Dog and Bone News

The Issue with BlackBerry

Thu, 17 May 2012 02:02:00 GMT

The real problem with BlackBerry is the cost.

Ever since Verizon’s CEO Lowell McAdam didn’t say that the mobile market is crying out for a third ecosystem, and that BlackBerry wouldn’t be it, the writing has been clear on the wall for everyone to see. For all that the line was actually uttered by someone else, and was widely misreported, these things gain an internal momentum of their own. It hardly matters. The industry has known it for some time anyway. In a few short years, Android and Apple have utterly captured the smartphone market, and RIM’s previously dominant position has become a dim memory.

If it wasn’t clear from the sales figures, it can be observed – or heard – in the increasing volume with which BlackBerry’s loyal users defend their preference. Amateur users post extravagant corporate recovery plans almost hourly. RIM just needs to simplify its suite of products, it needs to abandon touchscreens, it needs to ape IBM’s business model. Of course, there are a number of reasons why iPhones and Androids are preferred as devices – they’re easier to use and let you do more stuff – just as there are a few areas in which BlackBerry remains superior, such as security and management. But one thing few people seem to mention is cost.

Dog and Bone has a great deal of experience in this area, and our results across a range of clients have shown that rolling out a BlackBerry solution is on average two to three times more expensive than an equivalent iPhone solution, if starting from a neutral position. By neutral position, I mean those companies that don’t have an existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) in place. These figures hold true for businesses that spend $50,000 per year as for those that spend half a million. Given the choice – and as an independent consultant we take great pains to outline the manifold benefits and shortcomings of every solution – our clients very rarely choose to go with BlackBerry, and when they do its it usually reflects an existing culture within the organisation.

The reasons for this are not difficult to fathom, and mostly come down to the cost of licences (CAL), the ongoing cost of BlackBerry plans (which have hardly lessened, while mobile data costs for rival platforms have plummeted), the cost of acquiring BES, and in many cases the costs of the devices themselves.

BlackBerries do less and cost more. This has been the case for some time, but the inherent advantages of RIM’s products – security and stability, foremost – are beginning to erode. In most cases these advantages are no longer sufficient to offset the far higher costs involved.

From that point of view, it’s hard to see how RIM could possibly turn its fortunes around by either playing to its own strengths or by competing directly with iOS and Android. Luckily, it’s not my job to work it out.

Telstra to Switch Off Shared 3G Network

Thu, 10 May 2012 05:42:00 GMT

On August 31 2012, Telstra will shut down its shared 2100Mhz 3G network.

Telstra currently operates this network in metropolitan areas via a sharing agreement with Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA). The existing agreement with VHA is being terminated, and the network will be decommissioned. The spectrum will be made available for future services, such as 4G.

Telstra is advising that all customers still using 2100Mhz 3G devices or handsets - and it is unlikely that there are many of them - will be unable to access certain features once the network is switched off. If for whatever reason you are a Telstra customer using a 2100Mhz device, you'll be tough out of luck, and will need to either purchase a 850Mhz device (Next G), or move to a rival carrier, if you are particularly attached to your old device.

Telstra hastened to add that calls and SMS will remain unaffected.

A Victory for Fair Calls

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:47:00 GMT

ACCAN has announced success in their Fair Calls For All campaign!

ACMA has announced that from January 1, 2015, calls from a mobile to a 13, 1300 or 1800 number with be either free or charged at a fixed cost comparable to a local call. This is a significant victory.

The Fair Calls For All campaign - of which Dog and Bone was a part - aimed to reduce the excessive costs incurred by mobile users calling 13 and 1800 numbers. Every time you dial a taxi, call Centrelink, or call a bank, the chances are very high that you are calling a 13 number.

13 and 1300 services are designed such that fixed lines calling them will only incur a 30c cost (on Telstra - other carriers may vary slightly), with the rest of the call's cost being absorbed by the business that runs the number. However, on a mobile phone, these calls are charged at the standard national call rate, including all flag falls. On a typical 'Cap' plan, this will typically result in a flag fall of about 35-40c, and a call rate of 80c - $1 per minute (ACCAN's touted $1.78 per minute was pretty unlikely, to be frank). These calls are also usually charged in either 30 sec or 60 sec blocks, which is considerably more expensive than per second billing.

This means that the costs of accessing essential services could be exorbitantly higher for users that don't have a landline, which is more and more people. I was personally affected by this. Earlier this year our home was burgled - which was bad enough - but dealing with the insurance became even more painful. Across the length of our claim, my partner and I spent approximately eight hours on hold to the insurance company, which of course uses a 13 number (as it should). Since we don't have a landline, and because we are very aware of using our mobile plans sensibly, we were compelled to call the insurance company only when we had access to a fixed line, such as at work, or visiting the houses of friends or family. otherwise the call costs could grow exorbitant. It was frustrating.

I am a telecommunications analyst, so naturally I have awareness in this area. Other do not. It is not uncommon for users to go over their caps, generating exorbitant bills, just from being stuck calling essential services such as Centrelink. Often these are among the most vulnerable members of society.

The success of the Fair Calls For All campaign is thus a significant victory for consumer rights, and ACCAN is to be congratulated.

Turnbull Attacks the NBN, Again

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:32:00 GMT

The Shadow Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull has unleashed his latest diatribe against the NBN.

Typically, it is long on words, short on figures, extensive in supposition - the whole thing is festooned with 'ifs' and 'maybes' - and sharply unfocussed. It's worth a read, if you interested in this kind of thing, although don't expect to find any of the much-requested elaborations on the Coalition's own broadband policy. He does defend this fatal shortage of detail by pointing out that Senator Conroy didn't reveal much prior to the 2007 election (for which he was condemned by the then-government). It turns out the rules are different for governments and oppositions - which we knew anyway.

Otherwise, everything he brings up in the article has been addressed many times already. As I've mentioned before, it is not unlike the climate change debate, which cannot be permitted to move forward because the same vested interests keep asking the same questions, no matter how many times they are answered. It wouldn't matter if the people asking the questions could be ignored, but too often they are in a position where they have to be patiently answered, again and again, with serious consequences, even as they display no interest in the answers. Turnbull claims for example that the NBN rollout is behind schedule (it mostly isn't), but somehow fails to mention that his parliamentary filibustering contributed in no small part to those delays.

M2 Buys Primus

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:41:00 GMT

The big telco news of the week has been the purchase of Primus Telecom by the M2 Telecommunications, for $192.4 million.

I believe M2’s buy up of competitors can now officially by termed a ‘spree’. They have already acquired People Telecom, Commander, Bell Networks, Clever and a host of others. However, none of these purchases was on a scale like Primus (Commander cost about $19 million).

Primus is a respectable player in the Australian telecommunications and data market, with corporate clients including Hungry Jacks and Payless Shoes, and a fibre network that reaches over 60 Australian cities. Primus has over 500 employees.

Upon announcing the acquisition, M2 shares suffered their biggest fall in four months.

Telco Consumer Code to be Rejected

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 23:55:00 GMT

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) looks set to reject the Communications Alliance’s Telecommunications Consumer Protection (TCP) code.

There has been no official word from the regulator, but they have given the clearest indication yet that the TCP submitted by the industry’s peak body – Communications Alliance – has failed to address the core issues stipulated by ACMA following its extensive Reconnecting the Customer inquiry last year. Speaking at the CommsDay conference in Sydney, ACMA chairman Chris Chapman remarked that while the TCP represented an improvement on previous efforts, it still fell short on three of the five stipulated core areas:

Clearer pricing information in advertisements allowing consumers to more easily compare services
Improved and more consistent pre-sale information about plans
Developing meaningful performance metrics which allow consumers to compare providers
Tools for consumers to monitor usage and expenditure
Better complaints-handling by providers

No decision has been reached, although Mr Chapman conceded that the revised TCP ‘did not meet expectations’.

The aim of TCP, viewed generously, is for greater simplicity in plan pricing, more transparency in pricing comparison (including unit pricing), and more powerful tools for monitoring and controlling spend. There is the hope, fervently held in some quarters, that empowering consumers in this way would see a drastic reduction in incidences of Bill Shock, which has become so nefarious that it cannot be mentioned except in upper case.

The cynical aim is that the industry’s appalling reputation within the broader community can be somewhat repaired. The political aim is that it will get the regulator of their backs. By those lights, it appears to have failed. To be cynical ourselves for a moment, it was difficult to see how an industry desire for self-regulation would see them do anything but the bare minimum, although, by the reckoning of many, they have fallen well short of that.

ACMA’s original statement was that if the industry could not address the five core areas, then it would be faced with direct regulation, which would be far more costly for the telcos. The Australian Communications Consumer Action Group (ACCAN) was part of the committee that originally created the TCP. Yet they announced in February that were voting against the code, arguing that it fell short in all five areas. It appears ACMA has reached a similar conclusion.

However, of all the Communications Alliance’s oversights, this is arguably not the worst. More egregious is their decision to settle for a two-word name, thereby debarring themself from a fancy acronym. While there are rare exceptions – such as British Petroleum – acroynms based on fewer than three words just never stick. ACCAN, ACMA, ASIO, and CSIRO have all refused to comment.

That BYOD Sweet Spot

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 07:13:00 GMT

There comes a moment in many business practices when something that lots of people were doing anyway becomes sufficiently widespread that it is suddenly christened. If that practice is particularly unremarkable, the choice for naming it is either to come up with something cool-sounding that will itself require explanation - I can recall my disappointment at discovering what 'negative-gearing' really meant - or to burden it with an acronym. The goal, in each case, is to pretend that a practice that has been going on for years is thrillingly new, and that it therefore deserves commentary, analysis, and strenuously-wrought policy.

