Written by Alan Kerlin Sunday, 18 April 2010 14:03
Telstra Countrywide General Manager Chris Taylor has taken exception to claims about poor broadband in Gungahlin made in a recent article in the Gungahlin News.
Russ Gillion, who set up the website ACT Broadband to vent his disgust at the shoddy treatment Gungahlin receives for broadband, claimed that Telstra's equipment is not up to scratch for meeting the needs of our fast-growing population. We have to agree.
But Telstra's Chris Taylor wrote to Gungahlin News claiming:
"I was extremely bemused by the inaccuracies in the article in terms of the internet situation in Gungahlin. The quotes attributed to Mr Gillion are a gross misrepresentation of the situation.
"Would it be possible for you to provide me with the contact details for both Mr Gillion & Mr Kerlin. I would be keen to meet with them to clarify the facts of the situation"
Putting aside that the GM of Telstra for the region doesn't seem to know how to do a simple Google search, we are keen to meet with Mr Taylor so that he can "clarify the facts". Rest assured we will leave him with no doubts about how residents feel about the broadband service Telstra delivers to the people of Gungahlin.
We have invited him to our GCC meeting of 9 June. We'll advise if he accepts the invitation.
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Garry Eldridge: The outcome of the GCC meeting attended by Telstra CW et al?
The outcome of the meeting?
Telstra take no responsibility for the appalling situation in Gungahlin and will be doing nothing to ameliorate the situation. The Government of the day handed Telstra this licence to print money and they'll continue to print it until they get stopped.
1. Lobby your local Senators to pass the legislation currently before the Senate intended to stop Telstra from printing money at will.
A previous comment attributed to Mr Chris Taylor ".... Mr Taylor has said in a ABC 666 interview (find the link on this site) that he lives in Gungahlin, has wireless internet and that it is "adequate" to his needs." Dear Mr Taylor, If the residents of Gungahlin were provided a FREE UNLIMITED Internet connection with NO DOWNLOAD LIMITS I feel they'd also consider it ADEQUATE! Telstra have no shame nor community spirit and their shareholders must also be disappointed. The arrogance demonstrated has no boundary!
It will be good to hear from Govt and NBNCo, now that we've heard little from Telstra. It also appears that the 3000 people selected for the Gungahlin area already have FTTP courtesy of a tender process that allowed TransACT to become the sole provider in the newer suburbs of Forde and Crace. Congratulations to the winners, we now have multiple monopolies in play, each with their own private licence to print money.
Also a big Thank-you to those that did turn out on such a foul night of cold, wind and rain. Those that didn't, enjoy your slow and expensive Internet.
Telstra take no responsibility for the appalling situation in Gungahlin and will be doing nothing to ameliorate the situation. The Government of the day handed Telstra this licence to print money and they'll continue to print it until they get stopped.
1. Lobby your local Senators to pass the legislation currently before the Senate intended to stop Telstra from printing money at will.
A previous comment attributed to Mr Chris Taylor ".... Mr Taylor has said in a ABC 666 interview (find the link on this site) that he lives in Gungahlin, has wireless internet and that it is "adequate" to his needs." Dear Mr Taylor, If the residents of Gungahlin were provided a FREE UNLIMITED Internet connection with NO DOWNLOAD LIMITS I feel they'd also consider it ADEQUATE! Telstra have no shame nor community spirit and their shareholders must also be disappointed. The arrogance demonstrated has no boundary!
It will be good to hear from Govt and NBNCo, now that we've heard little from Telstra. It also appears that the 3000 people selected for the Gungahlin area already have FTTP courtesy of a tender process that allowed TransACT to become the sole provider in the newer suburbs of Forde and Crace. Congratulations to the winners, we now have multiple monopolies in play, each with their own private licence to print money.
Also a big Thank-you to those that did turn out on such a foul night of cold, wind and rain. Those that didn't, enjoy your slow and expensive Internet.
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14 July, 2010
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Clinton: ...
Mmm, isn't it strange that I see some sort of cable being rolled out from the exchange, with good old Mr Chris 'Now we're talking' Taylor on his way to grace us with a visit. Just a fluke? Have your DL speed stats handy in case he tries to pull a shifty "Oh, no, your speeds are now bla bla..." I'd love to ask Mr Taylor why my mobile reverts to a 3 ring hang up when I have had to call Telstra 3 times to ask it to be put back to 10 rings or whatever it is... mmmm. Is that because if they do this then it reverts to my message bank and then they get more money from me having to retrieve the message I wonder? I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. Who privatised Telstra, I forget... am I wrong or are we possibly going to vote them back in?
