Digital Technology for Digital Living.
July 29, 2004
Australia Has The Highest Internet Charges In The World.
An American has told us what we all know. Internet access in Australia is expensive. Not that I mind it being pointed out, especially when it makes the press. news.com.au reports that the “latest criticism of Australia’s internet traffic environment comes from Bill Norton, co-founder of US-based peering company Equinix and former chair of the North American Network Group, who is carrying out a study of peering in the Asia-Pacific region”. Here in Australia of course, we know the actual reason.
Gadgets boy | Comments (5) | Broadbandgadgets,gadget,gadgets shop, latest gadgets, new gadgets
Prices are not as high as we have to put up with in New Zealand (our BEST plan is $80 per month for a 256k ADSL connection with a 10gig cap – after which speed is reduced to 64k). Think yourselves lucky, Aussies.
True it’s not as bad as our kiwi cousins but dang when will the government take notice of what every single CEO in australia and north america is saying about the state of our broadband? It IS STIFLING OUR ECONOMY NO DOUBT!!!
What used to cause the higher charges in AU were the peering charges enforced by the US. I haven’t checked if this is still the case, but several years ago the peering partners in the US charged Telstra a premium because it was expected that more data would be flowing out of the US than into the US because more content was in the US. If that hasn’t changed, then it’s essentially one of the causes telling us that our bandwidth is expensive.
That doesn’t make it right still though… just cos more data flows out of USA shouldn’t mean we pay a premium because, if you think about it… more data flows out of USA to EVERY country. As such, it’s riduculous that we pay so much. For any kind of high speed internet access here we pay a tonne already, and if you look at USA, to even get some of the faster speeds other countries can get, we have to own our own ISP!
Jeez, I could’ve told ‘em that. There’s no excuse why we should be slugged with such high fees. Not that it matters to a lot of people, Telstra screwed us over with their delightful pair gain. What a lucky bunch we are.