search technology reviews, news, features, group tests
Popular Searches:   video , dvd , dell
Mobile Edition  | 
 |  Register
 |  Newsletters  | 
Sitemap  |  RSS
RSS
Sunday November 22, 2009 7:16 PM AEST
Skip Navigation LinksPC Authority > News > Telstra's 21Mbps plan to lure you to wireless
Telstra's 21Mbps plan to lure you to wireless
NEWS

Telstra's 21Mbps plan to lure you to wireless

by William Maher  on Feb 17, 2009
8 comments in this discussion
"I think the problems arrise when what is promised and paid for in real life is not delivered. If the speed promised was the minnium speed achievable then Telstra just might have a product that is ..."
By malai5
 
Yup, we know they're expensive, but here's the thing: Telstra is doing stonkingly impressive things with their wireless, including today's announcement of 21Mbps.

Say what you will about Telstra, but today's announcement of 21Mbps mobile broadband (eventually to increase to 42Mbps) puts them a league ahead of everyone else's wireless.

The first 21Mbps modems (the Telstra Turbo 21) will be available for Next G business customers on February 23, but everyone else gets to join the fun in April. No, there's no pricing yet, and yes, we're expecting it to be pants wettingly expensive.

But that's not the point. The move to 21Mbps is so far ahead of wireless speeds we've seen so far, that for the first time mobile broadband is starting to look less like the flaky cousin of ADSL, than the future (well, perhaps not for gaming).

The important factor will be real life download speeds - Telstra is predicting you'll see anywhere up to 8Mbps. Telstra's current 7.2Mbps network performs well compared to the competition - it was the fastest in our mobile broadband group test, with downloads averaging more than 4Mbps.

 
Email a Friend Email this
Print Page Print this
Tweet This Tweet this
Feedback Send us your tips


Ads by Google

Comments: 8
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
mordie
Feb 17, 2009 10:58 AM
 with their prices for plans I don't think so ...apparently no shaped plans exist and there is a 23c per a MB after your quota limit is reached ... Not thanks

edit: the excess fee is 25c per a MB not 23c

Only way they will lure customers to wireless is IF they have realistic VIABLE plans ...


Comment made about the PC Authority article:
Telstra's 21Mbps plan to lure you to wireless?
Yup, we know they're expensive, but here's the thing: Telstra is doing stonkingly impressive things with their wireless, including today's announcement of 21Mbps.

What do you think? Join the discussion.

Edited by mordie: 17/2/2009 11:26:33 AM
Lost-Benji
Feb 17, 2009 11:53 PM
 The scary part is, the network is already getting flogged out and choke points are appearing.

Yes, the prices are a joke. Telstra is a greedy pig.
Jason Cornelius
Feb 18, 2009 1:10 AM
 Mordie, actually Telstra was one of the first providers to include shaped plans on their wireless network. Both the 5gb and 10gb plans are shaped with no excess usage fees.
Telstra pricing for wireless is not as bad as you both are making out. There's been many revisions over the past 6 months, and for the performance you get, the value is well ahead of the competition.
Lost-Benji
Feb 18, 2009 8:06 AM
 It's not so much a case of, telstra's service is worse, its more like the are too big and have too much monopoly over the other smaller carriers who don't have anywhere near the same coverage and infrastructure.
Telstra's internet plans at the moment still make sattelite a cheaper and more viable option if the extra latency isn't an issue for those who are not lucky enough to have DSL access or a propper dedicated wireless ISP rather than a phone network trying to cope with huge data flow influx's. It's this same reason that the latency on the NextG wirless can get to be shocking at times as well.

What most need to be aware of or think about is for what they need the wirless BB for, if your a person who wants to travel around and still be able to check emails and keep in touch, then in most cases a smaller plan is OK. For those who want to use the net like most others do, multi-PC net access with kids present along with the PC's ahving the seemining standard load of net using apps like Windows updates, adobe & Java as well as system updates like HP and the like that use the net without most knowing. Now add all those other things the auto launch like P2P file sharing apps, email and webmail clients with frequent updating, the internet plans suddenly become bloody expensive. The reason that the issue is exagerated is that your data block is measured in both directions, DL and UL. Plans of several hundred MB are laughable. They fit in the same basket as DoDo BB.

When plans are more like 20GB for under 50 bucks with shaping and smaller plans even cheaper, then it becomes a alternate for most. A network that doesnt port filter all over the place would be nice too...

