No good news for broadband in Palmerston via Gungahlin

I had it all worked out. I would save a fortune every month by getting rid of my traditional telephone line and go onto a naked ADSL plan, a VoIP number for incoming calls and voila! My telephone bill is halved forever! No more would I be paying a stupid amount for a service I don't even use. YEAH RIGHT!

That is not how the system works, and I remain stuck in the telecommunications past. What's worse is that I do this in the national capital with the Black Mountain Tower in full view from just up the hill. Palmerston via Gungahlin.

I had to check with a few providers, and I was reluctant to take any random salesperson at their word before I turned off my landline forever. Fortunately, my plea for "someone who knows about the problems with the Crace exchange" didn't go unnoticed:

Unfortunately it doesn't look like there is much good news I can give you. The issues with the Gungahlin sub-exchange are something that I am well aware of.

First and foremost [naked ADSL2+], or any kind of naked, is not going to be available for you at that address. As the sub-exchange is basically a giant RIM it needs active phone lines to provide you with internet service. As much as we would love to be able to provide you with  a [naked, ADSL connection] it just isn't currently possible.

Well there we have it. No VoIP for me and I struggle to develop Web 2.0 teaching materials using a dial-up speed at the cost of 1.5mbps. Palmerston via Gungahlin. Imagine if I lived on Sudley Station via Weipa?

Original photo by Bidgee on wikimedia.org, re-use via CC-By-Share Alike.

Broadband Wagon: White House=Killer Apps; Parliament House=Kill Broadband

The Role of Student-Led Innovation in ...Killer Apps“ for Broadband Networks | The White House

After a week of trying to incorporate Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom while battling an extremely slow network with outdated computers running outdated software, things are not so good in the Australian broadband scene.

But in the US, the White House is encouraging students to get on the broadband wagon.

Australia has a long way to go. Even the basic capacity is missing. Two things make matters worse:

1. Sceptics who think broadband and educating students in the use of new media are passing fads; and
2. Slow networks, outdated computers and software systems run by conservatives.

It is always a challenge to balance standardisation versus innovation but in Australia the trend toward standardisation starts at the top and flows on down to the bottom. This is not a trickle effect, it is a bitter torrent.

As a nation, there is an urgent need to enable innovation around broadband technoligies, starting with the infrastructure and then moving into the education sector to encourage the use of new communications technologies. Not as an interesting aside, but as a necessary part of the teaching process.

Gone are the days of submitting handwritten assignments, we all accept that. But until we can accept that social media is the new word processor, we remain behind the eight-ball.

Thanks to Bill St Arnaud for this link.

Time to renew your "Do Not Call" registration: But will it make any difference?

Who can believe it is almost three years since the Do Not Call register first opened on 31 May 2007? It is now time to re-register, but will it make any difference?

Who can forget the spectacular failure of the Do Not Call site as the beleaguered horde of telemarketing victims rushed to join? The crash of the Australian register was not unique, with the Canadian register experiencing similar problems when it was launched over a year later.

But does it matter? Recently, a number of my colleagues have been complaining about receiving telemarketing calls on their work telephone numbers. And not just from random 'Scamway' businesses but from some of the major banks and other *respectable* corporations.

The federal government is addressing this issue, but it seems for the moment the Do Not Call register is for private telephones only:

In the 2009-10 Budget, the Government announced plans to widen the scope of the Register, to allow the registration of all telephone and fax numbers, including the numbers used by businesses and emergency service operators (DBCDE website).

The worst thing is that the federal opposition disagrees. So much for corporate social responsibility and encouraging productivity. An unintended consequence of the register has been to re-direct telemarketing to consumers in the workplace.

But how much capacity does government have to regulate telemarketing, spam, scams and so on? It would seem  that regulation of poor business behaviour would best be left to a combination of self-regulation and market forces. 

But half the trouble is that the issues of telemarketing and spam are converged (all related to communications channels and marketing practices) while the legislation is still actively diverged along old ideas of  communications technologies.

It would be good to see the major industry groups collaborate to encourage an acceptable way to conduct marketing - something along the lines of the Internet Industry Associations' Spam Code. Judging by the responses from consumers in both Australia and Canada, it is obvious that poor marketing techniques are an unwanted nuisance for most of us.

In short, it doesn't take a genius to see that poor marketing practices aren't good for business and there is clearly a role for government to regulate such practices. But government needs to stop trying to do it all alone. Granted that many *respectable* businesses are often the main perpetrators, but greater consumer involvement in a self-regulatory model just doesn't make it onto the policy radar. 

In the meantime all we can do is hope and re-register.