The Internet in Oz …

Internet Access – your options

Your access to the Internet in Australia depends entirely on where you’re living. By that I don’t mean where specifically, but rather, whether you live generally. You will have far greater options for Internet access if you’re living in a large city, than you will if you’re living in Bongadong in the outback. Okay? So let’s break it down.

Cities
You’re spoilt for choice if you live in one of the large cities. You will probably be able to choose from standard wired ADSL, wireless ADSL, ADSL2, WiMax, Next-G, cable and dial-up. Of these, the best option by far is ADSL2, which offers extremely high speeds and (because the hardware installed in the phone exchange belongs to the ISP rather than Telstra [the Oz equivalent of BT]) lower prices too.

Towns
Depending on the size of town we’re talking about, you might have access to ADSL2. More likely, however, you’ll be able to get plain vanilla ADSL or some sort of mobile phone based Internet such as Next-G from Telstra. If you’re just a light user who exchanges the odd email then you can of course use the old faithful dialup.

Villages
Pot luck here. Some village telephone exchanges have been upgraded to ADSL, some haven’t. Those that haven’t are highly unlikely to ever be upgraded either – so consider where you’re going to live carefully if you’re fond of downloading several gigabytes of hardcore porn every night.

Back of Bourke …
You may be able to get Next-G (or similar) mobile phone network based Internet connectivity but more likely you’ll be stuck with either dialup or satellite. Satellite is widely used here in rural areas because Australia’s a fucking big place – it’s not an ideal form of Internet access, but beggars can’t be choosers. More on satellite in a bit.

ISPs
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are the folks who you pay for your Internet access. Much like the UK there are myriad companies to choose from, from nationwide multinational behomeths to small rural government backed outfits.

Big Telcos
Lots of people decide to get their Internet from one of the big telcos here, because they get a good bundled deal on phone line, mobile and Internet. Telstra, Optus and AAPT (the least worst of the trio) will all hook you up with Internet access, but they’re all average at best. Yes – you might save yourself $10 a month on your Internet costs, but do you really want to deal with a company every bit as bad as BT? Do you really want to phone a support line located in Calcutta? Do you want to get hassled every evening by some bored call centre operative charged with foisting some over-priced unwanted extra on you? No – you don’t. My advice – stay the fuck away from the big telcos.

Big ISPs
There are plenty of independent ISPs, but there are only a few you should consider – Internode, iiNet, TPG, Exetel and Westnet. Personally, I use Internode – they have superb support lines, great speeds, an excellent range of packages to suit all needs/pockets and a variety of innovative services on top, such as unmetered content. I’ve had about two hours of downtime in 18 months with Internode and am able to call their support line at three in the morning and speak to someone who knows his arse from his elbow – or should that be his firewall from his ethernet.

Little ISPs
Small ISPs are usually little more than resellers. They use other companies bandwidth, repackaged and renamed. They’re not all bad, but you usually pay over the odds for the same Internet connectivity that everyone else is using. On the plus side, they often have a local shop front where you can call in and personally discuss any problems you’re having. For example round here we have a small ISP called Shoalnet who have a good reputation locally – but who would charge me twice as much for the same amount of bandwidth on a 1.5Mb line as opposed to my 8Mb line.

Connections – what sort of Internet access
Okay – starting from the bottom of the barrel and working our way up – we have:

Dialup
You know – screechy modems, interminable waits. The advantage of dialup is that you can use it anywhere there’s a phone line and it costs fuck all. The major downside is that it’s really slow – 56Kb at best. Now – if all you do is swap the odd email then dialup will be fine, but if you do any kind of serious web surfing or want to play games online or download music or movies – then forget it.

Satellite
Anyone who has access to the sky can get satellite internet. The Australian government subsidised many satellite service providers in order that communities stuck out in the arse end of nowhere wouldn’t miss out on viral emails about Jamie Bulger, spam about hard-ons and penny stocks and YouTube videos involving two girls and one cup. It’s a fairly expensive way of getting your Internet – but not prohibitively so. Don’t expect to be able to play games online though, or indeed make VoIP calls through Skype, because it takes some time to transmit data from your dish up to a satellite in geosynchronous orbit and then back again. Oh yes – and the equipment costs lots too.

ISDN
If you’re too far from the phone exchange to get ADSL, then ISDN might be a good option. Telstra are currently rebranding their ISDN offerings to favour businesses, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get hooked up at home. ISDN offers extremely low latency (lower than ADSL in many cases) but isn’t anywhere near as fast – at best you can get 128Kb. On the upside it’s a cheap way of getting online, is incredibly relialble and the equipment costs are low. Worth looking into if you’re having trouble getting ADSL where you live.

