TransACT ISP comparison (long)

[mpainf at tpg.com.au]

> > From my experience, simply surfing to slashdot daily, checking 
email 
> >and doing some ssh work you chew through about 1Gb a month. If you 
start 
> >downloading ISO images that quickly goes up.
> >
> >I would start with a larger plan (2 Gb say?) and scale it back 
once you 
> >know your usage under high bandwidth conditions :)
> 
> I recently went back onto 56Kb modem and I'm quite happy with it.  
I know I
> can't control myself when I'm on broadband, so I kicked the habit.  
Now I have
> an All-You-Can-Eat modem account and it rocks. I leave it running 
all day and
> all night, download whatever I want, and when the bill comes in, 
it's only ever
> $40.

I assume that you get close to 56K connection speeds.  I live in 
Gungahlin and courtesy of Telstra, get nothing above 28.8.

Telstra have a help line set up for people in Gungahlin to use for 
internet problems.  Gave them a ring to see when I could get speeds 
above 28.8.  Well, according to Telstra, my phone line is operating 
at optimum.  If I want higher than 28.8, I could get a satellite 
dish, but the guy at Telstra agreed that was a little expensive.  

Next option was to modem gang on Windows (ie two phone lines, two 
modems and two connections to your ISP.) Oops, my ISP only allows me 
to logon once and I use Linux to dial-up. Or I can get ISDN 
($40+/month to get 64K??) or wait 9 months when they can get some 
fancy hardware into their RIMS to allow ADSL ($80+/month).  Long and 
short of it, the call was an opportunity for Telstra to sell some 
more expensive data services.  Meanwhile I am stuck on 28.8.  Amazing 
how new technology can make you worse off.

I'll stick to my 100MB download a month at the moment (although with 
a higher speed connection, I know my usage would go up though).  Just 
got to get the kids to stop searching for and dowloading Dragonball 
Z, Sailor Moon and Spiderman piccies and I'll be right.  Would love 
to get 56K on my phone line though.  If I could, I would even go out 
and spend $150 on a new modem.  Meanwhile, my little 6yr old NetComm 
Roadster 33.6 works fine on my 28.8 line.

Mark P.
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