Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 27

Thread: Telstra want to replace my Phone & ADSL Landline with Mobile Phone Technology

  1. #1
    Premium Member
    OSIRUS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    3,592
    Thanks
    10,571
    Thanked 2,466 Times in 958 Posts
    Rep Power
    1070
    Reputation
    37981

    Default Telstra want to replace my Phone & ADSL Landline with Mobile Phone Technology

    Telstra want to replace my Phone & ADSL Landline with Mobile Phone Technology "smart Modem" and a mobile phone outdoor antenna

    Is this a good thing or a bad thing ?

    My Landline got some bad static in the phone line recently, so I rang Telstra to come and fix it ....

    Telstra are saying my landline is a single cable and "they cannot find it" where there must be a corrupted join in the cable (maybe got some water in it)

    I think they may be wanting to get me off the landline because they do not want to service the cable any more .... (now most other people have gone to a flavor of NBN Broadband delivery)

    I am concerned if the mobile phone technology will do everything as well as my trusty old landline has done ?

    Can people be on the phone as well as people on the internet at the same time ?

    I only get one to two bars of Telstra mobile phone reception on my phone and sometimes get breaking up when in the house .... so they suggested an outdoor mobile phone technology antenna

    he made a point to say that it was not like fixed wireless NBN technology (because I said I could not get fixed wireless NBN in my area) he said it was mobile phone technology (maybe 3g or 4g)

    Will I be able to keep my old Landline telephone number ?

    Will I be able to run a Router for a UK VPN, and a Router for a USA VPN and a router for an AUS VPN on this mobile phone technology ?

    I am not sure but I think he is talking about a Telstra Smart Modem Router that turns over to 4g wireless technology if a landline is not present ?

    I also wonder if everything is the same cost and data allowance or not as my landline plan ?

    Not sure if I will have a choice or not either .... he is coming tomorrow with an installation team .... and I have not told him yes or no yet ?

    And will there be drop outs in reception .... ?

    As I said is this a good thing or a bad thing

    Cheers
    Last edited by OSIRUS; 29-06-20 at 09:49 PM.
    Become a Premium Member and support the Austech Forum



Look Here ->
  • #2
    Premium Member
    wotnot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2019
    Location
    Scenic Rim, SE Qld
    Posts
    3,236
    Thanks
    1,462
    Thanked 2,934 Times in 1,510 Posts
    Rep Power
    1334
    Reputation
    58690

    Default

    We have that sort of setup here ~ I think they called it 'fixed wireless NBN' ... had to go that way because rural area, low user density, and telstra are *not* upgrading the copper in the ground.

    It seems to work reasonably well ; we've had it on for around 8months now, and only had a few outages (all NBN manglings according to tpg) ... as far as data throughput goes, it averages better than FTTN in town...runs at an average of 1.4mbps, tower's about 8klms distant, line of sight.

  • #3
    Administrator
    mtv's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    19,893
    Thanks
    7,508
    Thanked 15,066 Times in 6,761 Posts
    Rep Power
    5647
    Reputation
    239305

    Default

    A lot of answers only Telstra can give you, mate.

    The 'smart modem' Telstra have can be used with ADSL or NBN and reverts to the mobile network if there's an outage, etc.

    .

    Are they saying it will use the mobile network all the time, or just when there's an issue with your ADSL?

    The smart modem mobile is usually just a backup.

    The concerning part is speed is capped at 6 Mbps for download and 1 Mbps for uploading and you can't use the landline phone via the modem when it's connected to the mobile network.

    Is this only a temporary fix, until your area gets NBN?

    If not, I would be insisting Telstra fix the cable.

    Techs can use a TDR (Time Domain Reflectometer) to measure the distance to the cable fault, so that's crap that they can't find it.

    They need to fix it, or replace the cable if necessary.

    Perhaps a call to the Telecommunications Ombudsman's Office may be worthwhile, as it sounds like Telstra if offering you an inferior service, which will likely cost more, for less data speed and data allowance, plus not being able to use your landline phone.

