Wireless broadband subscribers up 162 per cent
- 13 January, 2010 09:35
- Comments 6
Australians have jumped aboard the wireless broadband bandwagon with domestic use rising by 162 per cent in 2008-2009, new Australian Communications and Media Authority figures show.
According to the Communications Report 2008-09, registered subscribers to wireless broadband services increased from 809,000 in June 2008 to 2.1 million in June 2009. This represented 25 per cent of all Net users, compared to 11 per cent the year before.
3G mobile services in operation leapt by 43.6 per cent, or from 8.55m in 2008 to 12.28m in 2009. The total number of Internet subscribers grew from 7.23m to 8.4m.
At the same time as broadband Internet numbers were rising, the number of dial-up users dropped from 1.57m in 2008 to 1.09m. Overall, non-dial-up user numbers grew from 5.66m to 6.72m in the same period.
But it wasn’t all good news. The number of complaints made to the regulatory body increased to 115,437 grievances in 2008-09, compared to 63,760 the previous year. We’re are also spending much more time on the World Wide Web, with the average Australian spending 57 hours on the Net per month in 2008-09 compared to 12 months earlier. Even more impressive is the amount downloaded, which increased by 80.4 per cent to 99,993TB of data in the same period.
The increase in downloads and need for better equipment was also being blamed for the rise in communication interceptions by police and national security organisations. According to ACMA, the total cost leapt 70 per cent in just one year from $9.5m in June 2008 to $16.2m in June 2009.
To read the full report, visit the official website here.
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Comments
Anonymous
I'd like to know how many of these so called users have no other option than to use wireless services.
tomek1
no big surprise 3G take up is growing
if my RIMmed suburb is anything to go by - no one here can get ADSL as no ADSL ports available hence all are getting 3G instead
Anonymous
Reason why Wireless is popular is most people outside of the city's can not get ADSL.
They are forced onto Telstra NextG failband.
Anyone been on a RIM lately? 200ms wireless is nothing compared to the latency you get on a RIM during peek times......
Steve
wireless replacing broadband?
Depending on how they count these things, my household has 3 wireless internet services and 1 ADSL. Our iPhones don't really count as "broadband replacement". The one *real* wireless internet is required for me to VPN into the office when on the road.
Wireless (at least with Optus) is slow and tedious to use, and really only a replacement for dialup.
I wonder if this report is tracking the increase in number of smartphones rather than *real* takeup of wireless broadband.
Anonymous
Wireless broadband subscribers up 162 per cent
The reasons that such take up of wireless for broadband is high is that the wired infrastructure under Telstra, is that it's just SO BADLY RUN BY TELSTRA, as a fully intergrated company.
Telstra needs to split the Wholesale and Network out away from the Retail, and run them as two completely seperate companies.
Jonathan
ADSL Line Issues
The only reason wireless usage is increasing is allot of those people connected don’t know any better and are getting sucked in by the hype the telco’s are wrapping around it. It took me about 4-5months to get an ADSL2+ line connected at my place as Telstra simply does not want to install phone lines that work with ADSL2+, they install you on a split line by default even if you told operators that you only ant the line purely for ADSL and nothing else... They do this as your only option then becomes to connect ADSL-1 of which Telstra runs! How they get away with this is beyond me and when you complain you can’t get ADSL2+ there solution is VERY sorry but why don’t you give wireless a try...
I’ve had 3 friends that recently moved house and all three of they have had the exact same issue, I spoke to the tech that installed the phone line (he came over to check there was a dial tone in the house) and when I mentioned all I need the line for is ADSL2+ he said strait away you’re not going to get that as he’s job sheet specifically requested him to connect it up as a split line even though there was lots of spare full copper lines available. This is after the operator specifically said she would put a note on the job sheet to get a full copper line installed... 2 other friends had the exact same issue the other one did not know better and trusted Telstra but ended up having the same issue any way.
The TIO is absolutely powerless really and can’t do much at all so Telstra just walk all over them and set the tune any way. Very SAD, I’ve ended up with ADSL2+ now along with a phone line I never use as to connect naked ADSL you need a phone line of which both telcos will not install unless you take out a contract with them, Optus is 12 moths I believe and Telstra although not on their webpage says minimum of 3 months else there is disconnection fees and all sorts of rubbish so you don’t have much choice at all and naked ADSL seems like a joke as you can’t really get it if you want the net connected and you don’t already have a phone line that is out of contact (eg, move house and your locked in with a phone line you don’t want any more!) What a Joke!
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