Ah Telstra

[jb747]

It’s easy to see that they haven’t caught up with the idea of servicing the country. Not the distant country, just areas a little outside a major city. I’m in the Barossa at the moment, and we’re relishing our 1 meg/sec 4g speeds. There’s better service in the middle of nowhere. I was wondering if AJ might have a side gig.

 

[Quickstatus]

Telstra has a USO re copper landlines. But is very good at dodging it’s obligations while at the teat
The biggest mistake John Howard made was to privatise Telstra without first splitting off an infrastructure company

 

[RooFlyer]

1 meg/s 4G? Loooxury! Wait till you get down to Tas. Bring the semaphore flags.

 

[Buzzard]

No wonder the share price is hopeless.

 

[Anna]

4G? For the last couple of years my Telstra 4G mobile broadband dongle has only been picking up 3G, despite it not physically moving. Something deteriorated at Telstra's end, because it used to pick up 4G in that place just fine.

 

[offshore171]

I stayed at a joint recently that had Starlink

Did a few speedtests and it was doing 170+ mb/s. Not bad for the middle of nowhere!

Worth checking out if you’re in the coverage area. Most of Australia is now I think.
(edit: confirmed)

 

[drron]

1 meg/s 4G? Loooxury! Wait till you get down to Tas. Bring the semaphore flags.

My trip report on Launceston actually shows where the semaphore stations are.

 

[Quickstatus]

Most of Australia is now I think.

All of Australia including Tasmania , Lord Howe Island, but not Norfolk or Christmas and not the area around the Murchison radio astronomy in mid WA which maintains electromagnetic silence

 

[moa999]

Starlink is now available on all of Aus mainland.
I suspect NBN Skymuster will have an early retirement because it simply can't compete.

 

[Quickstatus]

NBN Skymuster will have an early retirement

SM1 was launched Oct 2015 and SM2 Oct 2016

To maintain its position in GEO orbit it uses thrusters. The fuel for the thrusters cannot be replaced (unless the Twitter/Rocketman finds a way to resupply it). It was designed to have around 15 years +/-

Its currently maybe halfway through its expected lifespan.

There are several issues with SL
•they require a mobile number as SL sends SMS in event of an issue - but many people in australia do not have mobile coverage
•no help desk with a person to talk to, communication with SL is via SMS or email only.
•the equipment comes with 12 month warranty, and its sold as a package. after than you need to repurchase if fault found
•the customer is responsible for installation
•apparently issues with facebook access and google addressing where the physical address location of the dish does not match Google address which have led to customers not making proper connections.


Whereas NBN Skymuster, the equipment instal is always free. And retail NBN RSP usually have someone to talk to. And is cheaper.
NBN is also progressively moving people off SM onto Fixed Line or Fixed wireless opening up capacity for those on SM

.........
By the way Northern Australia coverage is assisted by Starlink intersatellite laser links.


By the Way 2
Ah Telstra - as part of its service to Australia refuses to sell NBN Skymuster and actually sometimes tells people nothing exists for their address re internet and won't tell their customers about NBN SkyMuster causing confusion and misinformation.