1000/50 NBN plans launching Friday, Aussie Broadband announces pricing
Telstra launches Australia’s first mmWave 5G device, but there’s only 3 towers enabled for it
Sitting federal Senator suing a former Geelong councillor for a lame tweet
This dive in to TPG & Vodafone’s merger documentation is more interesting than it sounds
Cheap Nokia 2.3 phone, Kogan Mobile 90-day plan, Fallout 4 GOTY & 15% off Sonos gear
Aussie Broadband is the first ISP to let loose their pricing for NBN's new 1000/50 speed tier that'll go live on Friday. Those on FTTP will be able to get a 1000/50 connection with unlimited data for $149/m. Unlike other NBN speed tiers (e.g: 100/40), this new gigabit plan is "best effort", with no promises you'll actually be able to get 1000mbit/sec, particularly during peak times. Aussie's boss Phil Britt reckons "the plan should achieve off-peak speeds of up to 80-90%" and is giving a conservative evening peak estimate of around 250mbit. Some HFC users will also be able to get 1000/50, but it's not known yet which HFC users can sign up. I guess we will find out on Friday!
You can now buy a mmWave 5G device from Telstra. It's a mobile hotspot thingy called the 5G Wi-Fi Pro that cost $599 and operates on the n258 (aka 26GHz) spectrum band - pretty high compared to the 700MHz & 850MHz we're used to with 4G and the 3.6GHz in use at the moment for 5G. The upside of 26GHz is that you can pump heaps more data through it as there's more capacity (aka fatter chunk of spectrum), with the downside of higher frequencies having a harder time working indoors or over long distances (lots of base stations!). Telstra haven't mentioned the type of speeds to expect but overseas mmWave deployments of 5G operate at around 1-2gbit/sec. Don't get too excited though, as there's only 3 towers in Australia with mmWave and spectrum for mmWave 5G won't be licenced until 2021.
Senator Sarah Henderson is suing Jan Farrell, a former Geelong councillor that she reckons operated a Twitter account called @Geelong_Elite that said the Senator (then an MP) should be in jail with a dodgy Photoshop of her in a fluro orange prison uniform. Jan Farrell claims she was overseas at the time the tweet was published (what a pissweak excuse), but the Senator hasn't given any proof that Farrell owns the account. First of all, lol. Second, is this the first time a sitting politician has taken someone to court for defamation over a tweet? Imagine how deep into the shit we'd be if politicians could sue you for talking crap about them online. Basically all of Australian Twitter would be cooked!
Continuing with the telco theme for today's issue, Chris Duckett has an in-depth article about the technicalities of TPG and Vodafone Hutchinson Australia's (VHA) merger that's a really interesting look at all the contracts and arrangements these telcos had in place to operate in Australia. From a financial standpoint, VHA is buying TPG, will rename itself TPG and list itself on the ASX. The Vodafone brand name was actually licenced for use in Australia by VHA for $27.5m/yr. Kogan Mobile and Lebara (about 3% of VHA's revenue) are also brand names licened by VHA that VHA operated internally. TPG may or may not keep those brands around. Also according to the merger documentation, TPG loses $17.17/m in margin for every user that migrates from a TPG ADSL plan to a TPG NBN plan. Ooof. Weirdly, Vodafone still operates a pager network in Australia, that has 2,500 customers and makes $11/m revenue.
Nokia 2.3 Android One smartphone (I think locked to Telstra) - $129 at Big W
15% off Sonos speakers & soundbars at Myer
90 day Kogan Mobile SIM with 20GB to use each month - $14.90
Fallout 4 Game of the Year Edition - $10 at EB Games
🎶 Lucky - PNAU & Vlossom
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The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.