Given when I first traveled to the United States in November 2006 I came home to a $998 Optus bill, I’ve been really, really shy on subsequent trips about using my mobile for anything. The roaming charges on Optus are insanely expensive, some calls are $2.50 a minute, and for memory it’s $1.30 to receive calls or similar.

Given I’m State side for 2 weeks this trip (I’ve been here a week as I write this) I ventured down the pre-paid local sim card route. T-Mobile offered the best deal…but has no coverage at TC central in Atherton, which left me with AT&T only (of the 4 major telcos in the US, 2 offer GSM, 2 offer CDMA, the iPhone is GSM).

First the travelers tip. I needed a way to divert my phone to a US number without the massive expense of Optus international. So this is what I did.

1. Buy a Skype-in number for Australia. In my case it was an 03 Melbourne number as the wife is already there and I’ll be based there soon (we’re half the way through moving to Melbourne).

2. Divert Optus mobile number to the 03 number. I think it was something like 25c/ min or less.

3. Divert the Skype-in number to the AT&T sim. Skype charges about 3c a minute for the diverted call.

Now the AT&T pre-paid card charges 25c USD a minute to receive calls, expensive, but it works out at about 50-60c a minute to take a call made to my original number, as opposed to $1.25 / minute or more if I just used the Optus sim on global roaming. Most importantly, the diverted call counts again my plan, where as internation roaming would be extra, so that 60c might be less that 35c/ minute in actual costs to me.

Now back to AT&T. I’d been in one of their stores previously with Marty Wells of Tangler, so I knew it was going to be bad. It still was. Whereas a Telstra shop is always busy (at least the one in Bunbury is) and you often have to wait, but you queue for that, AT&T works on a door greater/ take your name basis. So you enter the store and the store greater puts your name on a list and you wait to be called. My trip this time took 20 minutes to be called despite the store not being that busy, it’s that slow. Buying the SIM card wasn’t that hard when I was eventually called, and I had a number.

Nearly a week later and the pre-paid SIM has run out. I only bought $25 worth of credit and you pay 25c/ min for incoming and outgoing calls, that and data at 1c a kb…and of course with an iPhone it’s hard to avoid data.

So I went to the AT&T Palo Alto store today. There’s a machine that looks like an ATM that allows you to top up your credit. I swipe my Australian Visa (debit) and nothing, wont work. Try again, nothing. I’ve just got enough for the min $15 USD top up so I feed the money into the machine, then wait…and wait…and wait. “Communications error” and a printed receipt saying I should dial through the number on the receipt for a credit. I didn’t want to wait 30 minutes to talk to someone directly?Ǭ† (this time it was really busy) so I left. Got back, dialed the number, entered the number on the receipt. “This is an invalid number”. Try two more times, same response.

So I call AT&T customer service. I can’t emphasise enough how much further call centre “voice recognition” has advanced in the US as compared to Australia. 5 minutes of telling the machine what I wanted. Told the wait is 60 seconds, then 10 minutes later I speak to someone. After repeating myself 5 times (apparently my Australian accent is difficult to understand) I’m told that I’ve got the wrong department, and I’d be transfered. Get transfered to a message that says you’ve called out of hours, please call a special after hours number if you still need help. Called that number…it wasn’t AT&T’s number, unless I wrote it down wrong.

So despite already having a credit I decide to try the website because I want a working mobile. Type my details into the website, they want the billing address for the Visa, I put it in and get an error message telling me I have to select a state, despite the drop down only offering “Australia -other” and trying to select it over and over and over again.

End of the day I’ve got a useless phone until I call AT&T in the morning, so don’t try and ring me. I’ll also promise to never criticize Telstra customer service again. Despite there many failings, I’ve always been able to speak to a real person who could help me when I’ve needed it with Telstra (our home landline is with Telstra), AT&T on the other hand makes them look brilliant. I guess anything like this should always be in context, and now I’ve seen the worst.

