[plug] ISPs in WA

[Chris Caston]

On Wed, 2006-02-08 at 08:44, Leon Brooks wrote:
> On Tuesday 07 February 2006 20:38, Chris Caston wrote:
> > I have a few questions about ISPs putting in their own DSLAMS:
> 
> > How much does Telstra charge for the use of space in the exchange?
> 
> As much as they possibly can. They are also notorious for sitting on 
> applications for as long as possible.
> 
> > Considering it's -not Telstras fault- if the DSLAM overheats or
> > generally fails aren't Telstra just becoming a real-estate company?
> 
> Telstra (the corporation) are all about control. If they were still a 
> public/government entity, this would make sense: they would be the 
> standard-bearers. Now that they are kinda-sorta private, it's simply an 
> unfair advantage which, being a money-hungry corporation kinda-sorta, 
> they "must" work the advantage for maximum profit.
> 


I propose we start a partition and get all the shareholders together.
Make Mark Shuttleworth the new CEO of Teltra ;)


> I understand that they're still making a trainload of money from ISDN 
> lines, which would be one reason for them dragging their feet 
> oh-so-heavily over the issue of ADSL2 (since it would kill that 
> lucrative market). Now that iiNet and fellow travellers are using the 
> bandwidth advantage to take a bite out of that market anyway, Telstra 
> might get the lead out of their britches.
> 

I hear their planning something like 2mb/256k for their own network.


> Reading between the lines, they've hoist themselves on their own petard 
> a bit in that setting ADSL2 up in the foot-draggin'-ist possible way 
> has somewhat hamstrung them now that other companies _have_ been using 
> the extra speed to take a bite out of the market, so they can't just 
> suddenly pick up the pace and head those efforts off.
> 
> > Does the ISP *really* save any money by having their own DSLAM
> > compared to reselling Telstra wholesale?
> 
> Yes. Particularly in the back-haul. They also get more control over 
> their network, and in the case of AmNet, iiNet and others are able to 
> offer higher data rates ahead of the game.
> 

Still can the ISP build their own exchange? Can I (or my ISP) buy
outright and maintain my own copper line?

> > Whats the prize for getting the biggest ADSL2 network before
> > Telstra-the-tortoise finally upgrades ?
> 
> The network _is_ the prize. A speed advantage is a marketing advantage, 
> which means more customers, which means more profit.
> 
> At a certain level, the company becomes large enough to do things which 
> a smaller company wouldn't have the financial muscle for, like lobbying 
> politicians and bureacrats or getting bulk discounts on DSLAMs and 
> back-haul links. This is probably why AmCom elected to grow too fast 
> when the opportunity arose. You may remember iiNet's feeding frenzy of 
> about 5 years ago? And how their service nosedived? Almost certainly 
> the same story.
> 
I still think that AmCom can be turned around. I'm doing the very best I
can to provide telephone and fast onsite support to all the people that
sign up through me.


regards,

Chris

> Cheers; Leon