Samsung's Latest TVs, Action for Consumers on Telco and your calls!

I was God's mate. I spoke to you on the Tuesday. Thursday afternoon there's this lovely courier

man at me back door with a parcel for me. All I know is we've been 24 hours mate. You had it sorted

after five weeks of her raising her. Mate I can't thank you enough. Join the conversation.

Head to eftm.com and click Ask Trev. Hoping Australians would check questions for over 15

years. The eftm podcast with Trev along. Real Australians. Real questions. Every week.

You can text Trev now. Thanks to Vodafone on 047 657 657.

All right and we're back in town. Great to be back. Great to have you company on the eftm podcast.

Thank you for listening. downloading and I think we missed a week,

didn't we? Apologies for missing a week while I was at Cupertino or Coop as they're now calling

one of the Apple staff. I rang them while I was in London. They said I said I don't know what time

it is in Sydney. They go I don't know. I mean Coop. Coopatino baby. That's what we'll call it

from now on. Coop. Anyway Coopatino and look I just want to say the people that were on the

trip were a bunch of there was probably four or five people who'd never been to Apple Park before

and it was do you know what it was fun to be the old guy back of a golf buggy being

driven from one side of Apple Park to the other because it's a huge place

and hearing these people just talk about the place like because they've never been there before

and I'm like oh my god the things the stories I could tell you it's just such an amazing place and I

I know my position in in this industry and I'm grateful to have achieved the the

position that I have but I also don't take for granted any of the opportunities I get

and that doesn't matter whether that's you know going to London with Amazon or you know

San Francisco with Samsung or being able to afford to to go to CES with a team or take

Stig with me to EFAR or getting invited to Apple Park. I don't take it for granted at all. I love

every bit of it and I wish I I wish more people could see the things that I get to see. It's just

such an amazing place so uh yeah don't take that for granted and I love visiting there because it's

just architecturally stunning. The landscaping is phenomenal amazing place but we are back now

grounded by the AFTM office and studio and as I look at the security cameras and realize I've got

some TVs for review folks. There's like 23 TVs downstairs. I had a a TV delivery just literally

in between interviews earlier there was a five minute window and they arrived it was perfect timing

it was funny because it was a TV from Sony and they were not couriers they I think they

worked for like Sony service so they also did deliveries. Anyway one of the guys came in and

he's like Kogan because there's a couple of Kogan TVs down there one I've just reviewed and one I'm

about to have on the Today Show for inner financial year and there's also a bunch of other products

down there from Kogan because I've got a winter warmer segment so there's just a lot and it was

it was like he was talking down upon the ground I'm like dude I know you work for Sony but not

everyone can afford a Sony all right just calm down um so there's a lot to cover and

a lot to get to over the weeks ahead we uh we've probably got a little about a month now at home

before we head away again um and weirdly that event hasn't been announced yet so I really don't think

I can say what it is or where it is even though it it's it's widely understood but anyway I'm not

going to I'm not going to break anyone's confidences but anyway we're off again in July and then

should be home for a month before we head to Ephraim Berlin like the year is literally just

clipping away at a rate of knots unbelievable because we've got Berlin at the end of August

we work on the assumption that Apple's phone event will be early September and then I've got my

family arriving in the US for three or four weeks of holiday after that so uh yeah there'll be a bit

of a break at the near the end of the year because there's no way producer Rob can bank enough content

that we can get through that but um so you'll you'll you'll forgive a month or so of break in

September-ish on the EFTM podcast we uh Stephen and I are working pretty hard to make sure that we can

fulfill the EV podcast and the movie podcast through that time uh and uh we'll do we'll do

dubbed uh sorry we'll do Ephra and Apple iPhone event TubeLogs Talking Tech and then I assume we'll

we'll enlist the great helper Val Quinn from Gadget Guy to fill in on TubeLogs Talking Tech

for a couple of weeks while I'm away with my family so there's a bit going on and it's weird to

think we're in June but I'm talking about September but that's the life we lead we've

got to plan that far ahead with things it's amazing how far your diary fills up and it's been a

long time since I had a day job as you well know it's been 10 years but I guess your diary filled

up just as quick you know people wanting meetings and you I would go to the Melbourne office and

things like that of SBS so your diary fills up and you get busy um but that's the joy of it so

big show coming up we got we got a couple things to talk about today we've got we've got your

calls as always uh a couple calls to get through one of them's a follow-up but we also we're going

to talk TVs with Samsung we're going to talk about RGB TV technology we're going to talk about

big screen technology in the Australian market and I've also obtained a good chat with Carol

