[MLB-WIRELESS] WiMAX to go Australia wide?

[Tony Langdon, VK3JED]

At 12:15 AM 6/20/2007, Dean Collins wrote:
>Yep totally agree about bandwidth monitoring for residential internet
>access in Australia being outdated - though I think this is more an
>issue around lack of competition than actual base charges.

Guess I didn't make that part of my argument clear, but I agree in 
that I also believe lack of competition at the 
wholesale/infrastructure end of the market is the root cause for the 
huge price differential.

>And yep you are right - no reason to host locally in Australia, far
>cheaper to hire bandwidth in the USA (though again I think this is due
>to increased competition more than anything else).

Agreed on both counts.  More and more of even my own personal stuff 
is moving offshore, because of the affordability and bang for the 
buck.  I would rather host locally, but quite frankly, I can't afford 
it, except for freebies from friends in right places and the little 
bit one's ISP gives you.  Surely that statement should serve as a 
warning to the Government regulators and the incumbent locally - 
there IS competition, and for many services, people CAN use that 
competition.  Keep going down this road and other than a pipe to get 
people on, there will be no local hosting, just fibre and routers, 
with all the content coming from overseas...

>I'm finding a real 'mind shift' in the last 12 months when I help my
>Australian clients about 'right sourcing' resources.

We did some testing from a couple of US providers and came to the 
conclusion "It's gonna work fine".  On the personal level, I've had 
virtual servers hosted in the US for a couple of years.  Beats paying 
for a much more limited "business grade" DSL connection or getting 
only 5GB/month transfers included (I'm getting 128GB on one service 
and 100GB on the other) on a locally hosted virtual server.


>Whether a web site is hosted in Australia, USA or Europe doesn't really
>matter. Likewise when dealing with internet delivered intellectual
>property it doesn't matter where the 'ip ownership' is incorporated.

Agreed.


>A number of countries offer various advantages depending on your
>requirements.

True.


>REPEAT AFTER ME - THIS IS NOT ABOUT TAX EVASION.
>
>This is simply that should you be developing a technology that doesn't
>require physical delivery of anything then you have the freedom to
>choose the domicile of that intellectual property asset.

That's true.  I myself have also embraced the concept of virtual 
presence.  I don't give out my fixed landline number any more, it's 
too hit and miss and people then have to work out my 
movements.  Mobile helps, obviously, but what's even better is I have 
a series of IP based DIDs.  Currently there are:

Melbourne - for locals to call
Melbourne - fax number, faxes sent to that number get emailed to me 
as PDF files.
Boston, USA - For access from the US - via a US VoIP provider.  Got a 
wrong number on this one once, didn't have the heart to tell the poor 
guy where I was! :-D

I can add other DIDs as I need.  I may consider a UK based DID for 
friends based there to get hold of me in the not too distant 
future.  Just have to do a bit of research as to what the best area 
code would be to get. :)  Other US DIDs may pop up as well, depending 
on demand.

That way, the DIDs follow me around and the people I do volunteer 
work with in the US have a cost effective way of getting hold of me 
from a standard phone (fixed or mobile), as well as via SIP.


>When dealing with anything on the internet you need to ask yourself does
>this really need to be located here.
>
>EG does my call really need to be answered in Sydney or does Singapore
>make more sense. Or if I'm responding to my clients email questions can
>I deliver these out of the Czech republic faster/cheaper/better etc.

Indeed.


>As for bandwidth access, I think a lot will change in the next few years
>- as you are not really reliant on your ISP for email, spam control, web
>hosting or even voip services there is a real opportunity for fat dumb
>raw IP pipes to deliver everything you need and then for you to chose al
>la carte as to which vendor provides you your other services.

I do agree things are heading in this direction.  Already, many 
people don't use their ISP's email service - they have a Hotmail, 
Yahoo or Gmail account instead, same for web hosting, and most other 
services I can think of.  Bundled services are of little interest to 
me as it is, just give me a nice fat pipe and I'll source my services 
where it suits me best, something I have already been doing for the 
past few years. :)   My VoIP provider also encourages this sort of 
outsourcing "mix and match" way of working, which is one reason I've 
stayed with them and not gotten around to setting up my own Asterisk 
box - they're reasonably priced and very flexible, to the point of 
allowing me to setup up dial plans that go via other providers from 
my SIP account.

73 de VK3JED
http://vkradio.com