I WANT I WANT I WANT I WANT I WANT

6.8mb download, under 3 seconds. 1mb, so quick I didn’t see the download bar. 30mb ftp upload, minutes

I feel bad about writing a personal attack post, but when someone attacks you, you have some obligation to defend yourself, particularly when it’s soo bad it deserves derision. I defend anyones right to disagree, but I don’t when it comes to their right to suggest that I shouldn’t have the right to disagree, that somehow free speech should be stifled. If there is one thing that should bind us all in free societies, it’s free speech. Whether left, right, green, gay, whatever, we should all have the right to say as we please. Those that suggest otherwise are the enemies of us all.

Deborah Robinson, someone who most of you have never heard of but is probably seeking attention, thinks that the Great Firewall of Australia is a great idea. (link).

Here’s some highlights

One popular blog, TechCrunch went so far as to suggest a conspiracy between our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd and the Chinese. And what did Duncan Riley from TechCrunch offer as proof of this conspiracy? A satirical video downloaded from YouTube. What an idiot!

The video was for fun, as were the Chinese references…called for I think given the context, but let us digress to the Minister himself Deborah:

“Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation on the internet is like going down the Chinese road,” Conroy said.

That’s right Deborah, the Minister himself compares the ALP’s plan to China. Idiot.

then she attacks Scoble

Robert Scoble of Scobleizer said on his blog post, ?¢‚Ǩ?ìI have two children and I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d rather raise them with freedom of speech than some government deciding what they can and can?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t see, thank you very much.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù I wonder if he would still hold this view if his kids had unrestricted access to porn and violent material offline? I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m sure he wouldn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t want them passing out porn at the supermarket or on the street. So why should it be any different on the world wide web? How many times have we all inadvertently stumbled on something offensive or just unwelcome online? And he says he isn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t worried about his kids on the web.

Deborah, no one is suggesting that. We are simply suggesting that the Government shouldn’t dictate what we should be able to access online, unless of course its your idiotic writings.

What has gotten lost in all this hysteria is the ?¢‚ǨÀúreal?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ objective of introducing a clean feed in Australia and that is to protect our kids from being bombarded by inappropriate material.

Firstly, who dictates what is appropriate and not, and where does it stop, because once it starts, mark my words IT WONT STOP. Now on the other hand, OK, I’m calling child services Deborah because if you have kids (and god help them) you’re obviously letting them view hard core porn because you’re too irresponsible to supervise them, or god forbid block access with NetNanny or similar. Ultimately we can block what we deem inappropriate ourselves, that is our choice in a free society, not that of the Government, unless the act is of course illegal (which with kiddy porn it is…and that’s the important fact here, it’s already illegal).

The problem of unrestricted access to adult material is not unique to this country and I applaud the Australian government for having the guts to clean up the ?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢anything goes on the Internet?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ mentality, which has dominated the world wide web for far too long. After all, we wouldn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t tolerate it offline, so why should we tolerate it on the Internet.

Deborah, again, you’re a Grade A idiot. This isn’t just about porn, despite what the Government is saying. This is about “pornography and inappropriate material” and depending on some reports “illegal and violent” material as well. Lets take a look at the Governments net. Ignore porn for a second (since you seem to be obsessed with it) and look at what else this takes in. For starters anything “illegal” online is anything R rated and above. At the basic level this is porn, but it also includes some types of video games as well, because we don’t have a R rating for those (anything above MA is banned). Virtual worlds that are changing how we do things online such as Second Life have seedy areas, they could well be banned as well, completely and not in part because it’s difficult to filter part of Second Life (if not impossible). Speech: it’s illegal to advocate “hate” speech in some states and under certain circumstances Federally as well; if someone were to question Governments policy relating to Aboriginal people could that be deemed racist, illegal then blocked? Blogs and forums allow for a free and open discourse…if someone started spamming your blog with “dirty words” should you be automatically blocked? Indeed, if I said you’re a fucking idiot enough times this site would be blocked as well, but I’m sure you’d be happy about that.