Bennett the CEO of ACANN the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network

because I've seen them talking a little bit about like the triple zero inquiries and

universal mobile obligations and things like that so I want to understand where they're at and

you know understand whether or not the Australian government is ready for the future of mobile

technology you know think satellite think triple zero I I just I don't get the feeling that we're

we're actually prepared or getting getting ready for it um maybe maybe we are maybe I'm just not

aware of it so we'll talk to Carol about that but most importantly if you have a tech question

and you want to join me at any point send us a text 0 4 double 7 6 5 send us a text or

a whatsapp message producer Rob will get those we'll collate them we'll get you on the show

and we'll have a good chat here on the EFTM podcast

helping Australians with tech questions for over 15 years the EFTM podcast with travel on

Craig have your company uh lovely to hear from you if you get in touch 0 4 double 7 6 5

Craig's on the line today Craig. That's true. Mate what can I do for you? I'm just looking for some

advice and help with my father who's 88 yep um he's struggling with a phone he's he obviously

needs a phone yeah every phone he's at he's either got frustrated with it can't operate it because

he's got early swans of dementia sure um his sisters have bought him numerous phones and they've

been by the wayside he's uh recently me one of my sisters bought him a big key phone which he

actually liked yeah strangely enough and I read the reviews on it and they weren't negative

but his calls kept dropping out oh so they returned the phone um and got a refund back on that and

well I happened to ring Telstra the other day and I was frustrated again which was always reaching

out to you um what what could be I said was there any issues you know with the receptions I know

reception in his area is not always the best sure um and they said actually they've been an

outage around the 24th of May which they're still working on huh so whether they've had something

to do with it or not but in the meantime they all say suggested um some tick phone something

believe um Telstra right so that push it was are there blue tick phones basically are phones that

they've tested have the best ability to pick up reception that's that's that's what a blue tick

phone is is he in a regional area no he's metropolitan at Liverpool or Moorebank actually

mate I don't I don't think you need a blue tick phone I think they just need to get on that bloody

you know they need to get over that um network outage or you need to try a different network

but you know when you say the big button phone do you know what it was

no or is that literally what it's called big that's what it's called big buttons

big button saying company apparently ah gotcha right yeah well look I tell you this if he if

he liked that one then the one I would recommend is similar um and I think the big button phone

is from the big purple phone people so I respect to them but one that I've tested and used and

given uh advice to other people on a never heard a drama it is the aspera aspera you get

him at big w it's 129 bucks right so mate nothing nothing does nothing to spend really it is just

a phone so it's just buttons and it's a it's a little flip phone but here's what I love about it

it comes with a little base which I think the big button phone might have done as well so it's

somewhere to put it to charge he doesn't have to fumble around with a cable to charge it it just

goes into this little dock and that's where it lives um and being 129 bucks mate it's it's

excellent value what I would say to you is I would consider whether or not another network

is a better option for you um and now that if you buy a phone for 129 bucks he's not going to

be needing data right so just find the cheapest 12 month plan that you can get now he doesn't

want they've been all both him and me mother have both been paying as you go oh mate crazy money

like do you know what he's spending every month not all as I said they won't I've tried to talk

I mean to put no landline back on they won't do that because they don't make enough calls yeah

but they're both elderly they're both profoundly deaf um I recently bought them an amplifier um

because I'm sick of trying to ring them and either me mother's phones on silent and dad just don't

hear it yeah um so that's helped a little bit yeah particularly if me mother's phones off or

dm it still rings which is good so the thing about a 12 month plan so here's what I did for my mom

obviously I'm lucky I've got a bunch of crazy phones around so I just gave my mom an interest she's

young enough shall I say to use a smartphone she was all right with that and then I just made

I just went and got a boost mobile sim card I paid 200 bucks or 300 bucks whatever it was for the

year in advance and it's done now look you can definitely spend less than that so with Kogan

mobile you can spend 150 bucks for the year and you're done um you could also go to Aldi and they

have a five dollar sim card which lasts a year and you just pay per call now the problem with that is

someone's got to top it up someone's got to you know log in and I think that's what they might be

with because she said the mother said they're without it so that's probably what they've got

and it's great until mate it's not topped up because they forgot to top it up or they didn't

read the message and said to top it up so I don't know I don't love that idea for someone who is

potentially in in very urgent need of that device yeah so yeah my advice is to look at

something like the espera f50 great phone uh big w has it easy to buy and then mate just get them

get them a sim card pay for it yourself for for the year so they don't have to worry about that rubbish

anymore that sounds good and they still do you can still send messages on that yeah I mean it's not

easy it's it's but if you used a big button phone once it's the same thing but you know it's like

it's like the 90s texting it's not like a smartphone with a full keyboard but it's mainly that because

