Australia's Internet.

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Postby Spotty Hyena » Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:02 am

Most of you in TFP chat who hear me rant and rave about our internet will know just how bad Australia's internet is.

And It's -TERRIBLE-.

Australia only has -ONE- main ISP (Two if you include Optus, but they don't have nearly all the landlines like Telstra do), and that is Telstra, which has a -VERY LARGE- monopoly on Australian telecomunications.

As I state above, Telstra own pretty much all the DSLAMS, phone exchanges, landlines, etc in Australia. and they have basically NO competition, because all the "competitors" (if you can call them that) rent their lines off Telstra.

Now, because Telstra has such a large monopoly on Australian telecommunications, if the government wants anything done (Ie: a major upgrade to our networks ((More on that later)), then it's Telstra they have to go to, and since the government and Telstra are always at each other throats, not much really gets done.

Another point is that because Telstra are have no competition, they can dictate what services their competitors can offer since they choose what to lease out which means telstra can avoid offering more expensive/better services because no one can force them too. So theres -ZERO- competition in the market and it's stagnated.

Now, about the government Vs. Telstra. Last year we elected in a new government who promised us with a $4.6 billion dollar "High-speed national fiber network". It's halfway through Kevin Rudd's term in office (Our Prime Minister) and the NBN (National Broadband Network) Is -STILL- being drafted, and since Telstra are the only ones who have the capacity to build the NBN, they want to do it on their terms, not the governments, such as only providing a "skeleton" NBN and only extending to 90% of Australia's population, instead of the governments intended 98%.

Now things just get worse. Senator for Communications and Broadband Economy, Mr. Stephen Conroy, also wants to introduce a mandatory ISP-level Internet filter, which won't work, the people will still get their porn, the paedophiles will still get what they want, and children can still get around the filter, and so forth. Nothing good will come out of it, and Internet speeds have been speculated to drop anywhere from 25-75%, and at a huge cost to the taxpayer, ~ $187M AUD.

And since Telstra decided to end our dual-line ISDN service 2 weeks ago, we've been on 56kbps dial up ever since. although our new wireless internet should be coming through in the next few days, which is a plus (Except for the price. >_> $70 AUD a month for the first 12 months, then $130AUD/month thereafter).

And of course, Telstra refuses to build a exchange in our area, typical, so we can't get ADSL in any form other than wireless. =(

Don't you just LOVE monopolies? /sarcasm.
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Postby Cryptic » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:36 pm

That reminds me of Microsoft's monopoly over here in the states. I remember the government tried to force them to split up once....but the bill was lost. One minute its all over the news, the next nobody seems to remember it. That had nothing to do with bribes im sure.

Hope your wireless works well enough for ya
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Postby Taross » Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:28 pm

Look on the bright side. At least it's not as bad as Internet in Canada.

All they get is a guy named Steve who shouts ones and zeroes into a microphone.
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Postby Spotty Hyena » Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:51 am

Trust me, that's a step up from what Australia has. =C
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Postby Dark Lucario » Fri Feb 06, 2009 2:11 pm

Sounds kinda like the company that runs the net here in my county. Basicly, county council gave them a monopoly to "drive down prices by eliminating competition.". Now mind you, only six of the thirteen people on the board used to work for them, so there is obviously no conflict of interest there. And hey, their thinking is sound isn't it? *Sarcasm*
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Postby Werevixen » Wed Feb 18, 2009 6:40 pm

This is why I love living in Belgium. We have 20 miles of cable and it reaches from one to the other end, if the government wants to replace our network it costs 20 cents and a nice hat to replace our puny high-speed network.

We also have three large companies (Belgacom, Telenet and Tele2) so it's always a brisk competition of who-can-go-lower.
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