Wireless Internet
This is Internet via the mobile phone (3G) network. The most popular wireless Internet provider is Telstra, who have made a killing out of their Next-G offerings. Vodafone offer their own 3G badged service, but it has piss-poor coverage at the moment (though that is set to improve). You get supplied with either a little blue modem or a USB dongle and you can get online providing you can see a mobile phone mast. The upsides are that it offers Internet access to people too far off the beaten track to get ADSL or ISDN and you can get relatively high speeds. The downsides are that it’s fucking expensive if you want to download anything regularly and it’s not very reliable – crapping out if it rains, for instance. Oh yea – and you have to deal with Telstra or Vodafone. Still – if it meant no Internet or Next-G, then I’d go with Next-G.

Cable
Only available in large metrpolitan areas, cable is when you get Internet access delivered to your home down the same fibre optic wires that you get your cable TV. It’s not the cheapest way of getting online, but it potentially offers the highest speeds. Apart from a couple of smaller regional cable ISPs, you’re stuck with either Telstra or Optus. For instance, Optus will do you 30Gb of bandwidth at 20Mb for $100 per month. Definitely worth considering if they’ve laid cable past your door and/or if you already get your TV by cable.

ADSL
The old faithful, tried and tested, plain vanilla and original broadband. This post is being brought to you by the power and mystery that is the Asynchronous Digital Aubscriber Line. ADSL is suprisingly widely available – my town has a population of 3500 and yet my exchange is ADSL capable – I even have an 8Mb connection here. If you can get it, then do so – the equipment costs are low, it’s a dependable service, it can be cheap as chips and it rocks.

ADSL2
Or ITU G.992.3/4 if you want to give ADSL2 its proper and every bit as imaginative name. It’s basically, ADSL with knobs on and it tends to be offered by independent ISPs who have co-located their own equipment in Telstra’s phone exchanges. Such are the costs of said co-located equipment that it’s only installed in places where the ISPs know they’ll get a good return on their money – that means densely populated areas like large cities. My only advice on the subject of ADSL2 is that if it’s available in your area, and if the ISP that owns the equipment has a free port – get it.

WiMax
This is the face of future Internet access. WiMax enables you to receive your Internet wirelessly in much the same way that your laptop’s wi-fi card connects to your router or modem. It enables ISPs to give blanket coverage to much larger areas than have previously been possible – and better still it offers excellent speeds with matched upstream and downstream. To put it another way – you could download and upload at speeds of 10Mb and upwards. Internode have just rolled out the first WiMax zone in (of all places) the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia. It will, without doubt, get rolled out nationally over the next few years and mean that you could totally dispsense with the copper wire connected to your house, give your phone company the boot and get your phone and Internet over the same network connection. In the unlikely case that it’s available near you – be an early adopter and get in ahead of the crowds.

Solutions
The big mistake a lot of people make, is getting an Internet package that is totally unsuited to their needs. Consider carefully how much you’re willing to spend and what you want out of your connection.

The Downloader
If you harvest MP3s like a blue whale harvests krill – then you need a high bandwidth high speed broadband connection with someone like Internode. If you go over budget for a month, you can even buy extra bandwidth in 1Gb chunks.

The Surfer
If all you do is surf the web, check out the odd YouTube video and send and receive email, then you do not need 40Gbs worth of bandwidth. You could undoubtedly get by just fine with 5Gb. You also don’t need a superfast connection – 512/256 will be more than adequate.

The Emailer
To be honest, you could get by with dialup. But if broadband’s available, do get it because it saves tying up the phone line when you’re collecting your email. Unless you’re getting sent huge attachments (such as unresized photos or music) then a couple of Gb will do you fine.

The Family
You probably need a mid-range broadband deal – 20Gb (particularly if you have teenage kids) and 1.5Mb and upwards speed. Might be worth looking at a triple bundle (landline, mobile and Internet) with someone like AAPT.

The Gamer
See The Downloader

The Road Warrior
If you need mobile internet access, then (unfortunately) Telstra’s Next-G is your best bet. If you live in a city and rarely travel outside is boundaries then Voda’s 3G or Virgin‘s offerings will do too.

General Observations
1) There is less bandwidth available in Australia and you’ll have to pay more than you do in the UK to access it. Over here, bandwidth caps are the norm – you’re very unlikely to find a plan that gives you unlimited bandwidth and if you do – you’ll pay handsomely for the honour. It takes a bit of adjustment for someone like me who greedily downloaded whatever my little heart desired without a second thought – but you get used to it. To be honest, with the 40Gb cap I’m currently on, I have to work pretty hard to run over quota in a month and I don’t feel like I’m missing out on any illegal digital entertainment.

2) The big telcos here are every bit as shit as BT. If you want good service, shop around, canvas opinions and go with an independent specialised ISP, not a phone company that happens to offer Internet access.

3) Telstra are shit, shit, shit.

Links

Whirlpool. Can’t praise this site enough. Not only does it have an extremely busy discussion forum with section devoted to every ISP – but it has incredibly useful plan tools which enable you to work out exactly what your Internet access will cost you.
Internode. Best ISP in the country.
Telstra. Worst ISP in the country.
The Box. Best place to download UK TV programmes.
UKNova. Second best place to download UK TV programmes.
BBC Radio. When you do get hooked up – have a listen to the BBC’s radio shows in stereo-eh-oh.