return of interact

[Chris Fletcher]

I became an Interact customer when they assimilated Spirit networks (which
was up till then a really good ISP).

<unverified mode>
It turned totally to poo shortly after that when Richard Siggs (Spirit) had
a falling out with Craig Gibson (Interact).  Apparently Craig may have some
technical skills but his professionalism when it comes to dealing with other
people and customers is 'I am way too important and clever to bother myself
with you mere fools called customers'.
</unverified mode>

Some of his ex-staff have had some less than complimentary things to say
about Interact when he was the boss.

It appears that he is the boss of the new interact.

Personally, I would be concerned about their long-term viability.  If they
enter the market from scratch with really cheap prices they will make no
profit and just end up like other defunct ex-transact ISP's like Galaxy and
Powerbanned (anyone remember them???)

Chris.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dale Shaw" <DShaw at exceed.com.au>
To: <linux at samba.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 6:01 PM
Subject: RE: return of interact


They were acquired by Asia Online, along with a bunch of other
Australian ISPs. Asia Online Australia Pty Ltd and its subsidiaries went
into voluntary administration and subsequently Asia Online pulled out of
Australia. Basically if you were a customer at the time, pain and
suffering was experienced.

I was never an InterACT/Asia Online customer but I was a customer of
InterACT shortly after it and Iacom came together to form InterACT
Technology Group. I was very happy with the service provided and
considered the technical ability of the people running the show to be
the best in town. I eventually moved my permanent modem connection from
InterACT to Telstra Internet some time around 98/99 when a pricing
change made it prohibitively expensive to stay where I was (at one point
I was paying $350/month!). The level of service was never in question
but my downloading habits couldn't justify flat rate.

So, I can't say what it was like being with them post-acquisition, but
since we're talking about InterACT coming back and being managed by some
of the characters involved in the initial setup of the ISP, that's
probably irrelevant.

I'm not involved in the new setup, nor have I ever been an employee. I
was happy enough with the service at the time to refer customers of my
then employer to InterACT for internet access, but that was without
kickback and primarily to do with how rediculously incompetent the other
ISPs operating at the time were. </DISCLAIMER>

I agree a new name might've been a good idea. Maybe there weren't any
other names that had 'ACT' in the name (anyone remember CITABBS?)

I've submitted a request on the web site for more information and would
be willing to jump ship (from TransACT/WebOne) if the price was right
(not that I've had any problems with WebOne - quite the opposite in
fact).

Cheers,
Dale

-----Original Message-----
From: Rousak, Boris [mailto:Boris.Rousak at actewagl.com.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 18 March 2003 9:36 AM
To: 'Chris Fletcher'
Cc: 'linux at samba.org'


Why, what happened last time??? Are these guys unreliable???

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Fletcher [mailto:cf at netspeed.com.au]
Sent: Monday, 17 March 2003 8:37 PM
To: Canberra Linux Users Group
Subject: Re: return of interact


Stuff that.

Once bitten twice shy.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Hanley" <sjh at svana.org>
To: "Canberra Linux User Group" <linux at samba.org>
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 4:27 PM
Subject: return of interact


> All
>
> I was asked by one of the people involved to mention this on the list.
>
> The ISP interact is being restarted by a few of the people who worked
for
it
> years ago (and since had moved on to work for isecure).
>
> http://www.interact.com.au
>
> Anyway they will have an unlimited download account for broadband
users
> available, they will offer adsl, transact, DOV (data over voice, where
you
> have an isdn modem using but over the voice channels on a phone line
so
you
> do not have to pay excessive amounts to telstra (simply the $20/pmonth
per
> channel rental that voice lines cost, rather than heaps) and
traditional
> modems.
>
> Anyway if anyone is interested look on the website I suppose and email
them
> for more details.
>
> See You
>     Steve