Broadband News

Wed, 27th Jan 2010

iiNet stars as lone ranger in filter blackout protest

ISP iiNet has blacked out its website for 24 hours to protest the Government's filtering plans, a sole voice of protest from within the ISP community.

Source: iTnews Australia

iiNet v AFACT: Ruling fast-tracked to next week

The ruling on the landmark copyright case between Perth ISP, iiNet, and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) is expected to be handed down next week.

Source: ARN

Internet blackout 'only the first step'

The Great Australian Blackout is in full swing this week, with over 180,000 unique visitors to the site, 150,000 of which just in the last three days. But the organisers of the campaign are already looking to new protests.

Source: ZDNet Australia

LTE performance: bad news is good news

A blog post by Scandinavian research firm, Northstream reporting 'disappointing' performance after informal testing of the world's first commercial LTE network received wide publicity, but the firm has since watered down its criticisms.

Source: iTWire

Tue, 26th Jan 2010

Websites fade to black in censorship protest

Hundreds of websites joined an Australia Day "internet blackout" today to protest against the Government's web censorship agenda, but even the internet industry body believes it will do little to lessen the Government's resolve.

Source: SMH

Mon, 25th Jan 2010

IIA: Funding needed for ISPs to crack-down on unruly spammers

The Federal Government may be asked to fund an upcoming code requiring Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to crack-down on spamming computers.

Source: Computerworld

Greens go black for internet filter protest

The Greens will join more than 500 other websites in fading their webpage to black in protest against the federal government's proposed internet filter.

Source: Australian IT

Australia Day internet blackout protests filtering

Electronic Frontiers Australia today announced that over 500 Australian websites will be "blacked out" in protest against the Rudd government's mandatory Internet filtering scheme.

Source: APC Magazine

Next G broadband price now below Broadband Guarantee threshold

As iTWire forecast last year, the latest round of price cuts to Telstra's Next G wireless broadband service has the potential to greatly reduce the number of Australian homes eligible for subsidised services under the Australian Broadband Guarantee.

Source: iTWire

Analysis: Why mobile broadband needs femto nets

A sophisticated ecosystem of femtocell home base stations will be required to achieve the next big leap in mobile broadband performance, according to wireless chipmaker Qualcomm.

Source: iTnews Australia

Call to cut net link on virus-hit computers

Computers infected with viruses could be "expelled" from the internet under a new industry code to control contaminated PCs.

Source: Australian IT

Sun, 24th Jan 2010

Australia leads world in time spent socially online

Facebook, Twitter and other social based internet systems saw massive increases in usage through 2009. Despite having some of the best weather for getting outside, Australians lead the world in spending time on social networks according to The Nielsen Company.

Source: iTWire

Sat, 23rd Jan 2010

Lundy plays good cop to Conroy's bad cop

Much has been made, both in December and recently, of a blog post by Labor Senate member Kate Lundy, a backbencher, in which she appears to differ with the party's policy on internet filtering.

Source: iTWire

Fri, 22nd Jan 2010

Could NBN leave Rudd Iridium-faced?

The NBN has never lacked critics arguing that it will be too expensive and will be irrelevant for millions of Australians already serviced through other means. Yet even as ACMA reports an explosion in wireless broadband, can we assume this growth dilutes the case for the NBN? Some have, but not all are convinced.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Nextgen to unveil blackspot offer by Feb

Nextgen Networks managing director Phil Sykes this week said the company would unveil product details for its "regional blackspots backhaul" network by February.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Senator Conroy defends Internet filtering and criticises Chinese censorship

Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has supported the American Foreign Secretary, Senator Hilary Clinton's criticism of China and other countries that censor the Internet.

Source: ARN

Pipeline strong for Pipe Networks

Pipe Networks was on track to turn over nearly $100 million this financial year following a strong result in its first half, it said.

Source: iTnews Australia

ISP, Internode, appoints Board member as CIO

National ISP, Internode, has appointed Frank Falco as its CIO after an 18-month on its Board.

Source: ARN

Alcatel-Lucent scores regional NBN deal

Mainland Australia's regional broadband traffic will be carried over Alcatel-Lucent's optical fibre network as part of a $250 million initiative to link blackspot areas to major centres.

Source: Computerworld

Thu, 21st Jan 2010

EFA's anti-filter campaign dumps No Clean Feed slogan

Electronic Frontiers Australia will relaunch its anti- internet filter campaign in two weeks to broaden its appeal among non-technical Australians, and will dump its No Clean Feed slogan in favour of a message with more mainstream appeal.

Source: iTWire

Is telecommunications a shonky business?

Last year the telecommunications industry set new records. Record complaints to the TIO. Record complaints from the ACCC. Why are telecommunications companies getting it wrong?

Source: ZDNet Australia

Internet heading for 'perfect storm'

Attacks on the cloud could cause major global outages and the service providers are now quietly worried at the potential for chaos, a survey of the sector has found.

Source: Computerworld

Broadband roadshow outlines products

NBN Co chief Mike Quigley fielded questions about finer details of the $43 billion government-backed broadband project.

Source: Australian IT

Wed, 20th Jan 2010

Telstra sits on Next G speed boost

Telstra has switched on a "dual-carrier technology" speed upgrade to its Next G mobile network, according to a staff member who outed the move on Twitter.

Source: ZDNet Australia

Carriers and ISPs fear rise in DDoS attacks in 2010

The number one problem facing carriers and their customers over the coming year will be botnet-driven distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, according to Arbor Networks' fifth annual security report.

Source: iTnews Australia

Tue, 19th Jan 2010

Primus Telecom considering mobile telephony spectrum bid

Primus Telecom could enter the mobile telephony market if the spectrum the federal government has identified as having potential commercial value goes under the hammer.

Source: The Australian

IPv4 addresses to be exhausted by 2012

Only 10 per cent of the entire IPv4 address range is still available and businesses need to start preparing for the switch to IPv6 within the next two years, according to the Number Resource Organisation (NRO).

Source: PC Authority

Internode releases battery-powered 3G

Internode has today announced it is selling the MiFi router - popular in America - that allows a 3G connection to be shared via WiFi to multiple computers.

Source: APC Magazine

Tasmanian Govt uses NBN to attract data centres

Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett has revealed plans to leverage the national broadband network architecture to become Australia's data centre hub.

Source: iTnews Australia

NBN Co now looking for satellite providers

Nbn Co is looking to satellite network operators to provide capability statements for the satellite service requirements of the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Source: Computerworld