Westvic Broadband...

So I just noticed.

Boy, do you think I could d/l them on a 56k dialup??

Hell no. In fact, whenever I connect to the net it's always around 31.2k to 33.6k. Usually get d/c about every 2 mins. It's a joke. Connected with Datafast/Eftel, whatever they calls themselves these days.

Waiting for Westvic Broadband to get wireless out my way. According to the website that should be sometime over the next 12 months.

I'd go ADSL or something, if I didn't live about 30kms out of Warrnambool.


Westvic Wireless would be awesome if their prices weren't so frickin outrageous. $92.40 for the entry plan of 256kdown/64kup and a 2 GB quota is a absolute joke and i won't even start on the $440 installation fee and thats on the Federal Governmant's HiBis gimmick...err.... scheme. rumours are flying about in Whirlpool (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=218054) that download allowances will increase over the months ( i should hope so!!) or may even go unlimited. you say your about 30kms outside of Warrnambool, unless it's Port Fairy your in you have no chance of DSL so maybe if the exchange supports it where you are ISDN maybe the ticket. for a few dollars less than what Westvic offers you can hook up with Telstra unlimited ISDN account and still enjoy benefits like low latency connecions (good enough to play most games online) and still take or make phone calls while you are online. sure it's not as fast as DSL but it's a hella lot quicker than 33.k dial-up!

I think I recall Jed mentioning that they may eventually plan on going with unlimited down if they manage to get enough interested clients.

Sks will prob know something about it, if he doesn't mind letting us know??

HaMz, Unfortunately for me I live out past Allansford, so there's no chance of DSL or even ISDN. Having said that, the bloody Naringal Exchange is getting updated to ISDN, but I'm not on that exchange. I'm on the Mepunga East Exchange. Damn Mepunga East, hardly anybody even knows where it is.


Also when you sign up to Westvic , if you live within 3-4 kms of one of their POPs then it's like $99 setup fee, which is a big improvement on the $440 kick in the teeth.

u cant really knock them for supplying wireless at that sort of price tho hamz, i know its dear when directly compared to dsl, but its not dsl equipment and its not a dsl connection, it would be more appropriate to compare it to sat (its prolly still cheaper for sat i dunno lol) but yeah, thats all im sayin there.

i think its also more aimed at gettin rural businesses connected before its aimed at those annoying residential peasants like punda :P

on another note - in regard to ISDN, last i ever knew anythin of isdn is there was several charges involved with having such a connection, ISDN line rental, call fees, and data fees, is it one flat rate nowadays?

ISDN is horrific - so many hidden costs.


ps. sat interenet prices are set to drop significantly over the next year - equivilent to ADSL prices

Sat probably is the worst for gaming. you get pings of 600+ when playing games. Sat is only good for solid connections when downloading or web browsing. With gaming, your constantly ping the server and pinging over Sat is BAD!

If you live outside of 3.2kms from the Main Exchange (That supports ADSL) ISDN is the only option imo.

saiyan, are you including 2-way sat in that statement, im just wondering because i know sat normally has 56k backchannel which is what makes it sucky for starters, is sat sucky all by itself?
(what a fkd up paragraph lol)

and havent they increased the exchange radius some more, or is 3.2k the increased amount?

2 way sat is -alright- for gaming. currently telstra has some issues with its infustructure. you'll get about ISDN pings. 100 / 110 in a decence game with decent netcode.

ISDN is horrific - so many hidden costs.

Like what?? you pay $45.50 / Month for 2 line rentals, $whatever for the ISP you choose and a $16.50 capping fee (this doesnt apply if the ISP you choose uses Data Over Voice (DOV) and that's it. you don't even have to pay for the calls to connect if you use bigpond ISDN as your ISP. so tell me where the hidden costs are????

I ps. sat interenet prices are set to drop significantly over the next year - equivilent to ADSL prices

Sat is sh!thouse for gaming. period. doesn't matter whether it's 1 or 2 way. latency is wayyyyyyyyy to high 1 way and it doubles on 2way

If you live outside of 3.2kms from the Main Exchange (That supports ADSL) ISDN is the only option imo.

i agree with you saiyan that isdn is the only way to go if adsl is unavailable to you but reality is you can now go a lot further than 3.2km from the exchange to get ADSL. I have heard reports that ppl up to 6kms away have adsl. it really has nothing to do with distance but the signal loss on your phone line. in fact Telstra has made changes taking effect from today that anyone who has a loss on their line up to 60dB should now be able to get adsl. SO anyone who has been knocked back because of transmission loss too high should now reapply again. they *may* be in for a pleasant surprise.

the latency for two way sat has always been shit and it will take some serious shit to get lower pings, and i still believe 3.2kms is the common rule for a 1.5mb line from the ADSL line routers.

The formula is 13.81db loss /km so at 3.9k =53.85db on current limit 60db you would almost fail. Meaning 6k is too far it will exceed 60db loss.

And yes telstra are installing new equipement for places such as Allansford and Woolsthorp, but if you live in new devolpements out near whites rd and dennington you cant get adsl. (Those new develpoments and places where the infustructure is weak(like 6kms away), telstra use a RIM (Remote Integrated Multiplex) pair gain module or Loading coils(signal booster), meaning the RIMS run up to 30 lines of a single pair, making it impossible to run an ADSL service to those properties.)