Fitting this trend perfectly is BYOD. It sound snazzy, and everyone is suddenly talking about it, even though it just means bringing your own phone or computer to work. BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device, and was therefore crying out for an acronym as much as, say, Pretending Stuff is a Big Deal (PSBD). In fact, I am typing this on my own laptop, at work, and am therefore part of the groundswell for this new movement. It's strange, but I don't feel cutting edge.

Since lots of people are now talking about BYOD, it was inevitable that opinion would divide sharply. Here's a pronouncement that BYOD as a practice is fated to pass. Meanwhile, this article declares BYOD to be 'unstoppable'. Both appeared within the last four days. There's no denying this is a hot topic.

Its heat derives from the inherent security risks involved. Allowing employees to bring their own devices (and use them, which is the real issue), means that company data is inevitably being accessed by devices that the company has limited control over. Depending on the device, and on the company, there are any number of possible solutions, although some are so draconian they might as well just ban the devices. The issue with all of them is that they seem to become unworkable for larger companies, particularly when we move in to enterprise class organisations. The potential security risks are just too great, and addressing them requires ever greater management and man-power.

One of the toughest suggestions I've seen is that employees should be forbidden from downloading apps from iTunes or the Android Market (Google Play) on their own phones. If the idea is to be able to bring your own device - the very essence of BYOD - then how can you stop someone downloading whatever app they want? In what sense is it truly their device? A smartphone upon which you can only install business apps authorised by your employer - well, that sounds just like a business phone that your employer has gotten you to pay for. This is the rival complaint sometimes levelled at BYOD, this time by the 'bringers'. When an employee is obliged to bring their own device, but is then severely limited in their freedom to use that device even outside of office hours, it can just seem like a cynical ploy by business to shift the mobility cost on to the employee.

The most commonly-voiced solution is for organisations to build their own secure apps, that employees use to access company data. The issue with this is that building apps is not that easy - in fact, it's incredibly easy to build an app with more security flaws than you're trying to close. The other issue is that it is expensive, and time-consuming.

There seems to be an impasse here. It's reasonable for a business to want to protect their data. It's reasonable for a person to feel like they can use their own phone how they want to. Using your phone however you want to - such as accessing iTunes - compromises business data, through the potential for malicious apps to be installed. As far as I can see, no one has yet come up with a way of reconciling BYOD to a large corporate environment. The most effective security provisions require specific configuration of each specific user-brought machine, whether it is a smartphone or a tablet or a laptop. However, the larger the organisation, the less reasonable this undertaking would be. The key to a mobile workforce is mobility, and having your IT department chase these users around to regularly reconfigure each device can be a nightmare.

This is not really a issue for smaller businesses. For starters, being small they don't have that much sensitive business data, and are rarely targeted for corporate espionage. Secondly, due to their size it is far more likely that all users know each other, and that every device can be assessed on a case-by-case basis. It has been overwhelmingly my experience that BYOD is most effective in the SME environment.

More Bandwidth for Australia

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:31:00 GMT

The submarine cable that provides the main international data connection between Australia and Japan is set to double its capacity this year.

The imaginatively named Australia-Japan Cable (AJC), which is co-owned by a global consortium including Telstra, will increase lit capacity from the current 320Gbps, adding another 320Gbps on the Australia-Guam link, and another 240Mbps on the next hop to Japan.

This has been done with new hardware boosting its capacity from 10Gbps wavelengths per fibre pair to 40 Gbps per fibre pair. The cable was launched in 2001, with an anticipated maximum capacity of 640Gbps. However, AJC anticipates that the cable capacity will be increased to 1,000Gbps at some point after 2013. (It's amazing what can be done, once fibre is laid.)

The aim of this upgrade is to service a near-exponential growth in data demand in the Australian market. Large jumps in available data have typically flowed onto Australian customers in the form of increased quotas on current plans, rather than reduction in costs. Internode (and therefore iiNet?) also leases capacity on the AJC.

New NBN Report Outlines Future Data Demands

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:10:00 GMT

A new report into the 'prudency' and 'efficiency' of the NBN's design and technology by UK-based ICT consultancy Analysys Mason has concluded that Australia's coming FTTP network satisfies all initial criteria, is adequately future proofed, and reflects best-practice.

The report, which can be downloaded here, goes into a reasonable detail about the future requirements of the any such network. It projects that by 2015 internet speed requirements for the average household will be approximately 90Mbps, to account for two standard definition television services, and a concurrent internet service of about 30Mbps.

Within another 10 years, households would be demanding at least 300Mbps, for faster internet and multiple high definition television feeds. By 2035, however, that demand would climb to almost 1Gbps per household, in keeping with anticipated ultra-HD television, and a concurrent internet connection of 300Mbps.

The report anticipates that these speeds may well be achievable initially via upgrades to the existing Gigabit Passive Optic Network (GPON) architecture, which is the network architecture that NBN will use to serve residential customers. PON networks offer a point-to-multipoint solution, meaning that a single optical fibre can service multiple users (currently 32-64, but increasing over time), via unpowered (passive) optical splitters.

Later developments would likely continue with GPON, but would require a dynamic reconciliation between wave- and time- division multiplexing, which is still many years away. The report anticipates that this may be possible by about 2025, and is therefore a very long-term prediction.

Nevertheless, the constant in all this is that by laying fibre now, and running it into every building in Australia, future performance upgrades, even radical ones, will be achieved by upgrading network hardware, and not the fibre itself. It's a simple point to make, even though it remains too complicated for the federal Opposition: it will be a very long time before the fibre itself becomes the limiting factor in any network solution.

Malcolm Turnbull has naturally rubbished the report, primarily because it did not exceed its mandate, which was only to assess whether the NBN's design and roll-out is indeed optimal. He claimed that it made no mention of whether the Opposition's policy would do the same. It is hard to argue with this claim, since it is true - the report really didn't explore the Opposition's NBN policy. First of all, there isn't one. Secondly, the scope of its investigation were very specifically laid out. Arguing that the report failed to cover this territory represents the kind of moribund politicking that never allows any debate to progress, by seeking to mire everything in first postulates.

We should have moved on, but apparently in politics we cannot. The answer is that the Opposition's 'policy', an as-yet ill-defined thatch of FTTN and vague assertions that wireless will carry the day, will not supply the kinds of bandwidths that this report suggests people will expect in the next twenty years. You don't have to commission a report to tell you that. Just walk down Burke St and try to surf the web on your phone.

Those Sneaky 13 Calls

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:13:00 GMT

Outbound Calls to 13 Numbers are among the biggest hidden costs on your fixed line phone bill, and are all the more insidious for being hidden in plain view.

A 13 number, as you may have guessed, is any phone number that begins with 13 (1300 numbers can be slightly different). Calls to 13 are typically charged at a fixed flat rate (around 30c - a little less on some carriers, and a lot more on others), which seems reasonable enough, and would be reasonable but for several factors:

Cost. 30c is considerably more than a local call, which will cost a medium to large business anywhere from 6c to 15c per call.
Volume. Few businesses have any awareness of just how many 13 calls they make in a given month. Often there are security lines making regular calls. There are EFTPOS facilities. Every time a staff member dials a taxi, or uses phone banking, or calls a customer service line. 30c isn't much for a call, but you would be amazed at just how quickly the cost of Calls to 13 adds up.

The following break downs are taken from a quick sampling of a number of Dog and Bone clients' fixed line bills, representing about 211,000 calls, and about $50,000 in call spend.

Table 1. Call Volume by Standard Call Type

Table 1. reveals that Local calls comprise approximately 56% of total calls made. Calls to Mobiles make up about 22%, while STD calls and Calls to 13 total 11% and 10% respectively.

Table 2. Call Costs by Standard Call Type

Table 2. reveals that Calls to Mobile phones is by far the highest call cost category, accounting for almost 52% of total standard call spend. (The average cost of a call to a mobile is 49c). Meanwhile, despite their high volume, Local Calls only account for about a quarter (25%) of spend. This is due to the relatively low fixed cost of local calls. STD calls only account for about 9% of call spend, due to low volume and generally very low rates. Nevertheless, STD rates are invariably used by telcos to make their offers look attractive. (It's important to realise that this is on average the least important standard call rate.To put it another way, knocking 1c off the Calls to Mobile rate will generally save your business more than knocking 2c off the STD rate.)

Calls to 13, however, account for 14.3% of standard fixed line call spend, and yet this rate is almost never divulged by carriers unless you request it of them. It is also the rate that they are least willing to negotiate on, even though it is a category that generates greater costs than STD. Due to its 'hidden' nature, it remains the only rate to which economies of scale do not apply. A multinational corporation generally pays the same for a 13 call that a small home office customer does.

Please bear in mind that these figures are an average derived from a cross section of different organisations. Individual cases should be approached on a case-by-case basis, meaning it is essential to know your own spend patterns before entering into any negotiations. As ever, knowledge empowers.

The Value of Free Fleet Calls

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:09:00 GMT

How much are free calls between your staff members really worth?

It is no secret that phone call rates are confusing. They are designed to be that way, and the newly revised industry customer code currently being reviewed by ACMA is in part intended to address this. One of the great tricks that telcos use to make their offers more attractive is the provision of free calls between either the mobiles in your company fleet (for your mobile agreement) or free calls between your offices (on fixed line contracts). You often see the latter point heavily touted when VoIP solutions are put forward - just think of the savings you'll generate from being able to make free calls between your offices, anywhere in the country! There are also plans that combine the best of both of these, such as enabling your office phones to call your company mobiles, or vice versa.

