[plug] Re: Bandwidth prices [was School Web Page]

[Hook]

Brinley Ang wrote:
>
> Just want to make a correction, i just came from singapore and no the
> prices in arent any where close to iinet.
> In Singapore, u can get unlimited access/download 56k dial up at about
> 1cent per min including cost of the phonecall, no email acc, no setup
> fee, no monthly fee, no cust service.
> There are 3 affordable forms of broadband: cable, adsl and powerline.
> Not very sure of the prices though but Cable is about $78 per month and
> setup fee is about $50. Capped at uplink 15kbps and down link uncapped.
> Modem is rented and included in the monthly $78 fee.
> Adsl 256k unlimited, uncapped and no reshaping at $30-$50 and the modem
> comes free with a contract.
> The powerline internet is still on trial.
> Cant say much about the other places but believes most of the sane world
> is still much cheaper and without all those hidden costs

To be fair there's absolutely no comparison between iiNet in WA and
Singapore. For broadband services, population density matters, and Perth
just doesn't have it. A very small proportion of Perth is wired for cable,
and my understanding is that (in the short term anyway) that's not going to
improve much, if at all - there wasn't enough take up. There's fibre
available in the CBD, but the CBD in Perth is tiny.

Telstra have a different relationship with government than the telcos in
Singapore (my understanding anyway), so the emphasis on investment in
broadband wasn't pushed by government. Think who's minister for
communications. Think about poor outback telecomms and the understandable
need for working phones in bush communities.

BTW, in the UK, DSL is a disaster ATM. It's certain to change in the future,
but right now it's available in very few places, and subscribers share the
bandwidth - it sounds like a cable set up in some ways.

In the US, broadband suppliers are going broke in a number of places because
they offered services cheaper than they could support. The take up wasn't
there.

I've no problem with knocking Telstra, but lets try and avoid the
"everywhere else is cheaper and better" comments. Australia has real
problems with distance, and Singapore in particular doesn't, so it makes a
bad comparison.

The Hooker