That has got to hurt for Telkom, one of South Africa’s main ADSL providers, but damn is Winston the pigeon feeling like the man today. He is telling all the other pigeons, how it took him two hours to carry the strapped-to-his-back flash drive 100 kilometres to the company’s second office in Durban. In the same time the broadband service had only sent 4% of the data. You do the math but that is pretty damn slow upload speeds. No wonder the guys at Unlimited IT first joked that a bird could send files faster.

This is just the kind of story I want to read to children at night (I’m thinking the picture book is called “Winston and the Broadband”). Let’s hope South Africa gets those fibre optic lines installed soon or else a crap load of bird seed. [BBC]

The service will be available to 91 per cent of the population in both regional and city areas. That means that if you’re with Telstra, you can now access broadband speeds of up to 20Mbps, if you’re in one of the 360 exchanges where a competitor has ADSL2+ packages on offer. Everywhere else, you’ll be running at 8Mbps…

…And paying for it. The cheapest new ADSL2+ plan on offer starts at $60 per month for a – get this – 600MB download allowance. It does get slightly more reasonable as you climb the scale ($150 for 60GB), but the excess usage fee is astounding – $150 per GB.

The Government’s move to not force Telstra to wholesale its network to other ISPs is probably a good one – Having a national ADSL2+ network is ultimately a good thing. But goddamn Telstra! 150 bucks for a single GB after you’ve exceeded your download limit? That’s just greedy. No other way to describe it.

Also worth noting that this move doesn’t put any dampeners on the government’s plans to roll out that FTTN network either. I just hope that the god of common sense will realise that pricing like that is just plain absurd.

[Telstra via APC mag]

iiNet is correct that more serious users are now uploading a lot more than they used to, whether through P2P traffic or offsite storage. But in our books, counting uploads is a double dip – an ISP somewhere else is counting downloads when you are sending uploads, so is it fair to be ‘charged’ on both streams?

Another factor Whirlpool spotted is slow transition to naked ADSL, even
if you are already with iiNet. This sounds very much like an issue with
Telstra control of exchanges, as they have to action the transfers
while having zero interest in doing so. The Whirlpool story sees iiNet
point to further action through the ACCC to get a 2-3 day process in
place as their negotiations with Telstra are “going nowhere fast.”

We’re happy to see a naked service now available on the market, so big ups to iiNet for taking that massive first step. Next stop: competition due to arrive early next year. Then we’ll see who lays down the gauntlet as a price vs features war begins. [Whirlpool]

The deal also includes unlimited local and national VoIP calls through iiNet’s VoIP service. Gravy on top, and perhaps that is the key to why the plans are higher than my brain was expecting. Will be very interesting to see how the competition positions when TPG and Internode, and no doubt others, start to offer their plans in coming months.

I’m shocked we haven’t seen the iiNet guy wearing nothing but an ADSL router! C’mon, iiNet, the joke needs to be done. Actually, lets hope they hold a press event at a strip joint. Hey, it’s a better excuse than some I’ve heard!

[Full naked iiNet plan details]

Read on to see if this trial is going to meet your needs.

Internode is particularly keen to hear from people who have been
rejected by Telstra. Simon Hacket, Internode MD, says “we want this
trial to prove that Naked DSL allows us to bypass Telstra’s artificial
distance limitation, which is imposed on all ‘line sharing’ based
ADSL2+ services. By providing greater reach for current ADSL2+
services, Naked DSL has the potential to fill in many metropolitan
blackspots”.

Also, trial really means trial. “Test services can fail in new and
interesting ways, that being the point of a trial,” says Hacket. “We
advise people not to apply, or to plan to acquire a second line for the
trial, if the ADSL service on their primary line is mission-critical.”

Anything else? Yep. For the trial you also need a Billion 740x series router that includes NodePhone2 compatible voice hardware.

If these provisos don’t scare you off, apply to ulltriala@internode.com.au with your name and contact details. Briefly describe your current net situation, including any stories of rejections or problems.

iiNet even offers pricing on their entry level plan: 4GB at $44.95. There’s no direct match to that plan (if it is just 4GB with no on/off-peak allowances) but, for comparison, iiNet sells 2GB+4GB plans at $39.95.

Damn, I promised to put some beefcake up here the next time I mentioned naked ADSL, didn’t I? There you go, ladies! Enjoy! [Sydney Morning Herald]

From the forum:

TPG would like to introduce ADSL2+ ULL plans.

ULL Plan includes data line and customers don’t have to subscribe Telstra copper line.

ADSL2+ All in One Basic | 25GB* (18 Peak+ 7 Off Peak) | $59.99
ADSL2+ All in One Super | 150GB* (35 Peak+ 115 Off Peak) | $79.99

*Speeds will be shaped to 64k/64k when download quota is reached.

Your opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Needless to say opinion is being shared. All I can say is I’m moving house very soon and I hope this goes live before I’m in need of a new hook up. -Seamus Byrne