paradoxsm:

Kudos to Telecom, One-Rate No full minute rounding, no "on-net/off-net" on XT!

Tue, 19 May 2009 15:08:00 PDT

Source - Telecom Media

One-Rate (anywhere, anyone, anytime)
No peak or off-peak distinction any longer. No same-network or other-network pricing.
All calls will be charged at one rate, anytime of the day or night.
Prepaid calling calculated as 89c per minute from example given under "per-second rounding"

Share-Calling
Allows you to have a group of mobiles under one plan.
Calls are charged at one price set and calling between the group mobiles are free.

Per-second rounding for all
All calls will be charged per-second after the first minute, for example a 1:05 call on prepay will cost 97c instead of $1.78

No-Shock
If you buy 100 minutes for $30 (pricing example only) giving you an effective per-minute rate of 30c then any minutes used over the included 100 minutes are still just 30c, not a higher "penalty" rate.

T-World
The new wap portal, hopefully offers something more exciting than "ringtones" and "wallpapers" and actually offers something decent like TV show-on-demand or LIVE TV!
DRM-free music store would also be greatly recieved.

Also hinted

A data usage plan of $1 for up to 10MB per day similar to Vodafone's plan.

Access and certain exclusivities to popular sites like Facebook, bebo, youtube, myspace etc.
I created my own butt-ugly "portal" many moons ago just in case I ever had the need or needed to test with most of the mentioned sites (and coded-out orcons stupid ad-banners too)

There have been no annoucements in regards to SMS yet. I assume that $10 TXT will continue for now.

Note:
All current CDMA prices including rounding methods will remain the same, I highly doubt they will allow CDMA customers to transfer their call plans to the new network though i'd love to take my Flexi mytime plan across.

ANZ internet banking "Changes" turns out to just be insertion of banner adverts

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:21:00 PDT

ANZ's internet banking has been getting out of date for some time now and I have been looking forward to some updates to it so when I spotted that there were to be some changes I was excited.

What a dissappointment I was greeted with instead:

What's changing?

The first change you'll notice will be the addition of promotional banners that will appear on the main balances and transaction screen as well as transaction receipt pages (when you've finished a Pay Anyone or Bill Payment). These banners will keep you updated on ANZ products, services and other information that may be useful to you:

No, I'm sorry, These banners are quite unwanted and make it look like free webmail. The fact I'm paying $5 a month too when I could get it free at another bank really rubs it in.

I have 3 other accounts with other banks which are free (ASB,Westpac,Kiwibank) and they have refrained from insertion of advertising.

Telecom's XT network Videos

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:45:00 PDT

I have uploaded the XT videos onto YouTube as the performance of the primary www.testdrive.co.nz site video playback challenges even the most recent machines flash performance.

Telecom XT Network Teaser Video

Telecom XT Network Full branding Video

Telecom Paul Reynolds Thanking Customers for the big year Video

Section 92A browndown

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 08:39:00 PST

* upadate, looks like we have a reprieve, well at least a delay. blog will survive but i'll still be removing the glut of rants from it (apart from the pizzahut and kfc ones as they were put up mostly for amusement and "as a community anocement to entice dieting and healthy lifestyles") ;-D

The tech articles will stay and the colours will change.

enjoy and may I still be able to stream an mp3 and watch a youtube video

Due to this draconian pig of a law that is will make us the most policed nation in the world I'm going to do something very drastic, disconnect my internet which also involves pulling down this blog and other connected stuff. My main PC has just failed and I won't be investing in replacing it, it's just no longer worth it.

I don't download illegal content but I cannot risk having my internet pulled from under me if relied upon just because some greedy horrible corporate "suspected" I downloaded something they paid the artist $0.03c for.

Will be gone by Feb 28th if the Section 92a passes into law, if you want to save anything, do it now.
have a nice day :-(

Systems and setups in current use.

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:10:00 PST

No updates for like,, forever! it's been a hectic year

Here are the currently running machines, they do come and go quite often.

1 x main box
(CPU- 2000MHz dualcore, RAM - 2GB 800, HDD 250GB + 1TB external)
WindowsXP only (pro Lic)

1 x ASUS EEEpc 900
(CPU- 900MHz Celeron, RAM - 1GB 400)
WindowsXP (home Lic)
Fedora8 on a bootable SD card

1 x HP t5300 "thin client" 12 Watt "Green Machine" that is parked beside the router as a downloads machine
(CPU- 500MHz Transmeta, RAM - 64MB 133, HDD 80GB)
WinXP micro, (pro Lic) (was an Asterisk VoIP box but got bored of that)

1 x Skeleton, a machine built on just a chassis
(CPU- 1100MHz Celeron Tualitin, RAM - 256MB 133, HDD bootable SD cards)
+ WinXP Xlite plus custom developments. (pro Lic)
+ Win985 and DOS legacy (95 and 98 OEM Lic)
+ Slackware linux (classic!)
Change the CompactFLASH cards to change the OS.

To come:
Midia (multi music machine Korg/yamaho/roland/EMU) will be restored
Faster thin client, I have one with a 1.5GHz CPU floating around.
AMD main power machine with no fans at all.

National win Parliment, Labour + Helen concedes , NZfirst out.

