iiNet buying Internode’s 190k customers for $105M ahead of NBN
Posted Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 4:08 pm by Jason Cartwright
iiNet are buying Internode. iiNet has spent years scouring the country to buy up any smaller ISP they could to expand it’s subscriber base. For years the company didn’t even advertise. This strategy for growth, proved to be a winning formula, growing rapidly to be the 2nd largest ISP in Australia.
Today iiNet have announced they are acquiring Internode’s 190,000 customers. Internode customers are some of the most passionate out there and have been quick to raise their concerns. Known for their high levels of customer service, gaming servers and unmetered content deals and leading the way in IPv6, Internode customers are clearly concerned the good days are coming to an end.
The acquisition of Internode will cost iiNet $105 Million and contain more than 450 employees. It’s interesting timing for the purchase given the impending transition of customers from ADSL to NBN over the next few years. The deal is scheduled for completion by February 29th, 2012.
With a high profile acquisition like this, there is bound to be some anxiety, iiNet CEO Michael Malone attempted to address this in the press release by saying Internode would continue to operate independently. Unfortunately the facts are often skipped over in people’s rush to predict the move a failure and bad for customers. He also said the two companies had similar backgrounds, similar values and similar service ethics.
In reality, the acquisition is likely to benefit both iiNet and Internode customers as the joint infrastructure can now be shared and optimised, hardware offerings like Fetch TV and Bob along with content partnerships should now spread to both sets of customers. There is yet to be clarification around any staff redundancies that may arise as an overlap of skills across the companies.
As a previous customer of both companies, I believe there is real parallels between the two and potential for them to compete with Telstra’s Bigpond for the top spot. Competition ultimately benefits consumers with prices being driven down and features up, but reducing the number by one is unlikely to have major impacts on local competition.
The current state of IPv6 in Australia
Posted Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 7:03 pm by Jason Cartwright
Original image credit: Sales image
The impending IPv4 exhaustion is predicted to occur some time in 2011, so how is Australia positioned to cope ? To begin, most routers currently on the market do NOT support IPv6.. a critical piece in the puzzle. The good news is that some routers can become IPv6 capable with a simply firmware upgrade. Problem is, while the tech-savy amongst us are more than capable, our parents won’t be. Out of current routers on the market, almost none support IPv6, this needs to change.
Last night I updated my Billion 7800N router to a new beta firmware, 1.06b which added IPv6 support. If you happen to own the same router and are game, you can download it from Billion’s support forums. To check if there’s an updated firmware available for your router, just head to the support area for your manufacturer. Check the version notes for references to IPv6 support. Make sure you also read how to enable IPv6 connections. Armed with the new capability, the next question is does your ISP support it ?
After some research, the answer will likely disappoint you. Unfortunately it seems most ISPs are not moving on this issue. If they’re waiting for consumer demand, they’ll be waiting a long time, most of the public don’t need or want to know about the problem.
Given the ISPs are the ones dealing out IP addresses to customers, you’d think they would be more proactive about this issue. Sure they’ve already purchased big blocks of IP ranges to dynamically assign to customers, but if they want to expand their customer bases in the future, they will need new addresses.
Australian ISPs supporting IPv6 today (this will be updated over time).
- Internode – without a doubt leading the way. They have a full IPv6 trial running which allows customers to connect via IPv6 and have done for more than a year now.
- iiNet: On its way..
- Telstra/Bigpond: No
- Optus: No
- Westnet: No
- TPG: No
You can see the progress being made world-wide on this issue by visiting Sixxs.net.
Government mandate
In a Telstra whitepaper from July 2009, titled ‘Transition: IPv4 to IPv6’, AGIMO (Australian Government Information Management Office) lists a number of Government mandated requirements for the adoption of IPv6 within the Australian Government and its departments:
- Preparation Jan 2008-Dec 2009
- Transition Jan 2010-Dec 2012
- Implementation Jan 2013-Dec 2015
The Australian Department of Defence has also mandated a move to IPv6 to becompleted by the end of 2013.
Internode customers
If your lucky enough to be with a forward thinking ISP, a great way to test if your new IPv6 connection is working correctly is to visit http://ipv6.google.com. Another test you should run is http://speedtest.net both on IPv4 and IPv6 to see if it makes any difference to ping or connection speeds.
Internally on your LAN older devices should still work fine thanks to IPv6 to v4 translation. One key difference with future devices is they may be IPv6 compatible which means they would be capable of receiving their very own IP address direct from your ISP.
Turning back the clock a little, there’s actually a really long history of IPv6 dating back two decades. So lets take a look at some other important events along the way
IPv6 timeline
- March, 2000 – Microsoft releases an IPv6 technology preview version for Windows 2000
- 2002 – Microsoft XP SP1 ads IPv6 capability
- 2003 – Apple OS X v10.3 ads IPv6, enabled by default
- 2007 – Vista ships with IPv6 enabled by default.
- March 12, 2008 – Google launched IPv6 version of search – http://ipv6.google.com
- July 18, 2008 – Internode launches first IPv6 network in Australia
- November 19, 2008 – VIC government announce $350,000 to encourage industry to shift to IPv6
- June 2010 – Facebook launches – http://v6.facebook.com
- June 8, 2011 – World IPv6 day – http://isoc.org/wp/worldipv6day/
Its amazing just how under prepared we are for the transition to IPv6 and while the IP4 exhaustion wont mean consumers can’t connect, it will effect potential new customers. One aspect that hasn’t been discussed is the black market that may emerge in those owners of large unused IPv4 addresses try to scalp them. Buying these should be strongly discouraged, its a short term band-aid solution that’s surely going to lead to a price spike.
