Dial-up sucks!

[boxerboy]

I don't want to sound like a broadband snob, but I'm spending the week in a hotel in Mt Isa and realise how quickly we take advances in technology for granted. Dial-up is 28.8k and I've given up trying to look at any photo's on the forum. Text only for me this week!

[Greg B]

I'm with you boxy, moved from dialup to ADSL about 6 months ago and the difference is sensational (and, amazingly, it is cheaper 'cos I got rid of the overpriced second phone line)

[MATT]

Yes Yes it does how did I live with dialup for so long is beyond me.

But you will appreciate it when you get home.

MATT

[plukaduck]

Australian Broadband sucks.

I have been on broadband as long as I can remember and for a lot of that time at a speed of 1.5meg.

I am in Korea at the moment and it is like likening broadband to dial up in Australia. I do not know what speed they are useing here but it leaves anything I have ever had in Australia for dead. Well that is providing the server allows quick up load speed.

Cheers,

Darryl.

[stubbsy]

plucka. Is that at Hyundai or in your motel room. Maybe work pays megabucks for ultra fast

[plukaduck]

Stubsy,

I am staying in the Hyundai Hotel in Ulsan and it is part of the Hyundai network. I do not know what they are using here but it is the fastest network i have seen.

I just gave it a trial and have just downloaded a 43meg file from the logitec site based in Korea in under 5 seconds, I say awesome. I tried to do the same download from the US site and it took just over 3 mins.

Cheers,

Darryl.

[Hybrid]

Yes, it does suck but I can't say I have a lot of sympathy for you since it is all I've had for the last 8 years at home

I don't want to sound like whinger but I can't even get 56k - and that's with a good (expensive) modem. I'm stuck at 28.8k because Telstra has me on pair gain I don't even live very far from town but my exchange is probably about 15km away at least so no chance of ADSL... I guess I've just become used to waiting for stuff to load and have developed multi-window habits!

On the up side, I'm hoping to get satellite internet or even better wireless broadband which my work will be providing And at work I have a good fast connection but it still feels good to complain sometimes

So hang in there boxerboy, I think you might just survive this week!

Cheers,

Stephen

[stubbsy]

I just gave it a trial and have just downloaded a 43meg file from the logitec site based in Korea in under 5 seconds, I say awesome. I tried to do the same download from the US site and it took just over 3 mins.

Darryl

Now that's impressive and I see what you mean. You won't be happy when you return if you get too used to it.

[Catcha]

You would think Mt Isa hotel would have Broadband


Hybrid: you know if you keep pestering them and get a petition going around your area that you want Broadband, it certainly gets things moving.

[Hybrid]

Hybrid: you know if you keep pestering them and get a petition going around your area that you want Broadband, it certainly gets things moving.

Thanks Catcha - definitely will keep hassling telstra... I'm lucky to work for an ISP/Web/Tech company so I have access to a decent amount of info when it comes to that side of things (not that it really helps that much when it is the evil T you're dealing with). Speaking of which, my boss had a few things to say about them recently and I believe some of those comments will be appearing in tomorrow's edition of the AFR

Cheers,

Stephen

[Catcha]

Hybrid: you know if you keep pestering them and get a petition going around your area that you want Broadband, it certainly gets things moving.

Thanks Catcha - definitely will keep hassling telstra... I'm lucky to work for an ISP/Web/Tech company so I have access to a decent amount of info when it comes to that side of things (not that it really helps that much when it is the evil T you're dealing with). Speaking of which, my boss had a few things to say about them recently and I believe some of those comments will be appearing in tomorrow's edition of the AFR

Cheers,

Stephen

My mate was feeling left out at the time we all had broadband, he was living right in the city and was told cannot because of the exchange and crap. He hassled them constantly, until they somehow suggested he get a second line, cause his old line didn't support it. So he went and got a second line one for phone and one for broadband. This last for a while until he was able to swtich his existing home number over to the broadband line and hey presto his got broadband now.

I'm with interndode at the moment been with them for 2-3 as far as i can remember right now best company and service, you pay that bit extra but you get a quality service and line, no of this drop outs and stuff you hear unless they are upgrading there lines...never go with telstra they are a ripoff, even if they are you still get people sticking with them * weird* heheheeh

[Andyt]

I am in a southern coastal suburb of Perth with a dial up connection, I have been "suffering" for the last 7 years with bandwidth constipation , I have been pestering Telstra every few months for broadband availability to be told each time that the local exchange had to be upgraded.

