Broadband Availability - is it important?

[naifyboy]

Hi

I am looking at the western suburbs of Melbourne including Point Cook and Caroline Springs.
I had read up about Broadband (ADSL) availability and it appears that it is either not available or very limited.

Personally when I rented a house a while back broadband was the number 1 requirement I had of the house.

I am concerned that by investing in an area with either limited or no broadband service, I am limiting the tenancy potential now and for the future.

I would appear that any required cabling infrastructure could be years away (if at all), in these areas and with broadband as a requirement set to grow in the future, not only for adults but for children and their educational needs, I am worried that this could seriously affect my investment.

Yes you can use dial up and even get wireless broadband, but in reality these options are not viable due to the limited speeds a dial up offers and the extreme cost of wireless.

All I know is, if I was looking to rent a property, I would not even consider any where which did not have wired broadband. Not only for me as a business professional but because my kids need it now and will need it more in the future.

Any views......????

 

[Propertunity]

Any views......????

Yes - you're thinkng is correct.

 

[marg4000]

You answered your own question when you said you would not rent a place without broadband.

Neither would I.

When I have bought IPs I have always considered "could I live here". Not necessarily WOULD I want to, but does it have all the basic features I would want in a rental, i.e., convenience, transport, services, etc. For the best choice of tenants you must appeal to the widest range.
Marg

 

[gg1965]

My mother always told me "never buy an IP that you would never live in". The reason being, if you don't want to live in there, then others won't either...

I have always lived to that rule.

BTW - my mum spent 25 odd years working as a property mgr.


Thanks


g

 

[bobbiemenzies]

This is a bit sad.......aren't we supposed to be the clever country? How can any major Australian city suburb NOT have broadband? Peasants in rural China or Albania wouldn't put up with this. I'm outraged.

 

[naifyboy]

This is a bit sad.......aren't we supposed to be the clever country? How can any major Australian city suburb NOT have broadband? Peasants in rural China or Albania wouldn't put up with this. I'm outraged.

Absolutely! Aparently the 2 suburbs I mention have massive demand for IPs. I don't understand why given that this basic modern day requirement is not available!

I am English and have ony been here for a couple of years. Not wishing to gloat, but I can't get my head round the lack of Broadband availability and the high cost of it here in Aus....

 

[ernie]

I live in Caroline Springs and I have had broadband from the day I moved in (more than 5 years ago). Broadband (ADSL) is available in Caroline Springs. It is ADSL2 that is currently limited, but with fast increasing demand there are moves to remedy that situation quickly (at least according to the local Telstra reps).

I cannot vouch for Point Cook

 

[naifyboy]

I live in Caroline Springs and I have had broadband from the day I moved in (more than 5 years ago). Broadband (ADSL) is available in Caroline Springs. It is ADSL2 that is currently limited, but with fast increasing demand there are moves to remedy that situation quickly (at least according to the local Telstra reps).

I cannot vouch for Point Cook

I suppose it's a gamble in a newly established area. Even if existing properties can get broadband there may not be enough capacity for the new ones and I would not know for definate until the house had been built.

 

[rugrat]

Ever heard of wireless / mobile broadband???? Very common nowdays

 

[gg1965]

For home use - Wireless broadband is not a good alternative. It is horribly expensive and the quotas are not enticing enough (and i am not convinced of the health aspect of it either).

In the current market, a home does need to be wired for broadband. You cannot adequately and efficiently supply broadband to a home by wireless (for the reasons i listed above).

Relating to another thread, the cost of broadband in Australia is too expensive as well. We are one of the very few countries that has quotas on how much we can download (and at poor speeds too).

If you want real broadband, go to China, HK, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Malaysia etc and get blazingly fast speeds with no quotas and half the cost as it is here. Likewise, go to the major centres in the US too and see what is on offer there.



g

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

I have trouble believing that at least ADSL isn't available in Point Cook. There's a lot of construction going on out there, but as long as houses are being built, they'll also be installing phones, with exchanges, with at least the facilities for ADSL.

It would have to be right out on the edge of Point Cook not to have it.

In some cases I've noticed that Telstra an Optus may not be readily available. Have you tried TPG or iiNet?

If it really isn't available, then I wouldn't want to live there either.

 

[rugrat]

For home use - Wireless broadband is not a good alternative. It is horribly expensive and the quotas are not enticing enough (and i am not convinced of the health aspect of it either).

In the current market, a home does need to be wired for broadband. You cannot adequately and efficiently supply broadband to a home by wireless (for the reasons i listed above).

g

We (and others I know) use mobile broadband as our sole internet option.

As to price - you need to shop around, based on your needs. We have prepaid with Dodo and get reasonably good prices.

Health aspect - well I don't think it would be any worse then a mobile phone, and at least it is plugged into the computer, not sitting right next to your ear.

We have never had a problem with it, and being portable is great - I can take it on holidays with me, or wherever I want.

The only thing is making sure you have reception, which if you have mobile phone reception, you should have broadband reception as well.

 

[asterix]

Wireless internet is not an option for people who are serious. Yes it is convenient but it does not give you or allow you to have or enjoy a full broadband experience. it is good for email only, but the stingy quotas they give you in Australia and the exhorbiant pricing is ridiculous. it is good for email only.

GG1966 is correct. It is too expensive in Australia for only 4-6 gigabytes per month. Same as mobile phone data pricing. It is too expensive here compared to other countries. Go to America and link to a Mexican carrier and get unlimited quota on your iPhone instead of 2 Gb here for 60 a month. Same as wireless broadband.

You cannot have a full house using it as it as the quota is too restricted.

I agree it is good for mobility and I know many people who do that, but they also need an ADSL connection at their home.

