Broadband Rip Off!

[walker]

I have had Optus cable internet for the past 5 years and upgraded 2 years ago to the "unlimited" plan which i think is $69/month.

Now I find out it is not really unlimited but has a 12Gig limit!:mad:

I am sure it was truly unlimited when I signed up but I went to look at the plans tonight and they have changed all the names and "unlimited" is no longer mentioned. I can't believe you can pay $60/month and still have a limit on downloads.

Does anyone have anything better?

[scrambler]

My ADSL is with Westnet and their "unlimited" plans (as with most/all) have an upper limit where the speed is "shaped" or reduced. So you can have unlimited downloads (Westnet only measure downloads - Telstra do uploads in their totals as well) but you get reduced speed if you exceed the limit. So unsure if that makes them limited or unlimited really. Mind you, Westnet list them with the limits, and you then have a choice of shaping or paying to keep you speed up.

Their $55/512 plan has a 10gb limit and the $65/512 plan 28gb, so sounds like Optus is in the same ballpark unless they're doing Telstra's trick. I know that cable is a different league though.

Steve

[Ace]

We cant get broadband but i have always done everything with telstra and whilst the service you get from them isnt the best the internet has been fault less. We wanted to get broadband but we are to far from the exchange and our lines are to old and they arent willing to upgrade them as there are only a few houses in our street. But from memory it was $60 with unlimited downloads, but if you go over a certain amount they, and alot of others do aswell, cut your download speed in half to slow you down. Matt

[incisor]

i resell a "truly" unlimited plan for 49.95 per month.

[sclarke]

i resell a "truly" unlimited plan for 49.95 per month.

Tell more
I'm sick of Dodo ripping me off.

[walker]

i resell a "truly" unlimited plan for 49.95 per month.

Yes, tell us more!

My problem is I don't know if I can ever go backwards after the speed of cable.

Anyway, it sounds like everyone else gets limited at a certain point.

I looked into it a bit more and I am actually getting a good deal compared to most other ISP's. It is limited to 12 Gig but I also get a bonus 24Gig for use between Midnight and Miday. I guess I will have to cancel the 28Gig file I am in the middle of downloading. :(

[JDNSW]

Yes, tell us more!

(snip) I guess I will have to cancel the 28Gig file I am in the middle of downloading. :(

What on earth are you downloading that is that big - or don't I want to know?

All this is very interesting - but I am too far from the exchange for broadband, and the exchange is not enabled anyway, and pretty unlikely to be.
John

[Mudnut]

I am currently with ozemail, which is also iinet. They sent me an e-mail last month saying that it is costing them more for broadband, and therefore are cutting my speed if I don't want to pay more. I had 1500, now down to 512. I would of dropped them then and there, but I'm moving in Oct, so will change plans, and companies then. It ****es me off that they can do this, when I agreed to a contract for 1500mbs.

NOT HAPPY!!

Ken

[Michael2]

Complain to Optus, tell them you'll make a complaint to the telecommunications ombudsman and that you'll take your business elsewhere. They may try to appease you and offer you free cable TV - or they may not care.

[matbor]

Complain to Optus, tell them you'll make a complaint to the telecommunications ombudsman and that you'll take your business elsewhere. They may try to appease you and offer you free cable TV - or they may not care.

me think the later...

[hiline]

you would be amazed what a phone call will do :D ;)

[walker]

What on earth are you downloading that is that big - or don't I want to know?

All this is very interesting - but I am too far from the exchange for broadband, and the exchange is not enabled anyway, and pretty unlikely to be.
John

Since I found the world of "torrents" my download usage has gone up dramatically. The large file is the entire 8 series of Top Gear.

[Hombre]

Walker,

I'm in the same boat as you.
I'm with Optus on the same plan.
This plan offers you an additional 24GB to use between midnight and 8am.

So you can schedule your bittorrent downloads for that period.

Additionally, Optus limits the upspeed to 128 Kbits/sec, which is what I'm peeved about! So I will do the same as Mudnut and go with someone else, once I move house.

Anyway, a very instructive website for anyone wanting an alternative to Optus-Telstra is www.whirlpool.net.au.



Cheers

[Maggot4x4]

Since I found the world of "torrents" my download usage has gone up dramatically. The large file is the entire 8 series of Top Gear.
1: The entire Season 8 of Top Gear should be 3.16GB, I have it here.

2: I have Optus unlimited 1500mbps, 20GB peak and 40gb off peak before it is shaped.. Off Peak is midnight to midday. Guess when I download stuff. You can set up a sheduler in Utorrent.

[matbor]

Don't upgrade now, wait a couple of months as ADSL2 is finally coming after stupid telstra canned the fiber to the node :mad:

[Bytemrk]

Adam,

Sorry to sound like a grumpy old man.... but it was always limited...if you read the contract you agreed to you would know that...

Golden rule on every contract... especially if it involves a Telco.... know what you are signing up for.......

