Australians and the Internet

[Watchmacallit]

Browsing through some of the topics I realised that I don't seem to be the only Aussie with shit internet speeds.

I run ADSL 2+, that's supposed to be pretty damn fast. My computer is connected to my brand new $200 Belkin Modem/Router via an ethernet cable.

Want to know my max download speed? 200kbs...And it doesn't pass about 5kbs during peak hours (4-10pm) (Internet speed tests show that my net runs at about 1.4mbps (during early morning or late at night), the minimum is supposed to be 1.5)

Is it just me or is the internet standard really poor in Australia?

I called my ISP (Optus) and I was told I will never have a speed faster than an average of 70-100kbs because I'm too far from the connection (Approx 7km)

I live in a developed and populated area as yet I'm told anyone that lives outside of 5km from the connection will not get the speed they are paying for but we have to use that connection because its the only one.


I really want to know, does anyone in The US or UK live on the edge of their connections and what your max download speed is?

Also, anyone in Aus, I'd like to hear what your net speed is like.

***{[I am not great with things regarding the internet and speeds, if anyone has tips on making my net faster it would be greatly appreciated, Optus refused to do anything. Also, if I have made an incorrect statement feel free to correct me]}***

 

[Pat8u]

my download speed is 800 with a 50 gig cap but don't worry the national broadbrand may come one day

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, it's pretty shoddy at the moment.

On the other hand, the national broadband network has just gotten the go ahead, finally, in the face of alot of opposition of the "it won't be perfect, so we should do nothing instead" variety. Things are going to improve.

 

[Radelaide]

It depends on a few things:

How far away from the exchange you are and when the exchange was upgraded?
How many people are in the area?
What the upload speed of the other webpage is?

So many variables.

 

[Hellz_Barz]

Same deal with me I only get about 200kb with adsl2+ but I've got friends outside of the city who get about a megabyte. Makes me mad as hell.

 

[ElNeroDiablo]

$100 ($69.95 for net + $29.95 for landline, else $79.95 for net) per month is what I pay iiNet/Westnet for a ADSL ~1~ connection with a theoretical max of 20mbps down/1mbps up but realistically limited to 8mbps down/384kbps up due to Hellstra's lack of quality on the exchange here (40km from Wagga), and 100GB of bandwidth per month (50GB between 1am and 9am each day in Off-Peak, 50GB between 9am and 1am next morning in Peak).
This is the BEST deal I could get for where I am as Hellstra basically said "Screw you!" if I wanted more than a ISDN line or a (maybe) 1mbps ADSL1 connection, and Optus were fairly similar in over-charging for less-connection.

I'm lucky I could find what I did, and that Westnet/iiNet have sweet deals compared to what Hellstra and Optus offer, and I often max out about 800-850KB/sec depending where I download from (MegaUpload providing me with the awesome 850KB/sec on average letting me get a 235MB video file done in less than 5 minutes, whilst on my older 1.5mbps connection with Westnet it took 25 minutes at around 165-175KB/sec). When I first got my ADSL1 connection, I was paying this same $100/month for a 1.5mbps 60GB/month (20GB Peak/40GB Off-peak) that was later boosted to 65GB/month (25/40), then again a boost to a massive 200GB/month (100/100) all still at 1.5mbps, whilst they also offered the 100GB/month (50/50) with a 8mbps/384kbps (down/up) ADSL1 which eventually was rolled up to a 20/1mbps down/up (providing the exchange is capable) which is where I am currently. All these for the same $29.95 phoneline and $69.95 for the net connection and bandwidth.

I know I might sound like a salesman here, but if you're seriously tired of getting shafted by Telstra/Optus for internet, then leave them and sign up to Westnet [http://www.westnet.com.au] as soon as you can.

 

[LongAndShort]

Yeah mines pretty shit too. If the fucking NBN does not improve things, I might just have to burn some things to the ground to show my disapproval.

 

[Creator002]

*snip*

Me: Optus. ADSL2+. We have 30GB a month. The internet is usually fast for 1 week, maybe 2 if we're lucky and is slow for about 6. 6! Longer than a month!
Even when fast, average speed is under 100 kb/s and we live near a fairly new area with a bunch of new shopping plazas.

EDIT - Though my area is developed. Been living here for 20 years now.

 

[madster11]

Don't worry, once the filter kicks in we can all enjoy the benefits of terrible (well, even more terrible) internet speeds together!

This. Out internet speeds are already shit enough, i don't see why we need a 100% ineffective filter to make it slower and more unreliable as it already is.

Know what the problem is? Fucking Telstra. They own everything the dickheads, and have USELESS management and can charge whatever the hell they feel like, because they own everything, which gives them more money to buy more things for them to own.

They need to be told to piss off and 1/2 their systems should go to Internode or similar so we can have some decent competition in this fucking country.

It would be like us ONLY having Holden cars to buy, and any other maker that wants to sell cars here can only sell Holden cars with different badges for the same price, at 1/4th the profit.

 

[MidnightCat]

I've tried a bunch of different speed test sites and I've had varying results. This one [http://www.ozspeedtest.com/] may be the most accurate.

Spoiler: Results

Broadband Speed Test Results

Test run on 26/06/2011 @ 10:13 PM

Mirror: Optus
Data: 15 MB
Test Time: 20.11 secs

Your line speed is 6.23 Mbps (6231 kbps).
Your download speed is 779 KB/s (0.76 MB/s).

