Telstra suffered a taste of Optus' woes last week as an upgrade for its Next G mobile network went awry, cutting customers' speeds back.
Mobile carrier 3 has made a push to expand its third-generation (3G) mobile coverage, announcing plans to extend its 2100MHz network, and taking the lid off an agreement to use parts of Telstra's 850MHz Next G network for roaming.
Today Optus announced plans to expand its 3G network coverage next year to 98 percent of Australia and will bring mobile speeds up to 42Mbps by 2010, in a direct challenge to rival Telstra.
Telstra has withdrawn its appeal against a Court ruling which found that it engaged in "misleading" and "illegal" conduct in its Next G advertising, following a decision by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) which disputed claims about the coverage of the network.
As Telstra prepares to close off its CDMA network at the end of the month amidst concerns over customer migration to Next G, industry observers have said that after the dust settles the new network could hold promise for bush users.
Optus, Vodafone and Three have long struggled to match Telstra's reach outside the capital cities. Vodafone's major network upgrade is the best chance yet to dilute Next G's rural monopoly, but questions remain.
Many Australians are drooling at the prospect of 100Mbps broadband, but Trujillo seems to have a bigger endgame in mind. As Telstra poaches customers from the PSTN and NBN, he'll leave more poison pills than we've seen since Phar Lap.
Telstra's 21Mbps Next-G boost and Internode's new 100Mbps FttH networks may be both companies' show ponies, but when it comes to helping most of us, their need-for-speed posturing is just a box-and-dice distraction that we've all seen before.
A while back, frustration with my inability to get online outside of the office drove me to invest in a 3G data service from Hutchinson's 3. For $30 per month, I get 2GB of data that's accessible pretty much anywhere I go (I do all my work in metropolitan areas).
For all the horror stories of farmers left stranded by the shutdown of the CDMA network, there are plenty of success stories.
Is it finally time to ditch Optus' buggy network and go back to the dark side? Is it time to take my iPhone to Telstra's Next G and hang my head in shame?
Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo will leave Telstra in a better position than when he arrived in 2005, but his successor will have to manage plenty of difficult legacy issues.
Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo's successor will need to make conciliatory gestures towards the government and reconsider the company's strategy to remain relevant, analysts have concluded in the wake of this morning's announcement that Trujillo will depart the company on June 30.
In his role as Telstra's chief executive, Sol Trujillo is the most talked about and controversial telecommunications executive in Australia. ZDNet.com.au sister site CNET News.com sat down with Trujillo during a recent trip to the US to quiz him about wireless and handsets.
Independent video series Two-Minute Mobile satirises Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo's time so far at the top of Australia's largest telco in this short film.
Check out our reviews of the Next G mobiles that Telstra recommends for use in rural areas.
NetComm Turbo 7 Series Wireless Gateway provides an easy set-up, good coverage and modest speed. While this system gives you the advantage of portable wireless gateway, wireless services are less reliable and cannot match ADSL2 speeds.
The TU500 isn't going to win any fashion awards, but underneath its pedestrian skin lurks a highly capable Next G phone.
Telstra's prepaid wireless broadband offering is good for casual browsers or those who'd rather avoid dodgy Net cafes, but beware there's a pricing sting to be considered.
Telstra has unveiled an upgrade to its Next G mobile high-speed data network that it claims has delivered download speeds of up to 2.3Mbps at a range of 200km.
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