John Linton
I was interested and mildly encouraged to read this article earlier this morning:
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15279/127/
If you've read previous entries I have posted here you would know that Exetel has been looking for a data solution that is delivered over wireless technology for some time now and has failed to find anything that could be made to available by Australian carriers (direct). A couple of months ago I was given some contacts in Hong King and the USA who are 'minute brokers' who provide data and voice minutes around the world at rates that are a fraction of the cost of those available to Exetel from the Australian carriers. Since that time I've been making very slow progress in actually understanding how Exetel can get access to such facilities.
This article is interesting in that it indicates, for the first time, that the sorts of data download quotas needed by Australian broadband users can actually be achieved and, if you take in to consideration the ability to get rid of the land line monthly payments, data via such a service will be at lower cost than even Exetel can offer it today via land lines. The only drawback, if that is the case for the majority of broadband users in Australia (those who don't endlessly measure their 'torrent speeds' and continually talk about 'my pings are !@#$% to so and so site') will be the transit speeds that are not going to be that great - but more than usable for most general internet activities).
So - in many ways, a really positive step forward in the quest to eliminate old technology/monopolistic pricing barriers to providing broadband services - at least in other countries. What Optus will eventually offer to its retail customers in 2008 remains to be seen. It would be good to think that such a service could be wholesaled but that doesn't seem likely as far as Exetel is concerned.
I did some more reading on the speed and distance limitations on the possible VSDL services that may be able to be provided in Australia in 2008 and could well be available from Exetel in limited areas of the metropolitan areas of capital cities in the second half of 2008. I did that over the weekend because I keep getting emails from current long term Exetel customers asking me when such a service will be available from Exetel as it has been "announced" by other ISPs as being available in February/March next year. I was surprised by those statements as I was, and am, of the opinion that the very earliest VSDL could be available would be late July 2008 (probably later than that) and that would be dependent on:
1) ACIF formally approving the VSDL standard (unlikely to be before late March next year).
2) Manufacturers of VSDL cards getting Telstra approval to connect to their PSTN (with luck - 3 months after a Telstra Lab slot is provided after the standard is approved)
3) Telstra issuing the procedure to connect VSDL to an individual line (whenever they feel like doing that with absolutely no timeframe predictable)
Exetel remain interested in providing VSDL - mainly for business customers - but also for those residential customers who might be interested in the restricted areas where Exetel could offer it simply because there will always be sensible users who do require high speeds and no current 3G solution will meet that requirement - at least at the moment. My best 'guess', based on the only information I have at the moment, would be that VSDL won't be available to end users until late Q3 2008.
As always, the possible permutations of broadband solutions in 2008 gets ever more complex.