After all the shennannigans of US cable companies cannabalising each other, are we down south about to experience the same thing.
Will this hopefully shove a firecracker up somewhere with the other big two providers and scare them into fairer deals for consumers, or will it just be a flash in the pan and just a few steps more towards a monopoly where one has no choice but to go with company x
If this does get approved hopefully TPG take on iinets policies (When big American media/mpaa demanded that iinet hand over customer data iinet told them to shove it and then were taken to court and won)
I don't know anything about TGP but it's a real shame as I liked the way iinet stood up for their customers. Even though they eventually caved and will adopt the three strikes policy like everyone else.
I did have a giggle when the large American corporation/s came waddling in and started demanding everything and iinet just gave them the finger, but unfortunately as you said they couldn't hold out.
I'm with TPG at the moment and I do hope they retain some of their policies
I think you're right about the potential for a monopoly. When the NBN gets finished everyone will be using that infrastructures, and when it get's sold they will probably do it in a quick easy way and just divide up large chunks of it between whoever buys it. So we'll be stuck with one provider in each of these areas. If they're smart about it they'll keep the infrastructure open so you can still use whichever ISP you like even if you're not on their network the same way it currently works with telstra. Although it's still bad for competition as one company will be able to set the prices in an area.
Yah very much like the duopoly that's in place in certain areas of the states or the shady deals that restrict you to only one provider dependant on where you live, but I do think that wouldn't fly over here. Although with Time Warner wanting a slice of the Australian market things could get very interesting in the near future
While I never had any major issues with TPG on ADSL2+ for many years I still decided to drop them when I got NBN. I went with iiNet with bandwidth caps at a higher price instead of "unlimited" TPG based on the reputation and my research, and it's been perfectly solid for almost a year now since singing up, which I hope does not change long term if they get bought out.
When the American presence (Time-Warner) moved-in (with Abbott's free]-trade approval), you could see they were salivating at the prospect of 'winning-over' the Aussie market.
Playing Devils Advocate here, would anyone see TWC as an alternative to Foxtel dependent on the subscription fee, and to the average schmoe a company offering cable and the interwebs would seem a pretty sweet deal, one bill for the whole kit and caboodle, no dealing with multiple utilities, setup a direct debit plan and faghettaboutit