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:45:00 PST

The call for change and wind of change has proved successful for National taking approx 46% leaving labour at about 34% and wel enough for National to take Parliment alone. Labour and also the Leader Helen clark finally conceded at about 11:30PM tonight. Helen Clark has now officially stood down as leader of Labour.

New Zealand first lost it's Tauranga seat leaving them out of parliment however Progressive and United future both held their local seats allowing them to remain.

National 46%
Labour 34%
Greens 6%
Act 4%
NZfirst 4%
Maori 2%
Progrssive 1%
United Future 1%
Bill + Bens 0.5%

I had pedicted the Obama election in the US had a lot of people pushing for the change hence the clear majority, Before the Obama election, I pitted Red and Blue to be pretty close but after the Obama election and the "wind of change" in the air, most had metioned they wanted to see something different even if they did not agree with all the opposition's views. What I did notice quite vividly was there weren't any bold policies, this is possibly a result from the global credit crunch.

I think change will be a good thing but lets's not see any more repeat state-asset sale repeats or privatisation attempts, Look at current scary power prices, huge profits and the rotting network as a good example, another are the trains, driven into the ground and closed up.

Let's not push more essential services and profits into private hands, usually siphoned off overseas.

References:

tvnz.co.nz (Superb coverage), nzherald.co.nz and some other local sources.

OFFICIAL results...
http://www.electionresults.org.nz/

Spitting Dominoes!

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:19:00 PST

An employee outside Dominoes Pizza in Johnsonville Wellington tonight spotted spitting on the pavement beside the front door.... I wonder how much makes it into the food?

I (being my typical loud, obnoxious self) yelled out to them, "ewwwwww, YUCK! glad I aint eating there!

I was heading into Burgerfuel next door and getting another superb product as always, Bugerfuel have earned Hall-of Fame status.

NZ's new mobile operator MNVO* Black + White releases to the market.

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:51:00 PDT

*Mobile network Virtual operator - A virtual operator with their own plans, phones but running on another network, in this case: Vodafone.

Finally Black and White have released into the market with some not so cutting edge plans at the low end (costs are actually more expensive than most prepaid offers in the market (89c vs 60c but no monthly fee) but better plans at the higher end but thay also have a few cool devices at sensible prices.

They do offer a bunch of similar "addons" similar to Vodafone's "You Choose" and "Supa Prepay" offers.

Also Black+White have a "no strings" policy with no forced fixed term contracts which is to be applauded in this current realm of the "forced contract" even when byo your own hardware.
"
I find them to offer a very similar approach to Revolution Telecom, a prepaid "cut price""no strings" provider in Australia.

MNVO's, a sad history.

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:57:00 PDT

Freedom. 1998-1998?
Remember the first revolutionary "No Hooks" no credit expiry date plan and chunky "Refurbished" 025 Motorola that was sold via The Warehouse.

Lasted about a year and suddenly went belly up.

GOLD. 1999-2004
After the failure of Freedon, The Warehouse introduced GOLD which was a similar system of one everyday rate and no credit expiry.

GOLD mobiles had the billing changed from GOLD to Telecom and then were integrated into Telecom mobiles in about 2004 and the brand was withdrawn.

X-Cell. 1999-2005
Launched via Trustpower it later lived on being sold under Sky. Unicall, Reach
Became Reach mobile in is dying days and met the same demise as Reach wireless

Phones suddenly stopped working in 2005 just like their wireless network and still remained half-connected but with no billing platform.

Pulsate. 2001-2002
Devised by Telecom to make 025 "cool" and has sponsorships, DJ events and a really neat web portal for it's day. It also introduced the hack to SMS to 021 mobiles and a 1c texing promo after 9PM

Pulsate was a standard Telecom Prepaid device anyway and simply became "Boost"

Boost. 2002-2007
An international "youth brand" introduced by Telecom to replace the in-house Pulsate brand it offered a range of text plans but lacked the awesome website offered by it's predesessor, It became famous for sponsoring Hip-Hip and was an on-net plan (027-027) priced.

Was withdrawn for the market late 2007 but the SMS-on-net plan still exists and is avialable to all Telecom customers as "boostTXT"

Telstra. 1998-2007
Vodafone resold plans under 029 numbers and not a true MNVO.

It all fell apart in 2007 and they defected to Telecom late 2007, this "new network" is nothing new by the way.

Telstra 2007
The only current MNVO that actually holds service. Runs upon the existing CDMA network.
Nice plans too that offer great rates and no "free minute scams with overage penalties"

So far all MNVO's ahve been through Telecom.

Hopefully this new wave of the Virtual Operators can make a success.

Vodafone needs a new slogan: "make the most of now coz tomorrow it probably won't work"

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:21:00 PDT

Ok.. where do I start.

0197 is doing weird things.

0197 then a normal number, Connects, but ID is passed through to both terminating cell and landline, wtf?
0197 then an 0800 number, call connects then terminates instantly.
#31# DOES work.
Response from Vodafone "0197 is not supported" ugh...

Calling 777 from the mobile , works about 25% of the time, network connects the session but the call hits the switch and just ends instantly similar to the 0197 bugs. happening since friday.