Here’s a choice quote from todays coverage at the OZ:

There are genuine concerns that the Government – backed by morals groups like Family First – will in time extend the powers outside of their intended target area.

And lets not forget about the economic cost of this as well

A 2005 pilot study carried out by the former Howard government found a clean feed approach could cut down speed of accessing the internet by between 18 to 78 per cent depending on what was being blocked.

Deborah, stop looking at porn online for one minute and consider that free speech online isn’t about porn but defending the right for idiots like you to say your crap without Government censorship. Would you like to live in a world where what you say online could be censored because the Government deems it so? because this is what you are supporting today. As much as I’m tempted to suggest (as I have elsewhere) that you should be censorsed because you are an idiot, I must always defer to the quote wrongly attributed to Voltaire, because despite our differences this is the key to our freedom and democracy in the 21st century

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Perhaps Deborah, if you had any fairness and belief in freedom you’d extend those words to others as well.

PS: I was joking on Twitter about those twats from the Guardians being Commies. They got it totally wrong anyway; the UK censors child porn only on opt-in feeds, the Australian Government is talking 2 million sites + on an opt out basis. They probably a commies, but hey, lets ban them, that’s your solution, right?

The results are in and it’s wall to wall Labor for Australia. On one hand I’m deeply disturbed; the thought of returning to the days of Hawke and Keating with high interest rates and high unemployment scare me, and yet the Howard Government bought this on themselves. Work choices was bad politics, the legislation went too far, and beyond all else it’s what cost the Government votes; the irony of course being that Australia has chucked out its Government at a time when Australia has never looked so good.

Moving forward we need to demand an ICT policy from the Rudd Labor Government. The Liberals never had one so I guess Rudd couldn’t Me-too it, but there is hope. The Libs were lost in the woods when it came to tech, I’m hoping that Labor wont be. Secondly we need to stop the Great Firewall of Australia. Mandatory internet censorship is not acceptable, neither is the increased costs such a scheme will force onto Australian internet users when we already have the most expensive and crap broadband in the developed world.

Overall I’m hoping that the Rudd Government is a glass half full at the moment, and despite being a former Liberal Party Member (2 years cured) I’m looking forward to seeing what’s ahead, and seeing whether they’ve cured themselves of their past follys and really are a party for the 21st century.

Voted. Senate paper went to U with 54 boxes to fill out. Polls close at 6pm AEST so first results from around 6:30pm AEST (or 4:30pm my time).

One observation: old people suck at setting up signs and bunting. The Liberal setup at the Riverlinks Community Centre Australind was beyond embarrassing for them. The Independent didn’t have a thing there though, which isn’t a good sign. A couple of half decent shots via my iPhone below.

I attended my first “rock concert” last night for 11 years, because it’s been 11 years since I last saw Crowded House in concert on the steps of the Opera House in 1996. We were a million miles from the front that day, but this time was different, maybe 20 ppl back but in a space that filled at least 10,000 people; we were a lot closer than maybe 8500 other people.

The warm up acts were ok, but they did set the scene. It was a glorious Western Australian night, maybe low 20s, clear sky with the city to the right and the Swan Bell Tower to the left, complete with ever changing (colour wise) Christmas star. A crescent moon rose over the back of the stage as Crowded House took to stage.

First up was some classic songs, Private Universe and Mean To Me. The crowd knew all the words, and it set the scene for the night. On numerous occasions Neil Finn stopped singing to let the crowd do it for him. 10,000 people singing in unison is something quite unlike anything I have ever previously experienced…it was religious, and in a good way.

The main set was a mix of old and new. The new songs weren’t as strongly supported as the old stuff, but they are growing on me, and there is nothing quite like listening to them live. The acoustic richness of being inundated with the dulcet tones on Neil Finn are amazing, even when he makes stuff up, as he did later in the night with lyrics pertaining to a “half naked man” who jumped on stage.

