[CCC News] Assorted News 38 - Landline Killer!

Sun Oct 9 13:46:35 AEDT 2011

*In this edition:
**
*Very short newsletter...
*
**Assorted News:
*    Landline Killer!
     More tablets coming...

*Popular Internet and Phone deals*

*General Ramblings:
*    Dead Bird Power.
     Defensive Driving Course
*
*
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*Landline Killer!

*This plan kills everything else for value. $39.90 per month for 
unlimited local, national and mobile calls _from a mobile phone._

That's $40 a month to talk as long as you like to anyone anywhere in 
Australia, from a mobile phone! Heck, landline rental alone almost costs 
that much.

This is from a company called Amaysim, who's been around for a while 
now. I don't have any relationship with them.

The bad news? It uses Optus' towers; so the coverage is not as good as 
Telstra, but unless you live out of town it's not a problem in Guyra / 
Central and elevated Armidale. (I have antennae that might help outliers)

There's no contract, and  you can get it prepaid or postpaid.

It also includes 4GB of Internet a month.

Most modern mobile phones have the ability to work as a wireless hotspot 
as well, so you could potentially press a button on your phone and have 
internet access on all your laptops / desktops - but of course bear in 
mind 4GB won't go far if you like watching video on the Internet.

So, for many people it could be 'good bye landline' and for some 'good 
bye VoIP'

Anyway, check it out at 
http://www.amaysim.com.au/mobile-plans/amaysim-unlimited.html - and if 
you want to see what others are saying about them, check out the 
independent website 
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/?action=threads_search&f=114&q=amaysim 
- and if you need a new phone, you can buy prepaid Optus handsets 
outright from places like Harvey Norman for prices starting from $20 for 
a basic phone.

What's the con? Well, they charge for calls to 13, 1300 and 1800 numbers 
- so before calling any of those, look on the Internet for the company's 
overseas equivalent number instead - starts with +61, as that will be free.

*More Tablets Coming.

*I'm sure there's going to be a tablet price war come Christmas. See 
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/08/27/ten_budget_android_tablets/ for a 
hint of what's already happening. Since then, Amazon has announced a 
$200US one as well - 
http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/28/amazon-fire-tablet-unveiled-7-inch-display-199-price-tag/

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*Popular Internet and Phone Prices.

*Here's a listing of the most likely popular Internet and Mobile plans 
currently known by myself. All figures are approximate, and town 
availability is based on likely service quality as well as availability. 
No guarantee is made to the accuracy of this data, as it is a rough 
guide only.  Install / setup fees may apply. Figures are monthly.

/*ADSL*/

	ADSL1 	ADSL2 	Guyra 	Armidale 	
Exetel 	$34.50/100G 	$39.50/50GB 	Yes 	Yes (Mostly)
	6/12 month contract, no excess fees.
TPG 	
	$30/50GB 	No 	Yes (Mostly)
	18 month contract, no excess fees.

/*Mobile Internet

*/

	Mobile Internet 	Guyra 	Armidale 	
Exetel 	$25/5GB 	Yes 	Not recommended
	12 month contract, Massive excess fees. No warning on usage.
TPG 	$1 + $27.50/GB 	Yes 	Not recommended
	No Contract
Telstra 	$10/1GB 	Yes 	Yes 	No Contract, Massive excess fees. Requires 
existing phone plan. Warning on Usage.

/*Mobile Phone (optional internet.)

*/

	Mobile Phone 	Guyra 	Armidale 	
TPG 	$1 + 10c/min 	Yes 	Yes 	Internet $27.50/GB, No Contract
Telstra 	$50 for 6 hrs 	Yes 	Yes 	Includes 1GB Internet, No Contract or 
2 yrs with free phone, Massive excess fees. No warning on usage.
TPG 	$20 for 5 hours 	Yes 	Yes 	Or ratio up to 1.5GB offsetting calls, 
No Contract, Massive excess fees. Warns on usage.
Amaysim
	$39.90 for unlimited hours
	Yes
	Yes
	Includes 4GB Internet. Excess fees if exceeded.

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*
Dead Bird Power.*

I have decided to take the risk and sign up for Dodo Electricity. Dodo 
was known to be one of the worst Internet Providers in Australia for 
some time, but during the early '00s I was using them as a wholesale 
dialup port provider without incident.  Since they're about 15% cheaper 
than Country Energy on my last bill, I've decided to give it a shot.

The key difference is that they charge you monthly for your usage, even 
though they still read the meter quarterly. This could confuse some 
people; but I'm OK with it.

Side note: My Winter power bill was $1100. I use electric heating 
exclusively. My summer bill is typically about $500-$600. A neighbour 
says he spends $1200 a year on wood for heating. Others say similar 
figures for gas heating. Admittedly we only heat the rooms we're in to 
17 degrees, using halogen and fan heaters - but it seems hard to get a 
heating bill less than $600-$800 per year in Guyra unless you have your 
own wood supply?

*Defensive Driving Course.

*For a treat, I went on a one-day defensive driving course in Grafton, 
via Wheel Skills.

It was quite entertaining - I even came second in the race! (Three 
seconds behind the leaders who took equal first.) And being in the 
oldest vehicle (in this case the '95 commodore) I had to be taught 
differently to the others since I have no ABS.

Since odds are most of you will never do a driving course, here are some 
pointers form it:

1 - It's good to steer in a manner where your hands never cross to the 
opposite side of the wheel - a technique they call push-pull steering. 
Apparently it allows faster turning in an emergency and prevents you 
getting crossed-up. There is a technique to it, so I'm not sure if it's 
safe to try it without tuition.

2 - Ideal distance between you and vehicle in front is currently two 
seconds; although personally I still stick to three since I'm used to 
driving older vehicles that take longer to stop. (For me, as a rough 
gauge it's far enough away that I can't read their license plate.)

3 - In a modern ABS car, planting your foot on the brake will stop you 
fastest, and it will feel like you're standing on a grinding gear.

4 -  When sitting, it's best to be positioned so that even with your 
foot hard on the brake or accelerator, your knee is still a little bent. 
That way if you do hit something, you knee will buckle instead of your hip.

5 - (My favourite from the course!) If you have a tailgater, double your 
distance to the car in front. That way if something happens in front and 
you need to stop, you can brake much more gently giving the idiot behind 
you time to also brake. (But if it's a semi, all you can do is get off 
the road to let it pass.)

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Well, that was a short newsletter. I've been fairly busy, and there 
isn't a huge amount of news.

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*Old Editions
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*
*
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Michael Kean
*Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.*
Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays.
http://coolhelp.com.au/
Tel: 02 6775 0239 Fax: 02 8212 9582 Mob: 0427 644 825
Chat contacts: WLM: michael at auzzie.net Skype: cccons

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