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Telstra dobs in Dodo to ACCC Fleur Leyden 26jun06 TELSTRA is urging the consumer watchdog to investigate internet provider Dodo Australia, claiming its advertising has broken the law. In a letter to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Telstra said a new advertising campaign by Dodo, which claims it can deliver broadband-like speeds on a dial-up connection, breached the Trade Practices Act. Dodo advertising said customers could achieve speeds up to 19 times faster than dial-up by installing "speed accelerator" software. In a scathing assessment of the technology, Telstra's letter said the software merely decompressed data before it is viewed by a customer and did not make downloading information faster. The telco said its own testing revealed that the software only marginally increased delivery speeds. "This type of compression technology has little (if any) impact on some data including video streaming or downloading music," Telstra's letter said. "Importantly, the software significantly impacts the quality of images received by a user, resulting in distinctly blurry images not of the same resolution or clarity." It's not the first time Dodo has been brought to the ACCC's attention. In 2003, following an ACCC investigation, the Federal Court ruled that it had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in advertising about the cost of its internet services. Meanwhile, Telstra has boosted its IP telephony customer base in a $3 million deal with technical services company Touchbase Australia. Touchbase designs and installs telephone and other communication services for large businesses. Known as IP, or internet protocol telephony, these types of communication services enable phones, faxes and computers to simultaneously use internet lines rather than traditional phone lines. Touchbase until recently had a partner service contract with global IP infrastructure provider Avaya. The partnership collapsed and Avaya's customers, believed to include Qantas, were left without operational support for their IP systems. Telstra has now bought this customer base from Touchbase. Included in the deal, Telstra will recruit up to 30 Touchbase staff who have the expertise to deal with Avaya infrastructure |
