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| Media Release - Bandwidth a Steal for Adelaide Residents | 06 Dec 2004 |
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| Do you live in any of these exchange areas? Norwood, Unley, Modbury, Reynella, St Peters, Prospect, Lonsdale, West Adelaide, Paradise, Woodville, Edwardstown, St Mary’s, Brighton, Salisbury, Glenelg, Glenunga, Hampstead Gardens, Blackwood, Gepps Cross, Henley Beach, Croydon, Coromandel Valley, Flinders (CBD) and Waymouth (CBD).
Dec 6, 2004: In a “David and Goliath” move, local ISP Adam has announced a $9.6 million investment to set up its own independent non-Telstra network throughout Adelaide. Called AdamDirect, it offers speeds at a giddy 500 times faster than dialup. But even better than that, it enables CommunityNet, which means the Adelaide communities listed above will be able to use local voice and data services free of charge. Adam Internet managing director Scott Hicks says that all kinds of new local services will be developed for CommunityNet because the bandwidth will suddenly be freely available to make it all possible. "Voice over IP" is the buzz phrase of the moment, but these cheap and free voice calls are being held back by lack of bandwidth. Imagine the harmony in a family household when everyone has their own phone line routed through their computer, or PDA, without the additional line rental cost... Or a time when Internet fridges are not just an amusing toy because they will be linked directly to the supermarket ordering system. Your sick child at home will be able log into their classroom to watch the class live, or download a recording of the lessons they missed. Your local video store will be able to offer video on demand streamed straight to a set top box plugged into your home entertainment system. You will be able to phone your local businesses and councils free of charge, or download e-books from your local library within seconds. You will have the same phone number no matter where you are, by taking your handset with you and connecting to the broadband or wireless access point at your destination. These are not just possible but highly likely to be a reality within the next year, with the launch of this Australian-first service. How CommunityNet Works Businesses, public facilities and residents will have high-speed free access to voice and data services, with their monthly connection fee, when the data is transferred within their local exchange area. Currently broadband users pay for bandwidth usage as well as monthly fees. Adam Internet managing director Scott Hicks explained that the company can offer the CommunityNet service because it now owns the network and is independent of Telstra. “We can now control our own costs and our own pricing,” Mr Hicks said. “For people in local exchange areas it will be like having their own wide area network. “They will be able to make phone calls using their broadband connection within the area free of charge, and we expect it will be the catalyst for a whole new generation of local content.” AdamDirect links 24 exchanges throughout the Adelaide metropolitan region to the next generation of broadband, ADSL2 and ADSL2+. This is by far the largest and fastest such network in Australia, placing Adelaide in national leadership. Depending on the distance from the exchange, the service can deliver phenomenal speeds up to 28 Mbps, tailored to each customer’s requirements. Current first-generation broadband speeds are capped at 1.5 Mbps, set by Telstra within its exchanges. “AdamDirect offers speeds significantly faster than previous technologies, making it more convenient to access information or conduct online transactions using the Internet,” Mr Hicks said. “The services will enhance the user’s experience and provide social benefits because people who didn’t have access to broadband will now have it, and people who were reluctant to use their connection because of the cost will now be able to do so within the area, which can be as big as a 6km radius. “Live security monitoring of your home, school or business, high quality voice calls on the internet, and links to local supermarkets, restaurants, libraries, councils and entertainment centres all now become possible. “CommunityNet will encourage the creation of local content and pave the way for new solutions, which were too expensive, inefficient or slow to consider in the past.“ Please call 0400 522 885 if you would like to speak to Scott Hicks. We have some excellent pics available. |
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