Cannot top up two of the module prepay simcards where the credit had simply expired on the 60 days (old supaprepay exp) via recharge voucher, dialling 777 from the simcard (when I FINALLY got a successful connection) said "you are barred from topping up by recharge card" and then the call is dumped on to the credit card top up menu, but guess what.....
(vodafone's response.... they don't have a clue on how to "unbar" the connections to let me top them up)

Credit card top ups are not working!!! ARGH.

Checked Manage your account online so see if I could fix it there. Logged in successfully,
Click on "accout details,... Blank screen: Firefox, opera and Microsoft Internet explorer.

So much for "use our automated self-service options" FIX THEM!!!!!!!!

Now you are trying to charge us to call the helpdesk, you really should be making sure these self-service things WORK.

Vodafone do the occasional great moves like Bestmate and the $1 for 10MB cap and there is a "network status update" in the 777 menu that ought to be applauded but they really need to look at this system and the network components of theirs which is obviously a pile of $%^$%.

The sooner somebody releases a CDMA2000 or 850MHz module to replace the Siemens MC series, the better.

I'd say the government should look into them but the resulting info might be passed on to Jamie Lockett and co.

But finally: I just called 0800 800 021 and spoke to a local staff member whom provided excellent service, I will ensure this is made known to her superior.

Vodafone Prepay- from the 1st August you cannot switch back to the older plans.

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:31:00 PDT

INFO
If you want an older prepay plan or want to change back, switch now!

QUOTE:
From 1 August 2008 you will no longer be able to switch on to our classic plans - Motormouth, Nights & Weekends or Anytime.

Of course in the beginning it could have all been kept simple, kept the same 3 plans and allowed the new addons but as the famous quote goes... "It' used confusion as it's chief marketing tool"

What is the catch with supa prepay?
The minutes are rounded UP to the nearest minute, a call running for 1:03 will cost 2 minutes.

Telecom prepay also follow this minute by minute practice.
Telecom monthly billing phones onebill and flexi charge per second after the first minute.
Telecom allow all customers to have the $10 TXT cap and the 450 free SMS are for all NZ networks.

Also as announced more widely - from the 1st August, there will be a $1 charge to call customer services from Prepay, We hope their billing issues are sorted by then and that they activate the call summary in tthe web based MYA so people can monitor their balance and transactions without charge.

Change the APN on the Apple iPhone 3g so you can use Prepay data, or any regular data plan.

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:04:00 PDT

~~Three~~ Two methods

Method 1 -- Offline Sim swap.
Requires a non-VodafoneNZ Simcard.
Original attempt 13:20.07-11-2008, unsuccessful, 13:36.07-11-2008 Bingo!!!!!!

1. Insert a non-specified* Sim into the iphone, I used an old 02 simcard
2. Wait about 20 seconds for SIM initialisation, phone will indicate.
3. Head to : Menu > Settings > General > Network > and stay on this screen.
4. Remove this SIM.
5. Insert a SIM from VodafoneNZ (53001) and again wait for about 20 seconds for service.
6. Click on [Cellular data connection] now.
7. Under APN name, change the "iphone.vodafone.net.nz" to "www.vodafone.net.nz" or "internet" if you do not wish to see compressed images.
8. Hit Save.

You can now access data using your standard data plan including the PrePay $1 for 10MB pricing or the other open-term pricing plans.

Method 2 Really easy web config.
Requires an internet connection.

LennonNZ has made a fantastic page on Unlockit.co.nz

~~Method 3 The one which didn't work!!!!~~
Config the phone HERE.
Original attempt, 9:01.07-11-2008 AM Friday 11th July - Failed, 10:12.07-11-2008 aborted.

* Specified Carriers.

Claro_cl
Claro_sv
Comcel_co
EMT_ee
Hutchison_hk
Hutchison_mo
Mobistar_be
Optimus_pt
Optus_au
Orange_ch
Orange_li
Orange_pl
Orange_ro
Orange_sk
SingTel_sg
Softbank_jp
Sonera_fi
TIM_Italy
TMobile_nl
Telcel_mx
Telia_se
Telstra_au
Vodafone_cz
Vodafone_it
Vodafone_nz
Vodafone_pt
movistar_cl
movistar_co
movistar_ec
Telefonica_es
movistar_gt
movistar_pe
movistar_sv
movistar_uy

Please Tell me if you have no joy..

When Vodafone free call to 440 are not free, (title changed as it seems the blog deletes all text after a " if you re-edit your post)

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:14:00 PDT

Here we go again!!!!!

I have borrowed a simcard from a friend in case iGrab an iPhone tonight (iAborted) and suddenly it all came flowing back why I'm no longer a Vodafone customer.

Got a SMS from (Vodafone) when I powered it up "Fm 1Aug it will be $1 per call to talk to Cust Service on Prepay. You can still manage yr mob free online. For other ways 2manage yr mob &more info freecall 440"

Called 440, Iwas charged regular airtime rates!!!!! (this sim is on the old 89c anytime plan)

I did get my money back but this is pretty bad, a very high percentge of what Vodafone does ends up overcharging users.

I'm very worried about the iPhone launch tomorrow.

