Five major Australian internet service providers (ISPs) — iiNet, Internode, Primus, Optus and Telstra — have released a proposal for dealing with online piracy. It’s an education-based scheme that doesn’t force ISPs to cut off customers accused of piracy by movie studios, but there’s a way to go before it becomes reality.
Each year, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman compiles its annual report statistics and reveals which ISPs and phone companies have generated the most consumer complaints. The big losers this year? Vodafone in particular, and mobile providers in general. Here are eight useful things you can learn from the annual report.
A list revealing the peer-to-peer throttling habits of the world’s biggest internet service providers has been made public by Measurement Lab, a Google-backed platform that allow researchers to perform extensive tests on the performance of the internet, among other things. The list includes a number of Australian ISPs, including Telstra, Optus, Internode and iiNet.
Dear Lifehacker, I just paid for a Megaupload premium account and I will be uploading a lot of files to it. Right now, I am on TPG’s Unlimited plan which has an upload speed of 1Mbps. Does anyone else in Australia offer a faster upload speed than this? I am willing to go for a new connection alongside TPG if needed. Cheers, Big Uploader
When you’ve got a phone or Internet problem and you’re stuck dealing with some under-informed and unpaid minion at a call centre, it’s hard to escape the feeling that the issue could be easily resolved if you could just get hold of the right person. Research by the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) suggests you’re not wrong.
Kiama on the NSW south coast is the second mainland launch site for the National Broadband Network (NBN), and the first within striking distance of a capital city. Despite clear evidence of progress, a trip to Kiama demonstrates that the biggest challenge the NBN faces is getting people to understand what it does and why it exists.
We’ve all experienced bad service, but which industries are more likely to spring to mind when it comes to not delivering? New data suggests that phone companies and ISPs remain the worst offenders.
Netflix dominates the US online movie and TV rental market and is integrated into all sorts of devices, but isn’t officially available for Australian consumers (unless you fancy messing around with VPN and credit card details). That might change with news the company is exploring ISP deals for a potential local launch.
Dear Lifehacker, I like to watch TV episodes from Australian TV online, but am often disappointed with jerky playback. Can you give some pointers on how to diagnose what is the worst link in the chain? And of course, if there is anything I can do to improve matters! Thanks, Square Eyes
