On Thu, 18 Oct 2001, cpaul wrote: > > Our domestic charge for Optus traffic is 11c / Mbyte, and 17c for > > International, on an ATM fibre network. > > why are these costs so high, peter? > > overseas $90/month is common for unlimited downloads via cable or dsl. > > i have a dedicated server in the states - i am charged US$3 per gig there. > > your figures come to c. A$170 per gig for international traffic. > > > why? is it because of telstra, or what?
Simple answer - because the US backbone carriers charge on an unrealistic price model. Australia pays for _all_ traffic - inbound and outbound - to the country. Which means that for the estimated 40% of traffic which actually originates _in_ Australia we get to pay for that as well. Add to that the fact that Telstra makes an incredible profit on data charges, and rips off every single downlink they have by charging more wholesale than they do retail, and you get the price situation in Australia. Broadband is not the issue. Half the country could have broadband tomorrow. Trouble is, most of them couldn't afford to use it because of the ridiculous charges imposed for data transferred. DaZZa -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug
