07.05 Nathan's New Calling

After so many complaints to Optus about broadband not coming into the apartment and answering a telephone questionnaire about the service, I am now head of all technical enquiries!

Actually, this is a complete lie and we are in fact connected to Skype! So come and join the revolution!! Just search for me. After a couple of false starts (sorry Holly) we think we now have the hang of it!

Chat soon,
Nathan!

15.04 Broadband? You Mean NarrowBand?!

A little guide on getting your broadband connected the australian way!

Phonetic recognition systems can be great, but if you don't speak the lingo, you'll have to adapt! If she says 'ig-zisting', she won't understand 'existing'! I had to australian-ise myself for the very first time!

'Technical Support' will always mean a short trip to India, very nice this time of year I've heard! Abuse the phonetic system to speak to someone who's relatively local. Good way is to try and have a conversation with her, she'll always say that she doesn't understand, but I'm sure they're recording and will add the intelligence later on!

If you feel that things aren't being sorted, try and deviate from the 'script'. A good thing to see whether there is a 'script' is to ask whether the operator is following one. If they are (& they usually are), hear them squirm or ask whether they can speak to their senior technician.

Keep the pressue on until its switched on!

I never realised how exhausting ordering broadband could be. After three weeks of waiting, calling, waiting & calling for a connection we finally got it late last week. However, the speed is very disappointing. I've used a speed checker that has showed that we're getting 256K/second! This evening we're only getting 28K!?! Where is the basic 1 or 8mb?! Not here I'm afraid!

Honestly, they are so far behind with an optical system that we're right at the limit of receiving broadband within the fairly recent development of Docklands. Compared to the UK its also quite expensive, but I'm sure we'll manage! Just!! Oh, you can't do a 'rolling-month' contract, it has to be 12 or 24 months! Where's the logic?

Nathan.