I think that it would be fair to everybody on this list if we just
agreed to disagree and leave it at that. However before ending this
thread may I say that, as a lawyer, I have never had any problems
with the contracts or contractual changes made by Telstra. I have
never worked in a computer field but my two year experience with
Bigpond cable has been excellent, other than the e-mail outage
period. In all respects it has been far superior to my previous
experience with iiNet dialup.
Bob
At 8:28 PM 1/3/04, Craig Ringer eloquently proclaimed...........
On Mon, 2004-03-01 at 19:59, Bob Jackson wrote:
I think that your views will never change no matter what Telstra
does. Your previous comment says it all -
At 7:05 PM 1/3/04, Craig Ringer wrote:
>Then again, I'm a /really/ bitter ex-Bigpond Cable customer.
This is true - and I thought it only fair to say it, as it makes me less
than objective, and inclined to see the negative side of Telstra. It
doesn't make willing to lie about them, though - has anything I've said
been false or in any way incorrect? Are my concerns invalid? I'm
sufficiently unhappy about Telstra's treatment of me, and others I know,
that I feel obliged to at least warn people about their past and the
problems with their current plans.
Telstra and others are quite capable of talking up the positive aspects
of their service - I'm just trying to highlight some of the drawbacks.
If Telstra:
- Ceases trying to rip off it's customers with "low cost" plans
that have low caps and per-megabyte charges
( not just the current batch, which are even worse -
they need to make shaping the _default_ or properly
educating customers);
- Begins treating it's wholesale customers in a fair manner,
without it's current anti-competitive tactics;
- Offers reasonable contract lengths, or makes it more clear
to customers what they're getting into with the
long contracts;
- Starts relating honestly to the media and public.
... then I'll stop trying to warn people about them. I won't ever /like/
them, nor recommend them to anybody, but I won't feel obliged to warn
people about the problems with their service if they fix the major
problems with it.
Many customers are happy with BigPond. This is fine - but they should
know what they're getting in to and what their options are, first.
Telstra doesn't fully inform it's customers. Other ISPs offer shaping as
the default if the customer goes over the allowance (preventing massive,
unexpected bills); offer shorter contract terms, allowing the customer
to leave the service if it becomes unaffordable or no longer fits their
needs; etc.
I won't be convinced that Telstra are now all friendly by being told
that an install went well - most of them do, and the service usually
works fine as well. It's later that things can start getting tricky -
and even then, only for some customers. If you can tell me why my
concerns are no longer valid, and why I should not longer try to at
least inform people of some aspects of the plans that Telstra doesn't
like to make clear, I'll listen to your argument.
If you tell me I will never listen (and imply that my views are /only/
because of sour grapes) I don't see any reason to change my views, and
will at respond with my personal views and concerns if someone asks for
advice on a broadband service, or an opinion on BigPond.
I'll leave it at that, or if you prefer we can take the discussion off
WAMUG and save the other folks the (often precious) bandwidth.
Craig Ringer