That said... I am on the same 12gig plan - as said earlier - they offer an extra 24 gig for free between 12am and 12pm as long as you have not run out the other 12.... and when you do run out it is capped to 64k....


Sure there are ADSL plans around that will get you that amount of data cheaper..... but none at that speed....

So you need to think about what your needs are...

For me 36gig a month is more than I am likely to use.... and while my ADSL friends get excited at download speeds of 75kbs..... I can regularly get dowloads pulling between 700kB/s and 1.5MB/s....:twisted:

After cable speeds...i'd find it hard to move to ADSL. ( Maybe ADSL2 when it's more widely available)... but I'll stick with cable...:soapbox:

Mark

[f_b]

try TPG, we use them at a few places I contracted with and I now use it at home as well. You might even be lucky and be able to get ADSL2. Now thats fast! Lots of the corporates use them, no dramas to date..

www.tpg.com.au

[Phoenix]

1: The entire Season 8 of Top Gear should be 3.16GB, I have it here.

I was going to say the same thing, unless you are downloading a mega high quality, no copmpression version. Each episode is only 450mb in the set that I have, and quality is good

[walker]

I was going to say the same thing, unless you are downloading a mega high quality, no copmpression version. Each episode is only 450mb in the set that I have, and quality is good

No, sorry, I must have mistyped. I was downloading all 8 seasons. :o

And Mark, you are right. I don't think I could ever get rid of cable cause I like the speed. At least now that I know the limits I will do more downloading at night.

One annoying thing is the speed we get in Australia. We think our cable speed is good but it is still nothing compared with the speed you get in the US. I guess we will eventually catch up. Then again they also have untimed calls for mobile as well.

[RoverOne]

I'd sign up with the devil to get broad band, its 7 km's away but won't get to me. My bigpond running at 28.8 to 31.2 on average, nightmare, almost worth going back to Sydney for broadband....well almost :D

[Bytemrk]

One annoying thing is the speed we get in Australia. We think our cable speed is good but it is still nothing compared with the speed you get in the US. I guess we will eventually catch up..

Hey Walker... if you want to get REALLY depressed..... take a look at some of the Cable plans available in Canada!!

Just a quick sample.... and there are better deals than this:eek::eek:

$54.95 per month

Includes:
Up to 2.5Mbps download speed
Up to 1Mbps upload speed
10 email addresses
70GB of traffic
40 roaming dialup hours
5 dynamic IP addressesMark

[incisor]

have a look at the japanese plans.... 10mb here, 10mb there, everywhere 10mb :P

the problem in AU is the cost of the pipe... and the cost of the port

$500 per mbit per month... wholesale.... and about $30+ for a 256/64 port.... and $70+ for a 1.5/256

you have to value add to make any money on an adsl connection

the problem with the likes of tpg and dodo etc is their contention ratio is at least 30/1.....

a lot of te market place prefers to pay more for a lower contention rate and cleaner pipe which is the part of the market i am about to enter, again, utter madness, but.....

[p38arover]

It is limited to 12 Gig but I also get a bonus 24Gig for use between Midnight and Miday. I guess I will have to cancel the 28Gig file I am in the middle of downloading. :(

Not if it spans two billing periods.

Ron

[harryw]

Hi

Just discovered the world of torrents and am having an issue with some movie files that come as an "rar" file extension which after extracting become "BIN" instead of the preferred "avi" extension and do not get included as a file for use with Nero.

Any suggestions?

[incisor]

.bin and .cue are disc image files, the .cue is the cuesheet to tell how the image should be written to disc.

[harryw]

Thanks for that but my question meant to ask how make the "bin" file usable with Nero.

I have tried renaming it as "avi" but it is unrecognised and therfore cannot be used in the burning process, is there software available to make the conversion?

[incisor]

download winiso it will convert from .bin .cue to .iso

[walker]

Yep, or just do a search for "bin convert" and you will find a few programs.

[harryw]

Thanks I will get it later tonifght

[JohnE]

gee, i thought living up here in paradise was about as technologically isolated as you can get. But, after registering interest with the hibis program, we got broadband last month.Took ages to get sorted out.
Good price too through a bundled package with my phone people , no not telstra. AAPT, free modem and filter.
ACE I am surprised you can't get it where you live, i guess you have registered with HIBIS, my litle exchange box is over 4 kms away,I measured it but we can still get cabled adsl. The first offers we got were through satellite, fully subsidised by the government.But I didn't want another dish on the roof.

john

[Andrewpv01]

If somebody does go for satellite beware that the browsing speeds don't seem like broadband. The latency for the siganl to get to the satellite and then back to you makes it feel like dial up.
You do get good download speeds though and usually low download limits:o

Andrew

[incisor]

FYI a little birdie wishpered in my ear that if your broadband is using veridas backbone then you may be hearing some unwelcome news in the not to distant future.... again....