If ISPs are serious about dealing with the issue, they’ll invest in IPv6 support and get trials happening before the end of 2011. While that’s in mention, router manufacturers should be filling shelves with dual stack IPv4 and 6 routers to future proof and make the transition seamless for end-users. The lifespan of a typical home router is many years, so natural attrition is going to be a very, very slow process. While most of us burn through computers every 2-3 years, things like monitors, speakers and routers, tend to be around for 5-7 years.
Will IPv6 run out ?
To give you an idea of just how future-proof IPv6 addresses are, I refer you to a post from Whirlpool forum member Pulse..
The ipv6 total address pool is (approximately)
300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Given the number of people on the earth at the moment (estimate about, what, 6.9 billion?) is only
4.34782609 × 10^28 IP addresses for each and every person presently on earth.
..that’s a lot ! So yeah its about as future-proof as you can get.
If you have any news on IPv6 rollouts from Australian ISPs, please leave a comment and this post will be updated.
A new Telstra is upon us. Shocking hey.
Posted Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 1:58 pm by Jason Cartwright
Image credit: The Australian
Moving house recently meant I had to choose a new ISP. After researching the best deals available in my area (West Wodonga), it turned out the best plan was.. Bigpond. Like many enthusiasts, I would recommend pretty much any other ISP before Bigpond, due to inflated prices, low downloads, exorbitant overage charges and poor customer service. So after running the numbers I was surprised to arrive at the conclusion that Telstra + Bigpond was the cheapest deal.
Unfortunately Naked ADSL is still unavailable here, so that was off the table. I make exactly 0 calls on the landline, choosing an appropriate mobile plan has given me the freedom to call anyone anytime. If I could go naked, I would have. With that annoying $20-$30 monthly line rental still being a necessary evil to get online, I had to take that into consideration. I had previously shared an Internode connection with a housemate for the past 4 years and been very happy with their offerings.. that said recent disagreements between Telstra and Internode meant that cheaper wholesale prices haven’t reached Internode plans that use Telstra Exchange infrastructure.
The end result was for $88 a month, I get 100GB download, ADSL2 speeds and that includes the line rental. Other providers really didn’t come close. If your looking for this plan, it’s actually a bundle with the T-Box by default (HOME SAVER Bundle 100GB – $99), but this can be deselected to save money. Right now T-box doesn’t really interest me, I’ve already got way too many set-top media devices and Boxee and Google TV are on the horizon.
After making the order, I was given a 10-15 working day (or up to 3 weeks) ETA. Annoyingly long I hoped for an earlier than expected connection date. On Friday I posted on twitter that I was facing another frustratingly disconnected weekend.
Surprisingly the Telstra Social Media Team responded within minutes with a lengthy 3 paragraph email. They had looked at the progress of my case and detailed the reason for the timeframe and that early this week (only 7-8 working days) I should receive the Home Network Gateway (router) and be online. This kind of customer service from Telstra was unimaginable even 12 months ago.
Again it amazes me just how differently this company is being run. Telstra and Bigpond is worth a second look when choosing providers. While I’m sure there’s still horror stories out there, its time drop the automatic prejudice against them, its no longer founded. One final note is the required 24 month contract, it was un-nerving at first knowing the NBN is on the way, but after knowing Tesltra will switch to the NBN when it becomes available, those concerns were abated.
New Internode Plans on new link, disappointing
Posted Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 6:47 am by Jason Cartwright
Internode have updated their broadband plans, in preparation for the new international connection finally coming online. The new plans will be active from this Thursday 8/10/09.
From October 6th 2009 a range of new broadband plans has been launched by Internode. We’re passing on to customers the benefits of the PIPE PPC-1 fibre-optic link, which goes live this Thursday.
PPC-1, an undersea cable that links Sydney with the western Pacific island of Guam, delivers a significant increase in Australia’s international data interconnection, thereby reducing data transfer costs. From Guam, Internode uses other cable systems to link through to the USA and beyond.
The new cable was supposed to dramatically reduce broadband costs and increase download quotas. Unfortunately the reality is a fairly incremental change in plans. The biggest (read:highest promoted) change is the Easy Broadband Plan which updates from 30GB to 50GB download quota.
Personally I’ve been on the ADSL TwoPlus 40GB plan. Apparently that’s no longer available in the new plans. The new options are 25GB for $89.95 or 50GB for $115.95.
Most current customers can stay on their existing plans, however that’s not really the point here is it. The new cable was supposed to bring lower prices and higher downloads, for my situation, this hasn’t been the case.
I understand TwoPlus plans have a piggyback on Telstra’s equipment, attracting a much higher cost than Internode’s normal ADSL2+ plans. So is Telstra to blame here ?
Overall the plan changes aren’t as dramatic as expected, which leaves a lot of people feeling disappointed. Head over to the Whirlpool forums or watch twitter to keep track of public opinion. Also leave your thoughts in the comments.
More @ Internode
