That Net Site

You may recall my previous post about how I feel that Telstra is discriminating against wireless users.  In hindsight I went about that probably the wrong way.

What I would like to do now is offer a solution to the problem.  This solution is for Telstra to implement a new Broadband delivery method titled Fixed Wireless.

What is very clear to me when I discuss wireless with any Telstra staff member via phone, email or in person is that in general Telstra labels all NextG users as being mobile users and are therefore charged as if a mobile user with overpriced NextG mobile services.  However this is not always the case.

I’d like to propose a new broadband delivery service be setup called ‘Fixed Wireless‘ which is as the title suggests, access to Telstra Wireless (NextG) but from a fixed location only.

The Fixed Wireless service is ONLY made available to households that cannot access Fixed Line services such as ADSL or Cable of which can be verified by a Telstra Technician.

The Fixed Wireless service cannot be used for mobile purposes and is restricted to the physical address of the household location (this may be up to three towers to ensure continuity of service if a tower close by goes down).

The Fixed Wireless service is then priced to match (or at least close to) that of other fixed broadband access services like ADSL and Cable.

If anyone that has a Fixed Wireless service wants a mobile service they can as ADSL and Cable users do, sign up for a mobile service at an additional cost at the current Wireless prices.

I feel the introduction of a Fixed Wireless service will remove the inequality of services provided to those that cannot get ADSL or Cable and will bring about a fairer system for all and choice for all to use what they want based on the plan they choose to use each month.

Please support my request for a new Fixed Wireless service and send a letter or email to the Telstra CEO asking for this to be created and made available. The more that do the more likely that it will be given greater consideration and hopefully implemented.

I have had quite a few people download the 7-zip icons I have created and with that a few comments to say there are missing archives and that it does not work for the 9.x series of 7-zip.

So I have now updated the zip file with new archive formats and I have tested this on Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) and Windows7 (32-bit and 64-bit) with 7-zip 9.15.  I have now also tested the same files on Windows XP Pro 32-bit and it works just the same – so what are you waiting for?  Update your 7-zip icons now

Here is an image showing all the current archives in the set, if I am still missing some let me know and I will eventually do a version 4

7-Zip Icons version 3

Download the Icons (4.58MB), please read the README included in the archive to install properly.

Today Telstra has released a raft of new plans for bundling your broadband, telephone and even your TV.  You can also get a new Telstra T-Box and/or a T-hub which on looking at the plans are a welcome change for Telstra and Bigpond when it comes to value for service.  What is so great also is the increased quota that assists families to enjoy the ever growing rich Internet environment at full speed with 100 and 200GB plans as part of the bundles.

However…

If you are in a rural location that cannot get ADSL or Cable, or if you are in any location where you cannot get ADSL or Cable then you miss out.  The new plans are only for ADSL and Cable customers, so if you cannot get ADSL or Cable you get nothing and are stuck on the high priced and low quota wireless or even satellite plans.  As far as I am concerned this is basic discrimination.

Why can ADSL and Cable users enjoy the full benefits of the Internet while wireless users cannot?

If you want to read more about the new plans have a look here -
http://exchange.telstra.com.au/2010/06/17/higher-data-allowances-for-telstra-home-bundles/

If you are sick and tired of being discriminated against and want to have your voice heard then please sign our petition here – http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/35611/sign.html – and maybe something can be done to improve services for wireless users.  Also if you can write a letter to your member of parliament and ask them to help you get what you deserve, and that is better value for all not just ADSL and Cable users.

Roll on the NBN!

I came across an article yesterday in our newspaper, The West Australian, the article is titled ‘State Axes Country Classes‘ and I could not believe what I was reading.  So to make myself feel better and to be sure I can say I did my part to try and stop this I have written an email to the WA Education Minster Dr Elizabeth Constable (email: Minister.Constable@dpc.wa.gov.au) and provide a copy below of that email for others to hopefully read and also use to send something similar to the Minister.

My email as sent at 8:12PM  WST, Wednesday 17th March 2010

Hi

I came across an article in the West Australian newspaper in relation to Country Schools and that further District Schools will have years 11 and 12 cut from them.

Ref: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/6939882/state-axes-country-classes/

(PDF attached in case the article goes missing)

I would like to get further information please on what this is all about and why Country schools are being targeted like this.  Being new to a rural area with 3 children we are a little concerned with this article  Our three children attend local schools that already do not provide for year 11 and 12, and while we have made plans to get through that I am alarmed further schools will have years 11 and 12 removed.

Why are country children being requested or expected to attend boarding or other similar options to go to school.  Education is key to the start of any persons life, however what is also very important to compliment that is education and social skills through the family directly at the same time.  Like suburban children, country children should be treated the same and given every opportunity to have the same flexibility of choice to be able to live at home while attending school.  By all means if a family chooses to send children to boarding or similar style schooling that is there choice, however removing access to year 11 and 12 classes further removes that choice totally.

If I can quote from the article

‘Students at 21 schools face extra travel or moving away from home because the State Government is phasing out their senior school courses.’

What schools are these?  Has the wider community been advised and consulted?  Why are you forcing people to send their children away from their families when during the years of 11 and 12 that family support is essential.  We all know how much pressure and how stressful years 11 and 12 can be, why are you making it even harder?

‘Education Minister Liz Constable said only district high schools with very low numbers would be affected.’

Again what schools are they, have they been consulted, has the community been consulted, what other options have been looked at?

‘She said students could travel to a bigger school, board at a hostel in another town or study through distance education.’

So your basically saying to people in the country ‘you live in the country so too bad suck it up and move away from your family to attend school’.  Well how else do we take it?

‘Dr Constable told the ABC this morning that the move would provide more opportunity for students.