he's also got like a bit of a tremor in his hand now so that's other things mate the espera has your

big keys but it's also got three big buttons for m1 m2 m3 and then their memory so m1 could be you

m2 could be another child or m3 could be the wife whatever you want very simple and easy to use

it's got a torch I think it's even got an emergency button on the back you can program so that it

it um contacts you in an emergency yep so and unfortunately mate that's where you're at in life

you know you've you've got to have that contemplation the only other thing I'd say to you mate not not

to pry too much on your on your life with your parents but you know a lot of people look at this

age to think about getting maybe a little security camera for the lounge room um if they've if they

got in internet at home at all they've got nothing the only thing he's one of my sisters has just

has just moved back in with them right so that's one thing but she's not here during the day

that's the only issue with him but he's frustrated at the point is I don't want to fame but the fact

is he's on his own at times and if something happens and he still drives slightly yeah right

okay so he needs a fame regardless yeah okay well might have a look at the aspera it might be the

perfect solution for you buddy mate thanks so much for your help and your advice so appreciate it

Trevor my pleasure mate any time good on you thank um look it's not easy um

it's not easy having to parent your parents I think we're we all learn that as we as we get older

that it becomes our job to parent our parents um and you know the reason I asked about internet

because you know I love I love the idea of you know I wouldn't want to intrude on in the privacy of

the home but you know when my mum starts to show any signs of hang on a minute is everything okay

down there um you know because she lives a way away rather than be driving down there every five

minutes I might put a little security camera on the kitchen bench just pointing at the lounge

room so that I can see that she's on the lounge watching TV and that she's gotten up to you know

just peace of mind to go that she's cool without having to ring her every five minutes to check in

so little things you can do with technology to uh to make it work for you join the conversation

head to eftm.com and click ask trev would love to have your company if you've got a tech question

or you're in the market to buy something let's go secret shopping for you uh you can get in touch

just send me a text uh 0477657657 we'll get you on the show and have a chat but before that I want

to talk tv's and I want to talk about I mean 2026 is probably the biggest um changing point for tv's

since the analog tv switch off uh just because of the technologies that we are seeing launched

across the market so better mum someone else joined me to talk about that than just me rabbit on so

from samsung maxjipont is on the line g'day max good morning travel mate um lovely to talk to you

you you live and breathe the tv market do you do you think this is uh like a fundamental year for

tv's because of the shift in technology or is it just me that's saying that no absolutely I mean I

think it's uh it's the first year where we see a major shift in tv technology um as you know we've

been a leader for 20 years in tv and 12 years for sound and I think as part of being a leader and

maintaining that leadership it's important for us to continue pushing the boundaries and bringing

new innovation on the market so uh yeah I think uh 2026 with the launch of micro rgb for us is

yeah one of those uh big steps that we've taken in in recent years and I talked a lot about the

the rgb the micro rgb technology even before ces but ces was kind of its fundamental launch

and now it's in market in Australia how do you describe it you know dinner party style a little

bit elevated pitch style how do you describe rgb to people micro rgb yeah I think I think the best

way I can describe it is it's the next evolution in backlit technology so most most tv's that are

being sold or in use in Australia or your traditional q led or mini led tv's essentially

micro rgb takes it to the next level in terms of precision so each led behind behind your tv

is has a red green and blue color on it and essentially gives you that next level of precision

but also much better accuracy and contrast so yeah I think in very simple terms it's it's a

technology that has a lot more precision greater color accuracy and I think if you combine it with

the fact that uh our micro rgb range is also penton validated so we have external uh certification

uh to give you the best color possible on the screen and it's fascinating because I think it's

the first time we've truly talked about backlight technology I know it's always been a part fundamental

part of television but that's right one of the things that and you demonstrated this at your

office with some of your uh your colleagues from from hq talking and showing us the kind of difference

between this year and last year the difference between different technologies and it is it is a

weird thing to say that you literally see more color from the tv that's right that's right you

see more color because um again the color is coming directly from the led so as opposed to using a

blue or white led that goes through a set of filters um the micro rgb the beauty of it is

the color is directly at the source so you get a lot more precision uh in the color and the result

that you have on your screen is again better construct better contrast um the colors are

a lot more vibrant um but as I mentioned earlier I think what's really good about the technology

we're taking to market is we get it independently tested to make sure that the color reproduction

on the screen is absolutely accurate and when you say accurate it's a funny thing because I think

most people would be sitting listening going my tv is pretty colorful like I mean do you know what I

mean like we we don't know what we're missing until we are shown it in a sense in some ways yeah

that's right I mean there's things like you can probably pick it up um when you look at for example

skin color you know often on on I guess lower end type tv I think that the the skin color can

appear a bit orangey uh whereas with micro rgb the beauty of it is with that extra precision

it looks you know the skin color looks a lot more human uh in that's probably in the better

terms I can put it yeah right and and that's that's going to make a big difference when you're

watching all forms of content particularly though big movies big well produced tv shows

on the big streamers these days a lot of effort goes into making the color um demonstrate the

picture that they're the story they're trying to tell yeah correct and and I think you know for

