Post by ozziepete on May 10, 2008 2:08:58 GMT -5
Hi Folks 
Some of you recall from my postings on the old forum, I live in Australia, where the internet connection speeds are an issue with many.
I moved to a regional country area of the State of New South Wales some 5 - 6 years ago now, and for the last couple of years, I have been trying to improve the very slow dialup speeds I had been suffering.
The phone lines in Australia are laid out by one company, which used to be a Federal Government utility, namely Telstra. They are now more of a phone company but still hold the monopoly of the exchanges and the lines through their subsidiary, Telstra Wholesale.
All ISPs have to buy/lease from Telstra Wholesale.
In order to provide what they were arbitrated to provide (phone services), Telstra uses Pair Gains Systems and RIMs when copper line is sparce, and/or the distance from the exchange becomes an issue.
But this very PGS and RIM usage makes ADSL connections near impossible in some cases. My home being one. Telstra still uses PGS and RIMs even in new housing subdivisions, though they know that even a new home may not be able to get ADSL because of it.
I live only 90 kilometres from the centre of Australia's largest city, Sydney, yet up to now, have had to put up with dialup speeds not exceeding 28.8k!
I contacted Telstra ages ago, and they are only concerned with the telephony of the line as per their Service Guarantee Agreement they have with the Federal Govt., and as I can get above 4.3k, they won't be digging up the line any time soon.
Because of the extensive use of PGS and RIMs, unless you can get a RIM port to yourself (unpaired), you cannot get ADSL. This is the cause of much complaint across Australia, many folks opting for the inadequate wireless broadband options if they can get them or even using Satellite.
The Federal Govt. does have a Broadband Guarantee in place, which means they will assist you (financially) if you cannot get ADSL or Cable Broadband in a remote location and help you get Satellite. But as you would expect, Satellite Broadband plans are miserly compared to ADSL or Cable. And in reality, I live ina built up suburban area that shouldn't need to resort to Satellite for something as plain as Broadband internet.
I have had to lodge ADSL internet applications with one ISP after another, each one of them getting knocked back because the RIM port I have is paired up, and there was none available to free me up for ADSL.
There is no demand register that can put you into a cue at the local exchange or anything like that. You have to wait til Telstra puts in more ports in your RIM - or a larger RIM- or wait til someone in you street leaves the home and disconnects the phone.
Even on a disconnection, Telstra will not just simply swap you over, you have to wait for a quarantine period so that the line could be used by the new occupier of the vacant home first. And even then, you have to have a pending application in with the Telstra Wholesale people (through your nominated ISP) before you get allocated a freed up RIM port. It really is a lottery.
As of today, I have finally got ADSL Broadband. Speeds of about 1320/217 k's so I'm very happy on my 1500/256 plan.
This has taken 5 or 6 applications, a complaint to the Federal Government Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman's office and a lot of phone calls.
And it was only luck that I had a couple of neighbours leave recently that has probably freed up my line so I could get ADSL.
For those living in other parts of the world, take note of the sham that is our phone system in Australia. It is no wonder that our new Federal Govt. has made it one of their policies to provide better broadband networks to all, though it remains to be seen just whether they can shake up Telstra enough to mobilise them to provide a better wholesale service and actually do some serious upgrading of infrastructure.
Some of you recall from my postings on the old forum, I live in Australia, where the internet connection speeds are an issue with many.
I moved to a regional country area of the State of New South Wales some 5 - 6 years ago now, and for the last couple of years, I have been trying to improve the very slow dialup speeds I had been suffering.
The phone lines in Australia are laid out by one company, which used to be a Federal Government utility, namely Telstra. They are now more of a phone company but still hold the monopoly of the exchanges and the lines through their subsidiary, Telstra Wholesale.
All ISPs have to buy/lease from Telstra Wholesale.
In order to provide what they were arbitrated to provide (phone services), Telstra uses Pair Gains Systems and RIMs when copper line is sparce, and/or the distance from the exchange becomes an issue.
But this very PGS and RIM usage makes ADSL connections near impossible in some cases. My home being one. Telstra still uses PGS and RIMs even in new housing subdivisions, though they know that even a new home may not be able to get ADSL because of it.
I live only 90 kilometres from the centre of Australia's largest city, Sydney, yet up to now, have had to put up with dialup speeds not exceeding 28.8k!
I contacted Telstra ages ago, and they are only concerned with the telephony of the line as per their Service Guarantee Agreement they have with the Federal Govt., and as I can get above 4.3k, they won't be digging up the line any time soon.
Because of the extensive use of PGS and RIMs, unless you can get a RIM port to yourself (unpaired), you cannot get ADSL. This is the cause of much complaint across Australia, many folks opting for the inadequate wireless broadband options if they can get them or even using Satellite.
The Federal Govt. does have a Broadband Guarantee in place, which means they will assist you (financially) if you cannot get ADSL or Cable Broadband in a remote location and help you get Satellite. But as you would expect, Satellite Broadband plans are miserly compared to ADSL or Cable. And in reality, I live ina built up suburban area that shouldn't need to resort to Satellite for something as plain as Broadband internet.
I have had to lodge ADSL internet applications with one ISP after another, each one of them getting knocked back because the RIM port I have is paired up, and there was none available to free me up for ADSL.
There is no demand register that can put you into a cue at the local exchange or anything like that. You have to wait til Telstra puts in more ports in your RIM - or a larger RIM- or wait til someone in you street leaves the home and disconnects the phone.
Even on a disconnection, Telstra will not just simply swap you over, you have to wait for a quarantine period so that the line could be used by the new occupier of the vacant home first. And even then, you have to have a pending application in with the Telstra Wholesale people (through your nominated ISP) before you get allocated a freed up RIM port. It really is a lottery.
As of today, I have finally got ADSL Broadband. Speeds of about 1320/217 k's so I'm very happy on my 1500/256 plan.
This has taken 5 or 6 applications, a complaint to the Federal Government Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman's office and a lot of phone calls.
And it was only luck that I had a couple of neighbours leave recently that has probably freed up my line so I could get ADSL.
For those living in other parts of the world, take note of the sham that is our phone system in Australia. It is no wonder that our new Federal Govt. has made it one of their policies to provide better broadband networks to all, though it remains to be seen just whether they can shake up Telstra enough to mobilise them to provide a better wholesale service and actually do some serious upgrading of infrastructure.