*update, it seems Vodafone figured out the mistake and credited the affected customer back the following day and sent an sms to advise them of the fault, it's commended they fixed it quickly.

iPhone pricing VS LOCAL standard pricing

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:43:00 PDT

This is not another Vodafone bash blog, stop reading now if you want to read that.
I do not work for Vodafone nor have any affiliation, Actually I don't even use their service!.
It's a proper breakdown of the plans and to what they are offering.

The plans are not "hideous" as a lot of people are trumpeting, ok they are not "amazing value" to kill every plan out there wonderful but are not as gouging as some (most if not all) people would make it seem.
For a high-powered business user, the plans may suit actually quite well (iIwonder if you can flog the iphone and put the sim in another more business centric device like a PDA or smartphone?)

disclaimer, these pricings are very hard to calculate with the exception of the last $250 dollar plan which has alternate exact pricing available so are just approximations apart from this plan. Some info may be incorrect though all attempts have been made to ensure this is correct.

iPhone $80
Total approx value $112.85
250MB plan $39.95 (200mb plan plus $10 extra 200mb insurance)
600 ANY network SMS $12.95 (txt600)
120 anytime any network minutes $59.95 (choose 120)

iPhone $130
$147.95 (half of 1gb plan at $49.95) or 162.90 (400mb+$10 extra 200mb)
500MB plan $49.95 (1gb pricing plan equiv)
600 ANY network SMS $12.95
250 anytime any network minutes $109.95

iPhone $250
$287
1GB plan $49.95
600 ANY network SMS $12.95
600 anytime any network minutes $224.95
Not a big saving but something

What is great?
The rate plans are all "any network, anytime" rates and are actually quite reasonable for a business user.
discount on the device, if you are already using this type of usage, you can get a new handset cheap.

Where they screwed up?
No on-net rates or youchoose addons YET like family, choose bundles, bestmates, txt2000 etc. (these are in the pipeline according to the "rightnow" custhelp on the website)
compared to other off-peak options out there like telecom flexi 10c calling, these plans will not suit a lot of joe-consumers all that well.

Forced 24 month contract on the special data plans, not just any plan will work with this device like the open term 1GB $59.95 plan

Options?
not using 3g data?
buy the phone outright on Youchoose, not everyone needs 3g anywhere data, standard youchoose pricing handset discounts apply.

You MAY be able to buy the iphone and throw in a prepay simcard in it and just use it as a sms/calling device. if not, buy it on choose20, activate it and then can your 12 month contract immdiately ($40) and convert your on-account sim to a prepay.

if you want youchoose, txter/mega/talker power you can shove on a compatible data plan or none if you won't use data, many will buy this phone for a music player/basic phone.

For me? I will grin smirkly and think of how I pay 5c, 10c and possibly as much as a whole 40c a minute and vanish back in to my cave again.

END

New Zealand rail lives one more as Kiwirail, rail is back.

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:55:00 PDT

The railways are once again back in government ownership, in very nostalgic livery i might add, I'm very pleased with the colours chosen.

Rail is efficient, a LOT more efficient.

Low friction - it's a smooth wheel rolling over a smooth level surface.
VS Tyres rolling along a rough road producing heat etc.

Common speed - Once the train is chugging away, it's just got to maintain a constant speed.
VS, lights, towns, hazards, morons in suv's and the like.

Few hills, gradual turns - Once up to speed it's almost a flat surface to chug along.
VS lots of steep hills, lots of narrow windy roads in good ol NZ.

Low maitainance - once the track is laid, it requires very little upkeep and can last for centuries.
VS road that ripup, flood out, melt in the sun etc after only a few years.

Easy and safe to operate in any weather - In ths day and age it could be made almost autonomonous.
VS driving a truck with stress, rain slips, ice, night and annoying drivers all over the roads.

Safe - Apart from cows, volcanoes and morons trying to skip the level crossings rail is very event free.
VS blown tyres, crashes, slips, ice, oil and the other roading dangers.

Electric - Electric trains are amazingly efficient compared to any fossil fuel powered machine, you could put up a pile of windmills and power the trains off those.
VS fossil fuels, governed by a pile of offshore fatcats whom are doing very well for themselves right now.

Easy to load/unload - These aint the old wagon days, you cn now just shove a container quickly on to a train, just drop, move drop move drop move drop with some automaed gantry thing, I made it in lego in the 80's so it can be easily made in real life..

Trucks are also easy to unload/load and are more movable, trucks will complement the trains for this, trains-longhaul, trucks-shorthaul and will still have a very valid place in the infrastructure for years to come.

They need to embrace their new tool, make a system of getting containers on to wagons at fast pace though a grantry system which can just line up and drop, then a loco hauls away the string to the final spot.

Why all this noise, are we not just going back to the dark ages? well in a way we are....
Wind back a few (20) years when gas prices last went through the roof, rail was the golden goose. Much of the main truck was electrified, rail was pushed (I have seen a poster from the day promoting the efficiency of rail) Gas prices then plummeted in the late 80's and the trains were hocked off early 90's and road transport became economically viable again. Back then trains needed sidings to load the induvidual containers with crates and boxes and time consuming offloading too and now containerisation is here it makes much more sense to bring back rail.