On Sat AM while in the local Telstra shop I was offered a "deal" involving a new mobile phone and broadband connection, the young lad took pity on me after I stopped raving and bouncing off the walls and told me that the problem was the standard of cable from the street running into the house and to ring Telstra faults to have it upgraded for broadband which I have done. It seems there are a lot of residences in the same predicament and Telstra are only upgrading on request, so now am waiting like an expectant father to be.

..........so I guess its true, WA means "Wait Awhile".......

[Catcha]

I am in a southern coastal suburb of Perth with a dial up connection, I have been "suffering" for the last 7 years with bandwidth constipation , I have been pestering Telstra every few months for broadband availability to be told each time that the local exchange had to be upgraded.

On Sat AM while in the local Telstra shop I was offered a "deal" involving a new mobile phone and broadband connection, the young lad took pity on me after I stopped raving and bouncing off the walls and told me that the problem was the standard of cable from the street running into the house and to ring Telstra faults to have it upgraded for broadband which I have done. It seems there are a lot of residences in the same predicament and Telstra are only upgrading on request, so now am waiting like an expectant father to be.

..........so I guess its true, WA means "Wait Awhile".......

Telstra i have notice with others is that you have to act on it, they don't do in automatically, if you sign a petition or something to that effect saying that there are X amount of people that want broadband they will start to so something about it. this is the same for ADSL2 that now people can get, not all suburbs and states can get it, and nobody in Darwin can access it at the moment, but when enough people jump up and down cause its the same price as getting 1.5 line but like way faster.

[Onyx]

I get the "best" of both worlds - my downloading habits usually means I'm forced back to dialup speeds for about half the month, every month. While I get a teaser of the advantages of broadband, I also have a strong remainder to keep my feet on the ground being forced to sit through painfully slow speeds after overindulging.

[Catcha]

I get the "best" of both worlds - my downloading habits usually means I'm forced back to dialup speeds for about half the month, every month. While I get a teaser of the advantages of broadband, I also have a strong remainder to keep my feet on the ground being forced to sit through painfully slow speeds after overindulging.

I know that feels or when you quota runs out and if you DL anymore you get charged for it hehehe......so you gotta sit back and wait for it to rollover to go spastic and DL 24/7

[gstark]

Dareyl is correct - broadband in Oz sucks. Thanx, Helstra.

But it is a whole let better than dialup, which we were relegated to using over the weekend whilst in Melbourne.

[Hlop]

Dareyl is correct - broadband in Oz sucks. Thanx, Helstra.

But it is a whole let better than dialup, which we were relegated to using over the weekend whilst in Melbourne.

I like Helstra too But in this case I don't think we have to blame them - Helstra just provides endpoints on exchanges and everything else depends on sub-providers. I'd say whole IP networking in Australia sucks but It's gets better every year

[gstark]

Dareyl is correct - broadband in Oz sucks. Thanx, Helstra.

But it is a whole let better than dialup, which we were relegated to using over the weekend whilst in Melbourne.

I like Helstra too But in this case I don't think we have to blame them - Helstra just provides endpoints on exchanges and everything else depends on sub-providers. I'd say whole IP networking in Australia sucks but It's gets better every year

Actually, we do have to blame them. Their lack of understanding of the technology is enormous. They have introduced "upgrades" without adequate testing, that resulted in the collapse of 50% of the national backbone!

It is their obfuscation and lack of forward planning that leads to us having a so-called broadband system that is about 5 years behind the rest of the world.

They have but one focus - extracting your money from your pocket. Customer service is but a joke.

[Miliux]

In korea ya can get optic fibre running to your home for 30 dollars.

[gstark]

In korea ya can get optic fibre running to your home for 30 dollars.

Go Helstra!

[MattC]

I was prowling around a European forum over the weekend. One of the discussions that made me raise an eyebrow was one concerning connection speeds and download limits.How does 8mb/2mb up/dn with 60+ GB limits then throttled to 128k sound? Edit: for $100pm. Some members were complaining that they were hitting their limits inside of a week!!! Serial Downloaders!

Meanwhile I am still stuck with dialup. Our local exchange is supposed to be DSL enabled this week... give or take a couple of years (more likely give a couple of years). The local ISP went through the whole petition thing. Telstra needs to have x number of definite customers before they will upgrade. It is going to be interesting to see if it is going to happen.
I seriously considered 2 way satellite, but because I can get ISDN I am only eligible for a partial HIBIS grant (so I am looking at $$$$). Got to be kidding, ISDN would cost me more than the 2 way satellite by the time Helstra finishes screwing me and offers only 128k.
I was talking to my local ISP about all of this a few weeks ago (investigating my options and obviously not happy) and they dropped my dialup charges by 50%. Now it is in line with city prices.

