Text 34720, 44 rader
Skriven 2007-07-15 15:10:30 av Paul Quinn (3:640/384)
  Kommentar till text 34708 av ED VANCE (1:123/140)
Ärende: Mtel
============
Hi! Ed,

On 14 Jul 07 20:53, you wrote to me:

 EV> I was thinking about folks in the boondocks.

Out "beyond the black stump", we call it.

 EV> Ten or Fifteen years ago I remember seeing something on TV about
 EV> children in remote parts of Australia receiving their School Lessons
 EV> by way of 2 way radio.
 EV> Is any of that still going on?

Yes, it's called the "School of the Air".  I thought they were into high-speed
broadband via satellite as well, but that might just be the larger sheep/cattle
stations (subsidised in some way[shrug]).  For more, have a squiz at:

  http://www.questacon.edu.au/html/school_of_the_air.html

There's nothing in-depth there, just a brief 'fact sheet' with other specific
links.

 EV> Or has Australia been fully wired for telephone and cable?

We're probably similar to the U.S. and Canada.  Most of the capitals and
outlying suburbs have fibre, whereas major centres like Maryborough just have
ADSL2 (or ADSL+, whatever it's called).  We're lucky to have the basic rate
ADSL, but it's bloody expensive at AUS$50/month.

I work in a little town called Tiaro 20-something miles south, and there's no
hope of getting ADSL except via satellite.  Even cell phone reception really
sucks or is non-existent.

But, there's some big government plans afoot to improve communications around
the countryside, which is being debated and bandied about by both the
government and opposition parties.  You know, the usual we can do it better and
cheaper etc, etc, depending on who's doing the talking.

Cheers,
Paul.

... Vuja De - The feeling you've never been here before...
--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-31012
 * Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)