  • The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to mtv For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (29-06-20),shred (30-06-20)

  • #4
    Administrator
    mtv's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    19,893
    Thanks
    7,508
    Thanked 15,066 Times in 6,761 Posts
    Rep Power
    5647
    Reputation
    239305

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by wotnot View Post
    We have that sort of setup here ~ I think they called it 'fixed wireless NBN' ... had to go that way because rural area, low user density, and telstra are *not* upgrading the copper in the ground.
    Yes, NBN wireless is good, but OSIRUS said Telstra have told him they
    made a point to say that it was not like fixed wireless NBN technology (because I said I could not get fixed wireless NBN in my area)
    NBN wireless doesn't use a smart modem... just a network terminating device (which is basically a different type of modem) and a separate router.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to mtv For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (29-06-20)

  • #5
    Premium Member
    wotnot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2019
    Location
    Scenic Rim, SE Qld
    Posts
    3,236
    Thanks
    1,462
    Thanked 2,934 Times in 1,510 Posts
    Rep Power
    1334
    Reputation
    58690

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mtv View Post
    Yes, NBN wireless is good, but OSIRUS said Telstra have told him they

    NBN wireless doesn't use a smart modem... just a network terminating device (which is basically a different type of modem) and a separate router.

    Ahh...yes... *we* got told the same things, but when pushed it magically became available (but we were pushing TPG, not telstra) - initially they said our only option was skymuster sat service or whatever it's called, which sucks terribly.

    As I understood it at the time, the 'magic' came from a tower upgrade that'd be pending for 2years, and which was completed but somehow there's some contractual BS between this, skymuster, and wifi modems...ie; even if all these services are available to the property, there's some obligation to use one or another, just depending on local hookup loads...and coverage -- we can get wireless NBN here ; others have to go to sat because hill shadows etc.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to wotnot For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (29-06-20)

  • #6
    Premium Member
    OSIRUS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    3,592
    Thanks
    10,571
    Thanked 2,466 Times in 958 Posts
    Rep Power
    1070
    Reputation
    37981

    Default

    Thanks mtv and wotnot this gives me some things I can talk to them about tomorrow

    cheers
    Become a Premium Member and support the Austech Forum

  • #7
    Member
    RFI-EMI-GUY's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Florida USA
    Posts
    271
    Thanks
    162
    Thanked 154 Times in 99 Posts
    Rep Power
    174
    Reputation
    3566

    Default

    I would be very wary given you have marginal cellular phone reception where you are.

    They may be giving you a bit of BS about this.

    They may be required to fix that existing line by federal regulations and they are hoping to get your consent to go with the wireless option. You should research this further.

    The argument that they can't find the break is nonsense since the technology, time domain reflectometry ( TDR) is as old as Radar.

    They put a TDR instrument on one of the ends of your line, dial in the cable type, press a button and voila, it spits out distance to break.

    Then they have to get busy, dig a hole then splice and perhaps pull in new wire which frightens them.

    I would research this further. Do you have neighbors? How is that wireless working for them?

    Are they using the fixed wireless ? Is it better, why not make Telestra extend that to you. They would have to install a repeater , too bad for them.

    More likely you are sole user at end of town and they want to be rid of you, which is probably illegal in many countries.

    Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
    Last edited by RFI-EMI-GUY; 30-06-20 at 01:14 AM.
    "Have Spectrum Analyzer, - Will travel".

  • The Following User Says Thank You to RFI-EMI-GUY For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (30-06-20)

  • #8
    Senior Member

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    2,235
    Thanks
    2,822
    Thanked 1,514 Times in 835 Posts
    Rep Power
    795
    Reputation
    27703

    Default

    if youre happy with the existing service , and not ready to change to the new gear as yet , get them to repair the existing copper fault. Telstra have a program in place called CNI ( customer network improvement ) which are a special team able to fix the bad joints or replace lengths of existing copper.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to VroomVroom For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (30-06-20)

  • #9
    LSemmens
    lsemmens's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Rural South OZ
    Posts
    10,585
    Thanks
    11,867
    Thanked 7,061 Times in 3,338 Posts
    Rep Power
    3153
    Reputation
    132592

    Default

    All of the above. Make sure they do not want to charge you extra for the "privilege" IIRC those who use the mobile network have to pay for every byte over their limit.
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