But it depends on what I'm doing - recently, I've been lucky if I can hit 160KB/s on a Steam download.

Edit: I live in a suburb of Melbourne and I'm on a 120GB broadband plan with Optus, 50 GB on and 70 GB offpeak, limited to 64 kbps if the allowance is exceeded. My connection's usually pretty great, and we rarely exceed the cap.

 

[Happy Toki Toki]

I'm with adam internet in south australia - get about 500kb download on ADSL2+
sometimes its slow but one thing I really need to tell all my aussie friends is that if you update the firmware on your router every few months it can make all the dif

 

[ElNeroDiablo]

Spoiler

Test run on 26/06/2011 @ 10:24 PM

Mirror: iiNet
Data: 3 MB
Test Time: 4.64 secs

Your line speed is 5.28 Mbps (5276 kbps).
Your download speed is 660 KB/s (0.64 MB/s).

Not bad, though I know I can get 850KB/Sec out of an otherwise 1MB/sec (8mbps) connection (the missing 150KB/sec is overhead issues), but that's a rather accurate rep of what I can & do get <side-note: 95% of steam data traffic is Freezone on iiNet's network, in other words it doesn't count towards your monthly bandwidth for nearly every bit of data you send/receive on Steam>.

 

[Treblaine]

Browsing through some of the topics I realised that I don't seem to be the only Aussie with shit internet speeds.

I run ADSL 2+, that's supposed to be pretty damn fast. My computer is connected to my brand new $200 Belkin Modem/Router via an ethernet cable.

Want to know my max download speed? 200kbs...And it doesn't pass about 5kbs during peak hours (4-10pm) (Internet speed tests show that my net runs at about 1.4mbps (during early morning or late at night), the minimum is supposed to be 1.5)

Is it just me or is the internet standard really poor in Australia?

I called my ISP (Optus) and I was told I will never have a speed faster than an average of 70-100kbs because I'm too far from the connection (Approx 7km)

I live in a developed and populated area as yet I'm told anyone that lives outside of 5km from the connection will not get the speed they are paying for but we have to use that connection because its the only one.


I really want to know, does anyone in The US or UK live on the edge of their connections and what your max download speed is?

Also, anyone in Aus, I'd like to hear what your net speed is like.

***{[I am not great with things regarding the internet and speeds, if anyone has tips on making my net faster it would be greatly appreciated, Optus refused to do anything. Also, if I have made an incorrect statement feel free to correct me]}***

Australia has no excuse, it is one of the most urbanised population in the world with 89% of the population living in urban areas so I won't have any of that "but it's such a huge rural country".

I think its problems are with the government and the influential establishment who seem to want to treat the internet the same as television and cinema, failing to realise that it is more than an an information hub, it is a communication hub.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Yeah, mine's pretty good but you'd expect that with 30Mbit/sec cable.

Of course, it's with Telstra (the fucking arseholes) but when the NBN finally gets it's shit together and decent ISPs can offer cable I'll be shitcanning them.

 

[Timmibal]

Want to know my max download speed? 200kbs...And it doesn't pass about 5kbs during peak hours (4-10pm) (Internet speed tests show that my net runs at about 1.4mbps (during early morning or late at night), the minimum is supposed to be 1.5)

That's just fucking despicable. I'd switch carriers just for that. I've heard rumors that Optus sucks monkey balls when it comes to speed but that's beyond pathetic. Have you checked that your wireless broadcast is secured? Maybe someone's leeching off you.

Is it just me or is the internet standard really poor in Australia?

Nope, our internets are crap.

I called my ISP (Optus) and I was told I will never have a speed faster than an average of 70-100kbs because I'm too far from the connection (Approx 7km)

I live in a developed and populated area as yet I'm told anyone that lives outside of 5km from the connection will not get the speed they are paying for but we have to use that connection because its the only one.

Sadly, this is pretty much the case with a lot of old exchanges, Although not to the extent you're experiencing. To be honest, one of the most obvious things you can do is ask your neighbours or people in your general area about their speeds, and if they exceed yours, see which provider they're with.

One of the reasons I'm with iinet is because they got sick of waiting for telstra to upgrade their infrastructure, so they went in and installed their own. Runs like a goddamn dream. Check with them to see if they can help you out.

 

[Tokeism]

Test run on 26/06/2011 @ 10:39 PM

Mirror: Telstra Bigpond
Data: 9 MB
Test Time: 13.46 secs

Your line speed is 5.62 Mbps (5617 kbps).
Your download speed is 702 KB/s (0.69 MB/s).

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I think its problems are with the government and the influential establishment who seem to want to treat the internet the same as television and cinema, failing to realise that it is more than an an information hub, it is a communication hub.

Our infrastructure has never been great but when big chunks of it were privatised things really started going to shit because the private owners, instead of investing in more infrastructure just use scarcity as an excuse to jack up the prices.

For example, I don't think a single power station of any stripe has been built since the rush to privatise started in the late-80s... oh wait... if you want to count wind farms, I think a couple of those went up. Big whoop. Yet the price for electricity is rising somewhere around 15% every year.

 

[RicoADF]

Ive seen download speeds in the mb/sec, having said that my line speed is 35mb+ cable relativly close to the exchange