Broadband News
Tue, 13th Dec 2011
Good news for the NBN: mobiles' share of Internet downloads still minimal
Australians now on average each have 1.5 mobile services, but despite there being almost five million dedicated mobile broadband devices in use and almost 10 million mobile handsets used to access the Internet, 93 percent of Internet downloads still take place over fixed networks.
Source: iTWire
Mon, 12th Dec 2011
Washup from Friday's Telstra data breach
We don't yet know why, but we sure know what was breached. 60,000 user accounts containing detailed of their accounts (including passwords) and the services used. The Privacy Commissioner is investigating.
Source: iTWire
8 free Wi-Fi stumbling and surveying tools
Even if you have an enterprise-level Wi-Fi spectrum analyzer, like Wi-Spy or AirMagnet, free Wi-Fi tools can also come in handy. You might use them during the planning or installation stages of your wireless LAN, while troubleshooting, or when performing maintenance. They could even serve as your primarily tools in smaller and less-complex environments.
Source: ARN
Town Wi-Fi is no NBN killer
Whenever there's a new claim about something being an "NBN killer", there's always a reason to be cynical.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra customers face password reset
Telstra has reset the passwords of around 60,000 customers as a precaution against hacking of its BigPond customer data base.
Source: Australian IT
Sun, 11th Dec 2011
Internode NBN connection for Qld house in flood aftermath
Internode has turned on high-speed broadband services at the first house in a new subdivision in the Queensland town of Grantham, which is being rebuilt on higher ground after it was ravaged by floods in January.
Source: iTWire
Sat, 10th Dec 2011
BigPond email back online
The majority of BigPond email users have been reconnected after a privacy breach shut down the system for more than 24 hours.
Source: SMH
Telstra probes privacy breach amid network outage
Telstra has blamed a privacy breach for the disabling of internet services that's affected up to one million BigPond email users.
Source: SMH
Fri, 09th Dec 2011
Telstra customer database exposed
Detailed information about Telstra's customer accounts - including usernames and passwords - has been found to be sitting on the open web for anyone to access via a Google search.
Source: SMH
NBN flirting with competition breach: report
An investigation by an office of the Productivity Commission has found that while it's not anti-competitive for the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) to become the fibre provider of last resort for new housing estates, its rate of return for the network could be in breach of competitive neutrality rules.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Australia near bottom of 4G value table
Australia and Telstra have scored poorly, while European telcos lead the pack in a research report on carriers around the world who offer the best value for money 4G mobile data plans.
Source: iTWire
Upgraded Primus fibre attracts first customer
Primus Australia has signed consultancy Wave Engineering Solutions as anchor tenant to its recently upgraded commercial fibre network.
Source: iTnews Australia
Cost-benefit analysis sought for NBN
The Business Council of Australia (BCA) says it is not too late for the government to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the $35.9 billion National Broadband Network (NBN).
Source: Computerworld
Telstra rejigs separation plan
Telstra has lodged a revised structural separation undertaking with the competition watchdog as part of its $11 billion deal with NBN Co.
Source: Australian IT
Senators, critics question ICANN's generic TLD plan
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) may be moving forward too fast on a plan to sell hundreds of new generic top-level domains starting early next year, several U.S. senators said Thursday.
Source: ARN
NBN Co's role in housing estates under scrutiny
The Productivity Commission has warned that NBN Co's role deploying fibre to greenfield housing developments could unbalance competition in the sector.
Source: iTnews Australia
Call made to tally up NBN benefits
The social benefits of the National Broadband Network should be quantified, an independent inquiry has urged.
Source: Australian IT
Thu, 08th Dec 2011
NBN as secretive as Scientology: Turnbull
As the year draws to a close, Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has outlined operational concerns with the roll-out of the National Broadband Network (NBN) and worries that the project will go way over the budget.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Internode video streams music festival, looks to expand content business
South Australia-based ISP, Internode, has kicked-started its entertainment content plans with the streaming of the first Gorgeous Festival at McLaren Vale.
Source: ARN
Townsfolk reject wireless NBN
The NBN has come under fire in a Victorian country town who question why a wireless tower will be built instead of fibre cable.
Source: Australian IT
Wed, 07th Dec 2011
Turnbull launches renewed attack on NBN
Shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull has re-iterated the Federal Opposition's criticisms of the NBN, and added a few new ones, in a 3000 word essay posted on his blog.
Source: iTWire
How ISPs got caught up in the Internet wars
The Internet has fuelled an ongoing global conflict that will engulf all of us, claims Australian political commentator and author Bernard Keane.
Source: iTnews Australia
iiNet voices concern over NBN access plan
Australia's number three internet service provider (ISP), iiNet, has raised concerns over a number of aspects of NBN Co's Special Access Undertaking (SAU), lodged to the competition regulator yesterday.
Source: Computerworld
UK porn blocker lets explicit videos through
Filter bug allows content from one of the web's biggest explicit video sites through ISP's net.
Source: PC Authority
Tue, 06th Dec 2011
How much control does AFACT have?
As the epic High Court legal battle between iiNet and the film studios wrapped up, the theme of the three-day trial was clear: it is a matter of choice versus control; iiNet's and AFACT's.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Xenophobia may be prudent for the NBN
There has been so much discussion about the effect of the NBN on local telecommunications providers that it seems the industry has entirely ignored what could very well be an even bigger disruptive threat: the way the network will facilitate the entry of overseas telcos into Australia's local-access market for the first time.
Source: ZDNet Australia
ACMA study augers well for NBN uptake
The ACMA is predicting a new wave of innovative, interactive applications and services, driven by the availability of 'next generation networks'. While high bandwidth is not necessarily a feature of an NGN, nor of the expected applications, realisation of the ACMA's forecast will inevitably lead to increased demand for bandwidth.
Source: iTWire
NBN Co retreats on price-hike clause
After harsh criticism from the coalition, the National Broadband Network Company (NBN Co) has announced that it will limit wholesale price increases to half of the yearly inflation, and will freeze all wholesale prices for the first five years of the operation of the network.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Vodafone offers network guarantee
Vodafone Australia has quietly rolled out provisions allowing customers to terminate their contracts within 30 days of signing up without further charges in a new bid to attract new and former subscribers.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN Co lodges undertaking to watchdog
NBN Co has finally lodged a special access undertaking to the competition watchdog, nearly nine months after initially planned.
Source: iTnews Australia