So sometimes maybe only certian ppl can get ADSL up to 6kms but there speed may be slower that 1.5mbs, thats if their line is not being shared through other properties due to a lack of infustructure.

whoa whoa whoa. hang on. my cus in hamilton has 2 way satalite thank you and gets 110 ms pings in CS....

_and_ helstra charge you alot more extra to use the 2nd BRI channel on your ISDN connection. something that they neglet to _tell_ most ppl when they sign up - asif 90% of ppl read EVERYTHING in an internet contract - and thats what they are banking on. PLUS - as per experience - if u live in koriot and u want to make any phone call... BANG! STD charges even for local.

ok, my bad..lol

this thread could be split to its own topic i reckon - weve so lost the topic ;)

but on another note - when i was at sundale road i managed to get dsl connected and i was on a RIM there, but they did some jiggerypokery to get me a direct line or somefin and all was well. whatever they did, they cant do it for ppl over there anymore apparantly :)

yeah, i had a browse at some various posts on the net and their is some very pissed off ppl at telstra regarding these RIM's.

Its a real 'cbf' device that telstra thought it would be good.

but on another note - when i was at sundale road i managed to get dsl connected and i was on a RIM there, but they did some jiggerypokery to get me a direct line or somefin and all was well. whatever they did, they cant do it for ppl over there anymore apparantly :)

ahhh, sounds like they did a transposition for you sKs. telstra will do this IF there is any spare copper (which runs direct to the exchange) nearby. if not your application would have been unsuccessful with the reason stated "alternate path not found" also they will try and do the same for any poor bugger whose line is pair gained. at least i think this is how it works. Either that or the RIM there had a minimux installed, supposedly telstra are upgrading a bunch of RIM's around Warrnambool on September 20th according to their wholesale homepage. I assume they are putting minimuxs in 'em. could be wrong though.

The formula is 13.81db loss /km so at 3.9k =53.85db on current limit 60db you would almost fail. Meaning 6k is too far it will exceed 60db loss.

don't know. some ppl on other forums claim to be well over 4km's away from their phone exchange and still get DSL. ive also heard that the the thicker the guage on the line in question, the less transmission loss that will occur.

whoa whoa whoa. hang on. my cus in hamilton has 2 way satalite thank you and gets 110 ms pings in CS....

until i see this in person i still regard this as total bs. the huge latency from satellite comes from the signal having to be either sent or received thousands of kilometres upwards, cos of the huge distance it takes time and that's where the latency / lag comes from. sure you can game on sat, if you are going to play internet chess ;)

_and_ helstra charge you alot more extra to use the 2nd BRI channel on your ISDN connection. something that they neglet to _tell_ most ppl when they sign up - asif 90% of ppl read EVERYTHING in an internet contract - and thats what they are banking on. PLUS - as per experience - if u live in koriot and u want to make any phone call... BANG! STD charges even for local.

again, absolute nonsense. how long ago was that damo? must have been ages cos things have changed. the only timed local calls are data based calls. local voice calls are untimed and remain at 17.5c. telstra are now making isdn affordable for as many as possible cos they know damn well about the mess DSL is in and how many ppl who applied for it have been turned down and are using unlimited cheaper ISDN as a "quick fix"......i myself have gone over their TOC for ISDN and find nothing about what you have mentioned. oh and lmao @ nobody reading the contract before signing up. the dumbasses deserve the problems they get for not doing so eh?

mehhhh - i think that's enough, before this becomes a Silencer sized post!!

you already done a silencer-sized post there hamzy :)

as for damo, he usually aint talking bs, more likely misinterpreted info or somethin of the like.

i know when my boss was using isdn before he had adsl, it cost him near $1/minute for a connection to the net, not going to argue bout it, dont care if it changed, but thats all i knew of isdn. that it had that call rate (data) plus line rental crazy high pricedness, and then the internet plan as well!

im headin to bigpong for a read now, im guessing things have changed a little...

as for damo, he usually aint talking bs, more likely misinterpreted info or somethin of the like."

yuh i think i went a little overboard with that last post, sorry damo :(

still, i have not once once in my 8 years online have seen a single sat service that can deliver such low pings, damo are u sure your cus is not on a wireless or microwave link? because a 110ms latency sounds more realistic on that then the 600-800ms response times i have seen typical to a 2-way sat.


i know when my boss was using isdn before he had adsl, it cost him near $1/minute for a connection to the net, not going to argue bout it, dont care if it changed, but thats all i knew of isdn. that it had that call rate (data) plus line rental crazy high pricedness, and then the internet plan as well!

mhm, i know ISDN used to be the most insane rip-off and not viable for home and residential users but after some careful reading @ bigpond it appears all this has changed. now a lot more affordable and i still believe telstra have done this because it would be cheaper / easier to implement this than try to get ppl who ineligible for DSL onto that.