I mean Samsung is you know as you know where we're a premium brand and I think we we we brought

ourselves for for getting you know Australian customers the best color production and the

best experience or visual experience as possible so you know whether you're watching a movie or the

world cup or or whatever might be next you know the Tour de France or the tennis uh wing London

um you know we want to make sure that what comes up on your screen gives you the best immersive

experience and you're not distracted by questioning you know the colors or the accuracy on the screen

and again speaking of immersive as you just did one of the things that as I understand it with

micro rgb is you're able to scale um in a in a better way not just for now but for the future

basically you can make bigger tv's look better and bigger tv's are what people want yeah absolutely

I mean it's definitely a travel trend that we're seeing uh on the Australian market for for many

many years um to give you a bit of stat um you know if you look at 2025 over 40 percent of the tv

sold in Australia uh were 75 inch and above yeah so Australians definitely have an appetite for

for large screen and the beauty of the Australian market as well is you actually have the space you

tend to live in in bigger homes in bigger spaces so my recommendation for anyone that you know is

looking for a tv right now on the market and I think right now is probably one of the best time

of the year with annual financial year is is not to be afraid to go the next size up so I think if

you're thinking 65 inch uh and you think you've got that extra space you will not regret that

extra investment into a 75 or an 85 inch or even even more is there anything unique about Australia

in the in the global market around size or is the whole world going bigger where I mean look there

is a trend worldwide in terms of uh you know bigger bigger screens but Australia is is leading

that trend uh we're in the top four countries in terms of screen sizes uh and we've got one of the

fastest adoption of 98 inch and above screen sizes as well so Australia from from that perspective

is is leading the way um and the other piece as well to to really remember is when you go bigger

uh there's you know more potential for reflection on the screen so I would recommend anyone to

really be careful with um with that when you're upgrading to a larger screen and and consider

products like our clear free certified range which is a remarkable technology when I first saw it I

was pretty blown away because you know I've seen it on some laptops and I wouldn't buy a laptop without

it now and you think that's a 13 inch 14 inch screen now you think about a big tv in your on

the wall in your lounge room and one of the things that I've I've started to think about with

glare free max is it's not just about light like often I think of it as my the ceiling lights in

my lounge room they do literally appear in the middle of my tv it's frustrating because I don't

have a glare free screen but it's not just light it's it's simple things like the reflection of

people as well so if someone behind you is walking behind you doing something behind the lounge

you might actually see them in the picture and it's kind of distracting so glare free is about

more than just a bright light it's about actually turning what is sometimes almost a mirror finish

into something that is you know really watchable in every light circumstance day and night

yes correct and and I think that's that's exactly that's exactly the point I think with

with glare free and it's also if I could add it's also the type of features that you don't

really know you need until you've actually seen it and experienced it I don't know any customer

that has bought a glare free tv and has gone and I want to go back to a glossy finish that's

something that we we never hear once you've seen it you know you know the worst part is I've got

I've got an absolutely beautiful Samsung tv here in the office it's a neocurly the 8k from a couple

of years ago it's a beautiful television but all I see now is the reflection all I see is the glare

because I'm like I've now seen the other side I've seen what it can be like and that's that

regret thing isn't it what do you reckon is the best way to I guess test that in a retail

environment because that's a challenging place for people you've got all these tvs often playing

the same content or yeah interesting demo content what do you think is the best way to I don't know

convince your partner if you're there shopping that glare free versus not is the choice yeah and I

think look that retailer environment is is perfect for it right you've got hundreds of tvs on

display across across you know many many brands I think what I would encourage people is obviously

ask you know the floor staff to show you a glare free tv and often it's sitting next to a glossy

screen right and and I think just pay attention to especially in retail environment right you've

got lighting pretty much left right and center so just have a look at the glossy screen and you'll

see the reflection and then if you've got a glare free screen next to it do that comparison and then

you will see that from a for an immersion perspective it's it's its next level and I think

yeah the point I'm trying to make is if you're going to invest you know tvs cost a few thousand

dollars if you're if you're going to make that sort of investment and you want to enjoy again

the world cup or your favorite movie there is nothing worse than actually seeing a lamp on the

screen or seeing yourself on the screen or any other type of of distraction you know and that's

um if I look at glare free for us at samsung in 2025 we improve or we increased ourselves by

three folds in glare free and we still have a lot more work to do but again it's one of those things

that we can't really show on a on a product page on on a website you know we can talk about it but

