Coastal Computers & Design Blog

Broadband - Get the facts straight BEFORE you sign up!

by Andy Turner

In this article I’ll discuss broadband connections, what they are, the kind of plans available and what to look out for before signing up.

Firstly, why is broadband so expensive - or is it?
Australian users have to absorb the cost of building cross-pacific pipelines like the Southern Cross Cable which is in itself over 30,000 kilometres of multi-core fibre optic cable. Even after these pipelines are built, Australian companies have to pay American networks for the ability to access the internet. But, dial-up internet connections can be more costly than you think. You could be paying anywhere between 20 cents to one dollar per day with local phone calls to access your provider (that adds up to between $6 and $30 per month). The reality - as in most things - is that there’s no such thing as a ‘free lunch’ (or ‘free’ broadband, despite what the ads say). Broadband internet access will cost you anywhere from $30 to $130 for a Gigabyte of download capacity… yes, there is that much difference between plans and companies - and the big telcos can’t (or won’t) provide the lower pricing - but more about that later.

Ok, but what’s a Gigabyte & why can’t we get unlimited downloads like dialup?
Right - this bit’s important to grasp, so pay attention class!
As stated above, your ISP (internet provider) pays for the data that flows through their network and so they have to pass on this charge to the end-users. One Gigabyte equals one thousand megabytes - and this means around a thousand million characters of information, like a single letter for example. Sounds like an enormous amount doesn’t it? Well, yes it is, but to put things into perspective:

* Downloading emails with largish photos attached consumes around 1Mb each
* Web surfing (ie: viewing webpages) consumes about 10 to 30Mb (megabytes) an hour
* Watching streaming video (like YouTube) consumes about 50 to 75Mb or more an hour

So, while 1000Mb sounds like a huge amount of data - an average family will usually consume between 300-600Mb a month without too much trouble while families with teenagers (who just LOVE YouTube) will be lucky to get away with under 2-3Gb a month!
As you can see above - data is downloaded whenever a webpage is viewed or a video is watched. It doesn’t just apply to downloading programs or music, virtually everything you do on the internet consumes data and it is this that you ultimately pay for.
Finally - the speed of your broadband connection controls how much data you can consume in a given time. So, for example the absolute fastest you can consume bandwidth on a broadband plan with a 512kbps speed cap — under normal circumstances — is about 220 megs per hour. A 256K speed plan can therefore deliver around 110Mbs per hour.

Right - but which plan is best and why do the amounts that I get ‘free’ vary so much?
Here’s where the average consumer is easily fooled with the power of ‘persuasive advertising’. Marketing ploys start at ‘1/2 price broadband for the first 6 Months’ and go to silly extremes like ‘Free Broadband’ - yeah right, sure we believe you don’t we? Unfortunately many do believe them, and couple that with clever telemarketing and mail offers - it isn’t surprising that many, many people get ’sucked-in’ to signing up for plans that they don’t understand.

Here’s an example - and I don’t have an axe to grind with Telstra (Bigpond) or OptusNet or any other of the big players out there in the market - all I want you to understand is the way the plans work and why in many cases their offerings just don’t meet the needs of the average consumer.

Let’s look at Bigpond’s $29.95 a month 256/64k broadband plan - they have offers that change every so often ranging from free months or half-price months etc. but the basic plan remains relatively unchanged.

Firstly - and why this is important will become clear later in this article - this plan can hardly be described as ‘broadband’. Sure it’s 4-5 times faster than dialup, but in world terms it ain’t broadband, sorry. ‘Real’ Broadband starts at around 512/128K and even that isn’t considered broadband in many countries. Sure, it’s splitting hairs and many customers are very happy with this speed plan especially compared to dialup speeds - but it’s worth pointing out. Secondly, the amount of data that is included ‘free’ in this plan is 200Mb (or 0.2Gb) per month. Again, some customers will manage fine with this amount of data - provided they severely restrict what they do online.
Watching YouTube videos 3-4 times a week for a few hours? - NOPE forget that.Using the clever GoogleEarth to travel the globe for a few hours? - NOPE, sorry forget that. Spending hours talking on Skype to your daughter in Scotland every few day? - again, NOPE and not just because of the cost. VoIP (voice over the internet) requires a 128k or faster connection and the ‘64′ in Bigpond’s 256/64 plan means that your modem can only send at that speed which means that your voice will very likely sound very ’stuttery’ to the other person on the end.

Now, while I say NOPE - what I mean here is no - unless you are happy to pay through the nose to do this. Every single megabyte over and above the ‘generous’ 200Mb is charged for at around 15c per Mb. What does that mean? Well - if for example you just consume double your monthly free data then you will get socked another $30 on top of the $29.95! To add to this problem, Bigpond also charge you for the data you send them - now, unless you regularly send large email attachments like videos, this only amounts to around 5-10% of your download data. But, 10 percent is 10 percent and most other ISP’s don’t charge for this at all and it does mean that you need to take this into account each month when calculating how much you will likely use.

In summary then, this kind of plan really provides you with a broadband ‘capability’ rather a broadband ’service’. This type of plan may well suit your needs fine - many elderly people for example just want the convenience of internet access without tying up the phone line and only use the internet for email and a bit of internet browsing. But for many people it won’t meet their needs at all and this is what I object to in the advertising. Sure - advertise it as a ‘budget’ broadband by all means but don’t insult our intelligence by selling it as something it isn’t. My favourite analogy is ‘it’s like having a Porsche in the garage but you can only drive it on Sundays and then only in 2nd gear’!

Right - I understand that, but can you recommend a plan that will suit my needs?
Well, I could - but I’d guarantee it would be out of date by the time I’ve finished writing this! There are literally hundreds of ISP’s around the country with a miriad of plans to choose from, but here’s my recommendations of what to look for when deciding:
1. Go for a minimum of 512/128k download/upload speed - as discussed above, any less and your ‘experience’ will be less than thrilling and VoIP will be impractical.

2. Try and find a plan that provides at least 1Gb (1000Mb) per month of free download data. Any less and there isn’t really any point in having broadband unless it’s just the convenience you want.

3. Find a provider that ’speed caps’ rather than charge you extra if you go over your monthly allowance. This means that your monthly bill is always the same but your broadband will be cut back to around dialup speed if you do exceed your limit.

As I have said, there are hundreds that will provide these kind of plans - at prices ranging from around $30-$40 a month. I tend to look for more well-known providers that can also provide a reasonable helpdesk service. Not much point paying $10 less if you can never get through to someone if you need help! Having said that, my experience with some well-known (and with heavy advertising budgets) ISP’s has been less than good either, so size is not always a good thing.

Here’s the bottom-line. Broadband isn’t rocket science - it’s been available for years and we should all be able to access an honest, reliable service provider for it. We shouldn’t be deceived or lied to about what we are getting for our hard-earned money and we should be able to compare ‘apples with apples’. To help with that check out these websites:

Australian Broadband Guide * Whirlpool’s Broadband Choice (my pick)

Finally - these are my opinions. Honestly, I do get tired of explaining broadband to my customers at least 2-3 times a week, so maybe I can point them to this article! Whether you agree or disagree is up to you, but if it stimulates discussion and means you investigate the topic further then I have achieved something.

Andy Turner owns Coastal Computers & Design - visit his website for computers, service and support.