No, Optus: don't try US-style net neutrality arguments in Oz Netflix has ignited the Internet neutrality debate in Australia, something that was previously not a major issue in the nation. The odd structure of Australia's Internet (compared to America's, at least) has long been criticised. Too few international links in too few hands makes connectivity to the US relatively expensive, …
<<Australian internet is a terribly bad joke, I've been to third world countries with better connections.>>
Yes, true. Meanwhile in the second world (Russia), here's fibre to the home @ 15–500 Mb/s for 300–2500 roubles (AU$8–65) per month. Unlimited traffic for all of those plans:
http://www.mts.ru/dom/gpon/home_inet/tariffs/
Yes, Moscow a big city, but so is Sydney. Food, petrol, and rent are all in the same ballpark, but not internet.
I don't get it. Americans are constantly complaining about their ISPs, their quotas, and their speeds. Ditto the Brits and Europeans. And having read some of the comments the Americans make (just look to Ars) it would appear the Australian internet is far superior. I have ADSL2+, 500Gb per month quota (that's half a terabyte, which I'll never get near), and I am quite satisfied with my internet connection (I can download a gig in ten minutes). I certainly don't need the $70 beeellion NBN.
Not trolling, but the complaints the rest of the world are making make the Aussie internet look pretty good.
Yes, and you probably live near the exchange and get 20+Mbps. You didn't stop to think about anyone else who may be further from the exchange (like me getting under 3Mbps down where a gig takes a long longer than you).
Basically you're saying "F everyone else I'm ok". Ever thought what may happen if you move and you find yourself unable to get cable, ADSL, or you're far enough from the exchange that you only get 2-3Mbps or (shudder) have to rely on 3 or 4G wireless at extortionate prices?
It is good to be proud downloading a gig in just ten minutes. I am ashamed to admit ringing my local ISP support line if a gig takes more than a minute or two. Spoiled by the link speed I can download up to 100 GB in a single day.
Now I am ashamed to be European...
Australia has the worst of both worlds: speed tiers and quotas. Historically we had Telstra as a monopoly provider which is being replaced by NBNCo as a monopoly provider.
Quotas make sense because it is the transferring data that places load on the network. If you have a 25Mbps connection or a 1Gbps connection streaming Netflix they will both be transferring about the same amount of data. Speed tiers with unlimited plans encourage wasteful consumption and restrict people to a speed they can afford.
Those will be the plans you see today. There are plenty of people out there that would have connected with Telstra and never moved house. As such they would be on a shitty plan that includes lovely per MB data charges. Up until recently I knew people that still had such plans - Telstra won't prompt you to update - until I got them to switch.
While the discussion around Net Neutrality is very interesting, it simply does not exist anyway in Australia.
As Telstra refuses peering arrangements with other ISPs and CDNs, abusing it's market power to extract a "Telstra Tax" from every other Australian internet user .
https://blog.cloudflare.com/the-relative-cost-of-bandwidth-around-the-world/
In the analysis of the availability of various plans with Quotas, it fails to address that the smallest Telstra plan appears to be more expensive than an Unlimited plan from a competitor such as TPG. Essentially, the quota analysis is misleading with reference to the price.
"but in reality we have always consumed less than quota"
Quota:
From that I presume that you do not have a house full of teenagers playing online games and download WoW patches...
Speed:
I had faster speeds in Switzerland 10 years ago than I do now...my house is placed at the limit between 2 switches...Netflix? It would be quicker to post me the movie rather than me download it. I dream of getting a 25Mbps internet connection rather than 4 (5Mbps on a good day).
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