who have obviously expanded from just making fences. Difficult to believe that a even a Government Department can be that incompetent!

Eric Confused
6 July 2007
1:57pm

Comment Permalink

Jason, I dont understand your post. I used the Broadband Choice link to see what services I could get at my home and it showed a Telstra 1.5mb service for $39.95 per month. Over 3 years that is a long way short of $2,500. The governments Broadband site only listed Telstra's Satellite service to my home. This is clearly wrong and misleading. Or have I got it wrong, please correct me if I have.

Terry O
6 July 2007
4:12pm

Comment Permalink

This is a error that should not have been made in the first instance, but then again is everyone else allowed to make mistakes or errors of judgement but Telstra. It would appear so. It is an insult to every shareholder that the current Minister and her Department has made such obvious error at a time when the entire process of review must not be but seen to be beyond reproach in every possible way. This simply proves that no matter what Telstra does or offers, it is goiong to be penalised for being successfull which the like of the G9 simply cannot stand. Correcting the mistake after the event is simply not good enough, the people responsible should be treated in the same manner as the public would demand that Telstra employees would be treated under similar circumstances. Lets start with the dismissal of the Minister responsible as afterall the responsibility for her derpartment ends up with her.

Terry O
6 July 2007
4:21pm

Comment Permalink

The fundamental point to be made is not about value for money it is about transparancy which the current Minister, ACCC and Government have made much political milage over. Minister Coonan should have been aware and had the good sense to realise that ANY process of review or promotion of broadband should not only be open and transparent but seen to be beyond question. Call it an oversight call it what ever you like, such and obvious omission should not have been made as it clearly displays a very real bias against Telstra. Lets us not forget that if Telstra had not taken the substantial financial risk that it has todate there would be no broadband in this country at all.

Sean O'Reilly
6 July 2007
4:23pm

Comment Permalink

That is strictly correct Jason. When compared to the "metro-comparable" criteria on the Broadband Service Locator the Big Pond website shows a plan that delivers 3x the speed (1500k vs 512k) with 12x the allowable usage (12Gig per month vs 1Gig) and it comes in at $2518.20. This is technically outside the "metro-comparable" criteria (by less than 51 cents per month) but that doesn't suggest to me that Big Pond is such poor value. When you include all the other value adds (unmetered content - AFL, NRL, Motor Racing etc.) it is actually pretty competitive. It is widely recognised in Australia that services equal to or greater than 256kbps are considered broadband services. Wouldn't it make more sense to list ALL broadband services and service providers in any given area? It would allow people to make a far more informed decision. Let's face it, not everyone wants or needs more than 256k.

Geoff Stark
7 July 2007
12:15am

Comment Permalink

Jason.. I know I know I shouldn't feed your rambling and I am sure somewhere that you are a competitor plant.. but hey I replied to most of your "argument' in another forum. However I never mentioned or asked so what do 'other competitors' offer their customers besides a data plan? mm lets see bigpond has a download libray ( where you can download to your hearts content, request files etc) games arena, movies , music, sports, ON DEMAND. unlimited usage and unmetered content. Oh yes OPTUS and IINET mirror some sites, but hey thats all they do. Try calling customer support or get the 'real' data speeds not just a connection speed. The DCITA model of criteria is a flawed simplistic model that was developed by monkeys that do not understand the portfolio they handle nor does it understand its country voters who are more than incensed at the whole WiMAx debarkle.

Peter L
9 July 2007
9:59am

Comment Permalink

In this I agree with the masses (and Jason T!) that the bias built in from the maximum prices and performances are what precludes Telstra, not a bias against Telstra. To say these are bureaucratic and arbitrary is minimally true - they represent a borad sample of what is available. Telstra's plan boundaries, on the otehr hand, are fairly arbitrary and don't reflect the "real world". Arbitrary speed restrictions and download boundaries, and pricing that quite frankly is out of whack with the market. I work at a Telstra subsidiary, and even with all staff discounsts and allowances, it is still cheaper for me to use an alternate provider for my home phone and broadband, plus I get higher speeds (particularly upload) and larger allowances. Come on Telstra - get with the act. min. 256k up with options to 1.5M are needed, and get your pricing in line with the market.

John RAPER
13 July 2007
11:46am

Comment Permalink

When I put in my Sydney metropolitan address where I currently use BigPond cable, Telsttra was not listed as a provider. What IS DCITA's ral agenda? Surely this could not all be incompetence!

Results 1 - 10 of 12.

>>>
12

Add a comment

 

You need to log in to post a comment


© 2008 Telstra

Privacy | Terms of use

Tag library | Site map | About Telstra