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16 June, 2010
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I've just been posted back to Canberra from Sydney. I was on ADSL1 where I was living in Sydney and was very happy with my 700kb/s - 900kb/s download speed on an 8Mb connection. Now I am living in Harrison, a relatively new suburb, yet I can't get ADSL2+ here and my ADSL1 service is disguisting. Between 7 - 10pm, I may as well be on dial up. Every other part of the day I am lucky to hold a connection speed above 1Mbit. I ask why every time I ring my ISP? "I am sorry sir but you are connected to a RIM, you won't get any better than what you are getting and Telsta have no intention of upgrading your RIM anytime soon."
I did a little research into RIMs and discover that it is an incredible technology, but I have not heard of any plans to upgrade my area or construct another exchange to alleviate the load from Crace. I mean, I used to live in Evatt a few years ago and it is probably one of the oldest suburbs in Canberra. I had ADSL2+ there. I'll be at that meeting and I will have my angry pants on. Meanwhile these newer suburbs are popping up and I believe they are FTTH connections, poor us.
So I am in a 3 year old house, it is perfect bar the crappy crappy crappy crappy crappppppppppppppppppppppppp internet. IT IS CRAP! Probably see me standing on the street in Gungahlin with a sign soon saying "FIX MY INTERNET!"
I did a little research into RIMs and discover that it is an incredible technology, but I have not heard of any plans to upgrade my area or construct another exchange to alleviate the load from Crace. I mean, I used to live in Evatt a few years ago and it is probably one of the oldest suburbs in Canberra. I had ADSL2+ there. I'll be at that meeting and I will have my angry pants on. Meanwhile these newer suburbs are popping up and I believe they are FTTH connections, poor us.
So I am in a 3 year old house, it is perfect bar the crappy crappy crappy crappy crappppppppppppppppppppppppp internet. IT IS CRAP! Probably see me standing on the street in Gungahlin with a sign soon saying "FIX MY INTERNET!"
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01 June, 2010
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Matty B: Gungahlin speeds are the worst I have experienced
When I first moved to Gungahlin, only 2 years ago, we were the first tenants in a brand new house. After applying for ADSL 2 with IInet we were advised (after paying the connection fees) that due to a Telstra RIM we could only get ADSL 1. ADSL 1 in a brand new house, in a new suburb - that’s absurd, how could the infrastructure of Gungalin have been so mismanaged?
Just 8mths ago we moved, quite close to the town centre and applied for ADSL 2 again. Again we were refused this time, due to IInet not having any infrastructure in the Crace exchange. We decided to go with IInet ADSL 1, but still have to use Telstra infrastructure (and pay the additional costs) to connect to the IInet network.
In the past two months though, we have seen the worst ADSL speeds that I have ever experienced. It would seem that a routing problem, or more likely a serious bandwidth problem exists in the Crace exchange. My ADSL modem connects at 7Mb down with 384kbps up, however in the past few months I have only been able to achieve downloads of about 45kBps from IInet and the very odd 120kBps from local web servers. Up until two months ago I was getting downloads upwards of 400kBps from IInet and abroad. I have conducted a number of tests and determined the problem is post the DSLAM / exchange I connect to, not a fault in the connection between my house and the exchange.
This pretty much makes multimedia or using a VPN (as I do often for work) impossible. I would like to know what has happened in Gungahlin in the past two / three months that has seen Internet speeds fall through the floor?
I will be attending and asking these very questions. Has anyone else had similar problems with bandwidth in Gungahlin recently?
Just 8mths ago we moved, quite close to the town centre and applied for ADSL 2 again. Again we were refused this time, due to IInet not having any infrastructure in the Crace exchange. We decided to go with IInet ADSL 1, but still have to use Telstra infrastructure (and pay the additional costs) to connect to the IInet network.
In the past two months though, we have seen the worst ADSL speeds that I have ever experienced. It would seem that a routing problem, or more likely a serious bandwidth problem exists in the Crace exchange. My ADSL modem connects at 7Mb down with 384kbps up, however in the past few months I have only been able to achieve downloads of about 45kBps from IInet and the very odd 120kBps from local web servers. Up until two months ago I was getting downloads upwards of 400kBps from IInet and abroad. I have conducted a number of tests and determined the problem is post the DSLAM / exchange I connect to, not a fault in the connection between my house and the exchange.
This pretty much makes multimedia or using a VPN (as I do often for work) impossible. I would like to know what has happened in Gungahlin in the past two / three months that has seen Internet speeds fall through the floor?
I will be attending and asking these very questions. Has anyone else had similar problems with bandwidth in Gungahlin recently?
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17 May, 2010
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Ryan: ... http://www.cybergamer.com.au
Will we need to RSVP to this event? I'd love to come along and ask some simple yes or no questions.
I also have a Telstra Wireless internet account in addition to my fixed line, and even that suffers from congestion at times.