Anyhow...

As much as I's a rail buff and love watching these things thunder along, Trucks are cool, mean, big and a lot of pride is taken by their owners to induvidualise thei truck, (trains are petty bland really when you compare them) Trucks certainly have their purpose , i give them the right of way on roads, they serve a purpose and are usually very considerate on the roads unlike those SUV's

I do not agree with the governments position, gouging them for road user charges, a sour move, good one with the rail then they bring this in. Let the Truckies get their final years on the longhaul and give them a chance to ADAPT to the new ways, times are going to get pretty tough for them anyway with gas prices without being stung on top of it with about 20% in 2 years (sounds like the rates and electricity companies doesn't it) They can do some other delivering, electric last-mile possibly? Build some decent roads if you put up the prices, asphalt is economic short-sighted crap, slightly cheaper to deploy with a proven shockingly short service life, does anyone notice the the old concrete roads built in the 40's are still perfectly usable?

End of Financial year, retailers are cutting prices everywhere.

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:25:00 PDT

I won't post any links as I'm tight for time but there are a lot of reductions around, a lot probably selling off beloe cost to make End of year sales look rosier, some pretty amazing deals at certain places.

New mobile offer from Telecom hiding on the website!! $6 calling favourites..

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:47:00 PDT

I was trying to make some Greasemonkey code for the horrid "javascript:nopopup" links that infest Telecom.co.nz. that prevent me from using multiple tabbed browsing on their website (PLEASE fix this horrible glitch) and then something caught my eye when I got sidetracked and looked at roaming prices........ "My Favourites" lurking underneath roaming in the sidebar... aka a flat-fee calling plan similar to Vodafone's Bestmate offer that you can you can add to your Telecom post paid mobile. (I'm assuming this offer is actually valid and supposed to be released, I took a screenshot just in case!)

It's similar to Vodafone's BestMate flat-fee offer but the main difference is the Telecom offer allows you to nominate Telecom landlines as well as Telecom mobiles, but it is for Voice only (sms/mms etc is NOT included)

The Favourite numbers are $6 each, maximum of 3 numbers per line, available on certain monthly plans and not available on prepaid (yet?). It includes standard voice calls only originating from your mobile to the specified chosen numbers which will then be free for up to 60 minutes per call. The specified numbers can be any "Telecom landline" or "Telecom mobile" which obviously includes numbers than have been ported in to Telecom's network.

I made a quick table outlining the differences.....

Vodafone Bestmate(tm)               Telecom My Favourites(tm?)

Vodafone mobile numbers only           Telecom Mobile or landline numbers
$6,$6,$6 (prepay) $6, $10,$12 (on-account)       $6,$6,$6 (on-account) N/A Prepay
Unlimited* calling, Unlimited Duration        Unlimited* calling max 60Min per call
Calling, VidCalling, SMS, MMS-on account only    Voice Calling only
Provisioning, PrePpay-Auto OnAccount-Man    Manual provisioned

*Fair use policy applies to both offers, it's not a baby monitor.

In short, Telecoms offer is definately great and it also includes landlines.
The Vodafone offer is a bit more comprehensive though with included SMS/MMS(mms bestmate on-account only) allowances and unlimited duration calls.

You can not have Telecom's "My Favourites" on a prepaid mobile but you can nominate one to call from yours.

If it were me? (alert - this is just my opinion)
I would have made "Freedom" a "two-way" SMS, MMS, calling. offer available on mobiles or landines and called this offer just "Favourite" a one-way only option with the same terms.

Telstra-Cable internet VS Telecom ADSL-1. cable loses internationally... miserably.

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:17:00 PDT

I got ADSL provisioned due to the cable price rises and horribly slow bandwidth and endless youtube buffering made it economic to look for alternatives.

While I have both provisioned, I did some testing just after the peak time (at 7pm tonight, Cable was unusably slow)

Services.....
ADSL: 6Mbps down - 800Mbps up ADSL1 service as I am a long distance from the exchange.
I'm using a standard PTC approved Nokia ADSL master line filter I got with the M10 back in the dark days. (remember those?)
Due to ADSL restraints, the upload speed is slower than the cable.

Plan, Telecom Broadband pro advanced 30GB (8Mbps/800Mbps)

Cable: 4Mbps down, 2Mbps. our line is capable of only 5Mbps if we subscribe to the 10Mbps plan..

Plan, Telstraclear highspeed 10G (4Mbps/2Mbps)

Hardware.....
Cable, Standard Motorola modem directly coupled to PC Rj45.
ADSL 3com Officeconnect 3crwdr101a-75 with PC on RJ45 Lan.

Results were rather surprising:

Local test initially so you can see what the networks are capable of in their home country. Thanks WXC for providing this stable reliable test server in Auckland. Both networks perform as they are described.. a good result from both. My cable is capable of 6Mbps.

NZ - Auckland Worldxchange test server

Cable - 3713Kbps

ADSL - 5596Kbps

This test is about what is expected, The cable is a 4Mbps 10G plan.
The connection performs locally well.

Australia - Sydney

Cable - 2781Kbps

ADSL - 5804Kbps

This test shows up in stark contrast whst is wrong with the cable networ here. There seems to be some issue with international throughput. I had to do this test 3 times to get a plausable result from the cable as it was peaking at 900Kbps earlier.