I still think that there is a case for seperating Telstra Wholesale from Telstra Retail, but with current government (or any for that matter) it will not happen. Screw the people, it is the bottom line that counts. It does not matter that Australia is turned into a communications wasteland as long as goverment gets the highest price for the remaining Helstra shares.


Cheers

Matt

[Hlop]

Actually, we do have to blame them. Their lack of understanding of the technology is enormous. They have introduced "upgrades" without adequate testing, that resulted in the collapse of 50% of the national backbone!

It is their obfuscation and lack of forward planning that leads to us having a so-called broadband system that is about 5 years behind the rest of the world.

They have but one focus - extracting your money from your pocket. Customer service is but a joke.

Agree. And I can add much more examples but together with Helstra there are other national carriers like Optus, Asia Global Crossing (Asia Netcom), Equant (former Global One) etc. and they help Helstra make us happy

My home broadband provider is Netspace and I have full 512K up to their networks. It means Helstra provides proper and fair service on lower levels of OSI network model. Problems appear when packet's leaving Netspace network and there come out other providers and carriers.

As I said, I don't like Helstra but It's not worse than any other huge telco (but not better either)

[cyanide]

Stubsy,

I am staying in the Hyundai Hotel in Ulsan and it is part of the Hyundai network. I do not know what they are using here but it is the fastest network i have seen.

I just gave it a trial and have just downloaded a 43meg file from the logitec site based in Korea in under 5 seconds, I say awesome. I tried to do the same download from the US site and it took just over 3 mins.

Cheers,

Darryl.

Korea is, per capita, the most internet connected country in the world. No such thing as dial-up - they have never even heard of it!! From memory, the "slow" cable connection is 10mB, unlimited d/l and u/l, for about equiv $50 per month, and there is a faster one ( ) for slightly more.... after three and a half years here, there is no way I will move back to an area that doesn't have (even the crappy Aussie version of) broadband.... I'd die!!!

[the foto fanatic]

Meanwhile I am still stuck with dialup. Our local exchange is supposed to be DSL enabled this week... give or take a couple of years (more likely give a couple of years). The local ISP went through the whole petition thing. Telstra needs to have x number of definite customers before they will upgrade.
Cheers
Matt

Matt - you raise a valid point. Us city slickers can sometimes take broadband for granted. You guys in the bush, who arguably have a greater need, have certainly had the rough end of the pineapple.

Hope you get it sorted soon.
Trevor

[MattC]

Trevor,

I think Australia as a whole gets the wrong end of a rather pointy stick. Many suburbs in major cities/centres have no access to high speed telecommunications which is worrying.

New suburbs are regularly built with old tech and customers put up with pair gain for dial-up or use wireless providers that seem to be sprouting up all over to fill the gap.

Cheers

Matt

[Hybrid]

This is an interesting thread... I don't know when we'll be 'saved' from our dialup hell but I'm betting it will be something like wireless broadband that does it because running cable is just not practical for such a big country with relatively few people.

Hlop - no offense to you but I don't think you are aware of the full picture of telstra and their actions. They are doing all they can to stop the other telcos and they have a big advantage with government backing. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with them running a very competitive business - what I do think is wrong is when they use tactics that are unethical. Does anyone remember Telstra Easymail - great little scheme where you could sign up for an e-mail account and then send 5 messages at a time for the cost of a local call. Excellent for light users that just want mail but of course NOBODY could compete with that since telstra collects the money for the local calls. Of course the ACCC got onto it, telstra got a slap on the wrist (yet again) but they'd managed to get 12,000+ users that would've probably gone to other ISPs. Then you have telstra making their wholesale prices more than the price that they give to consumers. It just isn't right. There's more too... just do some digging. I believe the Whirlpool forums are an interesting place for discussions such as this.

that's my rant for the day

Stephen

[plukaduck]

Just to fill you in on a little more about what happens here in Korea. Yes you are correct optic fibre when connected to the hub.

Hyundai owns the optic fibre and all the infrastructure behind it for their network. I also have a wireless card I place in the laptop and can get connection anywhere in Korea (and I am also told I will get connection more than 300kms offshore on a good day). What is the download speed of this?

12mb per second. Not happy with this information I had to try it. I could not get offshore so I tried it only on land. I downloaded a 30mb file from their servers in under 5 seconds, not once but more than 50 times.

I was trying to see if I could get the download not to happen or fail in some way. I downloaded whilst travelling in a vehicle through tunnels, went into a basement carpark, in a lift and many more places that I thought may be difficult. Not once did it fail or take more than 5 seconds.

Just to think on Sunday I have to return to up to 1.5mb (advertised) download speed.

I wonder if they will miss this card and will the distance stretch to 8500kms.