It all sounds great on paper, and to be perfectly honest, it can prove very effective. However, it's important to realise that free calls in one area are generally offset by higher call rates elsewhere, or in higher access charges, or less included data. There a lot of levers carriers can adjust when putting together a mobile offer. But the offer will invariably end up where the carrier wants it.

Our extensive experience from working with organisations across the public and private sector, from small outfits to enterprise class multinationals, is that all too often the gains achieved by free fleet calls are more than offset by higher costs elsewhere. Primarily, this is because most companies appear to call themselves less often than they think. In the case of fixed line calls between sites, a free intra-site option is really only saving you the cost of either an untimed local call, or an STD call (which is generally the cheapest kind of timed call to make). Before they came to us, one of our clients had been sold an integrated VoIP solution on the strength of free calls between all their sites, notwithstanding that all of their offices are in the inner Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and are thus only ever a local call away from each other. Fortunately VoIP provides many other benefits, but still . . .

Now, by no means are we saying that free fleet calls cannot work. Some of our clients get tremendous mileage out of such provisions. To take one example, we have one client whose staff call each other on their mobiles more than they call anyone else. We have another client who for organisational reasons must constantly text each other. A free fleet rate that includes SMS has proved enormously beneficial for them. In both cases - indeed in all cases - Dog and Bone conducted careful analysis of the client's spend patterns to work out what was best for them.

What we are really saying is that the carrot of free fleet calls should only be considered in the awareness that there is often a stick waiting elsewhere, and armed with the full knowledge of how much value it will really provide for your company.

Telstra Releases NBN Pricing

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:06:00 GMT

It is probably a coincidence that Telstra chose to release its first round of NBN pricing in the same week that the network's progenitor, Kevin Rudd, chose disastrously to tilt at the windmill of the prime ministership, presumably for the final time.

While there are plenty of people who don't care much about the latter - wholesale political disengagement being what it is - there are plenty who do care strongly about the NBN, and plenty of those are Telstra customers.

Based on their new NBN pricing, one suspects that Telstra doesn't quite get it. Their NBN plans are considerably more expensive than nearly every other provider's, for what is fundamentally the same internet service. Their entry level plans are heavily over-serviced - starting at $80 per month! - while their high-level plans are at least $20 per month more expensive than competitors, for less quota. They come closest in the mid-range, with plans that are only about $10 per month more than their closest rivals.

Now, it is one of the realities of telecommunications in Australia that unless you are a special case (government-funded, church-based or enterprise-class), Telstra is almost always more expensive than its competitors. For years they have parlayed a dominant market share into charging a higher price, contending that they also delivered a superior service. In the field of mobile communications, users pay Telstra a premium cost for a premium service - the Next G network is categorically superior to those of its competitors, in terms of both speed and coverage. Furthermore, until Optus and Vodafone switch on their new '4G' networks, Telstra's 4G rules the field.

But how will that work when they're delivering the same service as everyone else, as they will be with the NBN? Are they simply hoping that the tidal pull of an overwhelmingly familiar brand - most Australians still equate Telstra with telecommunications - will see them retain market share?

Telecommunications Customer Code Before ACMA

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:42:00 GMT

The Communications Alliance yesterday approved its revised telecommunications consumer protection code (TCP code), and has submitted it to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

The new TCP code is intended to both clarify and simplify advertising, mobile plans and bills across all carriers, allowing more realistic comparisons between service types and offerings. The Communications Alliance is predictably talking up its amendments, singing rousing hosannas to the effect that 'TCP Code Heralds New Era of Improved Service'.

The latest (draft) TCP code features the following highlights:

Carriers must be more careful in using terms such as 'infinite' and 'cap' in their advertising, but only for new products. For new products, they will have to be more creative in dreaming up misleading terms, and more circumspect in deploying them. I am certain they will rise to the challenge.
Large print advertisements for mobile plans must include the cost of making a two-minute standard national call on a mobile, the cost of a single SMS, and the cost for using 1 megabyte of data. I foresee an increase in small-print advertising, where no such stipulations exist.
Carriers must provide a summary of offer to customers before purchase, which is to be called 'Plan Essentials'. This is intended to encourage easy comparison between completing plans and carriers, and will include unit-pricing.
Online management tools must be improved - perhaps even to the point where they are usable - and must now include voice and SMS usage in addition to data. This is intended to help customers avoid bill shock. However, the carriers have been excused from having to implement 'real-time' monitoring tools, since this would be too hard for smaller telcos.
Carriers must be explicit in promoting the TIO as an alternate avenue for complaints-resolution. It's hard to know what to make of this requirement, since telcos are already supposed to do this. I suppose now they have to really mean it.

Please go here for the full Communications Alliance media release, in which it is claimed that industry-based codes are superior for regulation, since they are created by the leaders in the field, notwithstanding that these leaders are the ones responsible for the way things are now. There is no mention of the penalties for non-compliance.

If ACMA is dissatisfied with the revised code, it retains the option of enforcing these rules via regulation.

Phreaked Out

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:42:00 GMT

As with most forms of cyber-crime, PABX hacking or ‘phreaking’ goes largely unreported, with many businesses unwilling to risk any damage to their reputation by admitting compromised security.

The Australian Federal Police estimate that phreaking afflicts hundreds of businesses annually, with a cost in the tens of millions of dollars. In the vast majority of cases, security failures are preventable at the user end. Here are ten simple measures you can implement to help prevent your PABX getting hacked.

1. DISABLE UNUSED FEATURES
If a feature is providing no benefit to your business, then it may as well provide no benefit to would-be hackers. Also, be sure to remove unused voicemail-boxes when staff leave.

2. SECURE DIRECT INWARD SERVICE ACCESS (DISA) NUMBERS
Only those staff that require DISA should have knowledge of those numbers. This feature can be disabled if unneeded.

3. CHANGE CODES FREQUENTLY
Change the authorisation and access codes and passwords as often as is practical (monthly is a good timeframe).

4. AVOID OBVIOUS PASSWORDS
Where possible choose longer alpha- numeric passwords and pins. Don’t use birthdays or terms related to your business. Never, ever retain default passwords (a great many hacked systems have retained default passwords).

5. KEEP SECURITY INFORMATION SECURE
Do not post security codes and login details in plain view, or in predictable hiding spots (i.e. under keyboards).

6. DISPOSE OF DOCUMENTATION THOUGHTFULLY
Make sure any documentation listing access or configuration information is shredded or otherwise safely destroyed.

7. MONITOR CALL TRAFFIC
The more familiar you are with your business’s standard calling patterns, the more quickly you will be able to spot anomalous call traffic.

8. BLOCK SPECIFIC NUMBERS AND CALL TYPES
It is possible to block, say, all international calls from your PABX. Most systems have the capacity to block particular countries, a useful feature if your staff only call particular countries. Many phreaking crimes are based around obtaining free international calls.

9. PERIODIC AUDITING
There are companies that provide the service of testing the security of your phone system, essentially by trying to hack into it. Once the holes in your system are revealed, it is much easier to block them.

10. USE CERTIFIED TECHNICIANS
Always source certified, experienced installers, who can answer all your questions. Dog and Bone is happy to assist with this.

Remember that the responsibility for your system ultimately rests with you, the user. Telecommunications providers may show some leniency in pursuing the colossal bills accrued by a phreaked account, but they still generally expect the bills to be honoured. It pays to know your own phone system.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:07:00 GMT

As was widely reported some months ago, Research in Motion, the company responsible for BlackBerry, had announced that it was developing a multi-platform upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), which would allow it to integrate with both iOS and Android devices via a single interface.

Yesterday they announced that this service, snazzily titled BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, has entered closed beta testing. This sounds promising, since 'fusion' - whether of hydrogen atoms or regional cuisines - is topped only by 'synergy' on the list of desirable things to have. RIM hopes to have the full service available to customers by March 2012.

It has long been assumed that the many tangible benefits conferred by BlackBerry - including unsurpassed security - mostly reside in the BES back-end rather than in the devices themselves. Indeed, by opening up BES to a broader range of devices that people actually want to use, it would would seem that RIM has given the business world even less of a reason to deploy a fleet of BlackBerry devices. RIM insists that they are only responding to an evolving workplace environment, in which 'BYOD' is becoming the norm. (BYOD stands for 'bring your own device', which is apparently too technical a concept to be conveyed without the help of an acronym.)

In any case, workers are BYODing in ever greater numbers, and they aren't bringing BlackBerry. A steadily accelerating loss of market share means that the writing has been on the wall for some time. RIM is doubtless correct in playing to its strong suit (BES), even if it means their handset sales will tumble further.

Making Free Calls Free

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 04:44:00 GMT

The Australian Media and Communications Authority (ACMA) has announced - in response to strong demands from consumer advocate groups such as ACCAN and ACOSS - that it is seeking to introduce new regulations for how calls to 1800 and 13/1300 numbers from mobile phones are charged.

For those who may not have been following the story, as users increasingly move away from fixed line phone services to mobiles, many users are experiencing difficulties accessing essential services due to the prohibitive costs. There are plenty of horror stories going around, such children being cut off whilst accessing the Kids Helpline, and others missing Centrelink payments. ACCAN has tossed around the figure of $1.78 per minute (although this is frankly tabloid reportage. The only people paying this much are on the worst cap plan ever.) Most people will be paying closer to $1 per minute, which is still way too much for a service that was meant to be either free (1800), or about 30c (13/1300). By no coincidence, these are the rates that the AMCA is aiming for in its amendment.

Checking Telstra Mobile Data Usage (Update)

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:30:00 GMT

This is an update to the previous article outlining how to check your monthly data usage, originally for iPhone users on Telstra.This updated method works for any mobile phone capable of browsing the internet, and is very handy if like many users you are prone to chewing through a lot of data without realising it.

Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone. For example on an iPhone, go to Settings -> Wi-Fi -> then slide it to 'OFF'
Open your preferred browser, and go to m.bigpond.com. This should take you to the Bigpond mobile website (which is unmetered).
Select the 'My' tab -> My Data Usage.
You will be shown how much data you have used this billing cycle (both as a percentage and as a total), as well as some details on where your billing cycle falls. There are also details on all of your data sessions (5 per page).
You can also enable or disable a 'Usage Notice'. Enabling this will mean that an SMS is automatically sent to you when your data usage exceeds 80% of your monthly quota. Very useful.
Once you're finished, don't forget to turn Wi-Fi back on (assuming you want to).

Hopefully this helps to stay on top of your monthly data usage.

iOS5 Released Today

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 06:17:00 GMT

Apple has today released the latest iteration of their mobile operating system: iOS5. This new update - which is free - is available for the following devices: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch (4th Gen), iPads. In order to download it, simply connect your device to iTunes.

iOS5 brings with it a slew of new features. Here are the highlights:

Notification Centre. This has been mostly 'appropriated' from Android, but that doesn't make it not worth having. All incoming messages on your device, such as SMS and emails and iMessages (see below), are now collected in a single place, which can be accessed easily, even from the lockscreen. Simply swiping the specific notification will take you to the desired app. Best of all, notifications fade in briefly at the top of the screen, but no longer interrupt other tasks you may have open.
No need for iTunes. Apple have finally done away with the need to connect your device to iTunes in order to activate it or to update it. This is a major improvement for organisations running iPhone fleets, since it will make keeping each device updated much simpler. On this note, you can now sync your device to iTunes wirelessly.
iMessage. The iMessage App allows you to send unlimited text, photo and video messages to other iOS5 users for free, although if you aren't on wi-fi it will use your monthly data allowance.
Camera. It will now be possible to take photos straight from the lockscreen. There have also been a number of enhancements to the camera functionality, such the capacity to lock focus and exposure, and gridlines to help compose shots.
Email. The email client has seen some improvements, with the ability to better format text, to flag message, and to create and remove folders, among other things.

New iPhone Announced

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:08:00 GMT

Apple's annual announcement of the latest iPhone is always an event not to be missed, unless you don't care about iPhones, in which case it can be merely hard to avoid.

Still, for those who do care, today's presentation was a big deal, mainly because the world would finally be confirmed in its unflappable belief that the iPhone 5 was imminent, replete with 4G, which is now the G of choice. A number of manufacturers were so sure the iPhone 5 was coming that they had begun mass-producing cases based on leaked pictures of the new device. As it happened, there was no iPhone 5, and the world now faces an oversupply of cases that won't quite fit the new iPhone 4S, which was announced.

The mood following the unveiling has been predictably downbeat. For starters, the 4S looks just like the iPhone 4, which is fine but is not new. Nor is it 4G, and Apple's declaration that it will operate on GSM and CDMA is pretty ho-hum, especially for Australians. Apple has already suggested that including 4G would at this time entail too large a compromise on size and battery-life, but there remained a widespread hope that 4G would be included. A case of wishing hard enough not getting it done.

There was also a fairly broad expectation that the new device would feature Near Field Communications (NFC) functionality, which enables devices to interact with other devices nearby, such as PCs, electronic billboards, or credit card scanners, enabling 'wave and go' commerce, long-touted as the next big thing. There was no mention of NFC. There was an announcement that iPhones would available to US customers on Sprint, which was frankly stellar news for those of us in Australia. I couldn't be happier for Sprint customers.

That being said, the 4S will represent a fairly substantial upgrade to the iPhone 4. It features a dual-core processor, and a promise of significantly improved performance; Apple is trumpeting graphical performance about seven times better, as well as much faster downstream data transfer rates. Much has been made of an improved camera, and even more of Siri, which is a new voice-recognition based personal assistant app. To be fair, Siri does sound kind of cool.

The iPhone 4S will be available in Australia on October 14, with pre-orders commencing October 8. So far Telstra, Optus and Vodafone have all committed to selling it. It comes in black and white, and 16, 32 and 64Gb versions. The smallest costs $799 upfront.

New Product: SMS Reporting

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:40:00 GMT

Following a trial period, Dog and Bone is thrilled to announce the release of our new SMS Reporting service. This service enables organisations to send out an SMS each month to every staff member, keeping them informed about their mobile call spend level and SMS totals. This service is fully managed by Dog and Bone.

Our trials - and thank you to those who participated - have concluded that this service can prove valuable for several reasons. Firstly, we have found that staff members are far more mindful of using their mobiles responsibly when they are aware that their use is being monitored. Of course, most organisations monitor usage as a matter of course, but the monthly SMS reminder works amazingly well. This has served both to decrease misuse, and to curtail excessive use, particularly out of hours. Secondly, this service assists management in allocating costs, without it having to be reported by section managers.

Whilst SMS Reporting is available to all Dog and Bone clients, we would anticipate it to be most useful for our Independent Telecommunications Support Service clients, since in those cases we are generally already working with a client's bills each month. ITSS clients also receive a volume discount. Given the nature of the service, it should also be noted that this service only becomes worthwhile - both for the client and for us - when applied to mobile fleets above a certain size, and for clients who utilise online billing.

Please don't hesitate to contact Dog and Bone for further information.

If You Build It

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 03:27:00 GMT

Telstra revealed some months ago that they are in the process of upgrading their existing Next G network to 4G (LTE), and aim to have it online by the end of 2011. This was exciting news for those prone to be excited by such things, and those who rely on high speed mobile data. The good news is that the project appears to be running more or less on schedule. The first 4G capable base stations were brought online in the CBDs of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane back in May, although this proved less thrilling than it might otherwise have been, when it transpired that no one owned hardware capable of exploiting the upgrade. Still, when we consider that the tin can was invented in 1810 but that the can opener did not hit the market until 1858, Telstra remains well ahead of the historical curve for technological lead times. With competitors trialling 4G themselves, this was always going to be the case.

In any case, the good news is that Telstra has finally released some 4G modems. The bad news is that it has only released 2,000 of them to selected Business and Enterprise customers, and that, as mentioned, they will only achieve 4G speeds in select inner cities. Obviously, this roll-out will spread as time goes by. In the meantime, it means that we will now be able to get some solid information on the real-world capabilities of 4G. Telstra has grown understandably coy about announcing figures, since the figures they announce never bear even a passing resemblance to the actual speeds users achieve. Anyone whose data card is rated ‘up to 21Mbps’ can attest to that.

The other thing to be aware of is that these are modems, and not phones. Although a number of 4G phones have been released overseas, ironically into markets lacking 4G networks, it is debatable whether we will see many 4G handsets in Australia before the end of the year, especially on Telstra (although the industry expects the next iPhones to feature 4G capability when they are announced next month).

As I mentioned, other telcos are also running 4G trials. Optus has announced that it intends to launch its 4G network in April next year, beginning in Newcastle, before spreading to over 500 base stations in capital cities. Meanwhile, VHA insists that their 4G network is ready to go - again in Newcastle - but that they won’t switch it on until the market is ready for it, which I think means waiting until suitable handsets hit the market.

Commonground Festival 2011

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 06:28:00 GMT

Running from November 18th to 20th, the 2011 Commonground Festival is a new community music festival celebrating the social change movement. It will feature two days and two nights of rockin’ music, inspiring workshops and frolicking fun. Enjoy fantastic music, delicious, locally-grown food and lovely, spacious bush campsites.

The musical line up includes Stephen Pigram (from the Pigram Brothers), The Band Who Knew Too Much, Flap!, The Tiger and Me, The Shivering Timbers, The Stetson Family, April Maze, Beth King, The Grenadines, The Nymphs and Sun Hyland Band.

There will be workshops on activism, co-housing, working well together, growing your own food, drumming and singing, as well as comedy, face and body painting, and more.

The Festival will raise funds in order to assist Commonground to continue improving its facilities to support the social change sector. Commonground is a not-for-profit social enterprise, and all festival organisers are volunteers. It has been tirelessly co-organised by Dog and Bone's very own Dan McKinley, for whom Commonground was instrumental in shaping his life, although he had only limited say in the matter given he was brought up there.

For ticketing and further information, please visit the Festival website here.

Reconnecting Who?

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:20:00 GMT

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) last week released the long-awaited report of its public inquiry into customer service standards and practices in the Australian telecommunications industry. It proceeded from the assumption - based on a wealth of data - that these levels and practices are nowhere near satisfactory. The telecommunications providers had signalled their in-principal support for the inquiry, although many questioned whether the problem was as profound as everyone assumed. Some claimed the TIO's customer satisfaction data was flawed, no matter that it tallied closely with the overwhelming experience of disgruntled users.

Anyhow, the upshot of the report is that ACMA have isolated five main areas that require urgent attention by the telecommunications. ACMA has optimistically labelled these 'substantive', which is a synonym of 'easily-ignored' I have not heard before. Anyway, here they are:

Clearer pricing information in advertisements allowing consumers to more easily compare services.
Improved and more consistent pre-sale information about plans.
Developing meaningful performance metrics which allow consumers to compare providers.
Tools for consumers to monitor usage and expenditure.
Better complaints-handling by providers.

Clearer, improved, better . . . Nice words, but there is little here that is measurable, and thus little that is ultimately enforceable. Surely granting carriers excessive wriggle-room has allowed the situation to deteriorate to the point it has reached. Reading through the report, and while each of these points is obviously fleshed out in greater detail, my overall impression is that any 'substantive' improvement will ultimately depend on the carrier's goodwill. The directive is for industry to 'develop a code that addresses the ACMA’s concerns', and that only if it doesn't will ACMA 'mandate changes through direct regulation'. It is hard to see where exactly the incentives lie.

