[clug] ADSL2 in Canberra from Internode/Agile

[Ben]

Exchange cost:
Simon Hackett (Internode & Agile's owner and MD) commonly quotes a
figure of $300,000-$500,000 as the cost of DSLAMming a metropolitan
exchange. If you front up with that cash they will put the hardware
in.

ADSL2+ pricing:
Internode's pricing is realistic. Have a look at Adam Internet if you
want unsustainable pricing. They recently upped charges for _current_
customers, because they had too many _new_ customers and had to
upgrade hardware sooner than expected. They're still have the cheapest
ADSL2+ available ($/GB). - but you can only connect to Adam ADSL2+ in
South Australia.

Annex M:
Internode will be the first provider to release Annex M for ADSL2+
(since they're working hard to get the standard approved). Annex M
will allow uploads speeds of 1.5-2.5Mbit for people under 3km from an
exchange by wire. The bonus upload speed is a direct trade with
download, eg. a 16/1 ADSL2+ connection could be a 14.5/2.5 ADSL2+
Annex M.

You will almost certainly need new hardware to support Annex-M. The
current Open Networks model from Internode will support it, and the
new Billion 7404VGP-M will support it too (which Internode are
stockpiling at present). The current Billion modems do not support it
(even though there are some reports that they would, so you may be
able to extract a refund if you were really hoping to get Annex-M).