Overwritten.net
Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: WindAndConfusion on Wednesday, December 19, 2007, 05:04:56 PM
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Australia's entire Internet backbone is owned by one company, Telstra, who used to be a government-owned monopoly but are now instead a government-regulated monopoly.
Unsurprisingly, Internet service in Australia is a dystopian nightmare ripped from the pages of Orwell or AT&T. It works like a cell phone contract: you pay a fixed amount of money in exchange for a fixed amount of data. If you transfer more data than you're allotted, you get charged extra.
Also, 1 Australian dollar is about 86 cents (http://www.google.com/search?q=1+AUD+in+USD) in actual money (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/USDnotes.jpg).
Check out these prices for cable: (http://my.bigpond.com/internetplans/broadband/cable/plansandoffers/default.jsp)
Fast (8mbps/128kbps)
$29.95 200MB
$39.95 400MB
$59.95 12GB**
$79.95 25GB**
Faster
$39.95 200MB
$49.95 400MB
$69.95 12GB**
$89.95 25GB**
$129.95 60GB
Overage charges are $0.17/MB, which works out to the low low price of $170/GB ($146/GB in US dollars). Torrenting a single DVD will cost you the equivalent of about 700 USD. A two-way flight from LA to Sydney, for comparison, will cost about $500.
It is literally cheaper to burn a single DVD, hop on a plane, and deliver it in person HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD, than it is to pay those rates.
Also, they charge an extra $10 for CABLE Internet if you don't have a LANDLINE TELEPHONE with Telstra at the same address. A landline costs $30/month.
Also also, they charge another $15/month if you want to network multiple computers - but at least the router is free!
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wow... my friend who lives there doesn't think it's that bad... and for some reason, he always downloads a bunch of stuff and never says anything about the price? it always sounded like he was on unlimited.. unless he's using the office connection ;)
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Well your friend obviously doesn't have Telstra.
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That's... insane? I haven't heard a word of this before. I'm almost inclined to believe you're just fucking with us.
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I'm almost inclined to believe you're just fucking with us.
I am also inclined to believe I'm just fucking with you. But as nearly as I can tell, I'm not.
http://my.bigpond.com/internetplans/broadband/cable/plansandoffers/default.jsp
http://my.bigpond.com/internetplans/broadband/adsl/plansandoffers/default.jsp
Wireless is even worse:
http://my.bigpond.com/internetplans/broadband/wireless/plansandoffers/default.jsp
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I'd riot and set someone's house on fire, I think.
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I'd either riot, or start sending mail bombs. That would be the reasonable decision under those circumstances, I think.
Also, I made a small mistake: the actual overage charge is $0.15/MB, or $0.30/MB for wireless Internet access. If you have DSL (or possibly cable), and you're paying more than $60/mo, they don't charge overages. Instead, they throttle your connection to dial-up speeds.
Additional usage charged at $0.15/MB, except for members on the BigPond Liberty plans. If you are on a BigPond Liberty plan, once you reach your usage allowance, the speed of your service will slow to 64kbps.
A DVD will still cost you $700 if you're on a cheap plan and you're over your (laughably, pathetically tiny) quota.
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dam... Things in NZ aren't much better, we still pay too much (not sure if it's more or less than those inbreed Aussie b-tards or not). Put simply it's down to TelstraClear (yes owned by Telstra) or Telecom.
Telstra put down their own fibre but the bulk of internet access still tends to be Telecom who owns the copper network - Telstra even offers repackaged Telecom deals and uses their network when their fibre doesn't reach the destination.
Telecom were going to upgrade the copper but then the government stepped in and told them to break themselves up into 3 companies and allow the smaller ISPs full access to the exchanges, now Telecom wont spend a cent on the upgrade?!!?! ADSL2 (for the major cities) is still 12+ months away if they started work now! Not to mention it takes Telecom months to 'open' just a few of these exchanges so it'll be like 2011 before they're all open for the smaller ISPs to use and provide a better cheaper service!
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dam... Things in NZ aren't much better.
Truly, yours is the arse end of the world.
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hahaha... well it was like that in the Philippines about 5 years ago!! it was something like $25 for 20 hours a month
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Truly, yours is the arse end of the world.
... yeah I got nothing other than we shit on Invercargill as being the utter arse end of the world ;D
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I was going to post about this a few hours ago, but was in a hurry and knew my post would be long
Anyway, the reason I am inclined to believe W&C is because I've heard stuff like this before. Plus I remember all the exchange students we met from the UK were amazed at the high speed connections in Canada. At the time, the UK didn't have any such thing as affordable 24/7 DSL service.
I am in Pakistan and paying $50 a month for unlimited 256k DSL connection, which is crap. I have friends across the world who have it better, but not a whole lot.
The reason why this internet situation is surprising, is because the United States and Canada are the worst when it comes to telecommunications standards among developed countries.
While it is a huge shock to you guys regarding the state of high speed connections across the world, it is a similar shock for those who come to the US of A or Canada when it comes to cellular connections.
Not counting Motorola or Apple, mobile phones normally take 12-24 months to hit North America after they've debuted the world over... including many third world countries.
The mobile phone monthly packages are a real shell shock for foreigners in North America. In most countries you can find at least 5 highly competitive mobile companies, all falling over themselves to try and get YOU to use their SIM card. These packages are nearly free of any purchasing charge and don't involving a stupid contract. If you are lucky, some of these packages will come with free phones, often valued at $200 or more.
In North America, most decent packages cost $40-$50 a month, with the better ones including free weekends and evenings. Of course many of these have you sign a stupid contract, and involve rebates designed to screw you over. Last I remember, Canada had maybe three mobile company options, and they all sucked...including Fido. The phones they had were prehistoric and garbage, and cost far more than their worth.
