[LINK] Telstra - taking its ball and going home.

[Jan Whitaker]

At 09:17 PM 9/08/2006, rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au wrote:
>But among boring everyday business, even with 512 K services easily 
>available, there's a huge long tail at the *very* bottom of the market 
>using 128 Kbps services. Since there's faster stuff out there, the stories 
>about huge unmet demand ring a little hollow...

I tend to agree. I may be wrong about this, but I wonder if there are 
deeper aspects. Home networks, for example. Ubiquitous computing in the 
home is very attractive. And now that most laptops, even low end ones, come 
with wireless and blue tooth built in, it's very easy to see the whole 
'network upgrade' as a package: adding a laptop to the family for kids to 
use for school, add the broadband and wireless connection to it as well.

Price points for ADSL are interesting, too. When I was shopping, I don't 
think I can justify the price of 1.5mb. But, 512 is just about the cross 
over from dialup costs when you add up call charges, ISP, and also go on 
the budget line subscription ($19 instead of $20). I think I found out I 
get this speed for only an extra $10/mo.

I've now started to consider Voip services at $.10/call to landlines 
instead of the $.30/call using the Telstra landline. I did a Skype test 
last night to a guy in NSW and it was brilliant, just using a headset and 
the built in mic on, you guessed, my laptop.  That call was free Skype to 
Skype. He generally uses Koala at the $.10/call anywhere in Australia, 
using a phone attachment to let him use his wireless home handset.

Perhaps it's the 'domino theory in telecommunications'. Once you take the 
plunge on faster connectivity, you can't go back and continue to look for 
even more things you can do with it. It may not be Telstra taking the ball, 
but losing it instead.

Jan


Jan Whitaker
JLWhitaker Associates, Melbourne Victoria
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
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'Seed planting is often the most important step. Without the seed, there is 
no plant.' - JW, April 2005
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