Most of us use them on a daily basis, but few people understand how wireless internet connections really work. HowStuffWorks.com has a great article here, explaining the nuts and bolts of wifi internet.

Is the tablet computer beginning to replace the need for a laptop in our day to day work? For an increasing number of people, the answer is yes. We found an very useful article here, detailing a variety of apps that allow your iPad to function more like a conventional laptop computer.

Telstra has raised the possibility of withdrawing its support for the NBN, if the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission fails to support the telco giant’s separation plan.

Speaking at a shareholder meeting on September 15th, Telstra chief executive David Thodey suggested that the company could walk away from its NBN commitments, if a series of disagreements with the ACCC were not resolved in the near future.

Tension has been simmering between Telstra and the consumer watchdog since the structural separation plan was announced. The ACCC has expressed doubts that Telstra’s proposed separation model will meet legislative requirements – a claim refuted by the Telstra.

The ACCC has also questioned how fairly a divided Telstra would treat competing retail telcos. Under the terms of Telstra’s separation, the company will split into separate wholesale and retail arms. The retail division, along with its competitors like Optus, will be renting the communications infrastructure owned by Telstra’s wholesale branch. The ACCC is concerned about the possibility of discriminatory pricing for infrastructure use, which would put Telstra’s retail operation at an unfair advantage over its competitors.

Telstra has signed an $11 billion agreement with the NBN Co., which entails decommissioning its copper wire network and migrating current Telstra fixed line customers onto the new NBN fibre network. This agreement has yet to be ratified by Telstra’s shareholders, and will go to the vote on October 18.

Despite the tense stand-off between Telstra and the ACCC, the telco’s executive management team are urging shareholders to vote in favour of the NBN deal. Mr. Thodey, along with Telstra CFO John Stanhope and chief customer officer Gordon Ballantyne, are embarking on a whirlwind tour of Australia to drum up shareholder support for the deal. The trio are visiting ten cities in the space of seven days.

The withdrawl of Telstra’s support and cooperation would likely spell disaster for the NBN. The Federal Government is counting on an influx of Telstra customers to bolster the new fibre network’s commercial viability.

With $11 billion at stake, it seems unlikely that Telstra will pass up on this historic opportunity, but it remains to be seen how the ACCC dispute plays out.

This article provides some very useful insight into the future of business telephony, and the rate at which VOIP has been adopted around the world. The number of paying VOIP customers around the world has increased by nearly 700% since 2006, and this trend is only going to continue. And hey, if you would like to see what we can do for with regard to VoIP, go here.

Even if you’re a regular 9-5 employee, with new web-based innovations it’s becoming increasingly possible to “telecommute” and perform your work from a remote location. We found an interesting article here, which details some of the essential tools and software you’ll need to set yourself up as a remote worker.

As we reported on August 30th, Australian phone and internet service providers have found themselves under scrutiny in recent months for alleged customer services failures. A recent report by the Telecommunications Ombudsman highlighted serious deficiencies in the complaint resolution process of many telco providers.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority – the regulatory body which supervises the telco industry – has issued a formal set of reccomendations to telco companies, aimed at improving service standards and accountability.

Under ACMA’s proposal, the Telecommunication Consumer Protection code (TCP) will be significantly overhauled. The TCP is a voluntary form of self-regulation in the telco industry. ACMA has set a deadline of February 2012 for the changes to be implemented, and raised the spectre of direct government intervention if action has not been taken by this time.

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE TCP

Changing plan names. The term ‘cap’ will not longer be allowed to describe phone and data plans, if the ‘cap’ amount is the minimum monthly cost. ‘Cap’ implies an upper limit on pricing, not a minimum, and the term has been labeled as misleading.

Accurate speed figures. Quoted broadband internet speeds must reflect ‘real world’ usability, taking into account all factors that can slow an internet connection down, rather than stating the hypothetical ‘maximum achievable’ speed.

Clearer pricing. Call, data and SMS prices must be clearly stated for all plans, as well as the contract length and and minimum monthly expenditure. ACMA is suggesting that telcos adopt a uniform system of ‘unit pricing’, where all plans quote prices for a two minute phone call, a single SMS, and downloading one megabyte of data.

Better performancing measuring. In a clear reference to the damning ombudsman’s report, ACMA is suggesting that all telcos with a customer base greater than 30,000 must provide clear and transparent performance indicators to the public. This would include information such as the average complaint resolution time, number of complaints recieved each month, and the average number of times a customer contacts the telco within a certain period.

At this stage the proposed changes to the TCP are only reccomendations, and compliance on the part of individual telco companies is voluntary. However the industry as a whole has been put on notice: If satisfactory changes to the TCP are not made by February 2012, the government will intervene and impose mandatory regulation to achieve the desired results.

In a statement, a spokesperson for ACMA said that “If the industry doesn’t develop a code that addresses [our] concerns, the ACMA will mandate changes through direct regulation.”

INDUSTRY RESPONSE

The Communications Alliance – an industry body representing telco companies – has issued a statement welcoming ACMA’s proposed changes to the TCP, and claiming that many of the suggestions made by ACMA were ideas originally put forward by industry.

With just five months until the TCP changes are due, it remains to be seen whether Australian telcos can satisfy ACMA’s demands voluntarily, or be forced into a new regulatory framework.

This is a clever innovation that allows you to keep your power-hungry gadgets charged up while you’re on the move. The universal gadget wrist charger is lightweight and fairly discreet – definitely one of the more practical inventions we’ve come across in recent times.

The Australian Telecommunications User Group has announced that it will be closing its doors, after three decades as the peak representative body for Australian telco customers.

