Sponsor's Message

The legal action, initiated by the US FTC, comes as part of a burst of anti-spam prosecutions based on the CAN-SPAM law which, until now, has been seen as a lame and ineffective piece of legislation.

I find it interesting that it takes an arm of the US government to take action against Australian-based spammers and this shows that, even though the CAN-SPAM Act may be far from perfect, it's clearly a damned site better than no spam law at all.

The Commerce Commission has also been busy elsewhere, probing the costs of termination fees for mobile phone calls.

Having spend several weeks in the UK and USA last year, I can confirm that NZ's mobile rates most certainly are amongst the highest in the world and it would seem about time that the legitimacy of these charges were challenged.

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I find it damned hard to comprehend how the phone companies can charge me as much to call a mobile from a land-line as it does to call the same mobile from another cellphone.

In the second case, twice as many wireless resources are required so if, as the companies claim, these resources are expensive to build and maintain, surely the cost of a mobile-to-mobile call should be significantly higher.

It's far more likely that we have a duopoly in place where it suits both the major cellphone providers to keep their rates high -- regardless of any other concessions made to appearing competitive.

If we compare the costs of internet access to those of cellphone use over the past 10-15 years it can be seen that something is very wrong with the cellphone charges.

When I first started using the Net back in 1991, international traffic cost around $10/MB and a cellphone call cost about 65 cents a minute.

Now, a decade and a bit later, both the internet and cellphone infrastructures have undergone significant expansion and improvement.

So why are we still paying about the same price for our cellphone calls while the price of Net traffic has fallen one hundred-fold?

Yes, it's true that NZ is a geographically difficult and expensive country to provide good mobile coverage -- but let's not also forget that our major telcos have also had to make a very hefty investment in the Southern Cross cable at a price that must come damned close to the price of a nation-wide wireless network.

Are we being gouged by the cellphone companies?

Well in the UK, you pay as little as 3p (9c) per minute for mobile calls. You work it out.

Lighten Up
Time for more levity and laughter to send you into the weekend with a smile.

They say that laughter is contagious -- this little Flash page might just prove the point. Be sure and have your sound turned on :-)

Here's a little safety item that perhaps no house should be without. However, I shudder to think of the risks associated with fitting one of these and then mistaking your convenience for your refrigerator after a hard night on the grog.

Schwarzenegger look out -- here's a studly dude who not only has a fine (phhhtt!) physique, but some really cool body armour as well.

Okay, if you can do better than these links then send me your funniest or wierdest bookmarks for inclusion in Friday's Lighten-Up section.

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

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