For anyone who might be idly curious about my continuing blogging absence, here’s an update. Jen and I have moved successfully into our new home, and we’re very comfortable. We’re even getting a pool installed starting tomorrow, a week ahead of schedule. So we’ll be swimming by Sunday at latest, and not a moment too soon because it’s bloody hot (although nowhere near as hot as Sydney today).
The only bad news emanates from Telstra. Despite being advised in advance that ADSL connection shouldn’t be a problem at our new address, it turns out it is. The line may or may not be capable of being upgraded to take ADSL, but it will take them 2-3 weeks to get around to sending out a technician to check! Apparently it’s a 50/50 chance, and if we lose it’s back to dialup (although I’ll probably check out the feasibility and cost of satellite broadband – anyone have any helpful hints?). Bugger privatising Telstra. They should liquidate the whole shebang and turn over its business to an outfit that gives a stuff about customer service.
Meanwhile, Jen’s laptop got stolen from her school staffroom over the weekend, so until we can find out how to activate her Ozemail dialup account on my PC as an interim measure we remain off the air. Lucky Mark and Sophie and Don are still blogging apace.
I’m contemplating getting ASDL from Telstra, though I’m doing some relocating myself early in the new year and may leave it til then. I’d forgotten, though, the horrors of actually getting Telstra to provide some customer service!
Enjoy the pool, Ken and jen, and hurry back, Ken, we miss your voice in our conversations.
Getting ADSL from Telstra is like, I dunno… getting healthcare from the British NHS? Air travel from Aeroflot? Similie fails me.
Telstra is the last place you should be getting ADSL from. Go to http://www.whirlpool.net.au and find yourselves a real ISP.
Scott
As far as I know, the hardware issues are common to all ISPs, and all the lines are installed and maintained by Telstra. So it wouldn’t matter what ISP I used, I would still be having problems getting connected due to ADSL capability of the lines. And Telstra would still be responsible for sending out the technician to check the status of the lines, and would take just as long to do so irrespective of my ISP.
Both my side neighbours and the one across the road have broadband. Telstra tells me that they can’t upgrade my line because it’s an old one yet my house was built after all three of my neighbours’. So I am stuck on 28 Kbps dialup which getting more painful each day.
Ron, this is usually a L I E. The usual real reason is that they currently don’t have enough capacity at the other end of the copper cable (ie at your exchange). Sometimes there is spare capacity, but it’s allocated to another ISP. Try talking to other ISPs who have a substantial presence in your area. Alternatively, ask the Telstra techos for the regional manager’s number.
Welcome back Ken. The blog world has gone to pot since you left. Bahnisch The Younger has been in a posting frenzy akin to an academic with marking chores to postpone. Jason Soon has been reduced to blogging on T shirts at work and you missed to Sydney sex speed dating film opening night strike drinkfest fashion parade blog meet up and the Melbourne Arts & Letters salon tete a tete blog meet.
A pool in a few days? Not inground I’m guessing.
re Telstra: You might be interested to read this small bit I did about overseas phone calls.
re Telstra: You might be interested to read this small bit I did about overseas phone calls.
bah no html in comments:
http://landownunder.blogspot.com/2004/11/keywords-in-know-good-oil-drum.html
FXH, marking chores completed, thesis completion chores will soon result in declining blogging activity!
Ken, if you’re otherwise stuck but you have a friend or acquaintance within line of sight (distance doesn’t matter, as long as you can see their roof from your roof) who *does* have a broadband connection, it might be possible to run a wireless LAN connection and share their broadband internet. It’s not entirely trivial to set up but it’s a heck of a lot better than dialup…
Scott Wickstein’s evaluation of healthcare schemes might be a bit screwy, but his essential point is correct. Stay away from Telstra, they combine the worst aspects of the public and private sectors; the service is terrible and they take advantage of customer ignorance to rip people off blind. Any number of companies will give you a better deal than Telstra.
Ken, I’m not sure that you have any choice about ISP’s (if you live too far away from an exchange, you are basically screwed); my counsel was for Mark. Living in Brisvegus he should have wide range of ISP’s to choose from.
Thanks, Scott – my main reason for thinking about Telstra was that I might be able to save by bundling the internet account with the landline. On the other hand, without a dial-up connection, I’ll save heaps on local calls anyway.
The other option if you can’t get ADSL is ISDN.
