Broadband News

Tue, 21st Jan 2020

Downloads soar as Australians ‘binge’ on streaming, says ACCC

Australians are spending less time talking on their mobile phones and downloading substantially more data than they were even a year ago, according to Australia’s competition regulator, the ACCC.

Source: iTWire

Mon, 20th Jan 2020

Australia broadband cost down, but country ranks 113th out of 206 nations

A British website that regularly surveys broadband packages globally has ranked Australia 113th out of 206 countries that it looked at between 28 November 2019 and 8 January this year.

Source: iTWire

End-to-end encryption means Huawei bans are about availability, not interception

If irony didn't die in the last week, it is more than likely sitting in a British hospital with its feet up, as it recovers from a severe coronary event. But before we get into the medical issues of literary techniques, a little history lesson.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Sun, 19th Jan 2020

The biggest downloading suburb in 2019? Telstra says Coomera

In a year where Fortnite dominated the data channels, Coomera on the Gold Coast was king of the downloads.

Source: iTWire

Fri, 17th Jan 2020

Vodafone offers free mobile broadband for bushfire victims - Customer or not

Vodafone offers free Wifi to anyone - customer or not - who has lost their home in the bushfires.

Source: WhistleOut

Thu, 16th Jan 2020

NBN Co reveals active Sky Muster users within 25km of city centres

NBN Co has revealed for the first time the number of active satellite users within a 25 kilometre radius of most major Australian capital cities.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 14th Jan 2020

Circles.Life is at it again: Get 20GB bonus data on all plans

One of Australia's newest telcos, Circles.Life has come out with a new option for budget phone plans: an extra 20GB on its plans.

Source: WhistleOut

NZ discounts 5G spectrum pricing as rights terms come up short

The New Zealand government has set the reserve pricing for management rights in the 3.5 GHz radio-frequency spectrum band for 5G, with a minimum of NZ$250,000 (A$240,017) per 10 MHz lot in the March auction.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co may need to prove it isn't cross-subsidising enterprise play

NBN Co is facing calls to prove it is not using income from its regulated activities - supplying residential broadband - to subsidise its entry into the enterprise and government market.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 13th Jan 2020

ACMA orders ISPs to block nine more gambling sites

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on Monday ordered the nation's internet service providers (ISPs) to block an additional nine offshore gambling websites it deems as illegal.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Sat, 11th Jan 2020

No prepaid, no data sharing, and everything else we learnt during our first Optus 5G speed tests

Our first real world tests of Optus' next generation mobile network.

Source: WhistleOut

Fri, 10th Jan 2020

Telstra hit 100,000 5G devices using its network

Telstra has provided an update on its 5G rollout at CES 2020, saying it now has 100,000 5G devices connected to its network.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Thu, 09th Jan 2020

NBN Co upgrades small portion of slow FTTN services to full fibre

NBN Co has upgraded 3000 premises originally assigned fibre-to-the-node technology to full fibre in order for them to meet the minimum speeds set out in the government’s statement of expectations.

Source: iTnews Australia

UK targets full-fibre broadband with BT regulation changes

Britain's telecoms regulator said it would "supercharge" investment in fibre broadband networks with major proposals to change regulation of the national Openreach network owned by BT.

Source: iTnews Australia

Wed, 08th Jan 2020

Vodafone claims all NBN services are uncommercial

Vodafone Australia claims high-value NBN connections are in no way profitable enough to cross-subsidise “uncommercial” parts of the rollout, and that a proposed broadband tax won’t address the issue. 

Source: iTnews Australia

Netgear's Nighthawk M5 is a 5G portable modem that can achieve 4Gbps download speeds

Netgear today announced the Nighthawk M5 portable modem, a 5G mobile hotspot that can achieve download speeds of up to 4Gbps over next generation mobile networks.

Source: WhistleOut

Tue, 07th Jan 2020

TPG complains of 'wireless attack' by 5G on fixed line broadband

Australian telco TPG has launched another defence of its fixed line assets, complaining that fixed broadband is under attack from 5G networks.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Mon, 06th Jan 2020

NBN Co deploys satellite services to bushfire evacuation centres

NBN Co is expecting to have satellite-powered free wifi services available at 17 bushfire evacuation centres in NSW and Victoria later today.

Source: iTnews Australia

Fri, 03rd Jan 2020

NBN Co sends Road Muster truck to NSW south coast

NBN Co has sent one of its Road Muster trucks to a bushfire evacuation centre at Batemans Bay on the NSW south coast, offering free wi-fi and device charging for the community.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 02nd Jan 2020

NBN Co technicians outright missed 350 appointments a day in FY19

NBN Co’s field technicians outright missed 127,746 appointments in the last financial year, about 30 a day more than previously modelled.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 31st Dec 2019

Vodafone Australia partners with Nokia to kick off 5G rollout

​Vodafone's broadband services joint venture with Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) has partnered with Nokia to roll out 5G services in Australia.

Source: ARN

Mon, 30th Dec 2019

Vodafone won't charge extra for 5G

Vodafone today announced that it will switch on its 5G network in the first half of 2020, starting with Parramatta in New South Wales. While the telco has yet to detail its 5G offering, a spokesperson confirmed that Vodafone customers will have 5G network access at no extra cost.

Source: WhistleOut

Sun, 29th Dec 2019

Daniel was overseas when he was alerted to an intruder - it was the NBN

Householders and shop owners are unhappy with the installation of NBN equipment and the treatment of their complaints.

Source: SMH

Sat, 28th Dec 2019

Australian internet users get better at skirting website blocks

Australian internet users have become much more adept at circumventing blocked websites over the past year, new numbers released by the government show.

Source: iTnews Australia

Fri, 20th Dec 2019

One in ten fibre to the node NBN connections is reporting faults

The National Broadband Network has broken down by technology the 501,600 service faults it received during the 2018-19 fiscal year, with fibre to the node being the most faulty.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Thu, 19th Dec 2019

Almost all of Vodafone's plans have "unlimited" data now

Vodafone's "data that never ends" is now available on more plans than ever.

Source: WhistleOut

NBN impersonations most common phone scam in 2019

Scammers impersonating NBN representatives were the most reported scam to the Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA) during 2019.

Source: ARN

NBN Co to trial 750/50Mbps as 'near gigabit' HFC tier

NBN Co is set to trial what is effectively a 750/50Mbps tier as a near gigabit plan for the hybrid-fibre coaxial (HFC) portion of its network.

Source: iTnews Australia

Govt to auction more mobile broadband spectrum in 'late 2021'

The government is set to auction extra mobile broadband spectrum in late 2021 that will be freed up in a reorganisation of the 850MHz and 900MHz bands.

Source: iTnews Australia

Most complained-about telcos revealed in Communications Alliance report

The most complained about telecommunications providers have been revealed in the first 'expanded' Complaints in Context report by the Communications Alliance.

Source: ARN