Trev's place

Tag: business

  • New better Internet – 200Mbps symetrical bandwidth

    New better Internet – 200Mbps symetrical bandwidth

    The earlier days of the Internet here in Adelaide, we had quite good internet. Starting with SENET we progressed quickly from 14,4kbps to 28.8kbps, then 56kbps. We where paying $1/hour which was common among many. It was also true local with Camtech, Internode, Edge, Boldweb, Kern and a few more.

    When we moved into our house in Banksia Park, we moved to Internode’s ADSL but that was not to good as we where a long way from the exchange meaning at best we had 1.5mbps but normally closer to 900kbps which was still faster than 56kbps.

    It was about 2 years and we connected to Telstra’s cable internet which gave us 10Mbps. One thing to note, it was symetrical, ie 10 down and 10 up. After about a year we dropped the Internode ADSL connection as Telstra was quite reliable at the time.

    Anyway not long before NBN, Telstra increased the speed of the cable where we would regulary get 120Mbps down and 55Mbps up. Once NBN took over our cable went down to 100/40 with Telstra. Then Telstra really mucked up, they quitly changed the upload in thier T’s and C’s to what we see today and they introduced the 700/40 as the fastest available. 100 down is more than enough for what we do.

    When they changed that in a sly way, we dropped them after being customer for 20+ years and went to Internode with thier 100/36 (advertised as 40). Internode where an Adelaide based company which is what drove me to use them. But now they have closed up in Adelaide so no more loyalty from me. Time to find something new.

    So started looking at NBN Enterprise Ethernet 100/100 offering which is $400/month for 36 months with no setup. In my hunt I stumbled on Telair who are selling Telstra Business Fibre. They had a special offer if you sign up, you get 200Mbps/200Mbps for the price of 100Mbps/100Mbps. which is $382/month. Not much to think about! Sold! So looking forward to the speed boost, especially the upload. It’s also dedicated fibre to me, it’s not shared with anyone else. AND we’re no longer using NBN. This is a great leap forward.

  • Should we get a 13 or 1300 number?

    These numbers are a good idea and have some advantages. For example, you can have the same number with different locations and depending on the caller, it will route to the closest branch.

    BUT the world is changing. More and more people are starting to use the Internet for their phone calls because of cost. Example: we changed from normal Telstra landline to Engin VoIP and our bill went from about $100/month to about $20/month.

    Two problems arise with the 13 and 1300 number system then.

    1. The 13 or 1300 phone system no longer knows where the caller is. When we first got the system, I would call a cab using 13 number and ended up talking to Sydney (I’m in Adelaide).
    2. The most annoying for me, it costs money to call a 13 or 1300 number and the call cost is comparably high! They also show up on the bill as expensive calls, so people soon start to become more aware. (Most move to VoIP to save money).

    So the tip: If you’re going to do 13 or 1300 numbers, make sure you also publish the traditional landline numbers so you don’t annoy your customers. Give them the choice!

    You want to make it as easy and convenient for customers to call you. Not annoy them I’m sure.