Charity Corner: Anti-Poverty Week 2011

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 04:53:00 GMT

Anti-Poverty Week 2011 will take place between October 16-22, and will feature a range of activities in every state. Several Dog and Bone clients, including St Vincent de Paul, are playing an active role in events.

The goal of Anti-Poverty week is to strengthen public awareness and discussion of issues relating to poverty and homelessness in Australia, and to encourage people to do something about it. Both individuals and organisations are encouraged to either organise an event yourself, or get involved in one of the many activities that are being run by others.

More information, including how you can get involved and where, can be found here.

Femtocell Redux

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:26:00 GMT

Some months ago I sounded off at the news that Optus was conducting the first Australian trials for a commercially-available femtocell unit. The original article can be found here. For those not up to speed, a femtocell is a portable low-power mobile base station that sits in your house or office, and carries mobile calls across your broadband connection. By deploying one of these units, you can gain stellar mobile coverage where before you had little. At least, that's the goal. As was widely discussed at the time, and remains true now, extensive studies have demonstrated that beyond a certain point of data usage it is cheaper for a carrier to simply give users a femtocell, since they save more by moving traffic off the mobile network, and on to someone else's fixed line data network. Unsurprisingly, Optus have chosen against giving them away for free. The audacious model whereby customers must pay to fix inadequate coverage remains, not to mention the privilege of reducing congestion on Optus' network.

Now that the units have been commercially released, certain other information is available - especially regarding quality and price. Optus has announced a deal whereby users on $59 a month or higher plans can get a femtocell (Optus Home Zone) for $5, and that a single connected user will also get unlimited calls to Australian numbers.Up to 12 Optus mobile devices can use the unit, but only one will get the free calls. The other pricing mentioned in the original article remains in place, and to my knowledge Optus have not released any other bundles.

As for how well the system works, reports are extremely mixed. Some users have found it difficult to get their Optus femtocells to work with Telstra broadband services - nourishment for cynics right there - whilst others have complained that although coverage has indeed increased, call quality has decreased. There is also an issue with calls made before you leave the house dropping out once you leave, as the mobile tries to roam from the femtocell to the mobile network, and fails. On the other hand, many users consider this product a godsend, and are happy to pay a little extra for improved coverage.

There is also the issue of placement. Optus recommends that for best results the unit should be located centrally on the premises, and up quite high - such as suspended from a lounge room chandelier - which can make it awkward to cable. Lest you were tempted to place the unit on your desk, be warned that the manufacturer recommends it be kept at least 40cm from your head for safely purposes. While it is a low-power base station, but it is still a base station, which are those things that apparently no one wants near their schools.

Musings on Mobile Advantage

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 04:06:00 GMT

Less than two years into its product cycle, Telstra's Business Mobile Plus product has been scrapped, and replaced by Mobile Advantage. A great many business fleets are currently contracted on Mobile Plus, or looking to (re)contract with Telstra in the near future, and so this change will have profound ramifications for a reasonable proportion of Australia's small to medium businesses.

Here at Dog and Bone, we have been working as extensively with this new product as we did with the old ones, and would like to share some thoughts:

Plans are on average about $5 higher per month (again). Thus the $35 Mobile Plus plan has become the $40 Mobile Advantage plan.
Unlimited plans remain mostly unchanged, only some very minor differences.
Tiering remains, with the new addition of Tier 6, for fleets of 150+ mobiles.
There are still different plans within each tier, but they have no bearing on the call rates (they did before), so choosing the right one is now less important, though it still matters.
Bonus Options are gone! All of the old bonus options have been replaced by two options: Timed and Untimed. This basically means that you can choose whether you want to be charges are fairly high flat rate (say 60c per call), or a lower timed rate (say 35c per minute). These options are configurable by service. The main thing to know about these options is that there is no 'safe' one, such as Business Hours used to be. As a general rule, mobile users that make longer calls (over about 2.5 minutes on average) will benefit from an untimed rate, while people who make shorter calls will benefit from a timed rate. The problem is that unless you have a lot of time on your hands (or you're Dog and Bone!) it is quite a chore to work out which is better. Given that you must choose one or the other, it is hard to escape the conclusion that Telstra carefully modeled this, and have deliberately introduced this element of increased risk.
There is now no flagfall (connection fee). This will benefit users that make a lot of very short calls.
Voicemail is now charged the standard call rate, which means that it will be a lot more expensive for most users.
Intra-fleet SMS is now free. Depending on how often your staff members text each other, your mileage with this will vary.
Data allowances have been increased, but not radically.
Data allowances are now aggregated across the fleet, meaning that the data allowance from every plan on your fleet is now combined into a large pool. This is arguably the most significant improvement, and will help cushion individual users form sudden spikes and blow-outs.

As for our overall thoughts on the product, we have found that it is generally more expensive than the old Mobile Plus offering, although this will depend on your business's actual usage. For example, if you send a lot of Intra Fleet SMS, or make a lot of very long or very short calls, there are savings to be found. However, if you rely heavily on voicemail, this category has seen a significant increase. Additionally, the new bonus options mean that bills are far more sensitive to changes in usage patterns, and likely to see wider spend- fluctuations from month to month. Even choosing which option to use in the first place is a bit of a nightmare (unless you call us, of course!), and not just for the end user but even for Telstra.

On the plus side, the provision of mobile data aggregation is very welcome indeed, as is the news that even data packs added later will augment the existing pool of available data. This means less of those heart-stopping mobile data blowouts that I suspect every business sees from time to time.

Worldwide Consumer Survey on Broadband

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:31:00 GMT

Consumer International, a peak global body representing consumer rights, is currently conducting a worldwide survey of 'consumers' experiences in accessing and using the Internet over broadband networks'. Proceeding from the view that internet access has grown to become fundamental to the lives of many consumers around the world, and that as services become more ubiquitous it will eventually become a necessity for all, the survey is positioned as the beginning of a longer-term Broadband initiative.This initiative aims to address a broad range of communications policy issues, including consumer-protection (such as advertising), human rights (such as freedom of expression and privacy), security, and accessibility.

The Consumer International broadband survey aims to be the most comprehensive survey of its type ever conducted. It is completely anonymous, and can be accessed here.

CEO Sleepout

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 23:42:00 GMT

Last Thursday, nearly 1,000 business leaders, including politicians, CEO and General Managers - and our own Daniel McKinley - took part in St Vincent de Paul's annual CEO Sleepout. They were invited to rough it for a night, in order to experience first hand a tiny part of what it is like to be homeless.

The event raised both awareness of the issue, and some serious money - over $3 million, in fact. Daniel felt it to be a tremendously worthwhile experience, and his back can attest to just how comfortable a night on cement is. However, his back will mend, but the issue of homelessness is a constant one. But it is one that can be overcome, with sufficient will and resources. We urge all readers to get behind programs such as this, and to donate whatever you feel you can.

Connecting Up Australia 2011

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 23:41:00 GMT

Dog and Bone was privileged to participate in the Connecting Up Australia 2011 conference yesterday. Our very own John Kostopulos delivered an in-depth presentation on key areas that not-for-profit organisations can focus on, in order to improve and revitalise their telecommunications and IT systems, and to achieve considerable savings. The talk was very well-received, and inspired a lively-question time.

Both John and Dan had a great time at the event. The very diverse range of speakers and participants guaranteed a wealth of new ways to engage with the sector that we are so active in.

Happy Birthday To Us

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 23:31:00 GMT

We're proud to announce that today is Dog and Bone's 9th Birthday.

Please allow us to say a heartfelt thank you to all of our loyal customers, who have been instrumental in making Dog and Bone the success it has been. We look forward to many more years of working with all of you!.

New Product: Satellite Phones

Thu, 12 May 2011 06:26:00 GMT

Dog and Bone is now able to extend our ICT consulting services to the satellite phone arena (both local and international).

Dog and Bone has been assisting our clients to source satellite phones for years. Overwhelmingly, we have found them to be expensive to buy ($1,750 - $2,500) and even more expensive to operate. However, the new IsatPhone Pro is a refreshing change. Although we do not make a habit of promoting one product over another, we think this one deserves it. Here are some points of note:

The outright cost for the device is only $799 (ex GST).
There is an excellent government subsidy of either 50% or 85% for the outright purchase of the hardware (which covers up to two handsets if you are a not-for-profit client). Details can be found here.
This phone can be paid on an monthly basis or prepaid.
Monthly plans start at $65 per month with calls costs at $1.80 per minute.
Prepaid plans start at $60 for 50 units, $250 for 250 units or $400 for 500 units. A call to any landline in the world equates to 1 unit per minute, while an SMS equals 0.5 units. Best of all: these credits are good for 2 years.
The IsatPhone Pro can be used as a modem. It can only achieve speeds of 2.4kbs but with AST's free compression software, this is more like 20kbs. It still isn't quick, but it's more reliable than a carrier pigeon or a donkey and it works anywhere in the world.
This phone will work anywhere in the world, that is a) not in either polar regions b) inside a building.
The outgoing call rates are much cheaper than most global roaming plans for your normal mobile phone.
The phone has inbuilt GPS (it gives you your coordinates so you can tell someone you are lost and where!)
The phone has Bluetooth for easy connection.
The phone is small and tough and has lots of accessories if you need, comes standard with 4 power connectors for the global traveller.
The IsatPhone Pro is an international sat phone, so to call it from an Australian number is very expensive for the caller (about $6 per minute). AST does offer an Australian number for $5 extra per month, whereby callers pay the same as a local or STD call (although the sat phone user pays for the incoming call at $2 per minute).