256k / 64k unlimited $59.95

now available through westvic braodband

Must have read what you said Hamz :P

lol tommy. maybe they did :P because it sure didn't take long to change.

niceeeeeeeeeeee

now just for the painful wait until they service the Warrnambool outskirts areas.

Booo yahhhhh!!!!

That's more like it

Now I've just gotta wait for Nullawarre to get all wireless-ed up!!!

I love all you guys!!!!!

I'm not gay...I'm just happy

;)

Hmmm, I live maybe a bit less than 20kms away from Allansford. So there is the slimmest chance that I could get wireless from there.

Only problem with that is that we would get hit with the $440 installation because we are more than 3-4kms away.

As for Nullawarre, we *should* be between 3-4kms as the crow flies. But no idea how long it's gonna take for Westvic to make wireless available there.

I don't think I can take any more waiting. I want wireless now!!!

Think you can get a hibis rebate as well. That should help with the install fees. You would have to ask.

_and_ helstra charge you alot more extra to use the 2nd BRI channel on your ISDN connection. something that they neglet to _tell_ most ppl when they sign up - asif 90% of ppl read EVERYTHING in an internet contract - and thats what they are banking on. PLUS - as per experience - if u live in koriot and u want to make any phone call... BANG! STD charges even for local.

again, absolute nonsense. how long ago was that damo? must have been ages cos things have changed.


last time i delt with ISDN was 6 months ago

I have got Westvic's wireless installed, so far very happy, have played online cs:source & hl2dm getting pings around 30-40

Hasn't dropped out once, but a 5gb cap for me only lasted me 2 days and i hit it :D

But it's constantly downloading at 18k-30k with their 64k cap so it's cool still play online quite fine :-)


Very happy recommend it, btw one of my friends now has it at koroit !!!!

sweet stuff, i never expected pings to be THAT low on wireless, especially on a game like HL2!!!! on isdn with telstra my pings suck. anywhere between 70 - 200 ms depending on what game server and how many are on. can you use smoothwall or a similar type of hardware firewall on it? im guessing that you cant but if you can i would love to hear how its done.

Iv'e got my little smoothwall box right here :-)

runs like a charm

they are using pppoe so should be a breeze in a 2nic green+red smoothie

what speed is it? 1.5MB? 512?

1.5mb connection usinf PPTP :-)

nasty!!

Just signed up for it myself (hehe kinda like sleepin with the enemy... im an IT slut I know no allegiences. I've always said I'd make a deal with the devil himself to get broadband in Koroit).

Can't wait for it, should arrive sometime this week.

Thought it was cool you get a static IP to. Makes it a little easier for playing with web stuff I spose, though it is piss easy with dynamic domains anyhows.

Does really increase the need for a decent firewall tho.

I'm tempted to run a 3 nic smoothwall (red + green + orange) and run a web + email server in the DMZ for the hell of it.

Hmm i've got two chices of connection methods - a cisco 1600 series router (i've ummm 'obtained an IOS version that fully supports the PPPOE protocol on ethernet interfaces) or a smoothwall & can't make my mind up. Any suggestions?

I guess I'll benchmark em both wen I get it but anyone got an opinion?

My guess is that the router will be faster (mainly 4 gaming) as it's more of a hardware solution but gives me less flexibilty + no proxy.

and run a web + email server in the DMZ for the hell of it.
Brave man....

everyone at morb8 had a taste of westvic broadband :) the internet access that we had was free thx to them, the beauty of wireless is that they were able to wack a connection in for us for the weekend :D

as for u manny, it prolly depends more on whether u want a pc runnin all the time or just a lump of metal u can flick on or off when u want. if thats no prob then the flexibility of smoothie will make it more fun to use :D

another to look at may be SME Server (http://contribs.org/modules/phpwiki/index.php?Downloads) - i used this for our intranet server at morb8 and it worked very well.

and run a web + email server in the DMZ for the hell of it.
Brave man....

...lol I deserve that :roll:

Thanx scullshot, il have a looksie...

...had a look over the last few days & I realised I've used it a few years ago when it was called e-smith. Definately has improved since then! Though I think it lacks in the firewall & proxy side when compared to distros like smoothwall and IPcop.

Has anyone used "clarkconenct"? I'm guna download it 2morrow to have a play. Check out http://www.clarkconnect.com/ for more details.

Looks a bit prettier & got cool features like antispam for the email side of things & heaps of free additional modules for stuff. You can even install webmin for more customisations without upsetting the main web interface.

ive used clark before, altho not in a while now... i probably looked at clark when you were looking at e-smith... i may go back and have a look at clark again tho now...

ur right that sme isnt a better alternative to smoothie / ipcop, but its the flexible variant... im basically running sme behind smoothy as a print/file server for the lan and web/mail services to the outside.

hey is iinet trustworthy?

the deal were getting is:

light
without iiphone $59.95 1500/256 5GB + 5GB

any hidden fees anyone knows of by any chance.

60 is pretty expensive for a 10gb plan imo.

it would be too expensive if it were a 256 or 512k plan but 10 GB on 1500k for $60 a month is fair, even Netspace charges that price for the same deal. there doesnt appear to be any hidden fees from what i have seen, they just throttle your download speed to 64k once you have exceeded your quota.