In fact in Canada you are charged even when receiving a call! I remember when Xessive came to Canada, and was looking to buy a cell phone, he was absolutely shocked. He said,"Man what the hell is this air time crap? Why am I getting charged for people calling ME?"
In much of the rest of the world, using a cell phone is cheaper than using a land line. Hell, from Pakistan I can call Canada, USA and most of Europe and will be charged LESS than a local call, I kid you not.
If I run out of credit, my SIM doesn't just turn off. In fact, even without credit I could receive calls for the next ten years. I don't get charged if someone calls me, and my rates are cheap regardless of what time of day it is.
One thing is for sure... I'd rather have superfast internet than filthy cheap cellular services. :P
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I was going to post about this a few hours ago, but was in a hurry and knew my post would be long
Anyway, the reason I am inclined to believe W&C is because I've heard stuff like this before. Plus I remember all the exchange students we met from the UK were amazed at the high speed connections in Canada. At the time, the UK didn't have any such thing as affordable 24/7 DSL service.
I am in Pakistan and paying $50 a month for unlimited 256k DSL connection, which is crap. I have friends across the world who have it better, but not a whole lot.
The reason why this internet situation is surprising, is because the United States and Canada are the worst when it comes to telecommunications standards among developed countries.
While it is a huge shock to you guys regarding the state of high speed connections across the world, it is a similar shock for those who come to the US of A or Canada when it comes to cellular connections.
Not counting Motorola or Apple, mobile phones normally take 12-24 months to hit North America after they've debuted the world over... including many third world countries.
The mobile phone monthly packages are a real shell shock for foreigners in North America. In most countries you can find at least 5 highly competitive mobile companies, all falling over themselves to try and get YOU to use their SIM card. These packages are nearly free of any purchasing charge and don't involving a stupid contract. If you are lucky, some of these packages will come with free phones, often valued at $200 or more.
In North America, most decent packages cost $40-$50 a month, with the better ones including free weekends and evenings. Of course many of these have you sign a stupid contract, and involve rebates designed to screw you over. Last I remember, Canada had maybe three mobile company options, and they all sucked...including Fido. The phones they had were prehistoric and garbage, and cost far more than their worth.
In fact in Canada you are charged even when receiving a call! I remember when Xessive came to Canada, and was looking to buy a cell phone, he was absolutely shocked. He said,"Man what the hell is this air time crap? Why am I getting charged for people calling ME?"
In much of the rest of the world, using a cell phone is cheaper than using a land line. Hell, from Pakistan I can call Canada, USA and most of Europe and will be charged LESS than a local call, I kid you not.
If I run out of credit, my SIM doesn't just turn off. In fact, even without credit I could receive calls for the next ten years. I don't get charged if someone calls me, and my rates are cheap regardless of what time of day it is.
One thing is for sure... I'd rather have superfast internet then filthy cheap cellular services. :P
I've mentioned this in another thread, but the reason telecommunications lags behind in the U.S. and Canada (and presumably Mexico as well) is because of the vast size of the countries. Think about the infrastructure required to interconnect and service such a vast land area. Then say some new telecom tech comes out and it requires upgrades to the infrastructure. You have a massive infrastructure to upgrade that not only takes a long time, but is extremely expensive.
Now think about a country like England. It's much smaller, requiring far less infrastructure and it's much cheaper to implement new technologies.
It's simple, really.
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Never really thought of it that way. While other countries are far more populated, you are correct that North America has a lot of land mass. Good point.
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Now think about a country like England. It's much smaller, requiring far less infrastructure and it's much cheaper to implement new technologies.
Then what's NZs excuss? Our infrastructure needs upgrading something bad, yes we have Telstra's fibre but it's the copper network that reaches everyone and that's far too old now. I guess it doesn't help that we are the arse end of the world with only a few broadband pipes out to the rest of the world... which I think Telecom has a controling share in... huh.
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I've mentioned this in another thread, but the reason telecommunications lags behind in the U.S. and Canada (and presumably Mexico as well) is because of the vast size of the countries.
That's a factor, I'm sure, but it's not nearly the whole story. For whatever reason, cable in South Dakota is roughly as good as cable in Seattle - despite Seattle having vastly higher population density and household income.
Think about the infrastructure required to interconnect and service such a vast land area. Then say some new telecom tech comes out and it requires upgrades to the infrastructure. You have a massive infrastructure to upgrade that not only takes a long time, but is extremely expensive.
Depends what you're doing. The US already had a lot of infrastructure, in the form of cable and telephone lines, and the lines themselves haven't been upgraded in decades. Whenever an ISP does a "network upgrade," they're usually just upgrading equipment at the endpoints of the lines - and the cost of this doesn't change whether the line is ten feet or ten miles long. (For very long lines, DSL providers may need to install specialized repeaters.)
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Then what's NZs excuss?
sheep and rabbits.
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I heard its more a problem of the damn kangaroos hopping all over the power lines. Crafty marsupials and their hate for the internets.
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I heard its more a problem of the damn kangaroos hopping all over the power lines. Crafty marsupials and their hate for the internets.
Hahaha you better not be refering to NZs 'broadband' woes when you say that....
Oh and Risa it's those plus Possums.
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possums... hahaha at least they're cute like rabbits.. though some rabbits look evil.
I'm hating this a lot.. the only internet connections I can get are like $100!! including set up fees.
Well there's another one for about $20 a month, 200 hours.. i guess i can't be on 24/7 haha