So if you need a sat phone, always wanted one or just want to strike a pose with a massive handheld device, then please don't hesitate to call us. We are able to assist with a wide range of satellite services in Australia and Internationally, from satellite phones, to fixed satellite services, to backpack emergency models.

Microsoft Buys Skype, Synergy

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:16:00 GMT

The news has come through today that the world's favourite free P2P VoIP service - Skype - has been bought by Microsoft for a fairly gobsmacking $8.5 billion dollars, which makes it the Seattle software giant's largest acquisition to date. "The Skype brand is a verb!" declared Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the press conference in San Francisco, which presumably comes as news to Skype-users and grammarians alike. Inevitably, the announcement was liberally peppered with similar, Dullard-Class corporate aphorisms, but by sifting through these determined listeners could work out that Skype will become its own entity within Microsoft - evocatively titled Microsoft Skype Division - and existing CEO Tony Bates will remain in charge. He will report directly to Ballmer, thereby being privy to new verbs at the source. That's swell for Tony Bates, but what does this mean for Skype users? Will it continue to be free?

The good news is that Skype calls will almost certainly remain free. Microsoft has paid a premium for a vast user-base (about 170 million), and making them pay for calls would be a good way of halving that user-base at a single stroke. However, it will be interesting to see whether the video conferencing features will remain free, since it partially competes with existing Microsoft products. Time will tell.

For Microsoft, the aim will be to integrate Skype functionality into as many related services and platforms as possible. The key word is synergy, which we cannot have enough of. The example given by Ballmer was of being caught in traffic on the way to a conference, and the realisation dawning on him that he could have done the whole thing via web conferencing from his office. I didn't really understand this bit, but I'm willing to concede that something might have been lost in the translation from enthusiastic Microsoft-speak to English. Either that or his epiphany struck back in 1999, and he's been saving it up. I thought we could do web-conferencing now? It's just nice to have actual people there talking at conferences, even when they're just inventing new structure grammaticals.

BES for the iPhone, Android

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:04:00 GMT

Responding to the twin pressures of declining domestic sales and the desires of CIOs the world over, Research In Motion (RIM) has announced that it will release a multi-platform upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), allowing it to support and manage iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android devices. As most of you are aware, the most attractive features of BlackBerry reside in their superior security and the ease with which IT departments can (micro)manage them. RIM's announcement confirms what was widely known anyway, which is that these advantages are largely conferred by the BES backend rather than the BlackBerry device itself.

Having said that, managing an iPhone over BES won't instantly make it as secure as a native device. The announcement said as much: "Overall, as is largely understood in the enterprise market today, organisations can expect a range of security, manageability and controls depending on different device platform capabilities, with some devices further limited by the design of their operating system." In other words, we'd still like you to buy a BlackBerry handset, as these will remain the most secure and IT-controllable devices.

The upgraded version of BES will be released "later this year".

Charity Corner: Vinnies CEO Sleepout

Thu, 12 May 2011 06:39:00 GMT

On Thursday 16 June 2011 the Vinnies CEO Sleepout takes place in capital cities across Australia. The event challenges business and community leaders to experience homelessness first-hand for one night, raise important money, and with fresh insight go on to effect change in social opinions on this serious issue.

Our very own director Dan McKinley will be attending, and is looking forward to the opportunity to gain valuable experience and insight into the issue of homelessness. All money raised goes directly towards the ongoing provision of Vinnies’ homeless services across the country. You can support Vinnies by sponsoring a CEO and be sure to spread the word.

Further details about the Victorian event can be found here.

If you would like let us know of an upcoming event or initiative for your organisation, please let us know, and we will be happy to include it on our site.

GSM Gateways

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:56:00 GMT

A GSM Gateway (or GSM Dialler) is a device that attaches to your PABX phone system, and allows your phone system to interface with a mobile network, thus allowing you to route certain call types over a mobile network instead of the PSTN. The advantage of this is that calls made on a mobile plan are sometimes cheaper than the same call types from a fixed line, and that mobile plans often include useful allowances for certain call types.

Most mobile business plans include a fleet component, whereby users will get discounted or free calls to other services on the same mobile account. Using a GSM Gateway, when an employee at their desk calls a staff member on their mobile, the phone system will be programmed to recognise the number being called, and route the call via the GSM Gateway accordingly, resulting in a free call.

The other advantage lies with unlimited, infinite or capped mobile plans. For example, a $45 Vodafone Infinite plan allows a mobile user to make as many calls to fixed lines and mobiles as they want within a month. Attaching one of these plans to the GSM Gateway confers the same benefit to your fixed lines. The savings are potentially extravagant, although I must point out that most unlimited type plans include a Fair Use provision, and the use of GSM Gateways violates the letter or the spirit of such policies. Having said that, telcos are in most cases unlikely to detect anything untoward, within reasonable limits. It is more likely that your fixed line carrier will notice a significant drop in traffic, as, say, all of the calls to mobiles suddenly vanish from their network.

Another thing to be aware of, is that your GSM Gateway will need a SIM slot for each concurrent user, much like you do with fixed lines. If the number of users attempting to use the Gateway exceeds the limit - the number of mobile SIMs in the unit - then the phone system will simple spill over to the standard fixed lines and call rates.

Prices for GSM Gateways depend on the number of concurrent SIMs the device can use. The more SIMs, the more the unit costs. Gateways with only a single SIM slot start form around $500, while deluxe units with 8 or 16 slots can run up to $10,000. Clearly, a prospective user would have to be quite certain they will recoup that upfront expense from subsequent savings in call costs.

Sheer Audacity

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:50:00 GMT

We have a new front-runner in the 2011 Most Audacious Product Awards: Optus' new 3G Home Zone. For those not familiar, this device allows Optus customers to set up a small femtocell unit in their house or office, which essentially piggy-backs onto your broadband connection to act as a mini-base station. The upshot is that Optus mobile customers who have hitherto been unable to use their mobiles inside the premises can now enjoy improved coverage, notwithstanding the fact that they had probably assumed their mobiles would do that when they signed up.

The response from consumer groups and analysts has been mixed; mostly a mixture of outrage, indifference, and stunned applause at the sheer audacity of it. The issue is that you can't have it both ways. Either Optus' coverage is adequate, in which case a femtocell is superfluous, or the femtocell is essential due to inadequate coverage, which begs the question of why customers should have to pay for it. Furthermore, given Optus' recent troubles with network congestion, it is almost more cost-effective for the carrier to give users a free femtocell, since by moving traffic from the mobile to the fixed networks it effectively frees up backhaul. Cisco has estimated that the break-even point comes around 1.6Gb per user, meaning that is the point at which it would be better for Optus that your ISP carries the data. Optus estimates a month of 3G Home Zone voice usage will eat through about 1Gb of data, which is not unmetered, even if your internet connection is with Optus.

According to the website, the Home Zone doesn't only allow phone calls, but 3G data as well, which is frankly excellent news for those concerned that Wi-Fi was too fast, too cheap and too reliable. Why would you want to connect at ADSL2+ speeds, when you can have 3G, and pay for the data usage twice? Using your mobile via the Home Zone will have some impact on your internet connection. Optus insists the impact will be minimal, although presumably it will most adversely affect those applications that require low latency, such as video streaming and online gaming, which are the ones where it really matters. Phone calls made via the 3G Home Zone will also add data to you home internet usage.

Femtocells certainly have valuable uses, and are being deployed effectively in other countries to in-fill coverage blackspots. However, in these situations they are either being deployed publicly by telcos, or by carriers with limited coverage who are upfront about the need. In other words, customers acquire a femtocell as part of the upfront package, and there is never any promise that mobile coverage will be adequate without it, particularly indoors. Optus, on the other hand, is always talking up its coverage, and new mobile customers are not forewarned that their phones may become unusable inside the house. Customers moving to Optus do so in the belief that their phones will function reasonably so long as their home or office lies within an Optus coverage zone.

Nevertheless, if you are determined to remain with Optus - out of necessity, brand-loyalty, or an aversion to Telstra - the 3G Home Zone is not an outrageously expensive way to improve your mobile coverage. Prices begin at $60 upfront for users on $79 caps, and $5 per month ongoing, and scale upwards depending on your mobile plan. Prepaid users will pay $240 upfront, with no ongoing charges. There is talk of some more attractive bundles down the track which may help sweeten the deal.

Taking Advantage Of Disadvantage

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:59:00 GMT

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) has recently released a report looking into the hardships visited upon recent migrants when entering into to complex or misleading telecommunications and internet contracts. The report was prepared jointly with the Footscray Community Legal Centre, and aims 'to document the experiences of these consumers and to analyse them in the context of relevant consumer protections'.

The report, which is a compelling though not light-hearted read, presents 16 case studies examining a range of situations and issues, with some possible solutions explored. It concludes that the current regulatory framework is not adequately protecting many consumers most in need.

The report is available for download here.

Charity Corner: Heart of St Kilda Concert

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 01:31:00 GMT

Each year Sacred Heart Mission hosts the annual Heart of St Kilda Concert. This year's concert will take place on Monday, 27 June at the Palais Theatre. It will include some of some of Australia's best loved performers - John Stevens, Paul Kelly, Tripod, Wolfgram Sisters, Des Dowling, Carl Wilson, Billy Miller, and Russell Morris.

This is one of Melbourne's most anticipated variety shows with prominent musicians and comedians coming together to raise money for Sacred Heart Mission. Tickets go on sale in May, and will be available from the Sacred Heart Mission website.

What's In A Minute?

