An Email From Telstra & the Reply

[echnidna]

Have thoughtabout satellite but we are surrounded by a mature messmate forest so even the satellite might have problems. Might even need a high tower for the satellite dish.

And that won't fix lousy mobile phone reception

[DavidG]

Aren't we sorry now that the Gov?? did not break Telstra up into a service provider agency and a retail business.

Now we have a foreign controlled monster telling us all to go .....

At least if labour wins the next election we MAY??? have an independent infrastructure.

[rrich]

When are we going to get a reasonable service from Telstra?

Regards
Bob Thomas

Bob,
If your Telstra is anything like our Verizon, I don't think that it will get cold enough.

[echnidna]

Well after numerous to & fro emails I asked the Telstra man he was just a spin doctor whose task was to make problems look like they had dissappeared.

So I got this blog from him

Dear Bob,

I’m happy that I was able to assist you with getting connected to the
internet.

While I appreciate that you may require a fixed ADSL service the only
other way to get a broadband connection to you at this time is with the
Next G Network.

As we are unable to supply that at this time I recommend that you keep
an eye on the BigPond web site to find out when your local exchange
will become enabled, at this time we have no expected time when that will
be completed.

Thank you for taking the time to contact BigPond.

Yours sincerely,


Eddy Alekna
The BigPond Team
www.bigpond.com

Wonder if I should ask him to read the original reply again,
nuthin's changed.

[echnidna]

So I just sent Telstra another email

Hi Eddy,

Please read my entire original reply to
Justin Milne
Group Managing Director
Telstra BigPond

Your efforts have achieved absolutely nothing.

I followed your suggestion
and went to the bigpond website and it's associated maps which says we have NextG coverage.

But NextG phones don't work in the area shown in the bigpond map so how can NextG internet work?

[squashedfrog1]

Big Shed,

I got all excited......then I found this....

The Australian Government officially announced on 13th March 2007, that all funds in the Broadband Connect program had been utilized.

All new applications submitted as of 14th March 2007, will attract a $599 installation fee.


Back to square one.


Now about that optic fibre cable that runs thru my place.......

sf

[echnidna]

Are you aware that under the Federal Govt Broadband Connect scheme you can have a satellite broadband connection installed free of charge? Look at ISPs like Bordernet, or look at the Whirlpool site for other ISPs in your area.

I spent a few hours on the Whirlpool site a few months ago and the consenus of opinion is that slow old isdn ISDN is far faster and more reliable than satellite (especially a 2 way satellite)

The big advantage of 2 way satellite is bye bye Telstra & Bigpond.
IF
I can work out whether voip is a workable phone service to ordinary everyday landline phones

[Big Shed]

Big Shed,

I got all excited......then I found this....

The Australian Government officially announced on 13th March 2007, that all funds in the Broadband Connect program had been utilized.

All new applications submitted as of 14th March 2007, will attract a $599 installation fee.


Back to square one.


Now about that optic fibre cable that runs thru my place.......

sf

When you consider that the normal installation fee is $3000 for 2-way satellite, then it is still not a bad deal. ISDN is another option, but is quite expensive.

You can always tap into that fibre optic cable

[Big Shed]

I spent a few hours on the Whirlpool site a few months ago and the consenus of opinion is that slow old isdn ISDN is far faster and more reliable than satellite (especially a 2 way satellite)


The big advantage of 2 way satellite is bye bye Telstra & Bigpond.
IF
I can work out whether voip is a workable phone service to ordinary everyday landline phones

I was under the impression that 2-way satellite was faster than 1-way satellite?

The disadvantage of 1-way satellite is that it still ties up your phone line, unless you put in a dedicated line.

I seriously considered putting in satellite but decided against it in the end, especially when a Geelong company put in wireless broadband in the area. I then knew Telstra would not be far behind in enabling the exchange for ADSL Sure enough within 3 months they enabled the exchange for ADSL, this is after the locals lobbying for years and being told "it is not technically feasible".
Telstra are a mob of b******s

Anyway now have broadband, but not with Telstra

[Barry_White]

Big Shed,

I got all excited......then I found this....

The Australian Government officially announced on 13th March 2007, that all funds in the Broadband Connect program had been utilized.

All new applications submitted as of 14th March 2007, will attract a $599 installation fee.


Back to square one.


Now about that optic fibre cable that runs thru my place.......

sf

This is a brochure I received in the mail box a couple of weeks ago good until the 31/4/07

Just be quick.