Being in the country and at the end of our line, it was the only half fast option. You also end up with 2 landlines.
Unfortunately it is not cheap compared to ADSL.
We have wireless broadband. The ISP does the last mile through 802.11. They are in the town and have an antenna on one of the towers there, I have on my roof a flat panel antenna that is about 4 feet by 3 feet which is directed to one of their towers. Works pretty good, and sidesteps the phone companies and copper wires.
Our development is fiber, and the choices for broadband were the cable company or power company. The cards that allow DSL on fiber werent deemed cost effective. Fortunately a little startup and now rapidly expanding, saw a hole in the market the big cable and power monopolies were forgetting.
Dont know if any Au ISPs are doing it, but it solves the last mile issue pretty well. It also fits with Negroponte’s belief many years (95?) ago that everything we put through the ground will go through the air and vice versa.
cameron – this mob do in Melburne:
http://wireless.alphalink.com.au/
I was going to join up with their wireless but cheap ADSL reached me about 12 months sooner.
Those I know who have it are happy.
ken and others – check out Whirlpool for info on ISPs on NT and elsewhere. As far as I know alphalink is up in Darwin but if you go to Whirlpool its seems to me just about every ISP is in Darwin and a few with wireless. Its flat up there isnt it?
http://whirlpool.net.au/
Alphalink was my second ISP back in 1995 till now. Very good ISP – no problems but you can now get cheaper deals.
Francis
No, the pool is (or rather will be) inground, but it’s fibreglass, or rather some new age high tech fibreglass-like material that’s guranteed for 20 years. They just dig the hole, lower the pool in place over your house using a very large crane, connect up the filter etc and backfill around it. Bob’s your uncle: a new pool in 4 days from go to whoa. And with a 20 year guarantee it’s just about as durable as concrete and quite a lot cheaper.
Thanks for everyone who offered suggestions on an internet connection. I’ll check it out.
Ken,
A brief description of how ADSL is set up in Australia.
1 ADSL modem that piggy backs onto the copper telephone wire. Two types: USB or Ethernet. Ethernet is better technology, especially if you want to network computers. You will either need to buy one or get the ISP to include one in your package.
2. Copper wire (owned by Telstra)
3. An electronic box located in exchange that converts signal from copper wire into signal on Fibre optic (owned by Telstra)
4. Fibre Optic from exchange into central Exchange (usually in Capital City) (owned by Telstra)
5. Fibre Optic Cable to ISP (owned by ISP)
6. Various computers that controll access to the World Wide Web.
Items 2 – 4 have transfer pricing controlled by the ACCC. If there is a problem there, there will be a problem regardless of the ISP.
Telstra Bigpond has a very poor reputation regarding the reliability of it’s computer programs in Item 6 (especially in the Melbourne Area. I am unable to comment about the rest of the country)
Finally a copmment about the ownership of Telstra. There is little correlation between ownership (government vs private) with Customer Service. There is a very good correlation between the level of competition, and Customer Service.
Selling Telstra is not going to fix your problem.
ken – have you got a web site for that pool info ? Its fascinating.
ken – have you got a web site for that pool info ? Its fascinating.
I’m led to believe that Satellite still requires you to have a landline link for uploading. I might be wrong and hope I am, but it doesn’t sound like much of an option.
Ken
Like FXH, I would like any info on the type of pool you are installing.
BTW, check out Netspace for general ADSL availability. You can type in your phone number and get an intial idea of availability automatically over the web. If they say yes, then Telstra are just being difficult and one of the other ISPs should be able to supply you with ADSL. Website is: http://www.netspace.net.au
Mark and Francis
Have a look at Viking Pools website at http://www.vikingpools.com.au/ , and in particular http://www.vikingpools.com.au/crystite.htm#composite for info regarding the ceramic composite construction material. I assume pool manufacturers in other states would also offer this or a similar product.
To give you an idea of price comparison, we’re paying $16,200 all-inclusive (pump, filter, underwater light, auto-cleaning salt chlorinator, excavation and installation etc) for this (http://www.vikingpools.com.au/3by5plunge.htm) kidney-shaped plunge pool and spa, which is 5m x 3m and 2m deep. It’s a couple of grand more expensive than ordinary fibreglass, but a similarly specified pool in concrete would cost around $25,000, so we reckon it’s a good choice.