I would have you know really encourage anyone to go into a retail store and actually experience that

that technology it is it is yeah best in class the other beauty of it as well is we're not making

a compromise in terms of color reproduction or viewing viewing angle or anything like that like

really glare free give you the same experience as any other screens but just better interestingly

just looking through the menu system on on a samsung tv i've got in front of me at the office

the other thing that's happening right now is the world cup and it's it's phenomenal how a modern tv

is so much more than just you know a bunch of channels because like on the home screen it's

just recommending so much content around the world cup um it's it's so much easier to find

content these days on a modern tv isn't it yeah correct it's it's become like a little companion

right so the tv sort of recognizes your your habit or your viewing habits uh and then we'll

make recommendations uh on the screen or we'll keep your your favorite app more accessible in

terms of how it ranks on the menu so yeah there's a lot of intelligence now that goes into our tvs

and I think you know again speaking speaking for samsung but if you combine that with the fact that

we offer seven year of operating system upgrades um you know if you buy a tv from from from us

I think it gives you the guarantee that all these features um all these ai functions uh you'll have

that accessible to you for the next you know seven years which is which is remarkable and look at

our point I would make uh as someone who is lucky enough to play with the most amazing tvs is this

kind of especially the content offering that that now exists on tvs it's right across the range

I've bought three very affordable let's just call them I think the cheapest possible 43 inch tvs that

samsung sells for the office here just to put on the wall uh replace some older ones that are that

it aged and I'm looking at going this has got everything it's got all the same stuff I've got

I've got all these great recommendations I've got the amazing number of channels of samsung tv plus

I've got all the apps I could need like you don't need to spend crazy money to get the modern features

of a smart tv it is it is encouraging to know that the whole range of tvs on the market do offer

a very modern experience we have come a long way in tvs no that's a good point I appreciate uh you

calling that out as well Trevor I think for us again as much as we're a premium brand on the

market accessibility is really important you know the way I like to divide the market is you've got

about 50% of the market that sits below $2,000 tvs and then the other 50% is above $2,000 tvs and

for us we want to make sure that we have a tv for every Australian and and the foundation of that is

making sure that some of those core features like vision AI companion uh making sure that that's

accessible and available to everyone to enjoy it's an exciting year for tvs uh it will be about it

will be a battle though won't it in retail because every like you're not the only one with this

technology or with a type of this technology it's going to be a battle in retail and you're

right about the different time of year this is a pretty good time of year to be looking for

for a tv because already despite the fact that they're brand new there are already looking

like some pretty good deals leading up to end of financial year yeah I mean yeah definitely the right

time to to purchase the tv right now I mean I think the other point as well Trevor I know we

talked a lot about about large screens but I mean you would remember from uh from probably a decade

ago you know what was the price of a hundred inch tv was probably you know over a 100000

dollars you know nowadays um you know we we have a an option for for every price point and and if

you look at some of our um a hundred inch or 98 inch and above tvs you know you can find some for

under 5000 dollars um yes we have you know the pinnacle of large screen like a 115 inch

at 41 999 but but again I go back to the point that we try to make uh size and features etc all

accessible for every Australian so yeah don't be afraid of going going big this this end of

financial year I think whether you're looking at 75 85 or 98 inch plus there's some really accessible

options uh from from our support. Good advice and yeah definitely get into retail stores and

actually compare look at them side by side look at the different uh screen technology the screen

coding the the style um and also wherever you can one of the things I say in retail is you're

about to spend money ask them to grab the remote and press the button home press the home button

what does the menu look like what I mean it might not have all the internet connectivity stuff but

just understand what it's like to browse the menu system because that's going to be your daily tv

you don't drive you don't buy a car without driving it you really should kind of ask to take the

control of the remote in the retail store too. That's great advice and and look at the TV at the

television not only uh front facing but look at it from an angle to make sure you get the right

the right experience as well uh going back to that glare free piece you know grab your smartphone

turn on the light on your smartphone and reflect that on the screen that's a good way to sort of

see uh the work that the glare free coding does does um at um and not reflecting the the light so

there's quite a few things you can do but to your point you know if you're about to spend a

few thousand dollars on a tv yeah test it try it try to sound that goes with it um you know if

you're going to go with a premium tv option consider soundbar I think you know our range of

soundbars give you that extra immersive experience uh and again you know we've ended up financially

uh right now there's probably no better time to to purchase a soundbar with it. Good advice

Max good on you mate thanks for the chat and I'll catch up soon. Thank you Traveller. Have a good

time. Tech cars lifestyle this is the EFTM podcast with Trevor Long.