I also have a Telstra Wireless internet account in addition to my fixed line, and even that suffers from congestion at times.
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28 April, 2010
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Kevin Cox: ...
I have lived Ngunnawal for over ten years. I purchased the block of land because it was advertised that Telstra was going to put high speed broadband with fibre to the curb. I was surprised when it came to being connected that Telstra had scrapped that plan and the best I could have at the time was dialup. Because connectivity is important to me I have found it necessary to have a Telstra ADSL1 line (last time we tried my connection was not good enough for ADSL2) TransTalk and an Optus mobile. I hope Mr Taylor brings the statistics on connectivity for past two years.
Mr Taylor should first define what Telstra means by adequate broadband speed because they might think my 3am in the morning 2.51mb/second download and 0.7 mb/sec upload quite good even though it is half the average for Australia. I hire a person in Latvia to do some work for me and the average speed in Latvia is 18.95 mb/sec upload and 7.95 download. I suspect Telstra's definition of adequate is different to mine but my current service is 10% of adequate today and 1% of what will be adequate in five years time.
Mr Taylor should first define what Telstra means by adequate broadband speed because they might think my 3am in the morning 2.51mb/second download and 0.7 mb/sec upload quite good even though it is half the average for Australia. I hire a person in Latvia to do some work for me and the average speed in Latvia is 18.95 mb/sec upload and 7.95 download. I suspect Telstra's definition of adequate is different to mine but my current service is 10% of adequate today and 1% of what will be adequate in five years time.
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27 April, 2010
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Ashlie: ...
I could get much faster speeds in Cootamundra where I used to live under a year ago, population 5000. It doesn't make sense that I have moved to the city and the technology here is much more primitive.
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22 April, 2010
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Warren: ADSL Ping times
I agree the ping times on ADSL at night ie 6-8 pm around 200 - 300ms in Nicholls.
Im not with telsta but another service provider which is reliant on the problematic ADSL.
If they think providing a second rate service to people is good they might want to post up the contact number so we can call them each night and several times a day when the service via a cmux pair gain etc is poor. Maybe they would rethink it all.
Any chance they will subsidise us for wireless internet ? I think they should.
Why do we have to resort to a wireless service as well so we can actually use the internet ?
Im not with telsta but another service provider which is reliant on the problematic ADSL.
If they think providing a second rate service to people is good they might want to post up the contact number so we can call them each night and several times a day when the service via a cmux pair gain etc is poor. Maybe they would rethink it all.
Any chance they will subsidise us for wireless internet ? I think they should.
Why do we have to resort to a wireless service as well so we can actually use the internet ?
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22 April, 2010
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Mark Scarborough: Gungahlin and Broadband http://www.mygungahlin.com.au
The infrastructure out here has always been bad its a fact. I used to comlain to the previous Telstra Countrywide manager Ian Peters but never got any answers or responses.
The fact we can't get ADSL2+ through a provider of our choice is ridiculous.
I would like to see MR Taylor at the next council meeting, I dare say you could end up with a reasonable turnout.
The fact we can't get ADSL2+ through a provider of our choice is ridiculous.
I would like to see MR Taylor at the next council meeting, I dare say you could end up with a reasonable turnout.
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22 April, 2010
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Gerry: A Better Idea for Mr Taylor
"Would it be possible for you to provide me with the contact details for both Mr Gillion & Mr Kerlin. I would be keen to meet with them to clarify the facts of the situation" - Telstra's Chris Taylor
I've a better idea - Mr Taylor could post his personal phone number here, and whenever our ISPs report that we have Telstra "Congestion Issues" we could ring to let him know personally
On a serious note, Mr Taylor has said in a ABC 666 interview (find the link on this site) that he lives in Gungahlin, has wireless internet and that it is "adequate" to his needs.
There will certainly be interest in seeing Mr Taylor by residents of Dunlop (in the same situation) too... Mr Taylor is out of touch, much like the company he represents...
I've a better idea - Mr Taylor could post his personal phone number here, and whenever our ISPs report that we have Telstra "Congestion Issues" we could ring to let him know personally
On a serious note, Mr Taylor has said in a ABC 666 interview (find the link on this site) that he lives in Gungahlin, has wireless internet and that it is "adequate" to his needs.
There will certainly be interest in seeing Mr Taylor by residents of Dunlop (in the same situation) too... Mr Taylor is out of touch, much like the company he represents...
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20 April, 2010
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Freedom OSS: ... http://www.optimumoss.com.au
I am in the business of W3 and solely 100% dependent on internet. My counterpart in the USA is complaining about the telecom infra here in Australia. It is a 8 lane speed out there and 2 lane speed here with us. I have blogger friends in South Korea and Taiwan and they are also laughing at us due to internet speed.
