Re: [chat] (no subject)

[Jon Biddell <jon@xxxxxxxxx>]

> > well I am sure people are aware of the recent Telstra changes. I can 
> live with
> > 3 Gig but having to watch myself (and the other 5 people on this one cable
> > modem) is not easy. At times I want to sporadically download a gig may 
> it be
> > KDE's new release or a distro or something.
>
> Yeah, the new data charges are a bit of a pain, but not much we can do about
> it... except start a wireless network.

Hmmm... Not so - there is some doubt as to the legallity of Telstra's 
changes - if you signed up for an "unlimited" accunt, you could reasonably 
expect to receive that, regardless of the changes that Telstra make to 
their Terms and Conditions - they can' of course, discontinue the 
"unlimited" account after your 12 month subscription expires.

Someone just needs to take the bastards to task (or to the ACCC) over it.

As for their comment that they will "not publish changes to the Terms and 
Conditions unless it is considered in the best interest of the customer", 
that's crap. They are legally bound to publish any changes that are made, 
and BEFORE the event.

To give you an example of the way they try to screw the consumers, I 
receive a twice-daily SMS of traffic conditions in Western Sydney, that is 
free. Or rather, the first service you get (traffic, horroscope, stock, 
etc) was free, and any subsequent ones cost $0.30 each. Fair enough.  But 
then they changed it so you had to pay for ALL of them, and if you changed 
your free one it became chargable. This message was worded something like 
"as of x, your PocketNews is $0.30 per message, and your free one becomes 
chargable if you change it". This ws sent out at 4pm the DAY AFTER the 
charges came in. Had many people have known this, they would have changed 
their free one to something more useful BEFORE the deadline, but Telstra 
sought to notify everyone in retrospect. Not legal, by any means.

> > I have been reading about these localized wireless networks in metro 
> areas for
> > the past year and I find the idea very interesting. The most organized
> > information and network seems to be seattlewireless:

This is a great idea for a community-based connection, or even just for one 
to be shared anongst friends... Problem with it is that it probably 
breaches the Terms and Conditions of almost every ISP / broadband vendor 
out there.

For example, I have an almost permenant connection to my ISP (www.fl.net.au 
- shamless plug !!) that I have used for over 5 years. Because of this, and 
the fact that I have sent them some business over this time, they do not 
cur me off at the 5 hour limit like others (that, and I'm on theur older, 
more expensive $50/month plan !!). My next-door neighbor wants to get on 
the net, as does his daughter who is at the othger end of the street. I've 
done some tests, and I can wireless-network between out 3 houses with no 
problem - I can also set up masquerading (and have done for my local 
network) and get them email accounts with my ISP for $8.80 a month, and 
they can use my connection to do it.  Problem is, if I got caught (by the 
ISP), they'd probably pull my plug, given that they are a small company and 
need all the income they can generate, etc.

Telstra / Optus, while fair game (IMHO), would probably do likewise.

> I am aware that there are security issues and you can't protect a wireless
> network from being accessed and it would be open to any person who wants to
> access it. I still think its limited internal uses are great and would 
provide
> a good service for the Sydney area.

Hey, wot about us country types...:-)