[ericpicc]

Heh Insicor hows the setup coming along? We are setting up at home soon, so won't be long before we are knocking at your door.
Don't forget to email me when your setup;)

[incisor]

before the end of september it will be going....
dialup is already up and running...

[harryw]

Well I found a BIN to ISO converter and converted the BIN files to ISO but when I tried to use nero to burn as a DVD it does not recognise ISO.

Ihave looked under BIN conversion but cannot see anything that goes from BIN to AVI, am I looking for something I can't solve?

[matbor]

Well I found a BIN to ISO converter and converted the BIN files to ISO but when I tried to use nero to burn as a DVD it does not recognise ISO.

Ihave looked under BIN conversion but cannot see anything that goes from BIN to AVI, am I looking for something I can't solve?

My version 6 of nero burns iso's and I'm pretty sure it has always burnt them, just when u goto open file to burn, u must select the filter to iso, should be in the drop down list !

The other thing u can try is using a program called daemon tools and mounting the iso file as a drive letter and then play it directly from your pc.


Matt.

[Disco300Tdi]

We cant get broadband but i have always done everything with telstra and whilst the service you get from them isnt the best the internet has been fault less. We wanted to get broadband but we are to far from the exchange and our lines are to old and they arent willing to upgrade them as there are only a few houses in our street. But from memory it was $60 with unlimited downloads, but if you go over a certain amount they, and alot of others do aswell, cut your download speed in half to slow you down. Matt


Yes you can,,,little johnny howard installed a sat dish on my roof, supplied a modem and then he paid for it.




Government Subsidy http://web1.ruralbroadband.com.au/images/M_images/pdf_button.png (http://web1.ruralbroadband.com.au/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=8) http://web1.ruralbroadband.com.au/images/M_images/printButton.png (http://web1.ruralbroadband.com.au/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=8) http://web1.ruralbroadband.com.au/images/M_images/emailButton.png (http://web1.ruralbroadband.com.au/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform&id=8&itemid=8)
Under the Commonwealth Government's Broadband Connect Program there are two levels of subsidy:



A standard subsidy of $1,540 for each service provided to a premises that has no ADSL access but has ISDN access.

A higher subsidy of $3,300 for each service provided to premises that have no ADSL or ISDN access.

The subsidy applies if you are:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
An individual; or
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
A small business or not-for-profit organisation with 20 or less permanent full time employees ; or
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
A not-for-profit organisation with 20 or less permanent full time employees that intends to provide new public access Internet facilities; or
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
An indigenous community council;


and
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/
Your premises are located within a Broadband Connect Program area.


The Commonwealth Government's Broadband Connect Program area covers all of Australia excluding metropolitan areas and areas where metropolitan equivalent broadband Internet services are available.
How do I check my eligibility for a Broadband Connect subsidised service?
To get an indication of whether you are eligible for the Commonwealth Government's Broadband Connect grant go to http://www.telstra.com.au/isdn/avail.htm (http://www.telstra.com.au/isdn/avail.htm) or call 1300 791 500.
When you check your eligibility for the grant, an explanation on the screen will be either


An ISDN service is not available for this phone number? - this means you are eligible for the Commonwealth Government's Broadband Connect Program HIGH grant; or

An ISDN service is available for this phone number? - this means you are eligible for the Commonwealth Government's Broadband Connect Program STANDARD grant

.

[JDNSW]

According to local radio news here the Broadband Connect program has ended - to be replaced by something else next month, alleged to be more restrictive. People calling the radio station who have had planned installations cancelled without notice, and local businesses laying off staff - (some expect to fold) they will have to go through a new certification process for the new scheme.
Coonan was not available for comment.
See http://www.abc.net.au/westernplains/stories/s1877413.htm

John

[Reads90]

mmm you should try coming from the Uk where they don't know what a download limit is.
I had BT broadband in the Uk for the last 5 years and had no download limit at all, and when i left to come here it cost me $45 a month. So i did not even know what or how much i was downloading .

[Hunchy]

Well I found a BIN to ISO converter and converted the BIN files to ISO but when I tried to use nero to burn as a DVD it does not recognise ISO.

Ihave looked under BIN conversion but cannot see anything that goes from BIN to AVI, am I looking for something I can't solve?

Harry,

In the Nero box, where it drops down to show you all the accepted file types? Just select *.* all files, and your .iso file will show. Just click on that, Nero reads it fine and will burn direct from that image.:D

Or... use this freeware app. I use it in preference to Nero & it's a cracker! http://www.imgburn.com/

[100I]

When I was on a training course a couple weeks ago, our French host was asking me for advice on what these plans mean, as there are no limits in France. The whole concept had him baffled.

[Reads90]

When I was on a training course a couple weeks ago, our French host was asking me for advice on what these plans mean, as there are no limits in France. The whole concept had him baffled.

Tell me about it i know what he means