Hot on the heels of the news that SMS messages cost networks practically nothing to send comes a Telstra press release that they're expecting Australians to send up to 76 million texts during the New Years celebration. Now, I'm no mathematician, but at roughly 30 25 cents per SMS message, that equates to a crapload of money. What's more, they expect customers to send around 600,000 MMS messages as well, and we all know how expensive they can be.

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Remember late last month when we brought word that Internode was reselling Telstra's ADSL2+ service? Well, they're selling it from today. The pricing looks pretty decent as well - while 2GB for $70 a month doesn't seem like a lot, 55GB for $130 is a pretty good deal, especially when you compare it to the BigPond prices. And while some of you inner suburb dwellers will scoff, remember that some of us out in the outer suburbs have only had once choice for ADSL2+, and that choice being Telstra. Anyway, check out Internode's website to get a full rundown of plans available and see if your exchange is one of the lucky ones.

[Internode]

So, it turns out that the Government does actually have some balls, as they have officially excluded Telstra from the National Broadband Network process after they lodged an incomplete bid back in November. Telstra claims that the official reason they've been kicked out is because the Government claims they "did not include a plan for how to involve small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the building of the NBN" and is kicking up a stink about it being a peripheral issue.

A lot of pundits reckon the next step for Telstra is to harass the government and the eventual winner of the tender either with lawsuits or other tactics so that the NBN is ultimately delayed. If they do, I hope to God the government comes back at them with a swift kick in the nuts - the longer this whole NBN fiasco drags on, the less time we all get to spend with super-fast internet, which just isn't acceptable.

[Telstra]

We all know that home phones are disappearing into that wonderful void known only as obsolescence, but until all the baby-boomers and their tech-fearing ways die off, we're stuck with companies trying to come up with different ways to make DECT phones exciting for old people. Which is probably why this Telstra Colombo cordless phone is both a) named after an old, decrepit detective with a face in a permanent state of strainage and b) they made it red (although it also comes in black).

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Maybe it's all the cold and flu medication I took last week to try and fight off the summer sniffles that seem to be going around, but I'm actually finding myself not being offended by Telstra's corporate arrogance at the moment. In fact, today I'm actually enjoying it, given the fact that the nation's biggest ISP in BigPond has refused to partake in the Rudd Government's Live trials of mandatory ISP-level internet filtering. Also refusing to take part was Internode, although both Optus and iiNet have agreed to play along, in the case of iiNet to try and prove how unfeasible the plan to filter the net actually is.

Considering BigPond isn't partaking, it begs the question - how can any results be considered accurate if the country's largest ISP wasn't a part of the trials? Isn't it time for Conroy to give up on this whole farce?

If you haven't already, sign the GetUp petition here.

I'm not sure what to make of this report in the Oz today that Telstra is planning on taking their transition from phone network to media company to the next level early next year by launching a set-top box to take on TiVo. Part of me loves the idea - getting legal content from the interwebs to your TV is still way too difficult for most people today, and if done right, a BigPond STB could be everything the Apple TV should have been. But then again, it is Telstra, and until we hear some firm pricing - especially for people not on BigPond's broadband network - we have to expect the worst.

The box itself, according to the Oz's source, will not just stream content from the net (like the Roku Netflix box from the US), it will also feature two TV tuners (no mention of whether they'll be HD or SD) and an EPG, and will stream both TV shows and movies from BigPond. And although this is entirely speculation on my part, considering BigPond has their music store as well, I expect it would offer music downloads as well, essentially making it an Apple TV with a TV tuner inside...

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A lot of geeks tend to avoid sport - God knows I find cricket to be the single most tedious program on summer TV. But if you do belong to that rare breed of gadget fan who enjoys all types of sports, you may be interested to hear that BigPond has launched a 24/7 sport TV channel for both NextG customers and online. You won't necessarily get full matches though, with the channel offering news, results and highlights, from a selection of sports including cricket (yawn), tennis, golf, A-League, English Premiere League football, ESPN programming plus other results from around the globe. The service, called BigPond Sport Summer, will set you back $9.95 a month or $3.95 a day for NextG customers, or can be viewed for free online at bigpondsport.com (so long as you use a Windows-based PC, that is). Sadly, there won't be any real geeky sports, like robot wars or chess tournaments, but who knows what the future holds, right?

[BigPondSport]

Finally people (like me) stuck in areas where Telstra is the only option for ADSL2+ broadband will get another alternative, with Internode announcing yesterday that they'll be reselling Telstra's wholesale offering. This adds about 900 local exchanges to the 110 that Internode run their own equipment on, plus the 350 that they wholesale from Optus. Hopefully their won't be any price increase for using Telstra's wholesale service, but in any case, Internode's offering is almost certain to be better than what the Big T is offering anyway.

[Internode]

If The Daily Show covered Australian events, this whole NBN saga would be called: "Fibre Clusterf%*k to the Node", or something like that. But in any case, today was the deadline for submissions to the government for their NBN, and both Telstra and Optus (backed by Terria) have sent theirs in. Although Telstra still managed to slide in a sideways "Fuck you" by not lodging a complete application due to "unresolved issues in the Government's Request for Proposals". Whatever Telstra. I don't care. Someone just give us all high-quality broadband without raping our wallets already. And don't let the government filter it, either.

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It was almost perfect timing. Almost. As I walked down to the George Street Cinemas in Sydney to watch the latest full-length Sony commercial Bond movie, the press release announcing the Australian arrival of the Xperia X1 arrived in my inbox.

The phone is initially available exclusively through Telstra for an RRP of $1,499. Yep, $1,499. To be fair, that comes with a 4GB memory card in the box, so it's not all bad news.

A quick look at Telstra's website shows no mention on the X1 or whether it will be available at a subsidised price, but the big T are having an event launching new handsets next week, so hopefully we'll get some plans then. Given the current economic climate though, it would be crazy for them not to offer the phone on some sort of plan - who can afford to drop $1500 on a phone outright these days?

While we wait for word from Telstra, you can check out the press release yourself below, or see what our US brethren had to say about Sony Ericsson's first Windows Mobile phone here.

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