Australia - Melbourne

Cable - 2080Kbps

ADSL - 5582Kbps

This result is the best result I got thus far.
I did this test a number of times on the cable and this was the best result... others were.... 919, 539, 684, 725.
This was also the slowest result I got for the ADSL.

New York

Cable - 769Kbps

ADSL - 2690Kbps

Aigh. No wonder Youtube sits in buffer mode half the time.

UK - London

Cable - 631Kbps

ADSL - 1392Kbps

This was the BEST contrasting result I could come up to make cable look even slightly good for the UK.

I did another test and Cable:548 and ADSL:2967
http://www.speedtest.net/result/286623176.png
http://www.speedtest.net/result/286623121.png

I was browsing a UK online supermarket (I was checking the price of NZ butter in the UK versus what we are charged locally, $4.99NZ abnd $5.50 UK converted) and it was like using dial-up. This result proves why.

RESULT...

Telstra, fix your network, you are charging among the highest prices for possibly the slowest service in the country and have just raised the pricing with no service gain and currently trumpeting your service as "better" "compared to Telecom" on letters and bus-stop ads and these results currently show the total opposite.
NOTE: I was on the 10Mbps-20G plan but the speed was no better than 5Mbps so I downgraded and noticed it actually speed up, a little.

Cable does have advantages. You do not need a phoneline to have the service (more on this later) Upload speed is twice as fast, the actual connection is generally reliable due to the fact of less performance variables with 15 year old Coax than with 30-60 year old copper wires in many cases, a static IP is standard, local latency is good but often not as good as a solid non-interleaving ADSL connection.. but, something is wrong with the network and this is showing starkly.

Cable is good for local traffic it appears, a solid 4Mbps in and 2Mbps out but international throughput is stuffed.

*Today - Sunday 22nd June I did more testing, Conditions are no more favourable than yesterday, the modem has now been on for 22 hours continuous also. Same test configurations, EEEpc 900 on the cable, main PC on the DSL.

1935H Sunday 22nd June 08

Australia - Melbourne

Cable-Telstraclear 2280Kbps

ADSL-Telecom 2984Kbps

Australia - Sydney

Cable-Telstraclear 3477Kbps

ADSL-Telecom 3301Kbps

US - New York

Cable-Telstraclear 1086Kbps

ADSL-Telecom 868Kbps

US - Los Angeles

Cable-Telstraclear 1896Kbps

ADSL-Telecom 1421Kbps

UK - London

Cable-Telstraclear 859Kbps

ADSL-Telecom 1175Kbps

Download test averages for an mp3 file from an http sute.
Cable: 40.7K
ADSL: 63.3

Suddenly the international speed on cable has increased to something amazing for no explainable reason, more testing needed.

Again Tests, Monday 23rd June 2008.... 2242 Hours (10:40 at night)\

New Zealand - Auckland

Cable-Telstraclear 4010Kbps (capped at 4Mb due to current plan so Cable is not "losing")

ADSL-Telecom 4871Kbps (capable of about 6Mb theoretical )

Australia - Melbourne

Cable-Telstraclear 1083Kbps bad ping too 605mS

ADSL-Telecom 3141Kbps ping 94mS

Australia - Sydney

Cable-Telstraclear 2236Kbps

ADSL-Telecom 3385Kbps

US - New York

Cable-Telstraclear 1350Kbps

ADSL-Telecom 1100Kbps

US - Los Angeles

Cable-Telstraclear 1376Kbps

ADSL-Telecom 1467Kbps

UK - London

Cable-Telstraclear 1033Kbps

ADSL-Telecom 1185Kbps

Tonight at 11Pm, they are on par with each other.

MG Maps, using GPS and cached Google maps on the Nokia 6275 phone update.

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:32:00 PDT

Thanks to all the people whom left comments on my last posting about tweaking settings.
Here is a guide to getting the maps working successfully and using it as a cut-price mapping GPS (without auto-navigation)

Obtain a Nokia 6275.
Get a large SD card (they are cheap-as now so get a fast 1GB or 2GB) do not buy a larger or an SDHC, it will not work.

Collect the maps from:
(I may upload these locally)

Smaller maps, Main cities only 190MB Password is "geekzone"
ftp://geekzone@gwachigaan.com@gwachigaan.com/MGMapsCacheV1.2.zip

Larger 500Mb maps All of NZ 500MB Password is "geekzone"
ftp://geekzone@gwachigaan.com@gwachigaan.com/MGMapsCacheNZ.zip

Put the memory card into a PC,
make a folder like "a gps" to put the application and maps in.

Copy the map contents to the memory card into E:\a gps\MGMapsCache\ (E:\ is your memory card root directory) ensure you are not copying them to E:\a gps\MGMapsCache\MGMapsCache\

Select the entire folder and "hide all" files and folders using windows which will ask you "apply to all subfolders and files" tick YES.

put SD card back into the phone.

You need to download the offical "N95 signed version" of the MGMAPS application from the website.

http://wap.mgmaps.com/mgmaps_n95.jad
Doing this will cost you about $2.50 - $3.00 in Wap datacharges.