  • The Following User Says Thank You to lsemmens For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (01-07-20)

  • #10
    Premium Member
    wotnot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2019
    Location
    Scenic Rim, SE Qld
    Posts
    3,236
    Thanks
    1,462
    Thanked 2,934 Times in 1,510 Posts
    Rep Power
    1334
    Reputation
    58690

    Default

    As per my story above, telstra wanted (or claimed they needed us to pay) a $1200 fee for that....but, a lot depends on your exact location relative to local exchange.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to wotnot For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (01-07-20)

  • #11
    Member
    RFI-EMI-GUY's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Florida USA
    Posts
    271
    Thanks
    162
    Thanked 154 Times in 99 Posts
    Rep Power
    174
    Reputation
    3566

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by wotnot View Post
    As per my story above, telstra wanted (or claimed they needed us to pay) a $1200 fee for that....but, a lot depends on your exact location relative to local exchange.
    1200 for a service they are likely obligated to maintain? Contact the regulatory authorities, or at least threaten to.

    Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
    "Have Spectrum Analyzer, - Will travel".

  • The Following User Says Thank You to RFI-EMI-GUY For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (01-07-20)

  • #12
    Premium Member
    wotnot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2019
    Location
    Scenic Rim, SE Qld
    Posts
    3,236
    Thanks
    1,462
    Thanked 2,934 Times in 1,510 Posts
    Rep Power
    1334
    Reputation
    58690

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by RFI-EMI-GUY View Post
    1200 for a service they are likely obligated to maintain? Contact the regulatory authorities, or at least threaten to.
    Pretty much all past tense now, and I have zero need for a landline anyhow ~ it'd be my housemate to which this comment applies, because he refuses to own/use a mobilephone...(or a car with EFI, or use a microwave oven, and bitches everytime he notices you can't by incandescent light bulbs =). Eventually he'll die, and all his technology phobias die with him..

  • #13
    Premium Member
    OSIRUS's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    3,592
    Thanks
    10,571
    Thanked 2,466 Times in 958 Posts
    Rep Power
    1070
    Reputation
    37981

    Default

    Thanks for all the reply's

    I spoke to him today and said I would like him to fix my landline if possible, so he spent another day on it and found the cable and has fixed it .... (I think)

    Will give it a go and see how it goes ..... better than changing all my setup a and equipment at this stage anyway

    thanks for all your comments very help full and I can use this information in the future

    Cheers
    Become a Premium Member and support the Austech Forum

  • The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to OSIRUS For This Useful Post:

    mtv (06-07-20),VroomVroom (01-07-20)

  • #14
    Member
    RFI-EMI-GUY's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Florida USA
    Posts
    271
    Thanks
    162
    Thanked 154 Times in 99 Posts
    Rep Power
    174
    Reputation
    3566

    Default

    Its hard to imagine that in some parts of the world ADSL is still used. I had it here and was promised 6 Mbps. ATT could never attain that speed. The CO is only a short distance downtown. The technicians repeatedly came out to tweak the modem profile and at some point, "it was good enough". A year later, the city water department dug up the copper cable by accident. ATT came out and instead of fixing the cable, rerouted mine via a longer route by a hundred feet or so of smaller guage wire. That broke the camel's back.

    I had to switch to a cable TV delivered internet service. Immensly faster, but horribly expensive because they know I have no choice.

    Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
    "Have Spectrum Analyzer, - Will travel".

  • The Following User Says Thank You to RFI-EMI-GUY For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (01-07-20)

  • #15
    Premium Member

    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Posts
    363
    Thanks
    1,205
    Thanked 196 Times in 99 Posts
    Rep Power
    213
    Reputation
    3620

    Default

    I am using a 4G wireless modem a Telstra Netgear NightHawk with no problems for years now. Just make sure there is good 4G mobile phone signal in your area. Would not even consider a copper phone cable for internet as know all the cables in my area are ancient and unreliable.

