Internet
Last Updated on Monday, 4 January 2010 09:38 Written by admin Thursday, 31 December 2009 12:11
Internet Speed in Australia
It is often said, by many people, that Internet speeds in Australia are not as fast as some other countries, and very few options are available for unlimited downloads.
However, this is not born out by the figures issued by ZDNet, one of the main Internet speed testing websites in Australia.
ZDNet ranks Australia in position 29 in the world, out of 193 countries, with an average Internet speed of 4,767kbps.
This compares to the United Kingdom in position 35 with an average speed of 4,436kbps.
In reality, both these countries end up looking very much the same.
These figures were based on the average of 215,408 tests in Australia and 331,981 tests in the United Kingdom.
Latest results can be checked at: http://www.zdnet.com.au/broadband/results.htm?show=all
Korea comes in top spot with its 23,546kbps speed.
The future of the Australian Internet
The current Australian government has a plan to introduce a new National Broadband Network (NBN) capable of delivering internet speeds beyond 100Mbps to 90 per cent of the nation, at a cost of about $43 billion.
The current Australian Internet pricing
Telstra is the main wholesaler for most Internet options, but many other suppliers offer better pricing.
As an example of pricing, my provider, aanet, currently offers the following ADSL2+ plan for $39.95 per month (Dec 2009): Speed 24.576 MBs with 75 GB download limit, and an extra 75 GB off peak download limit (Overlimits are charged at $1 per GB)
Internet Providers in Australia include the following;
- 3Mobile – www.three.com.au
- aaNet – www.aanet.com.au Promotion Code: AANET893
- Dodo – www.dodo.com.au
- EFTel – w3.eftel.com
- Engine – www.engin.com.au $50 credit* with referral code: 90025978
- iiNet – www.iinet.net.au
- Internode – www.internode.on.net
- Netspace – www.netspace.net.au
- Spin Internet- www.spin.net.au
- SuperNerd – www.supernerd.com.au
- Telstra Bigpond – www.bigpond.com
- TPG – www.tpg.com.au
- Westnet – www.westnet.com.au
How to find a suitable broadband plan in Australia
Whirlpool have an excellent system to search for the best Internet options in Australia at their website: http://bc.whirlpool.net.au. You enter the details of the service you require and you get a list of the providers and prices of the ISP Plans best suited to your needs.
The controversial Australian Internet filter
Australia is going ahead with plans to introduce the Internet filter, that has been discussed for some time.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said that the new laws would be introduced to ban access to “refused classification” (RC) sites featuring criminal content such as child sex abuse, bestiality, rape and detailed drug use.
Many opponents of this filter are using the term “nocleanfeed” in their opposition, and are concerned about other material also being blocked.
The Australian Sex Party said that blocking RC websites would cut off access to 95 per cent of the world’s 4 million adult websites.
December 2009
- An ABC article on this, dubbed the “Great Firewall of Australia” is at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/15/2772781.htm
A BBC article is at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8413377.stm
Unlimited Internet in Australia
As at December 2009, at least one ISP is being shown on the Whirlpool.net.au list of ISP’s, offering 100% unlimited downloads, but only for their 1512k plan. The cost is shown at $99.95 per month.
Speed Test for your Internet connection:
* Referral credits are subject to conditions.