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Westnet are an Australian ISP: http://www.westnet.com.au/index.html

The caps in Australia aren't that onerous anymore. Add to that that ISPs have mirrors that don't count towards the quota (eg. most open-source stuff, game updates, video, Steam content servers, etc.), and it really isn't that big a deal.

The alternative would be to be limited by congestion, which at least in my experience is practically nonexistent. Similarly, there is no incentive for providers to try to reduce usage of streaming video and Bittorrent, since the heavy users are paying a premium and there is no desire for them to switch to cheaper plans.

Well, they might be now that they own Westnet...

To add to OP, with Bigpond's "download limits", if you exceed your cap, you get charged 0.15c per extra megabyte downloaded, which works out to be $150 per a gigabyte see here, in comparison to Westnet for example, another Australian ISP which charges $6/GB (see: here.

I'm not sure how it works in other countries, but for most ISP's other than Bigpond, a scheme called "shaping" is in place for nearly all plans, so that when you exceed your download limit, your internet speed gets slowed to 64kbps for the remainder of the month (as opposed to paying for any excess you use). Bigpond have slowly been introducing their plans that "feature" unlimited downloads (shaping) - which have been a defacto standard for most other ISP's for long before. Bigpond sales have also been known to flat out refer to these "Liberty" plans as "unlimited downloads", without explaining the concept of shaping (believe me - I have had to explain this to several people).

As a subsidiary of the previously state-owned monopoly, Bigpond is a joke. I went from 256kbps @ 12GB for $60AU per month (believe me - not my choice) with Bigpond, to ADSL2+ speeds (realistically for me: 1MB/s~) @ 21GB (now 30GB) for $60AU a month with my current ISP (iiNet). On top of that, Bigpond tends to be rated far lower in customer service (see: here) than most other ISPs.

Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake were good, but Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught) was without a doubt a "Great Comet". It was a wonderful sight in the suburbs, but those with dark skys that could see the whole tail plume were lucky, lucky bastards...

"Why not prove me wrong by finding a more reputable source"

A decent text about the effects CO2 has on the body is at:
http://members.westnet.com.au/pkolb/henders.htm

A large body of research cited here shows that CO2 is a more fundamental necessity for life in general than oxygen because many organisms and indeed human mechanisms are anaerobic, and also that increased concentrations (sometimes to the level of completely replacing oxygen with it) are used to treat certain medical conditions. CO2 is also the trigger for the breathing reflex, without which people simply forget to breathe (this has been proven experimentally).

"attacking the statement based on the source alone? No finer example of a logical fallacy than that."

A logical fallacy is a flawed line of reasoning. I'm surprised that you consider a simple statement about the validity of Wikipedia to be a line of reasoning, because few others would dignify it in that way.

Note also that attacking sources is perfectly valid if one considers them to be unreliable, incorrect, or incomplete, and Wikipedia is frequently all of these, despite the strange faith that Internauts seem to have in what's actually little more than a bunch of editable blog entries with an index. I didn't attack you (ad hominem) or set up any straw men, so I fail to see what it is that you're objecting to.

The Westnet logo is much more appropriate: http://www.westnet.com.au/

It is certainly a Goatse reference.

I've recently noticed that the Toastmasters [toastmasters.org] (safe link) logo has more than a passing resemblance.

You should see the logo for Westnet Broadband in Australia.

I was touring Microsoft earlier in the week and I couldn't believe how young some of their staff was. Here's a picture I took when visiting the R&D department and talking to the head developer.

I'd go with someone else but they're the only broadband provider for my area.

No, Telstra provides the wholesale ADSL service to other ISP's as well. Did you perhaps fall for the old "oh dear you're too far from the exchange, but sign up for Bigpond and we'll try again" trick? Telstra/Bigpond is notorious for turning down applications from other ISP's, only to approve it when the same customer signs up for Bigpond ADSL. It's the same line, the same exchange, the same DSLAM (modem). I'd recommend you sign up with a different ISP. Both WestNet and Internode got very good results in the Whirlpool Australian Broadband survey 2004. I'm looking at moving to WestNet (from Dart/Hotkey) soon.

Telstra ding you for traffic both ways. Some ISPs ding you for the max of either way. Most only charge you for traffic sent your way (ie, downloads).

Many are connected to state-wide peering arrangements like WAIX, and most of those offer free traffic across the peering point (so, forex, ArachNet don't account me anything for an ISO image I pick up from a WestNet server). EfTel don't do the free traffic. Highway1 only recently started doing so. iPrimus, the Scrooges, even account you for traffic from other iPrimus customers and their own servers!

... who recently (6 months ago) settled down in Sydney, I'm currently stuck with WestNet's (http://www.westnet.com.au/) 1.5/265kbps with 40GB/40GB peak/offpeak quota at A$139/month. Taking this after being on Speakeasy's 6mbps/768kpbs w/ no quotas at USD99/month, I've been suffering. At least I could get static IP even if I have to use PPPoA/E.

When I heard about this, I was ecstatic but when I found out yesterday that I had to subscribe to their phone service as well, I decided not to jump. Any company using such tactic is generally not going to be one that's customer-oriented. WestNet at least just came out as Australia's #1 in terms of customer satisfcation.

