Optus, who were accused of having a 3G network that “sucks” two weeks ago, has now come out swinging claiming that theTelstra NextG network will not be capable of delivering 21Mbps.
Andrew Buay, Optus products and delivery MD claimed “This is another example of Telstra misleading Australian businesses and consumers into thinking they will now experience speeds of 21Mbps across the whole Next G network.
“The fact is customers will need to buy a new modem and live/work beneath a base station to take advantage of these ‘theoretical’ speeds.
“For all the hype that Telstra made about 14.4Mbps capability on Next G, not a single Telstra customer has benefited from these speeds as modems haven’t been available.”
Buay said phenomenal growth in wireless broadband usage in Australia over the past 12 months had been driven by prices coming down, not speeds going up.
“Telstra is already charging $59.95 per month for 1GB of data which is way above the rest of the market (Optus offers 6GB for $59.99). We shudder to think what additional premium they will charge customers to access ‘theoretical’ speeds of 21Mbps,” Buay said.
