Broadband News
Mon, 21st Mar 2022
Best NBN 250 plans: Superfast NBN in Australia
NBN 250 plans are here. Here's everything you need to know about these new NBN plans on the NBN 250 speed tier,
Source: WhistleOut
NBN Co quantifies how many HFC dropouts in a day is too many
NBN Co has quietly brought HFC under the same performance standard as fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), such that four or more “unexpected dropouts” in a 24-hour period would qualify a service to be investigated.
Source: iTnews Australia
Sun, 20th Mar 2022
Netflix to crack down on password sharing
Do you share your Netflix password with friends or family, splitting the cost of the subscription across multiple homes? Well, Netflix has you in its sights, with a new charge being trialled in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru that adds an extra fee for subscriptions shared outside the household.
Source: iTWire
Fri, 18th Mar 2022
Telstra Mullumbimby tower fire sparks fury
Pummelled by rain, decimated by floods and enraged by ineffective government support during a time of social and environmental crisis, the bucolic town of Mullumbimby, part of the Byron Bay Shire, has now suffered another total mobile communications outage following a 3am fire at its Telstra tower.
Source: iTnews Australia
Aussie Broadband says drawn-out NBN review pressuring RSPs, prices
Aussie Broadband has warned the renegotiation of NBN Co’s price model is fast becoming a drawn out and open-ended affair, and that retailers may be forced to act on prices before NBN Co does.
Source: iTnews Australia
Thu, 17th Mar 2022
Exetel takes top spot from Optus in ACCC NBN speed report
The ACCC has released the sixteenth Measuring Broadband Australia report, which sees Exetel take back the top spot from Optus. Exetel customers were found to receive 103.3% of their plans' maximum speeds during peak hours (between 7pm and 11pm). Optus followed with its customers receiving 100% of their plans' maximum speeds during busy hours.
Source: WhistleOut
Mon, 14th Mar 2022
Telstra announces $250,000 in grants for flood-affected communities
Telstra announced it will provide community groups in Southern Qld and Northern NSW with grants expected to total at least $250,000 to help support flood recovery.
Source: iTWire
Thu, 10th Mar 2022
Optus delivers 5G in Tasmania
Customers in Hobart, Tasmania who have compatible handsets (Samsung S21/22 and Oppo Find X3) can enjoy fast internet as Optus delivers 5G and 4G services that use 2100MHz and 1800MHz spectrum.
Source: iTWire
Tue, 08th Mar 2022
Telstra, Optus and TPG Telecom get funding for 544 mobile site upgrades
Telstra, Optus and TPG Telecom will get $10.9 million from the federal government to upgrade a total of 544 mobile base stations under the second round of the mobile network hardening program (MNHP).
Source: iTnews Australia
Mon, 07th Mar 2022
Telstra restores majority of its mobile base stations and landline services
Nearly 90% of mobile base stations affected by thunderstorms and floods are now back online and delivering coverage to their communities, Telstra announces.
Source: iTWire
Telstra working to restore connection in New South Wales and Queensland but hampered due to inaccessibility and network damage
Telstra provides updates on its restoration efforts on reconnecting communities in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales following severe storms last week.
Source: iTWire
Fri, 04th Mar 2022
Elon Musk warns to use Starlink 'with caution' in Ukraine
Days after sending SpaceX Starlink internet terminals to Ukraine, Elon Musk is warning people there to "please use with caution." As a non-Russian communications system, the Starlink satellite internet service has a "high" probability of being targeted during the ongoing Russian invasion, Musk said.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telcos working to overcome flooding in NSW, Queensland
Telecommunications carriers are still scrambling to restore tens of thousands of services in South-East Queensland and the NSW Northern Rivers region after floods earlier this week.
Source: iTnews Australia
Thu, 03rd Mar 2022
Optus' 4G home wireless plans just got cheaper in case you're sick of the NBN
Optus has cut the price of its 4G home wireless broadband plans to just $59 which is great news for anyone unhappy with their NBN connection.
Source: WhistleOut
ACCC says Telstra-TPG tie-up 'raises complex issues'
A proposed tie-up between Telstra and TPG “raises complex issues” that will require “close examination”, outgoing ACCC chair Rod Sims has said.
Source: iTnews Australia
Small telcos could get consumer data right exemption
Smaller telcos could be exempt from obligations under Australia’s consumer data right (CDR), if a proposal by Treasury is adopted.
Source: iTnews Australia
Tasmanian outage a reminder that internet networks are fragile
The ubiquity of the mobile internet has had a major impact on our lives, leaving homes and businesses at a loss when there’s an outage.
Source: SMH
Wed, 02nd Mar 2022
Digital Tasmania lobbies gov to support new cable builds
Digital Tasmania has called on the state's government to invest in better connectivity options after cable cuts took much of Tasmania offline on Tuesday.
Source: iTnews Australia
Aussie Broadband calls on IoT vendors to catch up with IPv6
Aussie Broadband’s network engineer John Alexander has criticised vendors, particularly in the Internet of Things space, for being way too slow to support IPv6 in their products.
Source: iTnews Australia
Ukraine asks for Russia to be kicked off the internet
The internet is more than just hardware. It's also a global network of shared standards and protocols. Some, such as Domain Name Server (DNS), provide the master address list for all internet resources.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Elon Musk delivers on Starlink internet promise to Ukraine
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has damaged Ukraine's internet. So, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov requested help from SpaceX and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Tue, 01st Mar 2022
Data only SIM plans in Australia
Apple's iPad was designed for people on the move, but to make the most of this great device you need a connection to the internet. That is where a data only SIM plan comes in.
Source: WhistleOut
Tasmanian data services hit by twin Telstra fibre cuts
Tasmania was largely cut off from internet services on Tuesday due to two separate terrestrial cable cuts.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN Co, Telstra, Optus networks impacted by severe floods
Telecommunications network operators including NBN Co, Telstra and Optus are responding to outages in South East Queensland and Northern NSW caused by severe floods.
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra shows off edge compute in Barcelona
Telstra, Ericsson and Microsoft have used Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona to announce customer trials of a 5G-enabled edge compute solution.
Source: iTnews Australia
Thu, 24th Feb 2022
TPG looks to fixed wireless adds, Telstra deal for growth
TPG Telecom expects to exit ADSL resale this financial year, leaving it with a choice of either putting customers onto the NBN or onto its own fixed wireless services, where margins are likely to be higher.
Source: iTnews Australia
Wed, 23rd Feb 2022
Optus' Ultimo data centre on the market
An Ultimo data centre first commissioned by failed Canadian telco vendor Nortel Networks in 2000, and operating as an edge data centre for 20 years since, is up for sale.
Source: iTnews Australia
ACCC to table new upfront rules for big tech platforms next week
Australia’s competition watchdog will next week table proposed new “upfront rules” aimed at stopping ‘big tech’ companies from abusing their digital dominance and vast data holdings.
Source: iTnews Australia
Google, Meta push back against changes to privacy laws
Meta has opposed consumers’ ‘right to object’ to the collection, use and disclosure of their data, while Google has opposed defining all location data as sensitive data, in submissions to the Attorney-General’s review of Australia’s privacy laws.
Source: iTnews Australia
ACCC says smaller NBN providers are more popular than ever (and we're not surprised)
Market share for NBN providers outside of the major telcos is up according to the latest ACCC report, meaning that more Australians are opting to give a smaller telco a go.
Source: WhistleOut