Telstra gets mail with Microsoft Telstra is to dump its current BigPond email platform and supplant it with Microsoft’s Windows Live products. The carrier announced that in partnership with Microsoft it will provide Microsoft Hotmail, SkyDrive and Windows Live to its 4.2 million BigPond mailboxes. Telstra’s move to integrate BigPond with Windows Live follows …
Most people who really care about their email and privacy are unlikely to be using their ISP's email facility anyway. Email is a commodity, I can see why Telstra mightn't see much advantage in maintaining their own inhouse bespoke solution (that penny pinching customers end up paying for the maintenance of anyway).
The Government must step in and block this. The emails stored on microsofts servers in the United States will be subject to their laws, so the private communications of Australian citizens will be open for inspection by the US authorities.
Even if Microsoft host the BigPond emails in an Australian datacenter, since Microsoft is still an American company, the US authorities can still access the data anyway.
Basically, Telstra just gave the USA unfettered access to the emails of Australian citizens with no court orders needed.
Thanks Telstra, Sellouts.
I've had my Bigpond account for years, it's actually on bigpond.net.au so I won't take offence at the bigpond.com comments :)
I have found it to be decently quick, hardly ever down and quite tolerant of my largish mailing list.
On the other hand, whenever I see a supposed business person using a hotmail email address I brace myself for interacting with a dim bulb.
I too brace whenever a business contact gives me a hotmail address, on the other hand, whenever I come across a business contact with a bigpond address i know that I can either;
A) Charge them more because they're not too bright about shopping for the best price on things.
B) Probably have to charge them less because they've most likely already spent all their money in the wrong areas.
I dont have a whole lot of sympathy or preference for option B when Bigpond or Telstra are part of the equation.
... for two weeks the ADSL2+ "service" from Telstra has been crawling and then stopping every half hour or so at worst, every two hours at best.
We have to go and power cycle the ADSL "modem" aka NTU and <sigh> whilst hoping that it somehow forces the service back on air.
Don't talk to me about Telstra - again!
I am just amazed at the loyalty of the techs who do a marvellous job, but they bust their guts for a service that totally sux where we are.
http://www.dilbert.com/2012-02-06/
Seriously, once this happens if the USA government wants to read your email they now will. Microsoft will have to hand over anything they ask for, its not a case of big bad Microsoft but a case of the US company having to follow US law. While originally applying to only terrorists, the law has been expanded at times and could apply to any suspected crime. The way the law works, you don't even know your email has been read, much less that you can defend against it.
If I was a Bigpond customer, I'd have to wonder why I was paying Telstra money for a service that they have now just decided to outsource to someone else. It is a shame there is not a Microsoft ISP that Bigpond customers could just take their entire business to if Telstra cannot bother to support and invest in its own service.
Do all these microsoft services even work properly or at all if you are a Bigpond customer who happens to be on say a Mac or Apple hardware?
It is not like Bigpond is an 'el cheap o' service (price wise) which needs to cut corners like this to reduce overheads and in turn reduce prices for their customers. It is and probably always will be one of the more expensive telco solutions here in OZ (what a surprise that it is part government owned. So much for the idea of a government owned business providing the cheaper option to taxpayers, just wait till the NBN starts with them handed the reigns and allowed to try and ream customers like they did for so many years in the days before competition)
Anyone who bothered to compare ISP's/telco's and prices here in OZ would have moved from Telstra services a long time ago (around about the time the first competitor opened shop). It amazes me though how many people I still know that still use Telstra simply because it was a monopoly brand for so many years (Telecom) that it has been essentially ingrained in many peoples psyche as Telstra=telecommunications.
Thankfully Telstra doesn't mean much outside of 'expensive' and 'bloated' to anyone under 35, who don't remember the 'good ol days' of one telco player and who also are less likely to have bought shares and feel obliged to use the service.
As you can probably tell, I'm no fan of Telstra.
Eight years ago, I cut off my last Telstra service (the landline). I had accidentally overpaid my last bill by $1.12. Eight years on they still send me bills every month or three telling me that I owe them -$1.12 (their nice, easy to understand way of telling me that actually THEY owe me $1.12)
I've called Telstra on at least 5 different occasions in an attempt to get back my $1.12 only to be told that they cannot transfer it to my bank account and that it can only be used as CREDIT for any new Telstra service I might like to sign up for. I've given up on getting it back but i get much more value than $1.12 every time i open the mail and see them waste 8 years of postage costs to tell me something I already know and something they have no intention of rectifying.
The sad thing is that if I was the one who owed Telstra $1.12 and refused to pay it back like they have, I would have long ago already had debt collectors at my door and been blacklisted on a credit list.
Mind you, it is very handy to have Telstra owing you money when one of their sales reps calls you trying to sell you services such as Bigpond or Foxtel. Telling them you are not willing to discuss signing up before they can correct 'the previous credit owed issue' usually results in a reply of "sorry sir that is not my department, you'll have to call the billing department" or "sorry sir for wasting your time"
It's been 10 years.
I've considered sending them a "demand for payment" but value the periodic reminder that Telstra are hopeless at cost management ... it's probably cost them hundreds of dollars NOT to send me a cheque for $9.93.
There are probably tens of thousands of similar "zombie" accounts.
In a previous episode, last century :-) I rented a flat on the wrong side of the country and wanted a phone line to call my ISP. The exchange was within spitting distance but Telstra failed the service guarantee; to connect within 2 weeks; and took over 6 weeks. Compensation (many hundreds of dollars) was credited to the account; but the first users of my line were the in another flat, who happily chatted with somebody in China for half an hour as indicated on the bill. Another call to Telstra.
In the weeks before connection, I had several opportunities to talk to the Telstra guy (in a far off town) who was trying to get me connected. Having explained the situation, which included the daft policy of disposing of all documentation at the exchange which detailed locations of MDF, etc, in premises connected to the exchange; and the very, very, long delays, he exclaimed in exasperation "This is no way to run a phone company".
That was 13 years ago. No signs of improvement.
'.com' or '.net' is certainly not something you should take offence to, on the other hand the word 'bigpond' is something you should maybe be a little embarrassed about, not the company per say but rather what you're likely paying for the service v's doing a little research on say 'whirlpool' first before signing on to such a service.
You mentioned that the quality of Bigpond was really good but that is exactly what Telstra wants people to believe, it is also how and why they sell themselves as a premium and expensive service.
Reality, however, tells a different story, there are actually MANY services out there just as GOOD/RELIABLE and actually far CHEAPER than Telstra. Bigpond/Telstra just hope their customers don't do the research and discover this for themselves.
Their customer service though I've found is the complete opposite of their network reliability, Telstra seem to almost have contempt for their customers.
Take for example the attitude Telstra have regarding new/revised/cheaper plans and services, they don't even think it is worthwhile to their existing customers to inform them of any new/cheaper prices, (or even better, automatically transferring them to the new/cheaper services) when they can continue to bill existing customers at the old more expensive prices/plans.
I've used at least three non-Telstra providers over the years who have ALL not only automatically switched me to cheaper options as they introduced them but have been far more COMMUNICATIVE, HELPFUL, HONEST, TRANSPARENT and COMPETITIVE than Telstra ever were when I used them. The speeds and reliability of the competitor networks have also been just as good and sometimes better than what Telstra have on offer.
Every Bigpond user is going to be doing themselves a huge favour by simply doing a little competitive research before re-signing on a contract that might be expiring soon or sometime in the near future.
This post has been deleted by its author
I should have mentioned I am Ex British Telecom and Datel Maintenance, also the former senior R & D analyst with TNT specialising in mobile data and a networking specialist with CBA.
I can definitely quantify and evaluate comm's services.
The other relevant factor is, out here in the mid-mountains, service providers try and avoid house calls as the distance soaks up time/money.
So, if you get into a finger-pointing exercise between the line provider and the ADSL provider, weeks can go by without a proper resolution.
Since I need my internet 24x7, I use Telstra for both and just holler 'Fix It', experience has proven this to be the best way of avoiding down-time which is more important to me than a cheap service I can't rely on.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
