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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Petition launched as sparks fly By Rachel Lebihan, ZDNet Australia June 07, 2001 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/soa/Petition-launched-as-sparks-fly/0,139023165,120228480,00.htm
A growing band of disgruntled Telstra broadband clients, who've had downloads capped to three gigabytes a month, plan to petition the telco. The petition, which has topped 700 signatures in just one day, is a response to Telstra's move to restrict downloads on its Freedom Plan -- a service that users claim Telstra led them to believe was "unlimited". As of October, users that surpass the three gigabytes a month mark will have to pay 18.9 cents per megabyte of additional downloading. The individual behind the petition is Adrian Sobotta, Webmaster of www.broadband.org.au. "I believe in the merit of the argument," he said. "Three gigabytes a month is hardly what you'd expect from a broadband connection." "To be fully classed as a broadband connection you need to have either speed or downloads uncapped," he added. Telstra now restricts downloads on its Freedom Plan as well as capping speed, according to Sobotta. Sobotta, who says Telstra is "killing the broadband culture", hopes to accrue in excess of 1500 signatures. "The more [signatures] there are the greater the impact," he said, adding that he intended to print off and post the petition to both Telstra and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in about a week's time. Whilst Sobotta's ultimate aim is to see unlimited downloading returned to Telstra's Freedom Plan, "a more realistic expectation may be [for Telstra] to bring in a system to monitor downloads," he conceded. In this way Telstra could ration capacity rather than capping it and advise users who overstepped the mark. The petition can be found at www.broadband.org.au/bpapetition.php
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