Citing a decline in the membership base, and the proliferation of similar organisations around Australia, the ATUG board of directors has decided that now is the right time to close down the organisation.

For the past 30 years ATUG has represented the interests of end-users, both private and commercial, and lobbied telco companies and the government for fairness and improved standards of service and competition.

ATUG is regarding as having played a major role in the 1980s deregulation of Australia’s telecommunications industry, which ultimately ended the Telecom monopoly and led to the creation of Optus and Vodafone.

In more recent times, ATUG has been critical of the National Broadband Network, claiming the project is anti-competitive and will stifle growth in Australian telecommunications.

Dwindling membership numbers and the resulting loss of revenue have forced ATUG to make a dignified exit now, rather than wait for the inevitable collapse.

In announcing the imminent closure, ATUG chair David Swift lauded the lobbying group’s achievements, claiming that the vibrant and open telecommunications market that Australia enjoys today would not have been possible without the efforts of ATUG.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and his Opposition counterpart Malcolm Turnbull both released statements praising the work of ATUG in securing a better deal for Australian telco customers.

Mr. Turnbull went on to say that, with the roll-out of the NBN under way, the services of groups like ATUG were now more important than ever. With a government-owned monopoly on communications infrastructure, holding the NBN managers to account would be vital, said Mr. Turnbull.

Many of the management team at ATUG will be taking up other roles in the communications sector. Former managing director Rosemary Sinclair will reportedly be taking a position on the Federal Government’s Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee, which will be responsible for assessing and identifying problems areas in telco service outside Australia’s metropolitan areas.

We at Infiniti salute the Australian Telecommunications User Group for all they have achieved in making the industry fairer and more accountable. The telecommunications landscape in this country is a lot brighter today thanks to the tireless efforts of ATUG, and we hope that the fine traditions established by this organisation will continue far into the digital age.

As of this year, Australians are officially the most prolific smartphone users on the planet, with an estimated one in two mobile users now owning a high-tech, internet capable device.

This puts us well ahead of countries such as the United States and Great Britain, where smartpone owners account for roughly a third of all mobile users.

In the first three months of 2011, smartphone sales exceeded that of regular mobile phones for the first time. The enthusiastic uptake of smartphones in Australia has been attributed to rapidly falling prices, with entry-level models now available for around $150.

These statisitcs were reveled in Telstra’s annual report on mobile phone usage in Australia. Based on current trends, the company estimates that two thirds of the population will own a smartphone within twelve months.

The new generation of mobile phone technology has gained popularity in Australia faster than anyone anticipated. While our taste for the flashy gadgets has been a boon for manafacturers like Apple and Samsung, servicing the ever-increasing smartphone population is pushing our Telcos to the limit.

The amount of data being downloaded on smartphones is increasing at an almost exponential rate, and signs of strain are beginning to appear. Vodafone has come under criticism this year, with many customers complaining of slow download speeds and unreliable internet coverage.

The explosion of smartphone popularity has already caused network failures in several countries around the world, where the demand for data simply outstrips what the telecommunications infrastructure is able to deliver.

The situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. The Australian Media and Communications Authority estimates that by 2020 – just nine years from now – Australians will download 500 times as much mobile data as we did in 2007.

Admidst the chaotic rise of the smartphone in Australia, Telstra has so far proven the most successful of the major telcos in providing fast and reliable data access. Telstra’s national 3G network was the first of its kind anywhere in the world, and has given the company a consistent edge over its competitors in the mobile internet market. Yet even the most successful service provider by today’s standards will need to radically overhaul its network to remain competitive in the near future.

So the race is well and truly on. Australian telcos are scrambling to upgrade their infrastructure and meet surging customer demand, or risk losing relevance in a world where just about everyone carries a data-hungry smartphone in their pocket.

Optus is facing public outcry over the telco’s decision to erect a new mobile phone tower in the East Perth community of Gooseberry Hills.

Despite the local council voting against the proposal, the WA Planning Commission has approved construction of the tower after an appeal by Optus, which effectively gives the telco a green light to begin construction.

The proposed tower will be located in the vicinity of the local primary school. Several parents with children enrolled as the school have voiced concerns about the health risks of radiation-emitting phone towers.

The ‘No To The Tower’ group was formed by local Gooseberry Hills residents, and has been actively campaigning against the tower proposal since it was first introduced in June this year.

The Gooseberry Hills tower is just one in a series of controversial infrastructure projects that Optus has scheduled in the Western Australian capital.

It was revealed last week that Optus is planning the contruction of another phone tower in Perth, near the nib Stadium on Lord Street, and had proposed to disguise the 31m structure as an artifical palm tree. That proposal is yet to go before the WA Planning Commission, but residents and local council members have already expressed concern about the tower’s proximity to residential areas.

Western Australian Planning Minister John Day, who is also the local member for the Gooseberry Hills electorate, has faced a storm of criticism for failing to intervene in this latest case and block construction of the tower.

When questioned by local media, Mr. Day acknowledged the numerous complaints he had recived about the tower proposal. Yet he also pointed out that many local residents had complained to him about inadequate mobile phone reception in the area.

The current situation in Perth is symptomatic of a wider problem that we face in many parts of Australia: how the balance the need for impoved telecommunications infrastructure with community safety and well-being.

As a provider of telecommunications products and services, the team at Infiniti belive strongly in building Australia’s infrastructure and preparing the nation for the demands of the future.

Yet we are also firm believers that technological advancement should never come at the price of endagering the Australian public or harming our environment. We believe it is possible for Australian telecommunications to move forward in a safe, ethical and responsible manner – and we’re doing everything in out power to make this possible.