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:32:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, Dog and Bone demonstrated the differences that increasing the billing increments can make. The article can be found here. The upshot was that increasing the billing increment by 30 seconds increases call charges by about 12%, while increasing it to 'per-minute' can results in an increase of around 24-5%. There is some variation according to call types, but these are the basic figures. Given that many people generally aren't aware of their billing increment, this can be said to constitute something of a 'hidden' charge.

That being said, when it comes to tinkering with your call charges there are many knobs for the carriers to adjust. The billing increment is only one. Flagfalls - sometimes called a 'call connection fee' - are another one, one that most users are more or less aware of. A fun one that users may not be aware of is the 'minimum call charge'. This occurs when the carrier defines a minimum amount that will be charged for each call, regardless of the billing increment.

For example, a 1 minute minimum clause - the most common type - means that each call will be charged as though it lasted at least a minute, even if it didn't. Thus a 20 second call will be charged for a full minute. Meanwhile, a call that lasts, say, 80 seconds will be charged for 80 seconds. Consequently, this type of charge will always penalise calling patterns in which calls predominantly last less than a minute. This is typically the case for Fixed to Mobile (F2M) calls, where our experience shows that users tend to keep calls short, perhaps as a legacy from when call rates to mobiles were truly stratospheric. STD calls, on the other hand, tend to last longer, and thus tend to be less penalised by minimum charges. Phone carriers are of course aware of this, and certainly did not stumble upon the concept of the minimum charge by accident.

So what difference does adding a 1 minute minimum make to a standard fixed line call spend, with 3 different call rates selected (x axis)?

STD

F2M (Fixed to Mobiles)

Dog and Bone's analysis demonstrates that adding a 1 minute minimum increases STD call spend by about 13.3%, and F2M call spend by about 19.3%. These differences remain constant regardless of call rate. This was run over a sample size of about 33,500 call records total (approx. 10,500 STD and 23,000 F2M).

Interestingly, the average call length for both call types was about 1.8 minutes, yet applying the same 1 minute minimum produced noticeably different results. What this tells us is that regardless of the average call length, the proportion of F2M calls lasting under a minute was higher than in the case of STD. Subtleties such as this demonstrate why analysis based around things as simple as average call length are inherently flawed when unusual billing rates are in play.

Resolving Disputes

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:22:00 GMT

What do you do when you have an issue with your telecommunications services? What can you do, where do you go, and who do you call? Following is a brief list of appropriate places to look for information.

Your Carrier
It may seem obvious, but if you have a problem with your phone service, you should always contact your carrier first. Believe it or not, the vast majority of issues are resolved at this step. Relevant numbers to call are printed on your phone bill, and on each carrier’s website.

In the event that they are unable or unwilling to resolve the issue, they are legally obliged to inform you that can pursue the matter further with the Telecommunication Industry Ombusdman (TIO). Indeed, failing to do so is in itself cause for complaint to the TIO.

Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman (TIO)
The TIO should only be contacted after all avenues with your carrier have failed (otherwise the TIO will simply refer you back to your carrier). They can be contacted on 1800 062 058. Complaints can also be filed online at www.tio.com.au. This site also provides a wealth of additional information, including a quarterly publication of complaint statistics.

19 SMS
This excellent website is run by Communications Alliance. It provides information about premium mobile services, including your rights, where to find services, and how to opt out (texting ‘STOP’ to the 19 number should usually doit). www.19sms.com.au.

Mobile Spam and Scams
In the event that you are receiving unsolicited mobile content or offers, then the offending party’s details should be forwarded to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), on 1300 850 115, or online at www.acma. gov.au. If you fall prey to a 19 scam, then this should be referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on 1300 302 502, or at www.accc. gov.au.

The difference between the ACCC and ACMA is worth noting. The former enforces competition and access regulations (across all industries), while the latter enforces media and communications legislation. For more specifics, check out the respective websites.

Communications Alliance
This is the peak body for the Australian telecommunications industry. This group is responsible for the voluntary codes and standards via which the telco industry operates. Their website includes a great deal of information covering a range of topics. It is well worth a look if you’re interested in this area.

Does 4G Remove The Need For An NBN?

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:07:00 GMT

Telstra has announced it will be rolling out a new 4G mobile network by the end of 2011, boasting downstream speeds up to 70Mb/s. The announcement has been met with a range of responses, none of which have been in the least bit surprising. Optus and Vodafone have announced that their 4G offerings are coming soon. Their customers have announced that soon is not soon enough. The federal opposition has declared Telstra’s announcement to be another nail in the coffin of the National Broadband Network. The federal minister Stephen Conroy has taken to the talkback warpath, determined to explain exactly the same thing he’s explained countless times before, namely that wireless broadband, whatever the G, will not match the capabilities of a fibre network. It is a debate that refuses to progress, because no matter how often it is explained, we are forced to return to the premise, much like the climate change debate, where a single dissenting voice allows the media to push their 'Disunity' barrow.

So here we go again: does 4G wireless remove the need for an NBN? Astoundingly, for some people, the answer is a resounding yes! These people can be broadly split into two groups. People in the first group don’t use the internet, and 4G will represent merely another in a bewildering array of choices they don’t care about. The second group are those living next door to a transmitting base station, who only use the internet between 2.30 and 4.30am, when no one else is on. If Long Term Evolution (LTE) can indeed deliver its promised speeds, then yes, the NBN might well be a waste. I suppose there is arguably a third group, populated by those who prefer their internet to crawl as a comment on the breakneck acceleration of modern life, a kind of Slow Net movement. Going wireless will permit them their follies.

It can’t be stressed enough, especially if you’re in the Liberal party: The NBN will always be faster than a comparable wireless network. Fibre is a dedicated medium that is exceptionally scalable. Wireless isn’t, and isn’t. Being a shared medium, wireless grows heavily congested, and performance can degrade based on any number of atmospheric conditions. Telstra has declared that 4G downstream speeds of up to 70Mb/s are not out of the question. As ever, the ‘up to’ part is more important than the actual number, since it represents that amorphous grey area between marketing and the actual end experience. Already a sizable chunk of bandwidth is devoted to ‘up to’ - my wireless connection peaks about 15Mb/s shy of the advertised maximum - and this figure is only increasing. ‘Up to’ is a growth area in the wireless sector, far outstripping the actual products themselves. Expect to see a number of dedicated ‘Up To’ providers appearing in the coming months, selling nothing but the difference between what we’re promised and what we get. Now that I think about it, those companies already exist.

A detailed explanation of why wireless is not a realistic substitute for fibre can be read here.

What a difference 30 seconds makes

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:18:00 GMT

Telstra’s decision to increase its billing increment to per-minute has met with widespread condemnation from most interested parties, which includes almost anyone using a telephone. No one seems convinced by their proffered explanation, which is that in standardising their billing increment they’re eradicating confusion, and really doing everyone a favour. It was rightly pointed out - by consumer groups, people suffering head trauma, and my two-year-old son - that the same generous concession could be rendered by simply making all the charges per second, leaving users in the giddy situation of only paying for what they use.

Anyway, I thought I’d throw a few numbers at it. Given that Dog and Bone’s analysis software allows me to easily calculate different rates, I decided to run a range of call rates with varying billing increments across a large set of call data (approximately 28,000 fixed line call records). I was curious to see just how much increasing the billing increments would affect overall spends on both STD and calls to mobiles. It was a simple enough exercise, and here are the results:

STD Calls

Moving from per-second billing to per-30 second billing increases STD call spend by 11.9%, while increasing to a per-minute billing increment produces an overall 23.5% increase in expenditure.

Calls to Mobiles

Moving from per-second billing to per-30 second billing increases Fixed to Mobile call spend by 12.2%, while increasing to a per-minute billing increment produces a 25.2% overall increase in expenditure.

The marginal differences between the call types is attributable to differing behaviour among staff when making those call types. On average, calls made to mobile are slightly longer, while STD calls tend to be either quite short (well under a minute), or very long (people are as a rule more wary of making very long calls to mobiles). The other notable feature is that increasing the billing increment (X-axis) increases the call spend by a uniform amount regardless of the call rate.

So anyway, based on a sample size of about 28,000 calls, I can with some confidence say that moving from per-second billing to per-minute billing results in an increase of approximately 23-25% to the costs for those fixed line calls. Seems like a high premium to pay for a standardised billing increment.

A subsequent articles analysing the impact of minimum call charges can be found here.

Charity Corner: RTSS Alpine Challenge

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:11:00 GMT

Challenge yourself, and help raise funds for Road Trauma Support Services!

Imagine completing 2 or 4 marathons in 48 hours! Choose from 3 events – the 100 mile (160km) Alpine Skyrun, the 100km Corporate / Team Challenge or, the new 60km Alpine Experience. Commit to as little as 15km in a relay team or 160km as an endurance runner, whilst raising funds to reduce road trauma and crashes. Set in Victoria’s stunning Alpine National Park, the Alpine Challenge will test you to the limit as you traverse some of the toughest and most exposed areas of the Australian Alps.

Take up the challenge and step out of your comfort zone with the Alpine Challenge, raise funds to help others. Your support in raising sponsorship will help them to live better lives. Your challenge will be to complete your chosen distance of 160km, 100km or 60km – within 48 hours, either running or walking, on your own, or as part of a team.

