Broadband News
Mon, 19th Mar 2012
NBN towers have 100% council approval
Despite ongoing community concerns and parliamentary inquiries on mobile phone towers, NBN Co has had a 100 per cent success rate in getting its towers approved by local councils so far.
Source: ZDNet Australia
iiNet speeds up broadband service transfer process
A customer can move from their current ISP to iiNet in just a couple of hours.
Source: ARN
Fri, 16th Mar 2012
Internode re-introduces 200GB plan
After quietly removing the plan from its range of broadband offerings last month, Internode has re-introduced a 200GB offer, in response to customer feedback.
Source: iTWire
Optus calls for faster digital dividend rollout
Optus CEO Paul O'Sullivan has called on the Federal Government to release portions of the digital dividend spectrum as soon as possible in order to more easily deploy 4G mobile services.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN analysis charts path to 1Gbps
Global consultancy Analysys Mason has forecast a ten-fold increase in user demand for broadband speeds over the next 20 years, reaching gigabit speeds to the home by 2030.
Source: iTnews Australia
Australia-Japan cable doubles in capacity
The main submarine cable linking Australia to Japan is set to nearly double in bandwidth capacity to meet forecast demand for the rest of this year.
Source: iTnews Australia
Council strikes down NBN tower plans
The National Broadband Network has been given a "wake-up call" after a regional council rejected plans for a 40m wireless tower and predicted that towns across the country could follow suit.
Source: The Australian
iiNet says 'greater flexibility' with new plans
DSL broadband provider, iiNet, has released details of its switch to 'anytime quota' on selected plans, which it says will give its customers the flexibility to travel the Internet without the worry of managing their peak and off-peak quotas.
Source: iTWire
Thu, 15th Mar 2012
NBN's fibre and wireless network plans 'prudent & efficient'
NBN Co has released a report from Analysys Mason that vindicates the designs of its FTTH and fixed wireless networks.
Source: iTWire
Vodafone promotes 850Mhz network alongside 'new iPad' offering
Vodafone's nearly completed 850MHz 3G network is ready to power Apple's new iPad, with the company eager to promote both the new network and the fact it will be offering Apple's "new iPad" from March 16.
Source: iTWire
Judge strips 'copyright troll' of disputed copyrights
Notorious "copyright troll" Righthaven has been hit with another in what has been lengthening string of legal defeats as a federal judge on Monday ordered that all intellectual property related to the company's failed copyright lawsuit against blogger Wayne Hoehn be taken away from it and assigned to a receiver.
Source: ARN
Wed, 14th Mar 2012
Can the Trans-Pacific Partnership succeed?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks have been called into question by Australia's refusal to budge on conditions that could provide US businesses with greater legal powers over Australian businesses.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Australia-Japan cable picks Ciena for upgrade
The Australia-Japan Cable is upgrading its subsea cable route and has signed networking vendor, Ciena, to help out.
Source: ARN
Telstra predicts 1800MHz LTE device boom
Telstra has predicted that an "explosion" of devices will operate on long-term evolution (LTE) in the 1800MHz spectrum band, despite Apple's new iPad not being one of them.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Optus names Huawei as LTE supplier for Newcastle area rollout
Optus has named Huawei, the supplier of LTE equipment for its 700MHz trail and the current vendor for its 900MHz and 2100MHz 3G networks as the LTE supplier for its 1800MHz first commercial services in Newcastle, but has yet to confirm any vendor commitment beyond that initial service area.
Source: iTWire
Australian Internet filter puts us on 'surveillance' list
Australia has been added to a list of "countries under surveillance" maintained by Reporters Without Borders (RWB), due to the Government's "dangerous content filtering scheme".
Source: iTnews Australia
Telstra to help James Cameron boldly go where no film director has gone before
Telstra is to play a key role in a plan by film director James Cameron (he of Titanic & Avatar fame) to pilot a submersible to the deepest part of the world's oceans, film what he finds and produce a documentary.
Source: iTWire
Trans-Pacific Partnership talks in disarray
A US-led proposal to tighten intellectual property rules in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement has been rebuffed at the latest round of negotiations in Melbourne.
Source: iTnews Australia
Tue, 13th Mar 2012
Australian home Internet users at risk from cyber threats
Canberra's Centre for Internet Safety has issued a warning that, despite around 80 per cent of Australian homes having internet access, it believes too few end users take the necessary steps to keep themselves safe online.
Source: iTWire
Will 4G LTE devices ever roam internationally?
The widespread acceptance of 4G LTE was supposed to unite wireless operators around the globe. But the worldwide spectrum crunch is making international roaming a tough problem to solve.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Group test: 12 dual-band routers reviewed
Unhappy with your wireless network performance? With the 2.4GHz frequency band becoming ever-more congested, the best way to give your Wi-Fi the boost it needs is with a dual-band router.
Source: PC Authority
4G claims could put Apple under watch
Apple could face a consumer backlash and scrutiny by Australia's consumer watchdog if it continues to advertise its new iPad in Australia as 4G-capable, when it is not 4G-capable here.
Source: The Australian
NBN Co aims to slash broadband activation times
NBN Co and Australia's internet service provider community will spend this weekend testing a system that aims to dramatically reduce the delay consumers face when signing up to a broadband service.
Source: iTnews Australia
Mon, 12th Mar 2012
Qld election policies an NBN wasteland
Neither the incumbent Queensland Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh, nor the Campbell Newman-led Liberal National Party (LNP) have launched any official policy detailing how they will harness the National Broadband Network (NBN) in the state if elected in the upcoming Queensland election.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ICANN's grip over IANA in danger
The US Government has rejected all bids it received to run the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), putting ICANN's decade-long grip over the technical contract in jeopardy.
Source: iTnews Australia
Optus broadband ads penalty reduced to $3.61 million after appeal
Optus has successfully won an appeal to have fines for breaching the Trade Practices Act in relation to broadband advertising campaigns reduced by more than $1.6 million.
Source: iTWire
Fri, 09th Mar 2012
FetchTV fetches Cantonese TV to Australia
IPTV provider FetchTV has added a Cantonese pack to its range of options.
Source: iTWire
iiNet applies for .iinet TLD
iiNet will become the first Australian telecommunications company to apply for its own top-level domain (TLD), seeking to obtain the .iinet TLD.
Source: ZDNet Australia
3 customers roam to Voda 3G
Vodafone Hutchison Australia has given the green light to a new roaming strategy that will see 3 subscribers roam onto Vodafone's 3G network for the first time.
Source: iTnews Australia
Vodafone steps up marketing to win back users
Vodafone is gambling on freer contracts as a way to win mobile customers deterred by the telco's coverage woes in recent years.
Source: SMH