As a small business, I couldn't compete with the big guys if you are in the internet business. You are at the mercy of Telstra, which unfortunately doesn't care less about the very, very poor and dismal speed here in Amaroo.
I opted for Teltra's 24mbps (no choice!) but I am only getting average 5 to 7 mbps if I am lucky.
I think this problem has been there for 4 years now and no drastic solution has been initiated.
Just waiting for the NBN to happen
As a small business, I couldn't compete with the big guys if you are in the internet business. You are at the mercy of Telstra, which unfortunately doesn't care less about the very, very poor and dismal speed here in Amaroo.
I opted for Teltra's 24mbps (no choice!) but I am only getting average 5 to 7 mbps if I am lucky.
I think this problem has been there for 4 years now and no drastic solution has been initiated.
Just waiting for the NBN to happen
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20 April, 2010
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Joseph Calvo: ...
Bemused, is he? He should try Amaroo too. Let's see how bemused he will be.
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20 April, 2010
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Chris: ...
Bemused Mr Taylor? Really?
Russel's comments accurately represent the situation of myself, my neighbours and my family living here in Palmerston.
Maybe you wouldn't be so bemused if you were more in touch with your customers.
Russel's comments accurately represent the situation of myself, my neighbours and my family living here in Palmerston.
Maybe you wouldn't be so bemused if you were more in touch with your customers.
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19 April, 2010
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Richard J Edmands: ...
taylor is welcome to verify his claims at my house for an hour, 7pm-8pm on any weekday, electric shocks for him for each ping response over 450ms ^-^
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19 April, 2010
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Greg Wells: Inaccurate??
I, myself, am bemused that Mr Taylor claims that the situation is inaccurate and am not sure what advice he is receiving.
I live in Palmerston and over the Easter weekend, I was on speeds of less than 5 Kbps (on an ADSL2 Bigpond plan). I would be better at these times to go back to dial-up, if it were availible!.
This was not an unusual thing for me, or people in my street and a few weeks before I had a Telstra technician out (at lunchtime on a Tuesday) and he had no idea what the rpoblem was because he measured a download speed of 500+ kbps. To me this means congestion (as the users were either at school or work).
Mr Taylor may wish to get into the technicalities of the situation to make the situation obscure. Byt, as a customer, quite frankely, I do not care about them as it is a Telstra infrastructure/business problem that only they can fix.
It cannot be argued that ISP's are reliant on Telstra equipment and connections in the RIMS, and that in the evenings and on weekends (certainly my part of Palmerston) this equipment is grossly inadequate.
It cannot also be argued that, as this has been going on for a number of years, Telstra is unwilling to fix this problem and we are being charged top dollar for the privilidge.
Furthermore, as this has been the situation for a number of years (just look at the threads on forums like whirlpool.net.au), I find it unlikely that Telstra itself does not have data on the scale of this problem, but as yet have not quoted any facts/figures in support of their argument.
I would be keen to follow this and please post any further updates on this topic. You may also wish to post this information on http://forums.whirlpool.net.au...t=1150550, as there is also an ongoing discussion there.
I live in Palmerston and over the Easter weekend, I was on speeds of less than 5 Kbps (on an ADSL2 Bigpond plan). I would be better at these times to go back to dial-up, if it were availible!.
This was not an unusual thing for me, or people in my street and a few weeks before I had a Telstra technician out (at lunchtime on a Tuesday) and he had no idea what the rpoblem was because he measured a download speed of 500+ kbps. To me this means congestion (as the users were either at school or work).
Mr Taylor may wish to get into the technicalities of the situation to make the situation obscure. Byt, as a customer, quite frankely, I do not care about them as it is a Telstra infrastructure/business problem that only they can fix.
It cannot be argued that ISP's are reliant on Telstra equipment and connections in the RIMS, and that in the evenings and on weekends (certainly my part of Palmerston) this equipment is grossly inadequate.
It cannot also be argued that, as this has been going on for a number of years, Telstra is unwilling to fix this problem and we are being charged top dollar for the privilidge.
Furthermore, as this has been the situation for a number of years (just look at the threads on forums like whirlpool.net.au), I find it unlikely that Telstra itself does not have data on the scale of this problem, but as yet have not quoted any facts/figures in support of their argument.
I would be keen to follow this and please post any further updates on this topic. You may also wish to post this information on http://forums.whirlpool.net.au...t=1150550, as there is also an ongoing discussion there.
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19 April, 2010
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Russell Gillon: ... http://www.actbroadband.net
I will be attending, I think there will be some local interest in seeing Chris Taylor show up and explain Telstra's view of the current situation.
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18 April, 2010
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