John Linton
........remember her and one of her early morning regimens?
I'm still trying to figure out why Optus is trying to make a case for providing us with 3.6 mbps modems to replace the current 7.2 mbps HuaWei U169s we have been supplying for over six months. I think I have a reasonable mind but when a carrier is upgrading its HSPA network to 7.2 mbps (and competing with other carriers who are banging the drums about providing 21 mbps plus speeds real soon now) why is Optus trying to tell Exetel that "there is only wholesale demand for a lower cost modem and that can only be provided at a maximum speed of 3.6 mbps"??
Exetel has always been a/the pioneer of Optus services (April 2005 wholesale ADSL1, July 2006 wholesale ADSL2 and August 2008 wholesale/Layer 2 HSPA) but I see that now much bigger 'independent ISPs' such as Westnet/iinet and Internode are "announcing" they are now providing HSPA services (and in very little print "using Optus Wholesale access to the Optus HSPA service"). I can never understand just why these companies make the decisions they do and the odd timing of their decisions.
However the pricing these 'large' companies are putting to market are just plain stupid - higher than Optus Retail, Optus/Virgin and, of course, Exetel who pioneered the Layer 2 service for Optus back in August 2008.
So what's this all about? Dodo, that exemplar of a service provider, offers HSPA (on the Optus network) for "nothing" - plus the fine print - and Virgin offers Optus HSPA at retail prices below Exetel's wholesale buy cost. So now Internode and Westnet, who obviously are far larger than Exetel belatedly announce they are also going to provide an Optus HSPA service but are pricing it more expensively than every other Optus HSPA service from Optus Retail on down. What 'added value' do either Internode or Westnet provide that Optus and Optus/Virgin don't already offer?
Maybe I'm naive and ill informed but I don't see how any wholesaler of the Optus HSPA service can provide anything on the basic service that can improve on the Optus HSPA network and providing the IP connectivity fits into the same category. Internode/Westnet/Dodo are simply providing the same service at their selected pricing options (Dodo dirt cheap but riddled with fine print - Internode/Westnet incredibly expensive and with nothing added.......other than their self importance.
......and now Optus is telling Exetel that their wholesale customers want lower priced modems and believe a slower speed specification isn't an issue. Exetel is a wholesale customer and has never made any such comment and we believe the reverse of that (but as Optus wholesale HSPA customers have said that lower spec modems are required obviously Exetel doesn't count as a wholesale customer as I'm very sure we were never asked) - we believe most customers want a speed that matches Telstra's and Vodafone's - I suppose it isn't really an issue if either:
a) As a carrier you believe your network can never deliver better than 3.6 despite publicly stating you're upgrading it to 7.2 mbps (and there are places you can get 4 - 5 mbps at the moment on those upgraded towers) so only providing a cheaper modem, much lower specified modem, is OK.
b) Your wholesale customers really did say they only wanted a slower speed modem (and you didn't bother to ask Exetel because we aren't a wholesale customer) and they could sell more services if the 'entry price' was cheaper (despite the fact that everyone is already offering a $0.00 entry price anyway on a 24 month contract and with plan prices already below Exetel's costs).
I have a major problem in believing a) above has any credibility and would dismiss it after less than a few seconds thought.
I wouldn't have thought b) had any validity either but using the Sherlock Holmes principle of ...."when you have eliminated everything else what remains, no matter how improbable....."
I have been talking to O2 and Vodafone wholesalers in the UK over the last week or so who are telling me they can't give away U169s as the EU networks move to 10 mbps and well above that speed - resulting in 7.2 mbps modems being 'warehouse filler' and available in bulk for a quarter of the current ex factory price. I assume that Optus could buy in enough quantity to solve both their "wholesale customer's need for a lower priced modem" without downgrading the 7.2 mbs speed that currently matches the network speeds.
On the other hand the new graduate sales trainees are doing very well selling SHDSL and, particularly Ethernet, services to medium and medium/large businesses and it seems to me that that risk has proven to be well worth taking and will produce far better results than trying to figure out residential wholesale cloud cuckoo land scenarios. If they continue their astonishing rate of progress we will hire 4 more to start when we complete the move to the new premises.
I suppose that it's yet another example of why Exetel shouldn't remain in the residential ISP business - we are just too small and irrelevant and need to find a way of overcoming that massive disadvantage or just fade away and concentrate on providing services to business customers.....either that or maybe just find a more rational provider.....I have not got a clue what the current scenario means.