Comments on: Telstra responds to questions on Second Life withdrawal

By: Lowell Cremorne

Lowell Cremorne — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:24:49 +0000

Hi there – I assume you mean Craig Middleton (the Telstra spokeperson) is being elusive?

By: Name

Name — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:06:42 +0000

I got the word that BigPond have agreed to waive contract obligations on an individual person basis to people who joined to use SL. This may have been limited to those on wireless connections only, I don't know for sure. Pond (SL) admin were aware of this although I question just how many Pond customers managed to get told the message. I saw no public mention of it in Pond SL notices. 'Friends of the Pond' group was dissolved before the expected date of final closure, apparently because of griefing problems. Pond sims have been reduced to 5 now and much of the content has also been removed. Why would anyone want to go there now? there is nothing worth going there for. I can't quite understand the need to have vandalised the sims to this degree while still remaining open to the public. It seems pointless even remaining open now the damage is done.

What exactly did Telstra achieve to be claiming a huge success?? Bulk new internet subscribers?? I find it difficult to understand why something this successful would be removed. Is it normal practice to figure unexpected success then take it away again?

Reading the above conversation, seems to me that Lowell is being very elusive when queried about the cost of this venture. If it's a profit, wouldn't you proudly throw the numbers on the table and display them for all to see?

So bottom line is: the experiment revealed Telstra method of constant big brother style watch over the sims may have encouraged griefers rather than protect against them. Unanticipated griefing in the final few weeks forced premature closure of chat groups and made hard work of keeping sims free of issues. Telstra seem hesitant to reveal financial data about the whole experiment.

Feel free to comment in regards to any of this Mr Lowell

By: disabled

disabled — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:35:26 +0000

for those hurt by the unmetered useage going, bigpond has new massive “liberty plans”:>
I wont have to leave second life

By: disabled but can fly in SL

disabled but can fly in SL — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:34:40 +0000

for those hurt by the unmetered useage going, bigpond has new massive “liberty plans”:>
I wont have to leave second life

By: TateruNino

TateruNino — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:43:09 +0000

They didn't make a business investment with the intention of getting a financial return, though. They made that fairly clear from the outset.

By: simonhk

simonhk — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:09:40 +0000

They probably see growth of other new platforms – Facebook, Wii, iPhone and want to hope onto the bandwagon. Though I have a feeling that as SL gets more mainstream over the next 12 months they may want to revisit their decision.

By: skribe

skribe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:25:57 +0000

Typical non-answer answers. I bet CM thinks they got away with it too.

BTW, if I was locked into a contract for a service I was no longer receiving I'd contact the TIO (http://www.tio.com.au/). My experience with them has been very positive.

By: skribe

skribe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:22:52 +0000

Not the end of SL, just the end of the free-wheeling days where corps were willing to throw money and hope to get something approaching a ROI. The world economy is rationalising. This is just a reflection of what's happening in the real world.

By: paisleybeebe

paisleybeebe — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:32:57 +0000

Well you tried Lowel….and this is why I would not have CM on my show. You just get a lot of robotic, management speak with no content beyond the company line. Wouldn't expect anything else. Very frustrating, but ah well…I guess the Aust community just isn't big enough in SL to make even the tiny amount they are spending on Pond worth it..and they did try to make it more attractive for Customers to be in SL, with free download. The constant misinformation about how that free download actually worked didn't help. I've been with Bigpond for many years and since 2006 when I first rezzed, like most, was very well aware of the the amount of SL download I was getting free, it was much more than just on the islands, I never went there. But at the end of the day, we all know that you can still get a better deal elsewhere…it all looked good on the website all those yellow bars rising up from the blue ones…but for less money I now have over double the same download limit but split into peak and off peak. I paid $89 per month for 25G and used almost all of it. Now I pay through iinet the same amount for 30G peak 40G off peak plus the phone line thrown in. My phone bills and internet plan have justified me not worrying about losing that free download. I've saved hundreds of $'s a month. So its bad for those still in contract…they are stuck! and Bigpond should do SOMETHING for those people, after all they are not providing the advertised service…so the customers ought to be able to get out of the plan without being slugged, if they wish. Good luck with that folks. How are Bigpond relocating the residents thats what I'd like to know? If anyone in the “Know” other than BP Management wants to talk to me on air about this….please contact me I think a story on this might be good for Tonight Live. Paisley

By: Coyle Brenmann

Coyle Brenmann — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:29:14 +0000

The final nail in the coffin for Second Life, showing little to no ROI for business investments?