Save the Java file to some logical folder on the memorycard along that is not nested in another folder.
Open MGmaps on the device by heading into gallery, memorycard, a gps and run the mgmaps java app you just downloaded.

Allow to load, disallow network access.

Press left softkey, Press [7] for settings (pressing navigator select may not work)

Go into "Map browsing" (use usual select key)

Set options as following.

Map browsing settings:
[X] Remember pos
[X] Enhanced Panning
[ ] Low Memory
[X] Zip KML results
[X] Stored Maps
[X] Offline mode
Storage path:
E/a gps/MGMapsCache
Memory Cache (kB)
256

Save all settings, Head back one level,

Open "GPS SETUP"

go into "select device"

Select Internal (should already be active)

go back one level
Select "Mobile tracking"

Set as following.
Show your position on the phone:
[X] Show marker
[X] Move map
[X] Move at startup
[ ] 5Hz refresh
Refresh (sec):
1
Auto enable (sec):
30

The last option will take you and move the map back to the GPS location if you don't press any keys for 30 seconds after moving around, you can change this (I have it set to 320s)

Take the phone outside with clear wide view of the sky and await 10 minutes. press the "9" key and it should zoom in on your GPS location if not done automatically. Each lock thereafter will take between 2-5 minutes.
You can add extras to the main screen like Lat/Lon, speed and the like under "display"

Keys,

[5] changes between "joystick mode" and "normal mode

when joystick mode is active pressing the keys around like a game pad moves the map around
[1][2][3]
[4][5][6]
[7][8][9]

When joystick mode is not active the keys to the following
[1] Nothing
[2] Nothing
[3] Nothing
[4] Save favourite at current location
[5] Joystick mode toggle
[6] Compass
[7] rotaes map around
[8] Fullscreen/menubar toggle.
[9] Moves map to GPS location

Telstra Cable internet price rises, bad timing.....

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:43:00 PDT

Telstraclear is to increase their prices for the Cable broadband service.

Hispeed (4Mbps) plans are to rise $5 per month
Lightspeed (10Mbps) plans are to rise $10 per month

It's starting to look quite expensive at $116 for broadband 20G and phoneline.
Vodafone are offering 20GB Broadband+homephone for $90
Worldxchange offer 20GB Broadband+VoIP homephone also for $91.
and of course don't scorn the Vodafone home phone boxes at $25 and $40.

This is a rather foolish move, Customers will be certainly be considering moving across with all the great deals, Just as a large number migrated when Telecom had the "bubble" fiasco last year..
$90 or $116? not a hard choice.

I'll put up some info about plans tomorrow or check out www.nzconnection.net which has some awesome info on all the options available. I think I'll be switching to cheaper options now.

New Apple iPhone supports 850MHz networks and mor for wide operator choice!

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:07:00 PDT

The new Apple iPhone announced today supports 850MHz GSM network and also supports 850MHz UMTS. 850MHz will be deployed by Telecom late this year and also New Zealand Communications are coming into the play with their new GSM network. From http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html Wireless standard supported * UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) * GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) * Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) * Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR Talk time: Up to 5 hours on 3G Up to 10 hours on 2G The last iPhone lacked quite a lot due to it?s lack of network functionality and being slewed towards a ?partner? operator with slow GPRS data support but this one looks like it's a winner. Mobile ME also looks very promising. I'm eagerly awaiting it's release, the old iPhone I thought was quite snazzy but very incomplete.

ASUS EeePC 900 WinXP, First and second look.

Wed, 28 May 2008 10:41:00 PDT

A day before "launch" I have one on my hot hands.

A few differences.

Anything not mentioned in the same as before.

Firstly, the LCD Display is still anti-glare matte! yay!
Try and find any other laptop with an anti-glare display and you will be presented with piles of shiny screened slabs.

The display is 1024 x 600 widescreen and is a stunning display

The Synaptics touch pad has been replaced by a slightly larger "Elantech" which is not quite as sensitive as the old Synaptics but is still very smooth to glide fingers over and a lot better than most other craptops out there. Buttons still could be improved but still a lot better than some.

Runs of 12V 3A which is a huge bonus but the power adaptor is no longer the cool "giant cellphone charger with the 4 metre cord" but a standard "laptop supply" with 1Mr flylead. In saying that though the supply is about 1/4 the size of any comparable laptop's supply.

The unconnected modem port is now totally gone and not just blanked-off, Previously though it did make a good external port for hacks, oh well.

The speakers are now directly under the keyboard just where it slopes upwards.

The microphone is now mounted beside the webcam.

The webcam is now 1.3Mpixels

The hard drive (SSD) is now a ASUS "Phison", one is called "OB" (onboard) and the other sits in the PCI-E I'll be removing the secondary from the PCI-E slot and replacing it however, a Sierra 595 module would fit nicely!

Ram (1GB) is now A-Data istead of SIS

Windows:

Start menu is "classic" Page file is Disabled, System restore is turned off.

4G internal flash as per the old EEEpc + 8GB drive parked in pci-e slot. (i'll be removing this and hacking up something cooler)

Apps all fit on main drive with 1.71GB free space.

