Comment 436 for bug 1

I think it is important to note that Telstra - Australia's majority telco that provides phone, internet, and paytv solutions to the consumer market specifically refuses to support dialup, ADSL and CABLE broadband users on ANY operating system other than MS Windows, and MAC OS.

This telco locks in the user by requiring "heartbeat" software to be installed on the client pc. Thats correct - there is no documented nor supported method to allow a hardware device other than the PC itself to keep the connection alive.

I called their technical support and spent a very long and exhausting time trying to get their technical team to support connecting a laptop to a cable device where the laptop was running Ubuntu (Feisty). I chased my request through several support tiers and at each level was told "I'm sorry we do not support that operating system".

Therefore I assert that BUG #1 is indeed perpetrated in australia by third party companies operating in collusion with that particular Software Vendor.

I strongly urge anyone that operates within the domain of this telco to log support calls for Linux OS broadband support to encourage a change of attitude and allow a freer market to operate.

Regards

MankyGitt