Cables everywhere. Sigh.

Please sort out with all haste:

* Single, standard cable for data and power - Power over Ethernet or similar
* Single, standard type of charger only for all devices
* Multiple devices support for each charger

I have more powerbricks than Imelda Marcos had shoes and no, that's not something I'm proud of or happy about. Also, my office is running out of power points... again.

It's silly. Why hasn't anyone fixed this yet?

Posted by Juha Saarinen at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

We all suspected that all traffic was ratelimited on Go Large... now it's confirmed. Also, Go Large is suspended from now on, with only the data capped plans being available from Telecom.

As per Telecom's media release:

Telecom advised today that it will credit customers on its Go Large broadband service following an internal technical review that identified an issue with how internet traffic is being managed on the plan.

The Go Large plan was introduced in October and was one of the first large-scale broadband services to feature no monthly cap on the amount of data customers can download or use when web surfing.

GM Consumer Marketing Kevin Bowler said Telecom will credit all Go Large customers for monthly plan charges incurred since 8 December 2006, when the issue arose, through to the end of February 2007.

Currently with around 60,000 customers on the Go Large service, the refunds are expected to total $7.5 - $8.5m (incl GST).

Credits will vary depending on how long a customer has been on Go Large. For a customer who has been using the plan since 8 December and is still on the plan the credit is expected to be between $130 - $160.

”Following customer feedback, our own review has shown that the process involved in managing Go Large internet traffic since early December is not what was originally intended or communicated to customers.„

The issue is specific to the Go Large plan which accounts for less than 10% of the total number of customers using broadband services.

Go Large was promoted as having traffic management applied to certain applications, but since December the traffic management process has affected all forms of activity.

”Clearly it is not an ideal situation and therefore we are crediting Go Large customers for plan charges incurred during this period,„ Mr Bowler said.

Go Large customers will be contacted directly by Telecom in the next two weeks and automatically receive the credit. Customers do not need to apply or do anything to receive it. The credit will automatically be applied to the customer’s Telecom bill during March or April.

Mr Bowler said Telecom has also decided to temporarily stop signing up new customers onto the Go Large plan until it has completed further reviews into the service.

When they are contacted by Telecom, all existing Go Large customers will have the option to stay on the plan with a revised traffic management policy, to change to other broadband plans provided by Telecom if they wish or cancel their service.

”In this instance with the Go Large plan our internal technical review showed we had made an error and we believe that we are doing the right thing by crediting customers.„

Ends

Posted by Juha Saarinen at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My city isn't blinky-blinky...

This is Tower Bridge, with LEDs at the top. Sensors on London Bridge triggered by Bluetooth devices cause them to light up as you walk by and show your progress:

Here's Dexia Tower in Brussels, Belgium, receiving the installation treatment:

I know the Sky Tower changes colour between sickly green and nasty purple at night, but couldn't it be done a bit better? The Harbour Bridge should definitely get "installed" as well.

Posted by Juha Saarinen at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

3G that goes the distance - and fast - is on offering from Telstra.

Ericsson and Telstra are moving with surprising speed to provide, errm, surprising speeds with their Next G UMTS/WCDMA cellular broadband. Now the 14.4Mbit/s upgrade has been activated, which is an impressive figure by itself for wireless.

However, the cell site reach has been extended substantially, with Telstra and Ericsson saying 200km is no problem. At that distance, people still get 2.3Mbit/s downloads as well. If the technology does indeed deliver (and I believe there's no widely available customer devices yet), it sounds like a technology that ought to make its way over to New Zealand.

TelstraClear, which will soon drop the last bit of its moniker apparently, is in dire need of a compelling product that people want instead of resold Telecom connections... why not take a leaf out of the Aussies' book and spend the money to build a fast 3G network?

Posted by Juha Saarinen at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not for me though, because I have an on-account phone.

Bah. I want to www.vodafonebay.co.nz to check out what the hugely profitable mobile giant has to offer its most faithful customers - which is nothing at all as per usual. Vodafone loves those low-ARPU PrePay peeps only, see?

For the sake of it, I put in the phone number of Voda's recently anointed Head PR Troll into the form of on the site, and got this back:

Fantastically accurate little web app that, Vodafone.

Posted by Juha Saarinen at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Was it demand that caused Southern Cross to expand capacity on its cable?

PC World editor Chris Keall mentions the recently-announced upgrade to the Southern Cross cable, which will see bandwidth increase from 240Gbit/s to 1.2Terabit/s - a huge number - but was it just increased custom that prompted the revving-up?

That's not quite how I heard it. Instead, I'm told that there's an RFP out from Telstra for a second trans-Pacific data cable. That's right, the Aussies want a cable of their own. And why shouldn't they? Telstra puts a huge amount of data through the Southern Cross cable, which is half-owned by competitors Telecom NZ, two-fifths by Singtel/Optus with a tenth in MCI/Verizon's hands. Needless to say, such an ownership structure makes for tough negotiations when Telstra comes along wanting to buy bandwidth on the SCC.

I hope Telstra builds another cable for two reasons: one, cheaper international bandwidth (NZ providers apart from Telecom are being gouged at the moment) and greater route diversity/redundancy.

Last weekend, I attended the Kiwi Foo Camp, or Baa Camp as organiser Nat Torkington called it. The Baa Camp is based on earlier O'Reilly Media sponsored Foo Camps held in the US and Europe. Foo stands for "Friends of O'Reilly" in case you wonder.

Mahurangi College up in Warkworth was the venue, with 120 geeks, media, artists, policy makers and even a lawyer attending a free-form, unstructured event that was quite honestly amazingly good. Excellent sessions (well, bar one) and it was good to meet so many people that I've been in touch with over the Internet for many years, but never got around to seeing in person.

There was plenty of cross-pollination of ideas and technology going on, and nobody needed prodding to take part in discussions. It was full on discussion from the morning throughout the day until well into the night - exhausting, but easily the best meet I've been to. Marketing and lack of genuineness got stomped on fast by the attentive audience that was anything but passive listeners.

Before the Baa Camp started, I wasn't sure what would happen or how to participate. Afterwards, knackered and hoarse from talking non-stop, I'm a total convert to "unconferences". Excellent stuff.

Posted by Juha Saarinen at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)