These apps are on the secondary Drive.
Adobe reader 8
Asus update
Intervideo Xplay (why!)
MS Works
Startsuite 8
ADABAS SQL (Is this REALLY supposed to be on here?)

Overall it's a great little machine and takes it out of being a "Kids and geeks toy with a poky screen" to being a fully capable repalcement for a full standalone PC for the masses.

Plans... Remove powerhungry SSD from the pci-e slot, replace with a Sierra 595 card (hopefully) or nothing.
Install Bluehat (fedora) on a Kingston 8GB SDHC microSD in one of the tiny kingston microSD readers and have full dualboot.

Bit further on.

Big bleat.... the Elantech trackpad or drivers is crap, period, it jerks around, has a horrid resolution, loses the touch, double taps phantomly even though that option is off, the drivers are all about having fancy gimmicks like multi-touch scrolling and being totally void of any useful adjustments like sensitivity. The trackpad seems to also have a terribly low resolution and sampling rate any many tasks such as selecting text are almost impossible with it, the pointer moves along jerkily about 5 pixels at a time making it practically useless for anything other than basic pointing in a very coarse precision. It reminds me of using a mouse in DOS i's that bad. Google it and you will find it's a very common complaint.

I'll remove the elantech drivers and go vanilla stock and report later on my findings.

ASUS have updated the drivers anyway, and can be collected here if you are getting phantom taps.
http://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/EeePC/EeePC900/Touchpad_XP_080604.zip

The keyboard could be better, pressing the keys can be a hit and miss if you do not strike them right in the middle.

Intel graphics drivers are very glitchy, Some software just crashes and bluescreens, this is common to this particular chipset.

screen is good and has the matte finish, response time is not the best but it's a low-end solution.

battery life is great.

webcam is great and works in low light.

speakers in the bottom are better than some.

pci-e slot seems to not work for anything other than the included module.

Its still a great little laptop, the keyboard could be better, the trackpad is useless, the last Synaptics one was praised so they should have stomached the extra cost and stuck with Synaptics quality.

Again update: -aka- my final nit-picking session

Removed eLantech drivers, Windows default drivers work fine but movement is still a bit lethargic though this is a feature built into the windows drivers to stop accidental presses when typing.. Gestures are gone however double finger scroll still works so this must be implemented in hardware which is rather nifty though I would have preferred an overall more responsive pad.

Fan is unessesarily noisy (buzzy) compared to the quiet eee 701 fan due to rough notchy switching of the windings and sounds like $2 shop toy car motor is running it. a i'm looking for a smoother controller to hack-fit into it.
There was really no excuse for this.

LCD is not True colour and dithering can be noticed in certain videos and graphics.
But LCD is LED powered (no warming up) is lovely and bright, great viewing angle and good contrast and best of all it's MATTE!

Trackpad could have been better.
But it's liveable. It has a lot going for it, multi touch gestures, large physical size, smooth to glide fingers across unlike many.

Keyboard is a bit poky, cheap and hard to type on.
But what did you expect for the size and price... it's not bad but not the robust ibm model-m though.

No CD/DVD
In the tiny case? c'mon! at the price memory cards are now, you won't miss it.

Overall....

It's ultra-portable and cheap, what a notebook reakky should be.
Think about a normal size laptop, taking it anywhere is risky, you have to pack it all up in a bag and then lug all that weight about, something the eeepc frees you from, I just hold it like a Filofax.
My last laptop got largely ignored as it was so big and clunky and was often left behind but the eeepc comes along for that slideshow or blogging ride.

Would I recommend it? yes, but first stop and think about what you want a laptop/notebook for, what to you want to run on it? how often will it be moved? Do you want a small portable mobile extension to you existing desktop for some on-road work or a replacement for your desktop PC? if you want a full scale desktop replacement that will never move from your desk then get a full size laptop. If you want something portable, get the eeepc but first check your options, there are others in the market now which have their advantages and disadvantages.

:-)

Vodafone retacts on handset SIM locks, what was locked and how to get locks removed.

Wed, 28 May 2008 06:27:00 PDT

Vodafone have retracted on this possibly due to major media backlash, possibly as Telecom announced it was not going to SIM lock which was extremely surprising.

If you managed to buy a "locked" phone (see list) then you can get it unlocked free of charge
Call 0800 838 656 (vf unlo)

Samsung e250 i450
Sony Ericsson k770 k850 v640 w910
Nokia, HTC, Huawai, Motorola managed to escape the locking process.

I won't comment or speculate on this instead that can be left to Nz's famous gutter-journalism publications.

Telecom WON"T lock up their handsets.

Sun, 11 May 2008 03:23:00 PDT

From STUFF.co.nz.

Telecom have made a statement that they will not be Simlocking handsets unlike Vodefone whom recently made a move to SIMlock all their mobiles stating it was to "protect customer experience"

Quoted from the report..

Martin Butler says Telecom will not follow suit.

"We want our customers to choose to be with us for the value and services we offer, not because we've locked their handsets to our network," he says. "The handsets when purchased belong to our customers and from our perspective they're free to use them as they see fit."

Woop Woop, Pak n save fuel is really just........

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:35:00 PDT

Uh oh...... We need Gull.