My brother recently relocated back from the from the UK. He had an unlimited quota with his DSL connection over there... his 'real world' connection speeds were pretty average in my opinion though. Compared to my iiNet ADSL2 connection anyway.
So, he's looking at plans, and he thinks everything here is expensive in comparison. A mate over at Telstra had this to say by way of explanation for our pricing schemes. --- You'd expect that it would be more expensive in a country with our population density compared with London (particularly with the slant for urban areas to cross-subsidise rural areas). It's annoying, but I can't see it changing unless we get some kind of miracle technology coming along. And that won't change the extortionate rates we get charged over the International links to US (Australia pays for both the incoming AND outgoing traffic). --- Maybe the prices we pay... Are the prices we pay, to have broadband services plus a better overall standard of living than our counterpart consumers in the UK (and elsewhere)? Cheers, Toby. On 11/7/08 10:38 AM, "Rob Davies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Totally agree Martin, but the same old answer keeps flowing past these > companies whom provide our telecommunication. The size of the country > with it' s sparseness and only minimal amount of subscribers, so they > try to redeem there initial expense when providing so called leading > edge technology. It is what we hear all the time from Health Insurers, > Cable/Satellite providers, and of course our Telecommunication > providers. > > A lot of the blame can be laid at ourselves for accepting this Mexican > stand-off and purchase said services at such ridiculous pricing, but > do we have a choice? Of course because of booming economy etc. etc. we > can afford all this expense or so we are made to believe. Then of > course there is ACCC whom love to have many companies offering the > services in name of competition. But with so few people in this > country apparently only a few go to each competitor hence minimal > subscribers. > > Then we have iiNet whom seem to be trying to shake the cage by > utilising technology and acquiring many companies. But it is working > for now, what happens when they have a monopoly, as per the banks and > electronic banking. Charges just keep on going? As do the profit > margins which brings up the question of the share holder AKA the Chief > Executive and his management team. > > Cheers! > `Rob... > > On 10Jul2008, at 4:39 pm, Martin Hill wrote: > >> Well, talking to the Telstra NextG helpline today they reckon there >> is no special iPhone data plan and that the current ludicrous NextG >> data plans are it. However, she did say that new plans MAY be >> announced tomorrow... >> >> In other words: >> >> 5MB per month $5 $1 per MB excess >> 20MB per month $10 $1 per MB excess >> 80MB per month $29 $1 per MB excess >> >> 200MB per month $59 25c per MB excess >> 1GB per month $89 25c per MB excess >> 3GB per month $119 25c per MB excess >> >> Compare this to the USA where UNLIMITED data is only US$30. >> >> However, Telstra gives Unlimited data & SMS for a flat monthly fee >> of $30 to users of their 2.5G HipTop Slide - which begs the >> question, why can't they do something similar for the iPhone? >> http://telstra.com.au/hiptop/index.html >> >> Absolutely ridiculously expensive for a device that is >> groundbreaking in its internet connectivity with the original iPhone >> v1 having in Australia already become the number one mobile internet >> platform despite not being officially released here. Everything >> about the iPhone demands high data usage from googlemaps with the >> built-in GPS to YouTube to push email to the fact that Google has >> found iPhone users utilise google 50x more than other users. >> Marketshare-wise, the iPhone is the number one mobile internet >> platform worldwide despite being on sale in only a few countries for >> only the last year. >> >> The voice plans are the same as their regular deals meaning the $30 >> plan has $25 of included calls and SMS. >> >> Australian carriers MUST get their heads out of the sand and not let >> this country be left behind by the brave new world of technological, >> social and educational possibilities being enabled by reasonably >> priced ubiquitous mobile internet connectivity. >> >> I guess we continue to wait and see. >> >> Martin Hill >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> >> >> >> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- >> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> >> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> >> Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
