[clug] Trump Telstra once and for all

[Paul Wayper]

Andrew Smith wrote:
> Not true, I've spoken to both sides in my travels.  They simply
> want/offer different things.  Transact's wholesale broadband network
> delivers clients on Layer3, Internode want to see clients on Layer2
> and neither side will budge.  End of story, no conspiracy theory.
I understand the difference between layers 2 and 3 here, but I'm curious
as to why the two are incompatible?  Would Internode using layer 2 to do
connections interfere with TransACT offering its services over layer 3? 
Not AFAICS.  So why would TransACT stick to offering only layer 3 to
wholesalers, unless it was trying to protect its investments in TransTV
and whatever other multicast services it offers?

> I'm much more scared of Telstra's 3G network.  Has anyone had faults
> in during the last month while Telstra techs have been tied up rolling
> it out?  We've had delays of up to 10 days to get attendance on basic
> DSL line faults and 5 days for all the phones at a school.  Somehow I
> don't think that level of service is getting better.
True.  And, according to Paul Budde (mentioned before in this
discussion), Telstra's 'new' 3G network is only really going to be
useful to about 1% of the population.  So, 200,000 people are going to
want the features of 3G, eh?  Well, Vodaphone already has 200,000
customers on G3, Optus doesn't tell anyone its customer numbers,
Hutchison has over 300,000, and 3 has over 100,000 (from memory - the
figures are in Saturday's paper).  So 3G is already subscribed to, and
anyone who needed 3G for some business or personal reason is probably
already on it.  It looks like Telstra is trying to sell a dead dog.

> So Telstra couldn't get their domestic $3B FTTC network, they roll out
> 3G with speeds (next year) of <14Mbps and NO requirement for
> competitor/wholesale access.  Where do you think their resources will
> go?  Fair enough, sell them off, but leave the wholesale
> infrastructure with the government.
Indeed.  It's a "oooh, look over there, bright shiny things!" handwave. 
I'd say Telstra probably know this.  Sol, in the great USAdian tradition
of business managers, is claiming to do something new and innovative to
hide the fact that the rest of his business is outdated and decrepit. 
And, as you say, it'll mean that anyone who uses Telstra's services will
be put on the back burner while it rolls out this new service that
no-one will actually buy.  My guess is that it's probably because the
Howard government has ordered that they do anything to keep the share
prices high so that the government gets a good bundle of money to throw
at the voters next election.

That's just my opinion, of course.

Aside: I won't be in the least surprised if it turns out that the
sprinkler system at their press release went off due to some tech guy,
who'd been shafted by Telstra at some point in the past, 'accidentally'
shorting one of the fire sensors.  The 'raining on their parade'
parallel is just too good to pass up.

Have fun,

Paul