Tuesday, April 28. 2009It's Red Queen Time Again......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. Trackbacks
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My (vodafone) phone says 3G on it in my area as of a few days ago
Where are you magic box! Comment (1)
Could it be that Optus has a load of 3.6mbps modems they are trying to dump, hence trying to pull a fast one?
There's something going on, maybe they don't like it that you are offering below there consumer selling price and want to protect there margins? Comment (1)
I'm with you on this one Martin. I think they have 3.6mbps modems they can't get rid off and they are trying to use their wholesale channel as a dumping ground...
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That isn't right - the 3.6 mbps modems are new models only shipping in April.
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...that doesn't mean they (stupidly) didn't sign a contract for a truckload of them a year ago...
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JL wrote....
providing 21 mbps plus speeds real soon now This is the same fraud as claiming ADSL2 is 20+Mbps for the same reasons, decreasing signal to noise ratio with increasing distance means most locations will achieve a far lower speed. Then there is radio band and back haul contention if more than a few people try at a time. Given the likely HSPA data quantity costs large downloads are unlikely and speed need only be sufficient for timely interactive use. As for the real world difference between a 3.6Mbps vs 7.2Mbps modems, I suggest Exetel has enough HSPA customers to get a statistically significant sample by... (1) Offer the Exetel speed test on the HSPA customer facilities page. (2) Invite customers to post the results on a forum thread, especially those with E220 (3.6Mbps with older firmware) and E169 (7.2Mbps) modems and see if there is a consistent difference. I will offer my results -- E169, 20Km path, 90% signal strength, Best results, Download test 850Kbps, Speedtest.net 1.3Mbps. PS: Getting some job lots of cheap E169's would probably sell very well and introduce a new tier of customers, existing ADSL customers who want some mobile convenience. Regards C Bumkin Comment (1)
The industry dinosaur in me has seen many 'smoke & mirrors" acts in the past - hyped claims are always taken with a good pinch of salt. If the interface is layer2 and cannot be flow controlled then can this be behind it in some way? Will the network really handle increasing users at claimed speeds? Is the Emperor concerned for his apparel? Or maybe I'm too cynical and so off track that I should just f.f.f.fade away - happy in my little world where my HSPA generally gets 2mbps+ (though it connects at a reported 7.2)
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Do the 3.6 mbps modems that Optus wants to supply have provision for an external antenna or not ie E220? I can see that in some cases this would be an important consideration.
I have just done two installations, one with an E169 and one with with an E220 both were in an area with an acceptable 3G signal. I found that both had a similar signal strength. I now want to get an exetel supplied one for my own use as a backup and while traveling but would not go for a unit that did not have provision for an external antenna because I am in a marginal Optus signal area. Can Exetel inform us before substituting the current modem? Regards, John T. Comment (1)
We will be changing from the U169 to a new 7.2 mbps modem in late May and will publish the specs before any change is made.
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I've never seen a 7.2 HSPA go above around 3.6 Yet.
I'm probably barking up the wrong tree, but it is interesting to consider as an example that a 54Mbps wireless card is only capable of 27Mbps in reality - do the same rules apply to HSPA sticks? If the 3.6 sticks are half the price of the 7.2 sticks, I suspect much of my customer base wouldn't really care since it's still orders of magnitude faster than Satellite and Dialup and could actually be a marketing advantage. Comment (1)
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