Great to have you company thank you for listening downloading and uh sharing your

experiences if you've got a tech question I'd love to hear from you Peter's on the like of you Peter.

Morning Trevor good day mate thanks for talking with me mate thanks for calling back in fact because

we spoke a little while ago remind me of your woes. Okay we did yes uh 65 inch items tv which

created some dots over about six month period in the screen. Oh that's right so the backlight

was going and you could see you could essentially see where the light with the backlight because

you sent me some photos you could see where the backlights were not showing but the tv if I recall

was five years old yeah and so we were on that edge of oh my god Australian

consumer law versus warranty versus expectations but you sent me everything you could you sent me

the model number you sent me some photos I sent it to Hisense I've been away what what's happened.

Oh within a day and a half I had a phone call from Hisense Melbourne and spoke to them they

they were brilliant and we talked about the issue of the tv and they they didn't argue at all they

talked about the process it was going to happen after the phone call which was um they were going to

there's an SMEA uh claim number and I was to go to uh good guys you know in WA and

choose another tv as they were all going to replace it. Oh beautiful yeah so what was the

value though because that's a tough thing to come up with right you've got a five year old tv

which cost you a certain amount of time but I guess you can't expect a brand new like for like

what was your expectation? Oh well the expectation from Hisense was that the credit was what we

paid for the original tv which was $290 in yen. Wow so we were happy to upgrade the tv and pay the

difference so we bought a um well didn't buy but we arranged another Hisense a 75 inch this time

and um the good guys actually said they'd do it the same price which was great of them as well

and then they organized for it to uh be delivered the old one taken away and this new one installed

so you couldn't be a better result to be honest oh the guys that delivered it got it running it was

brilliant. Bloody amazing well you know what so there's a couple of couple of things there great

good news story because they they came to the party secondly despite your experience you still

went with the Hisense because I'm I'm assuming you didn't have to I'm assuming that was like a

store credit or did you have to buy Hisense? It was a store credit but we felt that um because

you looked after and Hisense had looked after us really well that we'd stick with him. Yeah good

excellent and have you mate tell me about the feeling of having a 75 inch tv now?

Well yeah it's um it's amazing compared to that one to be honest but in the room it's in it doesn't

look overly big which is great. Yeah yeah right so it's not in your face but yeah the pitch is

unreal. I'm I'm glad you got a resolution I'm glad Hisense looked after you I'm glad the good

guys looked after you at the same time you know it's a it's a nice win win all round.

It was yeah indeed yeah so yeah thanks to you EFTM, Hisense and the good guys have all been

brilliant. Mate good on you enjoy the tv and happy viewing for many many many years to come.

Yeah looking forward to it. Cheers buddy thanks for getting back in touch cheers.

No worries thanks bro. Thank you there you go solution solved um and you know as we said there

was no let me be clear how that works I don't say to Hisense you must you must fix this I say

look I sent them the copy of our call so they heard everything I said to Peter that I thought it

was on the edge of Australian Consumer Law it'd be a battle um and all those things and they've

obviously assessed it of their own and made the decision to offer the the credit and as Peter said

he could have bought anything it was essentially a store credit um so very good of him to be loyal

to Hisense at the same time um but he's got a bigger tv now so happy days and I'm sure it will

last just as long if not much much longer. You're listening to the EFTM podcast.

You can text Trev now thanks to Vodafone on 0477657657.

Would love to have you on the show if you've got a tech question and you need help with something

whether it's something that's gone wrong or you're in the in the mood for a new phone or a new tv

and you just want some advice happy to help wherever I can send us a text we'll get you on

the show and hopefully resolve that for you. Something that has been quite topical of late

is telcos um and we've had things like the triple zero outages we've had uh we've had satellite

questions we've had so many things going on the telco market and to be honest I feel like a lot of

it sits with the government I feel like the government doesn't fully understand where we are

today and where we need to be in the future with technology just going so fast moving so fast in

this space and frankly it's all for the benefit of consumers but unfortunately legislation needs

to catch up in a lot of ways and there's one organization that is representing us it's the

it's the consumer action network the Australian communications consumer action network and

