Broadband Net Access Down Under?

munchkin_tr asks: "With the introduction yesterday of ADSL into Australia, at 64kB/sec (carefully phrased as 512 kbps/sec) load rate on the unlimited plan for close to $50 U.S. ($89 Australian including goods and services tax) per month, does this compare with other countries' DSL services? A 1.5mbps option is availible but limited to 500mb's data download per month. The information is available here and please have a look at the "Acceptable Use" Policy, if you can find it on the site. I found it to be hidden on the Telstra Big Pond Advance Web site. No starting up a Quake listen server - your service will be suspended till the end of your contract!" Are there any readers from Australia who have comments and concerns on this? Please share them here.

"From what I've heard about DSL overseas what we are being offered here in Australia sounds like a pittance. But am I kidding myself - it will kick hell out of my 56k modem! The other broadband option availible is Optus@Home cable at 100k/sec download for around $38US or $60 Australian per month. Unfortunately it is limited to the limited roll-out of Optus Cable in Australia. What does /. think?"

Comments

Wanna know why it's flat-rate now?

[Wakko Warner]

but I was very suprised to know that the pricing was a flat rate price independant of usage, plus there seemed to be no restriction on running a network, or any servers off that network.

This is only true because Optus started beating the hell out of Telstra's cable modem service towards the beginning of this year. Prior to that, it wasn't uncommon for one of my friends to exceed his monthly download "cap" (a paltry 300 MB/month) and pay 0.25/MB thereafter, or some utterly disgusting rate. Once Optus came in with unmetered, unlimited access at similar speeds, a lot of people jumped ship to them, and Telstra had to change their pricing schemes for high-speed access simply to remain competitive (IMO their prices are still too high, but what do I know...)

- A.P.
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"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad

Here's my recent attempt

[Kris_J]

In Perth there is a wireless network option called "CitySpan". It works in an 8km radius from a couple of the buildings in the, rather small, CBD. (My home falls within the footprint!) We are almost next door to one of the buildings (but far enough away and tall enough to still be able to use it). For an about 768kb/s symmetrical link with no service restrictions and 3 static IP addresses it will cost A$325 per month (for 500MB, extra traffic at A$0.17/MB) but the installation was originally quoted at A$5,691. about A$3,000 of that was because we're more than 100m from the roof, as the cable crawls, and would need to use a fibre link from antenna to hub. We got the install cost down to by using UTP and a repeater/hub to around A$2,500.

We did not go with this option, I'm getting more quotes in over the next few weeks...

Aussies have it better than kiwis :)

[Zaffle]

Once again our neighbour accross the pond has it better than New Zealanders. We have ADSL, and have had it awhile, but we don't have flat rate (ok, so there is currently a 3month eval of FastADSL which is unlimited during the 3 months). The best you can get is (iirc) 4gig at something like NZ$600/month. (After that its pay-per-meg). the usual account is $100 for a 500meg cap. However we do have Satilite (with modem uplink), however that goes to the crapper when it rains.

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The User Policy

[OctaneZ]

That User policy is just a little bit intimidating!
Clause 5.7 "You must not use automated programs to continually send or receive high volumes of data via the Service." Well this clause nicely prohibits the use of programs like Gnutella, Napster, and their clones; along with just about every other distributed client software.
Clause 5.3 "You must not permit any person, other than adult members of your household or others with your express permission and under your personal supervision, to use the Service." While I don't really take offense to laying it out this plainly; but honestly how many of us allow absolutely anyone to walk into our house (remeber this a home based service only) and use our computers?
Clause 5.5 "<snip>...[You] must not in any circumstances connect servers which transmit data to the internet or cable network, such as ftp servers and chat servers." I am just curious as to how far they can/will carry this. Will they include samba/"network neighborhood" servers in this category? And what about functionalities such as W2K's time server?

Just a few of my thoughts. However if this is all that is offered, then those regulations can and should probably be over looked. I recently made the move from 26.4k modem to cable, and have loved it.

For business DSL & Cable sucks.

[jdigital]

At my current job I'm involved in setting up a high-speed network for transferring near broadcast quality film footage between editing houses in Melbourne.
As you may imagine, when rumours of ADSL started in june, I was straight on the phone to Telstra. They assured me that our company was a prime subject for their trial service, and after a few more phone calls, we were scheduled to have ADSL installed within the next few days.
The deal for the trial service would be $170 initial cost, and $160 per month, for 1.5mbit downstream, and 256k up. Knowing how Telstra and Optus both have VERY restrictive AUP's for their cable services (basically banning networks or anything useful) and not allocating static IP's - i asked about the AUP for ADSL. Not to my suprise, no static IP's were available, but I was very suprised to know that the pricing was a flat rate price independant of usage, plus there seemed to be no restriction on running a network, or any servers off that network. I was very impressed. Not wanting to be 'sucked in' by a sales woman who told me all these wonderful things, I asked her if she knew whether that AUP was going to change after the trial period. She said 'No, but their may be some restructuring of the price', going on to tell me that it would most likely be cheaper as more people take it up.
Well. It has been over 2 months since our company was supposed to receive our ADSL trial service, and now the trial is over. After calling Telstra back for about the 30th time (i keep a log of all my calls) I found out that we were able to get ADSL now on a non-trial basis now that the 'technology was finalised' - quite excited I gave my details (for the 30th time), and was about to sign up when i quickly asked "So, is it still $160 per month"
The response from the sales guy was "No, its much cheaper now, $115" - that was fine by me, but I asked about any other changes.. thats when I lost my cool.. Basically Telstra have moved towards the same AUP as for Cable, absolutely restricting usage of the services to no servers, minimal network etc...
Anyway, to cut a long story short, we now have a microwave network planned, for a few thousand dollars we get 10Mb/s connection, with no AUP and no usage cost. Its faster, but perhaps more expensive, but I can't stand companies fucking around and assuming what you should be doing with networking services.
In short, ADSL will probably be fine for windows users at home (not so good for us UNIX geeks), and for small businesses. Medium to large businesses are best to go for fibre (which is becoming a great deal cheaper around the cities), or dare i say it -- ISDN.

Once again, Australian telco's have shown that they have no desire to make life easier for us.
(For those who dont know, Telstra's slogan is "Making Life Easier")

Optus@Home vs BigPond Advance vs Telstra ADSL

[lqx]

Numbers for Cable and ADSL to clear things up.

Optus@Home
D/L: 3Mbit/s U/L :128kbit/s
Price: $74.95/mth or $63.95/mth (No Contract)

Telstra BigPond Advance
D/L: 256kbit/s U/L: 64kbit/s
Price : $67.00
D/L: 512kbit/s U/L: 128kbit/s
Price: $72.00

Telstra ADSL
D/L: 256kbit/s U/L: 64kbit/s
Price : $78.00
D/L: 512kbit/s U/L: 128kbit/s
Price: $89.00
(Forces u to use their line for voice/analog line as well .. or else u pay an extra $14/mth)

All these prices are in $AU.

I'm a user of Optus@Home, and from those stats, seems like in terms of bandwidth Optus@Home wins by miles. And trust me, with the BigPond Advance login procedures being a hassle under linux, I'd rather stick with Optus@Home which uses plain old DHCP :)

Plus in the AUP Statement for Optus@Home, it doesn't support the use of a home network, but it's not forbidden. That is a big big plus, what is the point of cable if u can share :) hehe.

Moreover, the more disturbing fact with the ADSL rollout is that the fact that Telstra is charging their competitors $61/mth for access to one line, making it impossible to competition to have any affect on the pricing.