Today, I have yet more to say on Broadband.
The Whirlpool Survey results for the 2006 year have been finished, they are located here.
The leaders with regard to value, speed, and service seem to be Internode and iiNet.
Internode seem to be leading with Whirlpoolians, as they are basically the ISP of choice, despite the plans being a little less value when paired with ISPs like Netspace (who aren’t cheap themselves).
I’ll add this point:
Can those who complete the survey, complete it accurately, and tick the right boxes, and not bash ISPs. Even Bigpond. There’s no need to use it as a ‘bash’ tool, it’s best to see accurate results from users, reflecting the true state and feelings.
For example, in that survey, the following is inconsistent:
1. Bigpond Cable (and DSL), not allowed to run Server, You can indeed run servers on Bigpond Cable, and DSL.
2. Bigpond doesn’t simply Blame Telstra for a Telstra issue, they might, but that’s not likely.
3. On Cable connections, Phone Lines have nothing to do with it, so customers claiming “Phone Line not activated properly” are incorrect. No phone line causes an issue with your Cable provided connection.
4. Internet connections for Telstra, Optus, iiNet, Internode, Westnet, TPG, Exetel, Netspace, Adam don’t simply stop working every day, due to an ISP problem, it’s nearly likely to be user error, in fact, every few days would be likely user error too.
5. Some ISPs have NO unmetered content. Like, TPG.
… as well as other issues.
Essentially, if they are going to be taking these results ever so seriously (they aren’t bad at the moment!!), improvement on what users should be saying needs to be done. There needs to be some sure checking that users aren’t simply blasting the ISP, or perhaps, make it for their current ISP, to ensure users are being surveyed for the right ISP that they are still with.
Sure, our attitudes towards ISPs are dynamic, and so are service levels, and as such, the survey should be participated in, with that in mind.
Wild I&T, they are insolvent, and have been since mid last year, with a sum of $600k owing, at COB, End of Financial Year 2006.
The business hasn’t been able to keep afloat, and the blame lies squarely on staff pay costs going from $100k to $700k. Shocking. Revenue remained low, however, while costs grew.
It was actually known by Wild I&T, Timothy Bolot, at the time, that the business was insolvent, taking his own funds to pay the bills (he really wanted the business to stay above water?). It’s kind of sad telling others this, because the business had potential, I just think Timothy wasn’t the right man at the fore front of managing financials, and instead, he should of maintained ownership, with someone else at the helm, steering.
He wanted to grow the ISP, as is obvious by the countless hours he placed into it. Unfortunately, those hours may be going to waste, as the ISP is likely to be gobbled up by another company, Administrators receiving 9 possible offers in the recent time.
A buyout of Wild will mean that users keep connections, and thus, maintain contracts with the company, unless contract terms are changed to their detriment. I wouldn’t be moving in a hurry, 9 offers are a lot of offers for an ISP that could easily swing back round with a few layoffs, and some Exetel style managing of support / sales enquiries, and cost reductions, with some revenue growth. Administrators are expensive though, and that’ll inflate the sale price for Wild, unfortunately. It would be good to have a spare $1.5 Mill to buy them and restructure the business into a rather profitable venture, with some TLC to fix the reputation that Timothy Bolot has dumped on it (spamming Whirlpool for customers).
I doubt it’ll be another Veridas, and instead, it’ll be a reinvented Wild, and some severe restructuring. I’m amazed at Timothy for leaving it go bad for so long.
Actually, no I’m not, because I stayed away from Wild, I always thought of Timothy as immature, and I guess my theories paid off. It’s in a bad state. Some would say it’s in a “Wild” state.
On that note though, let’s see what other ISPs do to entice the Wild users given the uncertainty that this has caused. Here’s a hint users, Internode, aaNet, or Netspace (despite my bad experience). Just don’t break contract yet, because they might not be wound up, and instead, sold.