 

[asterix]

I didn't mention satellite internet. Also too expensive in Australia. I have friends who installed their own dish in Qld and got an account with Indonesian ISPs and they are saving heaps and getter higher speeds. You can do the same too if you live on Qld, NT or north WA. Much cheaper and faster compared to Australian satellite internet.

Why do Oz internet companies charge quotas when Indonesian ones don't and they give you faster speed.

I used to play with packet radio. We used to buy the old Galaxy dishes and put micro wave signal through them using packet radio. It was line of sight stuff but anyone can do it but it was fast. Imagine each suburb having its own node. We used to connect to linux boxes and bounce our signals all around. Very fast and cheap too.

Australian ISPs are ripping people off everywhere. Don't go wireless internet. You are paying too much and getting ripped off.

Telstra ripped people off with ISDN, then with ADSL and still with ADSL as they are wholesaling their infrastructure at too high prices. Stupid government decision. Now telstra are ripping people off with wirelsss. why pay $40 per month for 3-5 Gb and other companies have to pay telstra anyway so you can nveer get a cheap deal.

But ADSL2 is the way to go. Australia is backwards in many ways for internet but ADSL2 is the best we have. Wireless is nearly the worst ebcause of quota and price. If you don't or cannot have ADSL2 then it ain't worth it.

Fibre to the home is better but probably won't happen. Other countries have fibre or coax to the home but we are too slow and too stupid as we want to place revenue on it all. But we will be better off for it.

asterix

 

[rugrat]

I agree that internet options in Australia suck, But that isn't the issue here.

The question was in regards to whether a lack of ADSL availability would affect renting ut an investment Property. Personally I don't think it would be a 'huge' concern for the 'majority' of renters, because there are other options out there. Some people may be put off, but most wouldn't even think to look into this until after they had signed the lease and moved in.

 

[naifyboy]

I agree that internet options in Australia suck, But that isn't the issue here.

The question was in regards to whether a lack of ADSL availability would affect renting ut an investment Property. Personally I don't think it would be a 'huge' concern for the 'majority' of renters, because there are other options out there. Some people may be put off, but most wouldn't even think to look into this until after they had signed the lease and moved in.

I suppose faced with choosing my 1st IP from a few different areas around Melbourne, I am leaning towards the more established areas of the Eastern Suburbs. I firmly believe it's a concern and who knows how many years it will be before suitable cabling infrastructure is in place in the Western Suburbs to support the increasing demand of broadband.

Just check out lack of exchanges near or around both Caroline Springs and Point Cook on http://www.adsl2exchanges.com.au/providerexchanges.php?Location=VIC
Obviously there is more demand than supply. Point Cook for one has no more ports left in the exchange it would appear and the nearest exchange to Caroline Springs in Deer Park which is miles away, therefore would a) provide crap speeds and b) is probably near to capactiy already due to the large area it provides services to.

Dialup, wireless and satelite are not realistic optons for those serious abot the Internet. Little old ladies who want to send the odd email maybe, but not professional people and families.

It will become more of an issue and will limit the potential tenancy market. Professional people and families need decent affordable broadband for work, education, recreation and life in general. Only cabled broadband can offer that.

If my IP cannot offer that, I have to accept I am seriously limiting my investment.

 

[RumpledElf]

Ever heard of wireless / mobile broadband???? Very common nowdays

Common on the phone maybe. We downgraded our $130 a month Telstra plan to a $15 a month one just so we can check forums and patch the server while we're travelling - we used to rely on it. We got by, we just rationed the internet.

For home use - Wireless broadband is not a good alternative. It is horribly expensive and the quotas are not enticing enough

ISDN was cheaper than wireless. You could at least leave it on flat out at night at 64k and leech and then turn everything off during the day so you could surf. You can't do that with wireless.

We moved to somewhere with ADSL this year, but wireless is ok for someone who hasn't heard of torrents. The blow for us was we couldn't get commercial TV either so we were using all of our download quota getting tv shows like House that would be free to air *if* we lived 2km down the road and qualified for free satellite tv. It was very tempting to lie about our address so we could get the free stuff.

Of course now we have ADSL we hardly download anything at all because we have television here!

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

For me internet access is critical, but it's not actually something I check prior to moving into a property - I've always just assumed it's available in some form.

 

[geoffw]

For home use - Wireless broadband is not a good alternative. It is horribly expensive and the quotas are not enticing enough

I have wired broadband at home. It costs br $90pm for 12GB on Optus. I use about 1.5GB- and my daughter downloads a lot. The only advantage to having it wired, for me, is that I have wifi in the house. I think though there may be routers for a wireless device?

I use wireless broadband for work. I used to have two sites, both wired- I've ditched both of those now and have a single wireless. That costs me $30pm for 2GB, or I could upgrade to 5GB for $40pm. The modem is free for a two year contract- or I could get a faster modem for an extra $8pm. So I'm saving heaps by going wireless.

 

[super_sam]

I have wired broadband at home. It costs br $90pm for 12GB on Optus. I use about 1.5GB- and my daughter downloads a lot. The only advantage to having it wired, for me, is that I have wifi in the house. I think though there may be routers for a wireless device?

I use wireless broadband for work. I used to have two sites, both wired- I've ditched both of those now and have a single wireless. That costs me $30pm for 2GB, or I could upgrade to 5GB for $40pm. The modem is free for a two year contract- or I could get a faster modem for an extra $8pm. So I'm saving heaps by going wireless.

You've saved money because you've been on a horribly overpriced plan with Optus. $90pm for 12gb compared to $50pm for 40gb that we get is pretty ordinary. And there are plans with higher limits for the same money than we are on, I just dont like the funny peak/off peak hours they tend to come with