From today, around 3,000 of our Wi-Fi enabled payphones across Australia will offer free Wi-Fi access to anyone, with work already underway on the rest of our 12,000 payphones to provide free Telstra Wi-Fi over the next few years.
After you connect to a Telstra Wi-Fi network for the first time, your device should automatically connect to other Telstra Wi-Fi hotspots too.
That's almost as fast as NBN!
Ironically they’re using the NBN
Skymuster*
My NBN never goes past 970Mbps on speedtest.net 😓
Edit the M to a G in your MyNBN.cfg file. But be careful — I once left my computer on overnight and accidentally downloaded the entire Internet
He didn't, hence, AWS people are looking to borrow some space from him.
NBN was supposed to be Telstra, but after privatisation of Telstra (thanks to Howard), it is now the worst part of Telstra :(
(thanks to Howard)
thank Bob Hawke and Paul Keating for starting all the privatisations.
the ALP never did anything wrong ever.
We wont forget…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Commission_into_the_Home…
@macrocephalic: I mean this…
Royal Commission says insulation deaths were fault of the government’s program
https://theconversation.com/royal-commission-says-insulation…
@jv: Personally I think the government was only negligent in underestimating the stupidity and greed of businesses in the modern day.
The 4 Deaths caused by working in a hot roof and staples hitting electrical cable is generally something that is self evident, the business owners were clearly more at fault and should have gotten far more jail time.
You cant say insulation isn't needed in many homes around Australia, just a shitty implementation of "rules and practices" that should have been self evident.
Personally I think the government was only negligent in underestimating the stupidity and greed of businesses in the modern day.
They did nothing to prevent this, just encouraged them…
Then Rudd pushed Peter Garrett in front of a bus to sweep it under the carpet.
@jv: If I hire a builder to fit some insulation in my roof and they put an untrained apprentice on it who gets killed, is it my fault for encouraging them to do the work? That builder has legal obligations to ensure the safety of their staff, regardless of how big the job is or who the customer happens to be.
@noisymime: According to jv, it's all your fault. Both for encouraging them, then not regulating them.
Who would have thought he was so keen on regulation?
Then Rudd pushed Peter Garrett in front of a bus to sweep it under the carpet.
I’m trying to visualize this.
@MilkDrinker: I knew one installer, was on Centrelink at the time, had no training, but was helping install insulation, however was being paid cash by the installer. Mind you, it's a job that involves common sense.
There was a lot of dodgy work being done by companies at the time, and most jobs were being charged the maximum amount at the time.
Sadly, Peter Garrett watched his mother die in a house fire when he was young
@BewareOfThe Dog: To be fair I don't think it's all just common sense, roof cavities are shitty places to work and especially with dodgy wiring I think a short 1-2 day safety course could do leaps and bounds for preventing similar issues from happening (as well as accidental ceiling damage).
@MilkDrinker: Excellent FACTUAL response. Thank you for taking the time to write this. The thing that both amazes and disappoints me is that ppl choose to ignore this FACT and continue to make the conversation about Liberal vs Labour!
Guys we don't care what party you support… Why don't you just accept a factual statement that holds true across ALL business types which is greed always takes precedence over safety of workers.
It's not really that complicated. If you can't agree on that then you're weak minded and easily manipulated by political propaganda so are a good candidate for Putin's war machine so please go to Russia so he can put you in a tank and you can go to Ukraine looking for all those Nazi's he'll tell you that live there.
@jv: Yes they privatised CBA that was not monopoly & Howard privatised the golden goose Telstra as monopoly (all essential infrastructure on the isolated island that needs comms instead of WMD - aka as Western propaganda ;)
Yes they privatised CBA that was not monopoly
What share did they have of the market?
The banks in Australia then were an oligopoly…
@jv: If you understand economy (LNP don't) it's not about market share but essential infrastructure & natural monopoly like water supply. Howard created artificial competition via Optus but never worked as the Telstra mum&dad shareholders were sticking to patriotic protection of the past common network provider getting $100s in shares & losing $1000s.
Different if the wholesale part was privatised but infrastructure kept as essential national asset.
