Comments on: So let’s just start our own telco, eh?

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:44:55 +0000

@Snif: You're quite right. Using my Nokia N80 just now on a Vodafone 3G plan, smh.com.au detects that I'm on a mobile device and bounces me to mobile.smh.com.au to deliver a well-stripped-down version of the news. The SMH example, which was from John Allsop's analysis, is therefore a furphy. As an aside, at Mobile Content World I heard that some people are using the mobile versions of websites even when on "normal" desktop or laptop computers, simply to avoid the clutter. Good idea. @jason : Over recent years Telstra's data charges have almost always been the worst in the country. It would seem this is no exception. On Brisbane radio 4BC recently, presenter Michael White tried to get Telstra's Phil Burgess to answer a simple question: If Vodafone and Optus offer 5GB/month on a mobile broadband plan for my laptop for under $40, what is Telstra's charge for the Next G network? You can hear Burgess avoiding the question on the Monday and Thursday interviews (though sadly in Windows Media format only). @Gywnfor: What astounded me yesterday was the steady stream of geeks whining that the data plans were all rip-offs -- and then queuing to sign up for an iPhone anyway. I have no sympathy for them, especially since it seems that a few days of shopping around could deliver better results.

By: jason

jason — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:47:01 +0000

lol @ Gwynfor

By: Gwynfor

Gwynfor — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:23:25 +0000

The only people who will use them at the early penetration stage (is that too rude to say here?) are poseurs (who should be taxed merely for existing) and geeks (who avoid paying tax by not going out in petrol guzzling cars, failing to buy alcohol and cigarettes, obeying speed limits and all manner of other socially ireesponsible actions). I don’t see a problem here.

By: jason

jason — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:44:26 +0000

No way is Telstra’s data pricing a “failure of recognition”. They deliberately hid their data charges until it was absolutely necessary.

By: bernard

bernard — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:57:38 +0000

a FAUCing good idea; then again — why not see if we can take the Skype mobile option??

By: Snif

Snif — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:24:19 +0000

Pointed this out to a friend, who replied “…websites such as the SMH recognise being accessed by an iPhone and actually display in a low bandwidth mode — there are plenty of peeps on Whirlpool who have had plenty of time to test out the first gen iPods (imported from the US and hacked to work on our networks) to suggest that average useage is around 100mb — including daily checking of emails etc.”

Is that the case?