The 100 mile event will test runners to the limit with over 7,000 metres of ascent and descent including; Mt Bogong, Mt Feathertop, Mt Hotham, Mt Nelse and Spione Kopje – some of Victoria’s toughest and most exposed alpine country. The 100km course covers over 4,000m of ascent and descent and is open to runners and walkers. It covers the same course as the 100 mile course, but excludes the Mt Feathertop loop. The new 60km Alpine Experience course covers 1,200m of ascent and descent with stunning scenery and is open to runners and walkers in solo, endurance or relay teams who want a slightly easier challenge. Over two days it is a great introduction to trail running in the wild. If you’re looking for something different - if you want great scenery, to push yourself to the limit, to forge new friendships and an experience you won’t forget – the Alpine Challenge is the event for you. Details can be found at their website.

Please note, the above article has been sourced from material provided by RTSS.

They're calling on you

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:09:00 GMT

By recycling your mobile phone, you can help save gorillas and stop a brutal war in the Congo. Assuming you like gorillas and don't like war, read on to find out how.

Every mobile phone includes essential transistors made form the metal tantalum, which is refined from the ore coltan. Coltan is found in sizable quantities in the Congo River Basin, as part of combined ore deposits estimated at about US$24 trillion. Since the late 1990s, this region has been violently contested by foreign armies, rebel forces, militias and western (self-)interests, all of whom are generating massive profits, inflicting widespread misery, and wiping out valuable wildlife habitats. Forced child labour is now common. Meanwhile, the gorilla population has dropped by 90% in the last five years.

There are alternative ways to get tantalum, however. Indeed, Australia is one of the world's largest suppliers. Increasingly, many electronics companies are sourcing their tantalum from outside Central Africa.

Zoos Victoria, in partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute, has set up the They're Calling On You program, which invites you to send in your old mobile phones so that its valuable components can be harvested and recycled. By donating your old mobile to the program, you are:

Providing funds to the Jane Goodall Institute to carry on their primate conservation work, through the sale of refurbished handsets.
Lessening the need for coltan.
Decreasing landfill.

Phones can be dropped off at Melbourne Zoo or Werribee Park Zoo, or posted free of charge by downloading and printing a postage-paid label from the website. Corporate and school fleet donations are strongly encouraged. For more information, and pre-paid labels, visit http://www.zoo.org.au/Calling_on_You.

Back on board

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:25:00 GMT

Hello everyone.

Following a summer hiatus - in which you can be sure I have thought about little besides telecommunications - I am pleased to announce that the Dog and Bone blog is back on deck. Be sure to check back regularly for our expert opinion on a range of issues.

The other 7 percent

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 23:03:00 GMT

"You do it once, you do it right, you do it with fibre!" It sounds like an ad for All-bran, but these were the words of the Honourable Member for New England, Tony Windsor, sounding the death-knell for a potential minority Coalition government. We were into the homestretch of the most protracted Federal election in memory, and the NBN was once again at the forefront. Hooray! Who doesn't love fibre? Wireless providers, I suppose.

It is often forgotten amidst all the crowing and screaming that the fibre part of the NBN will service only 93% of the Australian population. It's an impressively high number, but it's not everyone. The remaining 7% - comprised of users in remote or small regional centres - is to be serviced by an entirely different technology: namely, satellite. So how is this going to work?

NBN Co has announced plans to launch two next generation satellites, each boasting a total capacity of 60 - 80 gigabits per second. The goal is peak download speeds of 12 Mbps for end users, although realistic download speeds will be contingent upon a number of factors (mostly equipment). NBN Co is also exploring satellite technologies capable of at least 100Mbps.

It should also be noted that these will be entirely devoted to broadband, meaning that capacity will not be diluted by demand for television and satellite phones. They will also be exclusively used for Australian use - including far flung island territories and Antarctic holdings - meaning that capacity won't be resold to foreign interests.

The question of who will build and deliver them is still up in the air. In January, NBNCo 'issued a request for capability statements (RCS) for the supply of satellite services', which is essentially a scoping exercise designed to source a suite of providers, including a satellite manufacturer and launch providers, as well parties capable of delivering ground station build and operations, customer equipment, and network and IT services. There were reports that a shortlist of providers had been achieved by June, although given that the glacial rate these processes uniformally run at, it could still be some time before those satellites find their way into the upper atmosphere.

In the meantime, the plan is to acquire capacity from existing satellites, and then resell that at wholesale rates. There is as yet no announcement as to when these services will go live.

Australia's emergency numbers

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:09:00 GMT

Catastrophic events such as Black Saturday have highlighted a vast array of shortcomings in any number of vital systems. However, even the best systems imaginable are of little use if people don’t know how to use them. Statistics demonstrate that many people simply don’t know which know which number(s) to call in the case of an emergency. Indeed, Black Saturday saw a large number of users dialling 911, which is the emergency number in the USA. It might have been a telling comment on cultural imperialism if it the outcomes weren't so potentially tragic. In any case, our testing shows that dialling 911 from a mobile phone now redirects you to 000, although this doesn't appear to work from a fixed line.

What are Australia’s Emergency Call Services numbers?
The following numbers provide access to police, fire, and ambulance services. It should be noted that all emergency calls are free, even on prepaid plans that have used up their available credit.

Triple Zero (000) is Australia’s primary Emergency Call Service number and should be used to access emergency assistance from all telephones (landline, mobile phones and payphones) in the first instance.
112 is the GSM Emergency Call Service number for use with GSM mobile phones, almost anywhere in the world. It offers some special access features, primarily the capacity to default to the best available coverage for the frequency your phone is using. 112 can also be dialled from other mobile phones, but will only offer the same features that dialling 000 provides.
106 is the text-based Emergency Call Service for people who are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment. This service operates using a TTY (teletypewriter) and does not accept voice calls or SMS messages.

Please note the above numbers do not provide access to the State Emergency Service (SES). The number to call for SES is 132 500.

The nature of mobile phone networks means that in some circumstances these calls are not as reliable as calls from the fixed network. Problems that may be experienced when making a call from a mobile phone to the Emergency Call Service include:

losing coverage thus terminating the call;
many people concurrently reporting an emergency, leading to network congestion;
poor reception, making it difficult for the Emergency Call Service operators to understand the caller;
a remote location may result in limited or no network coverage being available;
a lack of location information about the call.

When calling from a mobile phone, does the emergency service operator know your location?
The operator cannot automatically pinpoint your location if you call from a mobile phone. Mobile phone users should provide the operator with as much information about the location of the emergency situation, including the State or Territory and the town or suburb. This simple step will ensure that the emergency call is connected to the appropriate state or territory emergency service organisation. To a large degree, this limitation also applies to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services.

(This information was largely sourced from the Australian Communications and Media Authority website.)

Charity Corner: Save The Children's Niger Campaign

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:39:00 GMT

In the west African country of Niger a toxic cocktail of rising food prices, drought, and failed crops has combined to put the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in danger. In Niger one in six children don't live to see their fifth birthday.

The goal of Save the Children’s emergency response is to reduce mortality in disadvantaged households in Niger through direct program activities and both national and international advocacy. To achieve this, Save the Children is augmenting current development work in the south of Niger to provide life-saving intervention for 326,000 children and 144,000 adults.

To help children and families affected by the Niger Food crisis you can:

Donate securely online.
Call our toll free number 1800 76 00 11 and donate over the phone.

Further details of this and many other campaigns can be found on the Save the Children website. We urge you to help.

Seperation anxiety

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:39:00 GMT

The passage through parliament of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2010 this week signals the beginning of an important structural reform for Australia's largest telco. However, despite the legislation now passing into law, we still have a long way to go.

In case you're not quite up to speed - you mean you don't follow the finer details of telecommunications regulation? - here is a rough outline of what the new legislation means to Telstra.

At its most basic level, the legislation requires Telstra to undergo functional separation. For its troubles, it will be compensated to the tune of $14 billion over the next ten years. That's the carrot. If it refuses, it will be denied access to future mobile spectrum. That's the stick.

This separation comprises three components, or undertakings, that must satisfy the ACCC. The first is an undertaking under which Telstra no longer controls a fixed line network whilst selling services to the public. In other words, Telstra is not allowed to use its retail divisions to sell its wholesale services. Telstra has until 2018 to make this happen. The other two undertakings relate to Telstra not controlling a hybrid fibre-coax (HFC) network and not controlling a broadcasting licence (i.e. Pay TV/Foxtel). The Minister can, however, exempt Telstra from these other two requirements once the structural separation undertaking has been accepted. This gives all parties some wriggle room, and keeps the lobbyists in work. Everyone is happy.

Riding in Cars with Phones

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:42:00 GMT

As work gets busier, and more of a premium is placed on being accessible anywhere at any time, using a mobile phone while driving has become increasingly widespread. Indeed, it has become so widespread that it has grown into a serious safety issue.

Statistics show that a driver is around four times more likely to have an accident whilst using a mobile, the most common being rear-ends and running off the road. Using a mobile phone causes both physical and mental distraction. In particular, using a mobile phone impairs reaction time, visual search patterns, ability to maintain constant speed and position, ability to judge traffic movement, and general awareness. Trying to text while driving is especially dangerous. I imagine playing Tetris isn’t a good idea, either. The NSW police website also suggests keeping ‘conversations short’, and not engaging ‘in complex or emotional conversations’. Basically, avoid calling your telco’s helpline from the car.

Last year, about 40,000 drivers were fined for driving with their mobiles in use, making it the third most commonly fined driving offence behind speeding and not using a seatbelt. As a result, Victoria has seen the laws governing mobile phone usage tightened. Holding a phone – including resting it in your lap – is strictly prohibited. This is the case even if the vehicle is stopped at traffic lights. Mobiles may only be used via a commercially designed holder, which does not require the driver to physically interact with the device. The penalty is a $234 on- the-spot fine and the loss of three demerit points (four in a school zone). Learner and P1 probationary drivers are forbidden to use a mobile phone whilst driving under any circumstances, including handsfree.