“It’s not motivated by cost, in fact it doesn’t save very much money at all,” she said.’

If it is not motivated by cost then why do it?  Why disadvantage country children further?  Please I’d like to know the reasons and valid ones at that?  Is there no space available, no teachers available no what?  If they are running now why not continue them if this is NOT a cost issue?

‘Shadow education minister Michelle Roberts said country students would be further disadvantaged.’

And I have to agree with her, which is against my own original thinking (agreeing with Michelle Roberts about anything), but Michelle Roberts is exactly correct in her comment and I find this so bad this single issue will be why I vote against you this next election, even though I have been a liberal supporter for my voting life.  Needless to say I will be publicising this as far as I can get to get others to do the same

Michelle Roberts continues to say ‘She said the former Labor Government had considered the same option but decided against it because it did not want to penalise country families.’

Exactly again, Michelle has won my vote already unless of course you rethink this through.

While I appreciate this may or may not affect my children directly (I don;t know what schools this covers) it does not have to, this affects country children wherever they are and this will only lead to other schools being put into the same position in the future.

I hope you reconsider this proposal and retract your position on this and bring equality to all children no matter where they might live.  Remember it is the children in the country through education and family support that provide for the families in the suburbs.

Kindest Regards

Greg

END Email

When (or if) I get a response I will post back here with that response and hopefully have a positive outcome.

EDIT UPDATE: I got a response, took a while but at least the email was honoured and a reply given.  Basically it covered the fact that the district schools having years 11 and 12 removed are those with little to no students already and are those schools that had (apparently) already been arranged/planned to have years 11 and 12 removed.  It was the usual waffle you can expect from a politician, but to be honest I could not be bothered trying to further debate the subject matter.  I said my piece, I raised my concerns and that is about as much as I can really do.  We will see what transpires with this in the future, if any news of it comes out I will read and review it

If you read my first part on Sea/Tree change you will know that we went through the process of ensuring we were going to make the right choice, and as part of that choice we involved the whole family in the discussion.

The second part of our Tree Change (note no longer Sea/Tree change as we were moving to the country) was to identify where we would like to live, this involved;

• identifying what climate we wanted to live in
• what rough area/location we wanted to live in
• the rainfall in the area/location
• the schools in the area/location
• the services, hospitals and other amenities in the area/location
• distance from family and friends
• location from which a business could be run

These main factors gave us a starting point to work from, we were not looking for an actually property at this point but rather a location we will be comfortable in and do wish to live.  We already knew we wanted to live in the South West of Western Australia (WA) as we preferred the cooler temperatures and cooler nights than what we have now.  We wrote to and research schools in the South West of WA and listed the services and amenities each location had.  One vital component was a local hospital due to my own ongoing ill health.  We made a map of the South West of WA and shaded the annual rainfall areas in on the map and then selected a point we considered central to where we wanted to go and then drew a circle around that to idenity possible town sites we can take a look at as possible locations to move to.  We did not want to live on the coast and we did not want to go too far south or too far east so it was a central location we selected to start from.

Map of the South West of WA

Area selected

This gave us the starting point and so we then started to go out for a drive each weekend to look at possible locations.  As can be seen by the larger map, this was some 250 odd kilometres away from Perth so it was a day trip each time as we drove into a town and then ventured out from the town to have a look around at the land.

We quickly decided we did not want to live close to the main highway (South West Highway) as the amount of traffic was too high for our liking.  We also wanted to make sure the house that was on the property was complete and was not too old and needed little to no work.  With water also being an issue, as in most places there is a dependancy on water tanks for water, we also had to make sure the selected property had plenty of access to water.  The property had to have some acreage but not too much, neither of us want to be farmers but we would like to have room for a few animals such as horses, sheep and maybe even a few cattle.

Our driving around the areas soon made us feel we really did want to make the tree change and the kids also loved the areas we visited.  Each location we visited we marked down what was good and bad and then afterwards contacted local services such as schools to get more information about what was and what was not available.  The main issue for schools was the year 11 and 12 at high school as most high/middle schools in nearly all towns only went to year 10 and then the kids had to go to another school for year 11 and 12.  During our extensive research it was decided that Manjimup Senior High School will be the preferred school for our kids for year 11 and 12 due to the fantastic reputation and school record.  We then had to make sure where the bus service would go to so our kids could go to that school, this then reduced our range a little more which started to make the choice of possible living locations easier.

After several weeks of driving around we came across Boyup Brook, it was a little east of where I was thinking but we quickly felt this was a great location to live in, and it was on a second visit to the area we located a possible property to buy.  It was by chance the owners of the property noticed us looking at the property and invited us onto the property to take a look around.  It was 33 acres, had a tidy renovated home placed on top of the hill with magnificant views all around, plenty of water from an underground spring, massive dam, and council approval for chalets to be built on the property if you wanted to start a holiday style business, it was easy at that time to feel this would be the place for us.

To ensure the children liked Boyup Brook we took them out of school for a day and went back to Boyup Brook and showed them around the area and past the property we liked.  We drove around the adjacent areas, past the schools, the swimming pools, the sporting areas and so on and stopped and had lunch.  They like us felt a connection here.

We then went about arranging to visit the schools on the next visit to take the kids through and have a look at the schools.  This happened a few weeks later and the schools were quiet, small class sizes and the staff very pleasant and happy.  It was something our kids noticed as well as they commented on how happy everyone looked, teachers and kids.  Asking our kids later could they see themselves going to school there they said yes and this sealed it for us as this was our location of choice.

You may have noted that the above is written in past tense, this is because we are already living in Boyup Brook, I just had not made a post for quite some time (refer to my last post).  I will make another part of our Tree change soon, so bookmark my site now and come back soon.