    An advantage of the wireless modem is that should I go on a trip somewhere I have internet access wherever there is mobile phone coverage.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to Landytrack For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (06-07-20)

  • #16
    Senior Member
    trash's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Tamworth
    Posts
    4,088
    Thanks
    148
    Thanked 3,229 Times in 1,451 Posts
    Rep Power
    1287
    Reputation
    47674

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by RFI-EMI-GUY View Post
    They put a TDR instrument on one of the ends of your line, dial in the cable type, press a button and voila, it spits out distance to break.
    They're not even that complex. You can connect any cable type to them. I've got a few units and an aligator clip onto a fence wire can tell you how long they are and where the corners in the fence are.

    Surprisingly I haven't seen anybody else use them in the big T. Coax sitemaster analysrs and OTDRs were common but the old copper TDR's, Telecom had hundreds of them and I seemed to be the only person who knew how to use them. I've not see anybody else use them.

    Even a guy I worked with for a couple of years who 20 years on me, he was using a measuring wheel to measure cable runs. When he had to do three cables each over 2km long, he used his car. Before he left I bet him $10 I could guess the length. The moment he was out of site I put the TDR on cable pair and wrote down the values. When he came back he asked me for my best guess.... Ummmmm.... customer #4 ... I licked my finger and held it in the air... "5000 metres .... no... wait .... 5700 ..... AND ..... errr 24 metres !"
    He looked at me as if I'd just run the cable, "5700 huh???"
    "Yep and 24 metres"
    He had driven 5.7km on the car odometer. "really, how did you come to that guess?"
    "Well it's 242 metres to the road up there and then 1240 metres down to the bend ...."
    "riiiiiight !" I got that look like he knew something was up.

    When he asked my guess about line #3 and got a precise answer he shook me down and I showed him the TDR.
    The old timer knew what it was but he had no idea how to use it.

    ---

    In terms of what's going on with the phone line, I could take a pretty good guess at exactly what politics is behind this.
    I can also think of valid technical reasons for issues and then the financial issues that follow them.

    I have forgotten the acronym 'NPWL' or something for remote phone lines.
    However, you might also like to ask Telstra what their USO Universal Service Obligations are for your property.
    Medical Priority services also complicate phone line issues for them. If an MP registered phone line fails it can be a life threatening situation and they can be held liable if a customer cannot call 000 for help. Medical Priority even applies to mobile phone base stations. They have to give a MP customer notice of work on a local tower and if there will be prolonged maintenance they often give them a satellite phone as a backup while work is in progress.

    The trick with Telstra is just to know the rules. They will not tell you what the rules are, they don't have to. So if you don't know you're unlikely to complain.
    There are some Telstra customers who have their foot on the Telco's back. One in particular, when she said "Jump!" Telstra says how "How high and when can we come down?"

    Also who you talk to can make a big difference. Obviously we're all familiar with the offshore call centers. These are actually the easiest to deal with.
    Most people are infuriated with them because they try their hardest to be unaccountable. When you know how to hold them to account, shit gets done amazingly quickly. I had a country wide manager call me to address my problem because I took the soul of a brown person in an offshore call center.
    I'm sure he eventually got the mental health services he needed to recover from what I did to him.

    Osirus, I 'might' imply that Telstra wants to clear you off copper because your copper service is worth a lot more for political reasons and fees to NBN who now own the copper. The moment you agree to move to NBN you're off their books and no longer their problem.

    I'm trying to find the old D-generation video of Rob Sitch acting as an aboriginal when two white guys approach him to buy his land for "Two pretty stones and a magic numbers machine !"
    His reply: "You mean you want to trade two marbles and a digital watch for all the land between those mountains and the ocean?"
    Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to trash For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (15-09-20)

  • #17
    Crazy Diamond
    Tiny's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Tasmania
    Age
    64
    Posts
    6,391
    Thanks
    10,996
    Thanked 5,436 Times in 2,651 Posts
    Rep Power
    2156
    Reputation
    89057

    Default

    Just had a similar experience here, neighbour had an excavator pulling tree stumps, both her phone & mine went out at the same time.
    Both reported line fault to telstra, both told by tech help that there line test from there computer said line was not broken.

