[plug] Telstra rort

[Ben New]

Hello all,

I think this might be another case for the ACCC. 

We are in the process of moving, and found it impossible to determine 
whether ADSL is available before accepting the lease.  We are now stuck 
with a 12 month lease on a property which doesn't support ADSL.  The 
stupid thing is, this place is in Rivervale, not 10km from the centre of 
Perth.  The story goes like this:

1. Lease required before phone connection can take place (I don't think 
connecting a phone line before accepting the place is really an option).
2. Phone connection required before Telstra can determine whether ADSL 
is available.

Yet every day on the TV we see more and more ads promoting ADSL.  We've 
had it in White Gum Valley for the last couple of years at least, and 
this is much further from Perth city.

If we had have been able to test the line for ADSL compatibility 
/before/ connecting the phone, we would have found a place that 
supported it.  All I got from Telstra was "more Australians require a 
phone (voice) line than require an Internet line, so if Telstra doesn't 
have a reason to install an ADSL capable line, they wont", or something 
along those lines.

This is basically the straw (quite a heavy one, though) that broke the 
camel's (my business') back.  I think I'm going to find it a little 
difficult to provide web development and especially hosting with a 
28.8kbps connection.

Has anybody else been stung like this?  I'd be very interested in any 
other stories like this, or if anyone with more experience of the ACCC 
has any ideas how this could be approached.  Basically this is just a 
scam by Telstra who can't be bothered making a service sufficiently 
available before they advertise it, or making it even possible to tell 
whether the service is available before it's too late.

Regards,
Ben

-- 
Ben New
ben at leftclick.com.au

Leftclick Software Development
http://www.leftclick.com.au/