Left to the private sector the nation will not be served properly as they will ignore the non-profitable regional areas.
Similar to strategic education, police, etc. Public hospitals do the hard work & the private take most of the profits (thanks to Howard ;). Crazy capitalist world.
The best privatisation would be for the government so we hire overseas contractors & kick them out as soon as they show incompetence, not after 3-4 years ;)
@jv: LNP care about finance only (for the capitalists) not the management of resources, so the whole community functions like effective system. Human capital does not get immediate financial benefits but makes the system more capable to function effectively long term - Planning is not capitalist strength. Eg taking loan is financially short-term negative with long-term benefits if well planned. All major infrastructure was invested by Labor mostly.
TheCovid showed how ineffective the system was.
The LNP conservatives act like selfish father that eats all the food because the kids don't contribute financially to later realise that has not invested in the future, so the SYSTEM fails like now in the west :(
Long story short - this forum is about consumerism, so your turn to spend your money (I'm just Systems Thinker).
@taki: ‘Government’ already practically is privatised. They do a laaaaarge portion of their job through the big 4 consultancy firms. There’s barely anything left to outsource.
@jv: Holy false equivalence Batman!
The ALP privatised assets in industries that were and remain competitive. Telstra was a natural monopoly and poorly privatised with insufficient checks and balances.
Telstra was a natural monopoly and poorly privatised
LOL. I remember paying $8 per minute for an international call when it was public, now it is 1.8 cents per minute…
@jv: I have literally no idea what your point is here… Yes. Telecommunications these days are a fraction of the price they used to be all over the world. In places with public monopolies and private competition.
@jv: Do you have literally any other data point than "telecommunications got cheaper"? Because that's a spectacularly weak argument… They got cheaper everywhere in the world due to incredible technological change. Public or private, everywhere in the world got cheaper telecommunications. Those without monopolistic entities like Telstra certainly did a lot better though…
@jv: yes how much we have saved. Much like the lies about the SEC. It'll drive down energy costs. Now Australia lags behind nearly every SE Asian country on base load, yet it pretends to being a high-tech (enormous energy consumption) nation.
privatisation of Telstra worked…
This statement speaks volumes about the level of your comprehension.
who started selling off the family silver? Hawke and Keating with the banks- remember they used to STATE banks like the State Bank of which under Cain was renamed from State Savings Bank of Victoria. Between 1991 and 1996 the Australian Government fully privatised the Commonwealth Bank- Hawke and Keating.
Tricontinental eventually collapsed with losses of A$1.5 billion, which threatened the existence of the State Bank and led to its sale to the Commonwealth Bank. The overall sale price was A$2.0 billion. Started by 41st Premier Labor John "I'm not a crook" Cain
The collapse of the State Bank was a key factor in the defeat of the 42 Premier by Joan Kirner and the election of the Liberal Party led by Jeff Kennett, at the 1992 Victorian state election.
Since Kennett we haven't had a decent premier- someone who actually built Victoria UP, just hand-wringing pearl-clutching retards like Brumby (Melbourne Grammar Old Boy) and Banks who appeal to the blue collar yobs and bogans and now Communist Politburo and Troika member Dan "God I love a dictatorship with secret deals to the CCP" Socialist Left Komrad Andrews.
Labor- never trust them- in UK Heath was a pedo, Wilson was in with the Unions, Callaghan was as bad as Scargill leading to UK almost begging to IMF, then Thatcher being blamed for what Labour had already torpedoed and violent militant unions going against their members and striking. Then Blair- fellator of George Bush, Gordon Brooon Brown (sold of UK's gold at historical low price).
Just like US Democrats- sell the nation off to the lowest bidder for a kick-back, no war they've ever disliked (who got US involved in Vietnam- that'd be Labor's US counterpart LBJ). Next time the power's off- blame Labour and the swivel-eyed Green lunatics because of the wedge-tail eagle killing wind mills (more like lose mills) and the unicorn rainbow beam solar photovoltaics. Ahem 300 years of base load 45% efficient++ (Siemens has 70% efficient lignite-fired turbines on supercritical steam) energy with scrubbers separating the carbon and oxygen bond of CO2 at 800 degrees. Abundant hot rocks. Abundant uranium and thorium.
is it no password and unlimited data?