Cheers,

Darryl.

[Hybrid]

Wow Darryl, that's very impressive connectivity... hard to even imagine here.

Greetings from the stone age anyway

Stephen

[Matty B]

Poor Bugger Me! I can't crack it for more than 21.8 KB/ Sec. here and I'm only 1.4 km from our local exchange - I'm the last house heading out of town! My problem is that we are on a double pair gain!! Get that -double pair gain! It's illegal, but Telstra did it anyway when folks up the road wished to build and naturally- have a phone line to their house. Telsta in their infinite wisdom could not be stuffed laying a separate cable down the road but spit off us (again - there's another new house paired up too) across another paddock ie) path of least resistance and so we suffer, not only next to useless internet but crossed phone lines, drop outs on phone calles etc. What's more there are another 7 subdivisions to go in past us in the next 3 years or so.

of course I've complained - often and regularly to bugger all avail. They claim they are legally required to only supply infrastrucure which carries a min. speed of 19 KB /Sec as is printed in their 'Charter'. So until Telstra change their minds and get into the 21st century I'm spending all night uploading one photo and a handfull of posts onto D70 group!

I have a very good freind who is an ex- Telstra engineer - who tells me that many of these huge new residential estates as satellite cities around Melb. have only single copper cable into each lot (house) and therefore no broadband avail, despite being not yet built! Come on Telstra, wake up Australia!

Now I feel a lot better even if nobody reads this!! I envy all you ADSL / Broadband surfers!

Cheers.

[AlistairF]

Poor Bugger Me! I can't crack it for more than 21.8 KB/ Sec. here and I'm only 1.4 km from our local exchange - I'm the last house heading out of town! My problem is that we are on a double pair gain!! Get that -double pair gain! It's illegal, but Telstra did it anyway when folks up the road wished to build and naturally- have a phone line to their house. Telsta in their infinite wisdom could not be stuffed laying a separate cable down the road but spit off us (again - there's another new house paired up too) across another paddock ie) path of least resistance and so we suffer, not only next to useless internet but crossed phone lines, drop outs on phone calles etc. What's more there are another 7 subdivisions to go in past us in the next 3 years or so.

of course I've complained - often and regularly to bugger all avail. They claim they are legally required to only supply infrastrucure which carries a min. speed of 19 KB /Sec as is printed in their 'Charter'. So until Telstra change their minds and get into the 21st century I'm spending all night uploading one photo and a handfull of posts onto D70 group!

I have a very good freind who is an ex- Telstra engineer - who tells me that many of these huge new residential estates as satellite cities around Melb. have only single copper cable into each lot (house) and therefore no broadband avail, despite being not yet built! Come on Telstra, wake up Australia!

Now I feel a lot better even if nobody reads this!! I envy all you ADSL / Broadband surfers!

Cheers.

Matty, My parents live in the country and too far from town to get ADSL and I've pondered how to get over this problem.

Have you thought of getting a neighbor/friend who's closer to the exchange to have your broadband connected and then run your own 802.11 (wireless) connection to your place with some hi-gain attennas? The gear's dirt cheap these days.

Alistair

[Gordon]

I was about to sign up to HIBIS satellite, 256down, 64kb uplink after 12 years of suffering dial up. When I first got online in 1993, I could never get any more than 300baud! I can type faster than that! Text only especially since it dropped out every few minutes. I used to phone Telstra every day, for the best part of a year before they did anything, and they took me on as a test case, to see what they were in for in upgrading the lines to the tens of thousands of other rural living people who wanted internet access, eventually they replaced some of the 40 year old copper between me and the exchange (12 km away) and I could get 28.8K. Sometimes I get up to 36K, but thats illusory, since there are frequent periods of 5 minutes of more where there is no activity, my modem sends data, but there is no reponse. Sometimes it comes back to life, but often it drops out. I regularly have to make 4-6 calls before I can establish a connection to my ISP.
HIBIS is a satellite connection scheme for rural people, offered by various companies and the equipment is funded by the government, so you dont have to pay for dishes and receivers. Various plans from $45 - $120/month, but not very generous download limits, and the $45 plan cant be used between 5pm and 9pm unless you want to pay $5 extra to use it then.
Fortunately nowires is getting set up in Tamworth, but its 30km in a direct line from here, so I have to spend about $2000 on antennae, receivers,solar panels,batteries etc, but I will then have 1.5Mb download and 512kbit upload, broadband at last!

Gordon
who is in Comboyne for a 2 day mountain bike race, but the D70+lenses is too heavy to carry, plus theres no time to stop and take pics!

[boxerboy]

Ah! I'm back home and back to ADSL. How I've missed you my dear friend.