Carol Bennett is the CEO and she joins me on the line right now g'day Carol how you doing

great to talk to you Trevor you are you busy busier now than ever before

we are very busy and quite right there is a lot happening in this space and it is a really really

busy um you know it's quite a progressive time when it comes to changes in the telco market

oh look I I could ask you what's your biggest issue but let me let me jump on the soapbox

first I think that I get a sense and I could be completely wrong but I get a sense that regulation

and government rules uh have not and are not ready to catch up to where we are today and the

best example of that is satellite direct to mobile so we have Elon Musk's got a million

satellites above us and you know thanks to Telstra doing a deal with them you know there's people

who can now send an sms in the middle of nowhere it's amazing but they can't make a phone call

and I don't think yet that's truly a technological problem I think that's a legislative problem

because Telstra knows that if they made that available to people they wouldn't be able to call

triple zero because I don't think the satellites are configured to understand all that uh are we

am I reading it right that we're at a point where technology could do so much more for us

but we need the regulation to catch up yeah look I think you're right truth absolutely you're

right and I think this is an area that's playing catch up because look um telcos have for a long

time been self-regulated they're not seen as an essential service under the law or under regulation

and yet you as you know we all need to access connectivity we need to be able to communicate

for everything we do whether it's accessing government services educating our kids or

accessing health services work everything we do now is reliant on this and yet we've got a system

that has largely been overseen by a voluntary code by the industry and all of a sudden we've

got this emerging rapidly evolving technology that we all want to be able to access well into

the future and we're playing catch up with the regulations which is why so much is happening

in the space at the moment so who's responsible for speeding this up is the government just

simply need to task akma the akma with the with the responsibility of delivering on this

or is it a little bit more fundamental than that well the government has been asking akma with a

whole lot of things so for instance they're requiring that they now move away from this

voluntary code of the industry for consumer protections and directly regulate the industry

so that's an uplift they're mandating coverage maps so that the industry can't just say look

you know if you're out in this area you've got coverage when you haven't they're mandating

outage registers so that telcos have to tell consumers when there are outages and what's

happening with them there are all sorts of new obligations on industry including the uomo which

is the universal outdoor mobile obligation that you referred to which is the satellite to device

technology and there's legislation on the way with that and as you mentioned with the regulator

akma it needs a huge uplift its powers its penalties are just substandard for the task at

hand so there is another bill at the moment that's before the parliament which is the

enhancing consumer safeguards bill which will also give akma increased powers so that there's

a lot happening in this space there's there's triple zero reviews underway all of these things

will significantly increase and enhance the sector and it needs to happen quickly

because as you say we've got you know SpaceX rapidly evolving its technology we don't want to

miss out on that and we also don't want to end up with consumers in a position where they either

can't access it because they can't afford it and then having some people connected and some not

because that digital exclusion will make sure that people are not able to participate in society

and that's a that'll have a massive impact for my sins i've watched many too many senate estimates

in and i don't know what i need to do is i need to be in like a padded room when that happens so

that i'm not throwing things at my screen because i find and i'll be completely honest with i find

most of the senators in that quite frustrating because they they're talking to our telcos for

example trying to get uh gotcha moments and you know sound bites that aren't actually

benefiting the cause of investigating you know whether it's the triple zero or or communication

generally i just feel like it's it's poorly done that we don't actually make progress through those

things um and like you know i feel like the a triple c is another example where i'm you know the

australian uh consumer competition like that's what it's about us getting competition whereas

i think it was the a triple c not akma that deemed that we shouldn't have domestic roaming you know

six or seven years ago which would have been the most competitive thing that could have ever

happened to the industry i don't feel like the right people are representing the consumers at that

point have you got enough help well i think um this is a an interesting issue that you raise here

trevor because i think with domestic mobile roaming there is a growing view um in the community

and from some politicians helen hains um has sort of raised this as senator henderson has raised

this the greens have raised this i mean i think there's a growing view that you know if international

visitors can come to australia and access and roam on our networks and access any network

regardless of which provider they're with australia should be able to do that too it shouldn't be that

you know if you're in an area that doesn't have you know a telephone tower um that you know is

owned by your provider that you can actually get connectivity it just seems like a nonsense to most

people um so this is definitely something that should happen we've got to make sure that we

have got access wherever people are in australia um and that shouldn't just be about satellite to

device because that technology is still evolving we could be doing this now if we had domestic

mobile roaming where there had to be sharing of terrestrial infrastructure by you know telstra

telstra optis and tpg and um you know it's probably timely that the a triple c reviewed

that decision it's 10 years old now um and so it's probably um you know given everything we know now

about you know the issues that can be caused by lack of connectivity then it seems logical and

also surely the punishment lies upon the networks who don't build out towers so that if a tpg customer

happens to use the telstra network a lot it's costing tpg because telstra has to on charge them i'm

assuming that's right it has to be a way that it's incumbent upon the telcos to grow their networks

because you know they're not going to do that any other way um that's right you're exactly right