Not only is it bundled with a phone service, but as far as I can tell, I'd also be losing my single (and free) static IP that I get from WestNet.

At this point I'm going sit this out for now and see how it develops in the next few weeks and months. Most likely though I'll stick with WestNet (look, after being with Speakeasy for nearly 5 years--I was previously with Flashcomm, yeah, you read that right, FLASHCOMM--I really feel like it's my first day in first grade again if I go sign-up with some ISP with crappy customer service. I survived Flashcomm and have no desire to repeat the experience) because their customer service does rock and would make it justifiable for me to wait.

For all Americans saying "Lucky Australians" -- seriously, you have no clue how fortunate you are. It's true that the US is no Korea or Japan that even offers FTTH, but man, now that Speakeasy has become one of the dominant ISPs in the entire nation ... damn. Out of all the things I miss, Speakeasy.net is the one I miss the most, especially when their own page advertises an "enlightened policy" ... aaaah ...

Thank goodness my work pays for part of my DSL monthly fee... I don't feel like I'm getting ripped-off too badly ...

It'll stay up. I'll just owe my host a whole fuckload of head in the morning...

just like the government can't stop a private citizen from throwing a rubber raft into the ocean and row from California to Sydney. The Australian government may complain about an entry without visa or passport, but that would be about it.

Actually, we tend to lock those people up. Even indefinitely, if the person has the misfortune to be stateless.

Leviticus 11:23
'But all other winged insects which are four-footed are detestable to you. '

The words of the Bible are meant for the entire earth, not just the scientifically taught of the last 100 years or so. From this perspective, and a small amount of visual research...

Grasshoppers have 4 legs and 2 arms.

http://myplace.westnet.com.au/images/potw/photos/g rasshopper-220403.jpg
http://www.uidaho.edu/so-id/entomology/grasshopper s.htm
http://www.petsdoc.com/pics/funpages/wildlifephoto s/grasshopper.jpg
http://www.debbieharry.net/blkphotos.html

Which would make sense to everyone down through history, except us.

And you guessed it, the return address was the customer's e-mail address. The note compained how their e-mail was not working.

the windows matrix

If you want a large ISP in WA, I recommend WestNet. They're a bit too big to still be really caring, but their reliability is a notch above iiNet's.

If you want an excellent quality smaller ISP in WA, choose ArachNet. They also have excellent colocation terms, and this bloke can sell you a dandy little rack box to colocate with (review coming soon). I use ArachNet myself. There are others.

If you want reliable DSL in Oz and damn the cost, try Request or Optus (nice picture). Everyone else has to go through Telstra to get their DSL (and these two will also if they have no DSLAM in the exchange), which costs you a big reliability hit.

Telstra account for your data as the sum of both directions. Most Oz ISPs will bill you for the max of in and out, or just bill you for in, but no, not Telstra. As a 'phone company, they're not too bad (their service actually works). As a "competitive" ISP, they suck.

A better alternative (in Western Australia) is Westnet

Your quota is measured as the maximum of traffic in and out, which is fairly common. Some ISPs ignore traffic from you and only charge for traffic to you.

For comparison, Telstra charge you up to 19c/megabyte (here 12-16c) for the combined sum of all traffic both directions, and iiNet (biggest ISP in West Aus, second would be WestNet) soft-limit all home accounts (limits are 6GB for AUD$79.95 512kb a/c or 0.5GB for AUD$49.95 128kb a/c) and charge 12c/MB on business excess.

ALL DSL goes through Telstra DSLAMs except on a very few busy exchanges Optus and/or Request have their own DSLAMs. This causes no end of problems for competing ISPs because they have to phone up and ask Telstra to do a "tunnel reset" when someone's DSL screws up, which often takes a day or two to execute.

Note in the Telstra DSL plans avobe that their entry level plan is AUD$10/mo more expensive, and a 512kb plan with only 3GB limit (sum of both directions, remember?) and a max of two users - the cheek! - is $18/month more than I pay ArachNet.

I have one client who was dual-homed ADSL through Optus and iiNet. iiNet is Western Australia's biggest ISP, and they started out well, then went corporate on us and bought everyone else (and meanwhile the quality of service drove off a cliff). iiNet is the only ISP in Western Australia which manages to have more DSL downtime from their own incompetence than from Telstra faults. Optus DSL is much more expensive than most others, even Telstra, but OTOH the only time it ever when down was when lightning razzed the modem on the client's premises.

The same client now has a WestNet DSL (DSLAM by Telstra) and is looking at fibre through Request, whose underlying provider is RUCC for their second home at their new premises. RUCC seems to be nearly as reliable as Optus, and notably cheaper.

Telstra is the only ISP I know of in Australia who normally charges you for traffic in both directions. Some ISPs will charge you only for recieved traffic, others will charge you for the max of recieved and sent, but not Telstra.

Before you ask, I use ArachNet, one of the few surviving Western Australian ISPs which is both competent and small enough to care.

Cops are useless eh? So what would happen if they were not there? What if they went on strike?

This is not a rhetorical question: it happened in Melbourne in 1923. The result was rather predictable: riots and looting in the street. Melbourne Police Strike