nemesis's Journal

Optus has gotten into a tizzy, because a journalist claimed that their network "sucks" in terms of speed and performance. Optus (and other mobile carriers) constantly make claims that mobile "broadband" is equivalent (or better!) than fixed-line broadband.

IDC [presumably commissioned by Optus] said that mobile broadband is now more affordable, offers larger download quotas and is faster than comparable entry-level ADSL plans.

IDC couldn't have got it more wrong. That reporter was well justified in bringing Optus up on appalling network performance. According to IDC claims they "found the average download speed to be 1,747Kbps", and "latency averaging 447ms".

Sure, 1.7Mbps is comparable to 1.5Mbps ADSL1 (but it's practically dialup speeds when compared to ADSL2+). The latency on the other hand is atrocious. 447ms latency (almost half a second) is too laggy to do much more than basic web browsing. Say "bye bye" to voice over IP, online gaming, and SSH. In case you're interested, latency on ADSL is around 30ms. Dialup generally has a latency of around 250ms. At 447ms round trip time, any AJAX application (Google Earth, etc) will be excruciating.

With performance like this, it's no wonder that journalists pull up carriers about over grandiose "mobile broadband" claims.

The sheer fact of the matter is that you can't argue with Physics. Wire-line communications will always outperform wireless communications.

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With the media doing minimal fact checking nowadays, getting published is easy. Here's a quick four-step guide:

• Invent an impressive sounding profession. "Palaeoclimatologist" is a good place to start.
• Invent some "horror" statistics that will affect large numbers of people in your target audience. The whole of the ACT is a good example, if you're targeting the Canberra Times.
• Write a press release.
• Submit.

Voilà. You're practically guaranteed publication.

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The Government's introducing a mandatory unit pricing system, to be in place by December this year. It's not an unusual idea: many countries already do this.

What what's unusual is the standard units they've chosen. When you think unit pricing, you'd probably assume the units would be the ones that are already commonly in use: per kg, and per litre.

Why? Your fresh fruit & veg are already priced per kilo. Similarly, when you buy soft drink or milk, it's measured in litres.

Why then would the government come up with a completely arbitrary unit standard: per 100 grams, and per 100ml? Can you imagine buying capsicums, priced per 100 grams? Or will retailers display the old standard price per Kg, and the new price per 100 grams?

As per usual, the Rudd government has taken a good idea, and bungled the implementation.

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The Australian Music Industry has just launched a new way for consumers to buy music: USB flash drives. They're calling it "DDA" (who knows what that stands for). And here's why it's failed already:

In this day and age, consumers have already proven that there's really only one mechanism for music distribution: online. But the music industry is adamant to stick to physical media. It gives them a warm fuzzy feeling inside being able to have shopfronts peddling their wares.

"DDA" is, essentially, no different to when Sony tried to get consumers out to shops to buy a card, go back home, and enter the number on the card to download your music.

The key problem with all physical distribution channels is the effort involved. When you hear something on the radio (or Internet radio), you want it right now. You don't want to hop in your car, drive to a crowded mall, and wait in line to buy a USB flash stick.

Sticking to your guns and continuing trying to push physical junk onto consumers is a sure-fire way to drive them further towards piracy. Physical is so 1990s. Get with the times!

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