    I said, but there is no dial tone, it must be broken, anyway they sent out a tech, good bloke, I talked to him & explained the story & he said, OK no point in testing your equipment, so I took him to the neighbours place & showed him where I thought the line would be broken.
    He went to the neighbours pit & connected the TDR, said line fault is 96 metres away, I said that would be right, he didn't think so until he traced the phone line with the tone box. He went down the paddock & back to where I was & said yep that's about the right distance, hunted for the break with the tone box & bingo, right where I thought it would be. Where a stump was removed on the side of her driveway.
    Completely severed the 20 pair feed line.
    I asked him how long the lead in time is for fixing a fault like that & he said, since you are the last 2 customers on the line, I can do a temporary fix right now with the 2 pair wire I have, then some time in the future a team will come out & do a permanent fix.
    He prepped the line on one side of the driveway, dug up the line on the other side & ran the 2 pair down hill 5 metres thru a culvert pipe & back up to the other side.
    Joined the wires
    Used a couple of star posts, plastic bags & insulation tape as temporary elevated joints either side of the driveway.
    Phone working again.
    Very happy with the effort the Telstra tech put in.

    He did ask about mobile reception which I said; no, don't have, neighbour said did have 1 bar with phone against window some times & he talked of the $1200 option for mobile booster antenna & equipment.
    Seems expensive to me for what that would do?
    Surely boosting an intermittent signal would have dropouts at times, when there is no signal, though I guess if they found a place for the antenna that was more stable then it would work ok.
    Talked to another neighbour who had the same $1200 offer & he was told if they couldn't get it to work reliably he would't be charged for it?

    BTW; I have skymuster satellite BB & it runs reliably at 25Mbps down, can stream HD content. So i'm kind of happy with what i have.
    I actually used it with my mobile connected over wifi (WoFi) to call the complaint into telstra; only issues were, it took me a while to get it to connect, then it had a slight lag between responses. Makes you feel like it might have dropped out.
    Good to know I can do that if the landline goes out again; & in case of an emergency when the land line is out.
    So the landline stays for me at the moment.
    Cheers, Tiny
    "You can lead a person to knowledge, but you can't make them think? If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
    The information is out there; you just have to let it in."

  • The Following User Says Thank You to Tiny For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (15-09-20)

  • #18
    LSemmens
    lsemmens's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Rural South OZ
    Posts
    10,585
    Thanks
    11,867
    Thanked 7,061 Times in 3,338 Posts
    Rep Power
    3153
    Reputation
    132592

    Default

    That "temporary" fix, will likely be the "permanent" one going on past experience.
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

  • The Following User Says Thank You to lsemmens For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (15-09-20)

  • #19
    Senior Member

    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    14 Wombat Cres, Goanna Heights NSW
    Posts
    1,405
    Thanks
    731
    Thanked 1,150 Times in 576 Posts
    Rep Power
    603
    Reputation
    20563

    Default

    The other consideration is the data plans, Mobile Broadband plans using the 4G network (and 5G if you're lucky enough) are really expensive per GB and capped at ridiculously low limits compared to Wireless NBN, which runs on a separate LTE network.

    BTW, every Telstra salesman I asked told me they don't do unlimited mobile data plans but they do, there's only one though and it's under their "Enterprise" plans but it's $200 per month.

    Just about the cheapest per-GB plan you'll find is AldiMobile, which is $1 per GB, but that's at least three times the price per-GB that you'll pay on most Wireless NBN plans... so I think you made the right choice sticking with your ADSL, but it pays to do your research before you make any move. Trouble is they normally push, push, push to get you changed over so you don't have time to consider your options.

    Andrew

  • The Following User Says Thank You to Bigfella237 For This Useful Post:

    OSIRUS (15-09-20)

  • #20
    Crazy Diamond
    Tiny's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Tasmania
    Age
    64
    Posts
    6,391
    Thanks
    10,996
    Thanked 5,436 Times in 2,651 Posts
    Rep Power
    2156
    Reputation
    89057

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by lsemmens View Post
    That "temporary" fix, will likely be the "permanent" one going on past experience.
    The tech did say, if no one contacts you or does the permanent within a month, a complaint will get them up here to finish the job.
    It's about logistics, if the major repair crew are in the area they do it quick; if not they hold off until they are in the area for another fix.
    Cheers, Tiny
    "You can lead a person to knowledge, but you can't make them think? If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
    The information is out there; you just have to let it in."

  • Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

    Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •