A slice of the broadband status pie

So as some of you may know, I recently moved out of home. By recently, I mean yesterday. In fact, I’m still moving, as I haven’t quite brought all my things from my parents’ place to my new place yet. That’s beside the point.

As all of us know, the internet is one of the most important resources. Ever. I’m not even joking (well, maybe a little) — but the point is, I needed to get a ‘net connection at my new residence, as soon as possible.

More difficult than one might have originally thought. My new residence is a townhouse and as such the phone system is provided via an MDF. Can’t understand the Wiki article? Don’t worry, neither can I. The point is that the MDF makes the physical cabling from the exchange to my house atypical.

So, I consulted the OCAU forums about this issue and was pleasantly surprised to find that this previously-perceived “problem” of an MDF was actually not a problem at all.

So I headed over to the website of my favourite ISP to sign up for a Naked DSL service. Woops, I can’t easily do that it seems. As the previous tenants have moved their phone service from the residence, it does have a phone line, but no number. Internode’s sign-up process for converting a service requires a phone number. Hrm.

Oh well, I’ll try the connect new service option, and see how I fare. I enter all the details and forget about it. Promptly though (the very next morning) I receive an e-mail from Internode stating that because the property is serviced by an MDF there may be problems with cabling. ‘Hang on’ I think, the good people of OCAU have said otherwise.

So, I resolve to call Internode to find out exactly what the problem is. Apparently, Internode cannot enable Naked DSL on an IVULL (intact vacant ULL) due to a recent legal case concerning this very type of operation. They tell me that I must have a standard phone service connected to the line before they can perform a ‘convert’ operation to enable Naked DSL.

What’s the catch, you say? Well, it’s simple: I have to get a phone number on the inactive line. This involves paying Telstra $59 to “activate” the service and then paying a further $20 for their lowest line-rental for one month. After the line is activated, I’ll submit my new phone number to Internode for conversion to a Naked DSL service. This will then cancel the active phone service on the line and enable the Naked DSL.

Basically what I’m doing is paying Telstra $80 just for the privelidge of then cancelling the service provided by the $80, which will enable Internode to install Naked DSL.

There’s gotta be something suspect about this kind of practice, and although many people will label me a cynic, prejudiced and a bigot, I’m betting that Telstra has something to do with it.

The only good part of this story is after ordering my phone service with Telstra today, I was told it would be active by close of business today! That’s speedy in anyone’s terms. It means that almost as quickly, it’ll be disabled again!