But trying to flog Windows anti-virus software from the roadside is a first. Maybe they’re trying to home in on a niche customer base that I am not aware of. I have to admit that I dubious of the integrity of software that is bought from someone who advertises with hand-painted posters as if it is a garage sale. Maybe it is all legit, though I have my doubts when the recommended retail price at Symantec is $99.99 and this can be had for a bargain at $30. I imagine Symantec don’t normally offer such deep discounts to their resellers. (And I am also assuming that this guy isn’t just selling a one-off unwanted licence).

Disclaimer: I have not contacted the seller, hence I am only giving my opinion on this advertisement. If you do follow through and make a purchase from them, don’t hold me responsible as to the software’s efficacy or otherwise.

Selling Norton Internet Security from a power pole - Victoria Rd, Ermington

Internode (like iinet) are very Linux friendly (in that they can provide support for Linux users if required) but more importantly they both provide good unmetered repositories/mirrors of open-source software. Internode seems to have the edge though, especially now they are a Sourceforge mirror. They also have some nice unmetered media with quite a few radio streams. Another clincher for the recent decision was that Internode now provide ABC’s iView unmetered, which all made good use of on iinet. According to my kids the gaming servers are well supported and have low “ping” times, so all should be good on that front. Actually one nice thing the Internode does is publish a very clear list of IP address ranges that are unmetered. I might try to combine this info with the netflow info I have been grabbing from my router to more accurately feedback to my family on their metered/unmetered usage profiles.

We also have made use of iinet’s bundled phone PSTN and VoIP services. However this actually proves to more costly than what it should be. With iinet to get my $70 ADSL plan I needed to bundle the phone service at around $33 (though I got free VoIP access). But with Internode, I can get the $70 ADSL (with 2x quota) and I can buy my phone service from Telstra (I’ll choose the $19 budget plan), and then I can buy a $10 VoIP service which comes with $20 phone credits. All up, I expect to save maybe $20 a month and get double the data quota. Internode by all accounts have a good service reputation, so I really have no qualms in switching.

So I am still happy to recommend iinet for their level of customer service, however despite a few calls to them indicating I was about to leave, and giving them an opportunity to keep me, they really couldn’t match Internode’s pricing.

Hopefully all goes well.