Broadband News
Thu, 27th Jan 2011
Internet users to hit 2bn, landline drops
The number of internet users worldwide has mushroomed to reach the 2 billion mark, the head of the United Nations' telecommunications agency, Hamadoun Toure, has announced.
Source: ZDNet Australia
The end to global mobile roaming rip-offs? your own base station
Ubiquisys - a developer of femtocells - has gone one step further with the attocell: a cellular base station designed for the iPhone that you can plug into your Internet-connected laptop anywhere in the world and connect your cellphone direct to your home operator's network.
Source: iTWire
Tue, 25th Jan 2011
NBN: Who will be connected last?
Now that Labor's ambitious National Broadband Network project has finally cleared all of the regulatory, commercial and political hurdles that have stood in the way of its path to universal bandwidth nirvana, it's time to ask the most important question of all about the project. Who will be connected last?
Source: Delimiter
Follow Dodo or go the way of the dodo
Dodo may not have the most unblemished customer service record as an ISP, but the entry of this internet survivor into Victoria's retail electricity market marks an important point in the evolution of deregulated markets. Taken to extremes, internet service providers will eventually become just service providers as new networked products let them offer everything from Foxtel to insurance - but can the vision become reality?
Source: ZDNet Australia
NBN looming: network vendors ramp up service provider marketing
Network equipment vendors Juniper Networks and Brocade have both made new appointments to their service provider marketing teams, with Juniper saying there is renewed momentum in the Australian market as service providers prepare to exploit the National Broadband Network.
Source: iTWire
Cerf: IPV6 crisis is imminent
Internet luminary Vint Cerf has urged the Internet community to speed up its move to IPv6 during his keynote speech to the Linux.conf.au conference, also using the opportunity to cast doubt over the Australian government's controversial plans to censor the Internet.
Source: iTnews Australia
Abbott eyes NBN cable contracts for flood relief
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has stepped up his campaign to divert NBN funds for flood relief by citing NBN Co's $500 million outlay on fibre as money that could have been used for relief efforts.
Source: iTnews Australia
An Australia Day NBN joke
The following telecommunications-related joke was sent to us by a friend. It's unknown who wrote it, but we think Malcolm Turnbull, in particular, might find it amusing :)
Source: Delimiter
Mon, 24th Jan 2011
Internet pioneer Vint Cerf to push Aussie NBN in the US
Internet pioneer Vint Cerf - now chief Internet evangelist at Google - told an Internet industry gathering in Sydney that he was envious of the NBN and would be pushing for the US take a similar approach.
Source: iTWire
Action, not talk, needed for IPv6
The co-developer of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) has urged associations and businesses to take action on deploying IPv6, rather than continuing to talk.
Source: Computerworld
NBN Co takes new home wiring to builders
NBN Co plans to educate builders and sparkies on the internal wiring of new homes with two "specialists" to be employed to provide consultative support to the industry.
Source: iTnews Australia
Sat, 22nd Jan 2011
NBN vulnerable to the wet
Some sources believe scrapping the Telstra network is unwise in light of the floods.
Source: Australian IT
Fri, 21st Jan 2011
Net censorship doesn't work: Vint Cerf
Julia Gillard's bid to censor the internet is not an "effective move", says Vint Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the internet.
Source: Australian IT
Abbott returns to NBN savings campaign
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has criticised suggestions by the Government to impose a one-off flood tax to pay for rebuilding efforts in Queensland, believing the money could be found by "reprioritising" spending on projects such as on the National Broadband Network.
Source: iTnews Australia
NBN shouldn't be scrapped: NBN CEO
Building a national broadband network is in Australia's long-term interest and shouldn't be derailed by the floods, says NBN Co chief executive, Mike Quigley.
Source: Computerworld
Does NBN Co really need to build its own satellites?
To bring broadband to a few tens of thousands of remote Australian, NBN Co is planning to spend several hundred million dollars on two geostationary satellites. Meanwhile a Canadian company is planning to launch a network of microsatellites that it says will "provide backhaul capacity will connecting remote regions of the Earth to the Internet."
Source: iTWire
iiNet outage hits Victorian and NSW customers
Internet service provider, iiNet, is experiencing service outages for customers in NSW and Victoria, but expects to fix the problem by this morning.
Source: ARN
Opinion: How to oppose the NBN
Havyatt wonders whether Turnbull and Abbott are taking their role in "opposition" too literally.
Source: iTnews Australia
Vodafone 3G network weakest in Sydney
Sydney's central business district and eastern suburbs remain some of the weakest points in Vodafone's 3G network for reception, with more than 2000 dropouts recorded in the past two months, according to a report to be sent to industry regulators this week.
Source: Computerworld
Vodafail provides report to ACCC, ACMA
Vodafone accountability website Vodafail has opened up a new and dramatic front in its ongoing war against struggling mobile telco VHA, submitting a 30-page report to Australian regulators on what it considers to be the telco's failings.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Thu, 20th Jan 2011
NBN Co visits Prysmian fibre factory: pics
Prysmian Telecom Cables and Systems was awarded a contract of up to $300 million this week to supply fibre-optic cables for the National Broadband Network (NBN). NBN Co head Mike Quigley visited the company's Dee Why factory after the announcement.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Telstra loses 43-year veteran, appoints new executives
Telstra has replaced its chief operations officer and appointed a group managing director of its new strategy and corporate services business unit as one of its most senior veterans leaves the telco.
Source: ARN
Vodafone class action nudges 20K users
The number of people signing up to the Vodafone class action lawsuit lead by law firm Piper Alderman is still climbing and is slated to reach 20,000 in the next week.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Alcatel glitch an NBN worry
A key supplier to the $36 billion National Broadband Network is on the verge of being ejected from Singapore's equivalent project.
Source: Australian IT
Vodafone to waive Qld flood mobile bills
Vodafone and 3 will waive a month's worth of mobile bills of customers in 25 of the worst affected areas in the current Queensland floods.
Source: Computerworld
Wed, 19th Jan 2011
Floods put Telstra's FTTP move on hold
Telco giant Telstra has sent a letter to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), advising that its fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) migration project in South Brisbane will be delayed as the Queensland flood disaster continues to take its toll.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Push to put NBN under FOI law
The Coalition and the Greens hope to force the government to bring the National Broadband Network under the scrutiny of Freedom of Information laws.
Source: Australian IT
Government shrugs off demands for NBN funding shift
The Federal Government has shrugged off pressure from The Business Council and Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, over demands to delay funding for the National Broadband Network (NBN) and direct the money to the Queensland flood disaster recovery effort.
Source: ARN
NBN must face govt razors: Biz Council
The Federal Government should not rule out stalling the National Broadband Network (NBN) to fund the multibillion-dollar rebuilding efforts for flood-affected Queensland and Victoria, according to the Business Council of Australia.
Source: ZDNet Australia
Tue, 18th Jan 2011
vividwireless keeps pushing its impressively fast download speeds
There's Telstra Next G, then there's vividwireless. The company keeps pushing it's claims of wireless speeds similar to ADSL2+ and cable at a price that's looks tempting on paper. If you can get it, that is.
Source: PC Authority