O.K..... As an American who lived in Sydney for almost a year... I have to say -- WE ARE TOTALLY SPOILED in the USA with ISPs. We have speed, bandwidth and CHOICE. Remember that board game Monopoly? Telstra is the big MONOPOLY in Australia. It says on Wikipedia that they are an example of a legal monopoly.
What? Isn't that a contradiction in terms? Maybe not in Australia.
They own the lines that all other ISPs rent from in New South Wales, which means, they easily outcompete them, because they take their sweet time in processing orders for competing companies...i.e. turn the switch on.
It doesn't matter which ISP you go with in Sydney...they have to get Telstra to get the lines working, and hook them up, which means you get crappy service whether you go with Telstra, or not. With Telstra, you might get faster speed in internet, but you pay for it. I cannot tell you what a nightmare it was trying to get internet service working at our apartment.... how many phones calls routed to far away countries where they can find tech support for cheap, to people who do not communicate in English or with each other. It's an abomination. All I could say was...can we please import some American lawyers to go bat shit on their ass with some Anti Trust laws?
I don't know Australian law, but I would hope they have anti trust laws. Seriously...we have lawyers to spare. We could bring them to Australia and help you guys out with the internet. read more