Unlike the Eastern States concerts, there was 3 encores compared to the 2 there; ultimately Perth does fandom better than Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

I loved every single minute of it. I grew up with this music, as did much of the crowd; it was the biggest Gen X audience I’ve seen in 10+ years, although there was the occasional Gen Y fan as well.

I’m not totally sure on the rest of the touring schedule, but if Crowded House is coming your way I highly recommend attending. Neil Finn is the poet laureate of our time, and his strong lyrics stand in contrast to a lot of the crap we get today.

The following running sheet via Steward Greenhill, who has his review here, along with some music from the concert.

   1. Private Universe
   2. Mean To Me
   3. Don?t Stop Now
   4. Fall At Your Feet
   5. Everything is Good For You
   6. You?re the One to Make me Cry
   7. Nobody Wants To
   8. When you Come
   9. Silent House
  10. There Goes God
  11. Don?t Dream It?s Over
  12. People are like Suns
  13. Walked Her Way Down
  14. Distant Sun
  15. Weather WIth You

1st encore

   1. Locked Out
   2. Something So Strong

2nd encore

   1. Fingers of Love
   2. Four Seasons in one day
   3. Better be home soon

3rd encore

   1. World Where You Live
   2. Pineapple Head

Flickr photos here. Taken from the iPhone, that went flat half way through so they aren’t great.

Interesting call from MyMac Melbourne who weren’t happy with my previous post about them selling me an incomplete iSight kit.

The conversation started well (not): they immediately demanded that I remove the post and YouTube video I put up or I’d be hearing from their lawyers.My response was simply that I want the missing parts to the iSight.

Response was that “I knew what I was getting because it was on the invoice”….to which I simply responded simply that I knew what was in a complete iSight kit and I wasn’t told when buying it that it was incomplete…which then resulted in a cyclical argument relating to the invoice! WTF? According to MyMac I should read the invoice I receive after I purchase the goods to see what I’m not getting. (for the record I may have glanced at the invoice when I got home, but certainly not while I was in the shop).

The argument degraded from there, with several threats that I’d be hearing from MyMacs lawyers. In the end I told the guy to f*ck off and hung up, probably not the most clever thing to do but he was yelling over the phone demanding that I remove the video. I’ve never, ever been treated so poorly or spoken to in this fashion by a company I’ve spent my good money with buying goods. I gave him as many chances I could to resolve it reasonably to absolutely no avail: the notion that the customer is always right is TOTALLY lost on these people, because in their mind selling an incomplete iSight kit without full disclosure is the right thing to do. I wonder if they treat all their customers this way?

If someone more reasonable from MyMac would like to call to discuss this in a more civil manner I’m more than happy to talk to them again. But simply I knew what was suppose to be in an iSight kit and I when I got home it wasn’t there AND NO ONE at MyMac warned me that the kit was incomplete. I wouldn’t have bought it if I had known that for $450 (which may I add is pretty expensive for a web cam) I wasn’t getting the full kit.

If I don’t get a call or email from MyMac Melbourne I’ll be contacting both Apple and the ACCC. I mentioned previously that I was going to contact Apple; I never did because although I was pissy about not getting the mounts there are far more important things in the world to worry about…so I probably only cared for about 5 minutes then never gave it another thought….until today 🙂

I’ve played the video again: the whole tale is true so I’m not sure what grounds they are suing me over…I’m still waiting for my mounts and MyMac didn’t sell me the full package. FACT. Perhaps it’s just a case of a company thinking it can bully an unhappy customer. Sorry MyMac: I’m not the person in the wrong here.

OK, so I was shocked to find that my last post was to episode 2 a week a go. Yes, I need to start personal blogging some more, but in the mean time check out Episode 3 of On The Pod. This week I interview Bronwen Clune of PerthNorg.