[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] Victoria-based Jinx net intends to offer free broadband Internet access over
Cable & Wireless Optus’ HFC network.
“We aim to be the first company to offer this service in Australia. This is
the service for which others are charging upwards of $60 per month,” the
company claims on it’s Web site. The offering is to be supported by
advertising revenue earned from a “jinx-explore navigational window” visible
on all users’ screens. Upon rollout, estimated to be around mid-2001,
customers will be charged a $400 one-off joining fee including cost of
installation of software, network card and cable modem. The service is to be
available in areas in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
According to general manager of Jinx net, Joel Grant, the company has “no
partnerships in place with either Optus nor Telstra,” but intends to
establish these once sufficient advertisers are on board. He did not
disclose how the company intended to access Optus’ cable network, but said
Jinx staff would connect homes to the cable.
Would-be customers can sign up at the Web site, providing their address,
software/hardware configurations and phone numbers, but are warned that “For
technical and commercial reasons, our service is not available at the
moment. Upon registering you will be placed in queue. The queue currently
stands at a number of months.”