[Poppa]

I got a reply that porports to be from Justin Milne. Here 'tis (my comments in black):

Dear Bob,
Thanks for taking the time and effort to respond to my recent email. Without revisiting the contents of the email, I'll try to be brief in responding to your comments.
- The regulatory environment requires Telstra's shareholders to subsidise its competitors. There is no way to view that as fair. It is an obligation no other company in Australia faces. This is bollocks - Optus is affected by exactly the same regulation, as is any other company that owns and runs a network in Australia. Besides, the regulations allow Telstra to make more profit per market share than any of their competitors. How can they be making a disproportionately larger share of the available profit in Australia and still have the hide to whinge?
- We do not shirk our social obligations. Both the Federal Government and the Opposition agree the Universal Service Obligation needs review. The Opposition recently stated the net cost to Telstra of delivering the USO was about $550 million a year, yet Telstra received only $150 million towards this cost. The USO is a joke. The standards referred to in it are out of date before they are printed, and Telstra never adheres to them anyway.
- Telstra's network, those parts of it built before 1997, were paid for by taxpayers, but these were sold to Telstra shareholders in T1, T2 and T3. Nah, sorry, not falling for that one. The staff and infrastructure of Telstra were built with taxpayers money, because the country needed a communications network. The country still needs a communications network, but unfortunately we've sold off all of those assets so that we can pay the pollies super. Whether Telstra likes it or not, it still has an obligation to all Australian citizens to provide a service, which is what the government is trying to make it do.
- Customers such as yourself, who cannot access full broadband services or speeds, are precisely the people our campaign seeks to help. We will improve broadband availability when we know our investments will not simply subsidise our competitors. This is a complete cop-out. If they provided the network and decent service at a decent price, no one would want to be a customer of any of the other providers. So they'd knock their competition out of the race just by doing it better. What they want is a situation where they have no competition. And can therefore charge whatever they want for the service and not give a rat's about keeping customers happy.
- We welcome competition - it's just that the current regulatory regime makes it easier for competitors to access our networks at below cost rather than build infrastructure. Like they welcomed Optus into the industry. Like they welcomed Vodafone. They overcharged these competitors for years. Telstra is the single most targeted company by the ACCC in our corporate history - guess why? Telstra hate competition because they know they are really bad at keeping their own customers happy. Anyone faced with a choice of providers goes elsewhere. As I mentioned in my email, the day is fast approaching when putting in a network will be cheap and quick (watch the power companies do it - it is already being done in the US). Once that happens Telstra will be dead in the water.
- Our Customer Service has been ranked #1 in the industry for the past year in consecutive quarterly independent surveys. Bollocks. If it has then the survey process is severely broken. This bloke sounds like an ostrich.
- I have no doubts that everything Sol does at Telstra is in the best interests of Telstra and ultimately is going to take Australia forward. He already is winning international acclaim for the Next G™ network in Australia, which has made the rest of the world sit up and take notice of what we are achieving. This is in response to the serve I gave Sol, that I didn't include here. Can I just point out that I haven't been in the Telco industry for more than two years. 3G was launched in Europe before I left there olver two years ago. This is hardly innovative or new technology. And I'd be wary of anywhere that Sol is winning acclaim. Read his work history. Find out something about the companies that he has been in the past. It makes for very interesting reading. And then remember that this is the man that McGauchie insisted on having as CEO. Makes me wonder how bright McGauchie is....
Thank you for being a BigPond Member and Telstra shareholder. Not for long mate.
Yours sincerely

Justin Milne
The BigPond Team

[Barry_White]

As I said earlier in this thread I also sent an email to Mr Milne at Telstra and this is what I sent.

"Mr. Milne


I feel insulted that you send an email such as this to me. You keep telling me how good Telstra is but I would be happy to have ADSL 1 at the prices people in the towns and cities get it for. I am using Bigpond 2 way satellite at the rip off price of $68.50 a month that I can ill afford on a pension.


There are other providers that provide it at much cheaper prices and it annoys me that I can’t change. I have equipment that I now own that is useless unless I am connected to Telstra. As I have been given one subsidy from the government I can’t legally get it again from another provider.


My only other option is to shortly cancel my Bigpond satellite when I run out of money and go back to a crappy unreliable dial up access to reduce my costs. I may then have to consider changing all my other services over to another provider, not that would probably matter to you because I am only one little fish in a big ocean.


Sure Telstra wants support to create a monopoly so that you can set the highest prices in the market place the same as you have with the 3G network.


Regards,


Barry White"



This is the reply I received this afternoon.




Dear Barry,

I appreciate you taking the time to respond to us in response to our Broadband Australia Campaign email and I’d like to thank you for choosing BigPond as your ISP. I understand your frustration in relation to not being able to get any service other than our BigPond Satellite service, and apologise for any inconvenience you have experienced as a result.
Ironically, however, your situation - and that of others like you - is precisely the reason for our campaign. We want to invest our money in improving broadband access, but under the current regulatory rules we cannot do so on a commercial basis. If the rules are changed, then Telstra can start investing in new infrastructure, knowing it will make a fair return on its investment.
Barry, thanks for taking the time to write in response to my email. We do value you as a BigPond Member and hopefully we will see some changes that let us respond better to your needs.
Yours Sincerely

Justin Milne
The BigPond Team

Which really didn't address my concerns. Probably just a canned response.



Poppa just had a quick look at the reply you got. Leaves mine for dead.

[ernknot]

Arrrrrrrrrrgh! Don't you guys know we are mere victims???

[MajorPanic]

Just think, only a small percentage of the population has 'broadband'.

Anywhere else in the world broadband is supplied with fibre-optic cable & speeds that make ours look decidedly pedestrian!

ADSL is just dial-up in another guise & has the inherent problems of the copper wire infrastructure.

[coastie]

If the opposition leader Mr.Rudd wants to build a new network who is he going to get to build it?
Murdoch,Packer,??
We live in interesting times