Edited by Lost-Benji: 18/2/2009 08:08:14 AM
mordie
Feb 18, 2009 8:31 AM
Jason Cornelius wrote:
Mordie, actually Telstra was one of the first providers to include shaped plans on their wireless network. Both the 5gb and 10gb plans are shaped with no excess usage fees.
Telstra pricing for wireless is not as bad as you both are making out. There's been many revisions over the past 6 months, and for the performance you get, the value is well ahead of the competition.


ok the plans now included shaped (When did they change that?) but they still have the crazy 200mb plan with the 23c excess fees listed! ... 5 gig at 89.95 (Quota includes both up and load traffic) is way expensive! my ADSL with there bigpond 25gig shaped plan is around the same price seesh! ... I think other carriers do better in the wireless plans anyways... And the have been hold back on the speeds the network can do both with NextG and ADSL ... Where's the rollout of VDSL and VDSL2? the switch to ADSL2+ at exchanges that had ADSL2+ cards but had been running at ADSL1 speeds over night then competition entered the exchanges over...

Mind you I bet they are still pushing the NextG onto people who are stuck behind rim/CMUX/pair gain systems as a "viable alternative broadband solution"...Man how many CSRs try to get me onto it! Mind you this was before the new shaped plans but then I wouldn't agree to the new plans either they prices and quota with the latency isn't worth it...

Bigpond haven't been competitive with there plans ever... They are way behind with ADSL in regards to quota to price ... Actually they haven't changed their plans at all to even be as competitive as other ISPs. For gawd sake the count uploads with the downloads on ALL their plans still!! so your really only getting half the amount data downstream before your quota is out.

Jason Cornelius
Feb 18, 2009 9:06 PM
 Telstra isn't the only ISP to count uploads. I'm not a fan of this, but it's not just them. iiNet also count uploads on their NakedDSL. There are a few other also, but I can't remember which off the top of my head.
And uploads do not constitute half of your quota anyway. I'm a heavy user and have downloaded 20gb this month, only uploaded 1gb. Uploads for most people are not a huge figure.
Lost-Benji
Feb 19, 2009 7:53 AM
Jason Cornelius wrote:
Telstra isn't the only ISP to count uploads. I'm not a fan of this, but it's not just them. iiNet also count uploads on their NakedDSL. There are a few other also, but I can't remember which off the top of my head.
And uploads do not constitute half of your quota anyway. I'm a heavy user and have downloaded 20gb this month, only uploaded 1gb. Uploads for most people are not a huge figure.


Not all of us are "LEECHES", I DL 55GB p/m and most is P2P but I do keep a better than 1:1 ratio so that means 50+ p/m upload.
malai5
Feb 21, 2009 5:01 PM
 I think the problems arrise when what is promised and paid for in real life is not delivered.

If the speed promised was the minnium speed achievable then Telstra just might have a product that is worth buying, but it is the Maxium, best case scenario speed that is quoted and that just doesn't exist in any real sense.

Of course the above is just part of the problem with Telstra.
Their main problem is the way they go about doing business, or rather not doing business.
They just don't get it. They just don't realise that they are just ONE of the players in the field, not THE player.

This self important attitude carries right from the top to the bottom of their employee chain and comes out to the public as "If you don't think that what we offer you is the best, then you must be mentally defective".

This attitude STILL permeates the Telstra enterprise and I have experienced it on many occasions when I tried to deal with them as a customer of long standing.
But no more.
It's been many years since I willingly had my intelligence insulted by Telstra and their employees while TRYING to give them my business.

So, as it stands the situation is no different.

If ANY organisation does not deliver what they promise, or contract to do, that is breach of contract and should be a legal matter, not a promotional one.

The Public, as a whole vote with their feet, but that doesn't stop the spin doctors in Telstra conning the innocent and the ignorant.

Cheers

Malai5

Edited by malai5: 22/2/2009 02:04:56 PM
Login or register to submit a comment.
 

Top Stories

Box battle: Telstra takes on TiVo and Foxtel with T-Box trial in Melbourne
It's not quite Foxtel IQ and it's isn't TiVo either. The T-Box lets Telstra users watch movies and TV from the Bigpond site, as well as record and watch digital TV
 
5 More Free Linux Apps You Can't Do Without
More digital Swiss Army knife software, including Linux utilities and tools that are so useful you won't know how you ever did without them
 
Microsoft delivers Office 2010 public beta
Vendor details editions for Office 2010 along with application virtualisation for testing.
 


 
Intel
 
Popular
Most Discussed
PC Authority Featured Retailers
hot bargains from the mwave store
City Software, Australia's online computer store with up to 80% off RRP
special offers from dell
Special promotions from the Apple store - Redeem here
PC Authority Featured Retailers
 
LogMeIn
 
 
Amazing Dell Coupons now available
 
Discover Apple
 

Plan Finder

Powered by WhistleOut

1) Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB35 plans 24%
2) Apple iPhone 3GS 32GB35 plans 9%
3) Blackberry Curve 85206 plans 12%
4) Nokia E7147 plans 6%
5) Blackberry Bold 900013 plans 5%
Three iiNet Virgin Mobile Vodafone
« 1 of »
1) iiNet32 plans 19%
2) Netspace33 plans 9%
3) Optus47 plans 2%
4) Telstra BigPond41 plans 5%
5) 37 plans 7%

Compare: Mobiles | Broadband

PC Authority