Cool back to ADSL, pretty sure pings are great too
Deutsche Telekom, Nokia achieve 10G speeds over copper. "G.fast technology brings 1 Gb/s over copper" APRIL 28, 2016 08.36 broadbandtvnews.com
Hears Keating "clever country" eerie crow calls echoing through the badly managed, fire ravaged forested areas of Australia like Poe's "Nevermore" raven.
Guess they are desperate to keep their free advertising signs in public areas.
I can’t recall, is this the reason they are still in place.
I wonder if yellow pages are still printed.
Yep, we got one a few weeks ago - although about a quarter as thick as its former glory.
I wonder if my parents still pay for their listing - they were a few years ago.
@grasstown: I can confirm that your mum's listing in the adult services and entertainment section is still there.
I guess that means the authorities need to use something else now when softening up a suspect?
Perhaps by listing isn't in there.
Not happy. Jan.
A lot of people seem to forget how important it is for free wifi AND free calls to anywhere in Australia:
Dad can’t pick them up?
@ireadtermsofuse: Go to Gippsland- I'll find you a cow's teat to sippy cup farmer. Best cream outside UK.
If they have lost their phone free wifi won’t help.
@entropysbane: It's not the wifi but the free calls that will help, assuming of course you remember at least one phone number.
Or a teens confenscated mobile phone
Much agreed, but who these days remembers actual phone numbers?
Yeah this exactly. To be honest, I'm not sure I'd know where a payphone is in that instance but I can definitely think of times where I would've used one.
Remember once when my phone died, I couldn't transfer money for the bus into my account to get home. Anyway so I walked 1-2 hours to get back. When home my dad asked me why I didn't just call him on my mobile to get a lift.
There's obviously a lot more chargers around now and my phone battery life is far better than it was but even if I came across a payphone I wouldn't have been able to use it (without the old 1800 reverse trick but then I didn't want them to freak out when I couldn't pickup my phone).
yep, important but other than your own.. can you name a phone number off by heart?
Yellow pages are (70%?) owner by a US private equity firm.
They are a dying business.
I believe they want to get rid of them actually
Edit:
https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/docume…
They get paid $40m pa to maintain the entire payphone network. I'm honestly not sure on the scope and scale of these things but tbh that sounds awfully cheap to maintain a nationwide network.
A nationwide network of 15000 phones ($2.6K for each phone).
To be honest that doesn't sound too bad considering all the infrastructure involved. I can't imagine the call statistics are great (cost per call/minute would be interesting to know) but I wouldn't be surprised if it's been a bit of a lifeline for a good number of people.
That's less than $2 per person.
Thanks that's really interesting, I think it's good value.
Bingo! One of the biggest scams in Australian history.
They're required to under their Universal Service Obligation (USO). But it's partly funded by tax payers& other telcos
https://amp.smh.com.au/business/companies/telstra-s-rivals-t…
I suspect they want to use them to help cover 5g gaps in places like malls. Flick across to wifi when the network has congestion
Telstra would happily shut down the payphone network. These things cost far more to maintain than the revenue being generated.
Kind of like ATMS…
or Alan Joyce
I thought it's already been around for more than 6-7 years now with their Telstra Air?
Air is gone and now it's free for anyone
Air is free in Australia, but the quality of Air in China is bad, so you can buy better quality packaged air. Much like we do with bottled water.
You must've been breathing fart filled air to post such a random comment like this. I think the poo particles have crossed your blood brain barrier.
Ok, Aloysius O' Hare
Purchase a house near one of these. Free WiFi for life
Or a public toilet
Surely there are houses/apartments with all three!
Had one that was close enough, its not good enough to run a house from. Maybe one phone checking facebook lol.
Just wrap foil around the 3 shoes not facing your place.. You'll have it to yourself
what was the range? I know someone who's about 50m with a clear line of sight to one, wondering if it will work for them
two storeys up and it was out the front, didnt measure but wouldve been less than 50m as the crow flies.
Last time I tried Telstra air it was like 6 Mbps… still excited about this deal though.