Telstra BigPond has published an FAQ stating that it will not be able to connect new customers to ADSL or Cable if they are running Windows Vista on their computers.
“Whenever a new operating system is introduced, hardware upgrades are required across the board. The launch of Vista means ISPs worldwide will be beholden to their hardware/modem suppliers for Vista drivers,” spokesperson Bronwyn Winley said.
“BigPond already supports current customers upgrading to Vista, and is progressively introducing drivers for new customers, with the BigPond Wireless Broadband Card already being supported. Current customers receive full technical support for Vista.”
Translation: BigPond only has drivers for its wireless broadband card so far, and if you buy a new Vista computer and want to get ADSL or Cable connected, don’t call Telstra.
OptusNet said it already supported six operating systems but “only recently learned that Vista brings with it some elements that require us to change our systems.”
It is now “fast tracking” the training of staff to support Vista users and expects to have this completed in “coming months”. The telco said it would work with customers on a case-by-case basis if they had problems with OptusNet and Vista.
APC has requested further information from Optus on whether the USB modems it has distributed to customers have Vista driver support but it refused.
Netspace Managing Director Stuart Marburg said his tech support team would start supporting Vista in coming weeks, but needed to make sure enough members of the helpdesk team were trained in Vista before officially supporting it. He said Netcomm had supplied Vista drivers for some of its newer modems — NB5 and NB8W, but Marburg said he wanted the technical team to test the drivers further before officially supporting them.