because increasingly what we've seen is a reduction in the investment by the telcos in

infrastructure and in regional areas of australia so this effectively means that you've got people in

the regions who just don't have access to connectivity um in large swathes of the country um

and they're at real risk i mean not only are they not able to work educate their kids access health

services or government services but they actually are at a safety risk if they can't access triple

zero or you know they can't contact people in an emergency situation so it really is the case

that we have to mandate it either through coverage obligations on the telcos you know they they they

earn this um you know they pay for spectrum but you know in return we should put some obligations

on them back to the community to ensure public safety there's another issue there with the

government potentially charging too much for spectrum and forcing them into less investment

in the same way i mean it's it's kind of given take at the same time there needs to be a relationship

between the telcos and the regulators and the government in the same way as there is a transactional

one yeah there does and i i think that whole issue of spectrum pricing is an interesting one

because um you know it's taxpayers who have the right really to have this asset priced in a way

that ensures that it meets the obligations that the community place in these telcos and you know

if we're providing a spectrum and they're creating you know a significant or generating a significant

profit as a result of having access to that very exclusive license let's be honest it's not

contestable it's it's just given to the telcos they're not even having to go to an auction

this time they're getting a billion dollar discount on last time so in return what we want to see

are obligations back on the telcos to say well if you're getting this precious public asset that

taxpayers are putting the bill for you should also ensure that we're getting access and coverage

and that will protect the public safety so there are different arguments about spectrum and pricing

but for us the issue is there must be obligations on industry to deliver um you know coverage but

also public safety so what is and i i alluded to at the start what is your number one issue right

now with the telecommunications network and industry well the number one issue if you

had to look at all of this complexity of issues that are happening at the moment it's that it's

not deemed to be an essential service and it is um so when the original telco act came into effect

in 1997 that was back in an era where you know pay phones and landlines were predominant we're now

in an era where we're all carrying around phones and devices and using them all day every day

for everything we do it's the way we operate it's the economic underpinning of everything we do

it's our way of connecting um so we've got to treat it like an essential service we've got

to regulate it that way we've got to make sure that laws come into place that ensure that telcos

have obligations back to the community we shouldn't just be saying look there's a voluntary code and

you know we'll let you act in the interests of the Australian community based on what you think

is in your own commercial interests because we know that doesn't work um telcos have shareholders

they have interests in ensuring their commercial advantages are met but we've also got to make

sure that we're putting on them some obligations to ensure that they are meeting the community's

obligations and every other sector does this so this is one of the only sectors that hasn't had

that those kinds of obligations placed on them just as you know energy water banking insurance all

of these sectors have had requirements and increasingly those requirements have been uplifted

over time because it's really important to protect the public interest and you can't rely on commercial

organizations to do that it's not in their interest to do that so we need a bit of both

it's fair and i assume it's the telcos that don't want it from what you say

well of course not but um you know we pay a price if we don't have those things in place and we've

seen increasingly Trevor over time as you mentioned you know we've seen triple zero outages we've

seen data breaches we've seen unconscionable sales practices so many of these things have

led to a lack of consumer trust in the telco industry it's the least trusted sector of all

sectors in Australia at the moment and that's because of these failures and when people don't

feel safe they don't trust companies so to restore that balance we probably need to uplift our

regulation our legislation and ensure that the community and their needs are being met and you

know when it comes to regions of Australia where people can't get connected um and some some areas

and some communities actually just don't get connectivity at all so that's a that's a really

you know challenging situation it really does undermine confidence and trust from the community

and we need to restore that can we expand a little bit on the triple zero uh conversation

before I let you go because for me not only is it technically a critical thing that must evolve

given the director cell for example satellite stuff but also just primarily in a smartphone

era i don't think it's it's evolved you know i was somewhere you know it might have been at the

apple event uh where i was and they they just in the sidebar mentioned you know it would send

your location or something when you when you made this emergency call and i thought we don't have

that in Australia uh you know we must be a long way behind but are we also unique in our um in our

use of triple zero as a kind of fundamental requirement of the telcos like is there a

balance between what the way americans view their their 911 uh at a legislative level

versus ours and how they approach innovation in that space because we need innovation we need the

triple zero network it you should be able to text it for example you when you call it it should

send a gps signal when it should you make use of this amazing computer in your hand and give the

emergency services the best chance of finding you and helping you and you the best chance of being saved

absolutely you're exactly right trevor and i think that issue about not being able to text

triple zero is you know quite concerning for a lot of people um and i think you know that what

this underpins is that we've got our device manufacturers you know launching ahead of such as

apple um launching ahead of uh you know our triple zero service in providing you know these

emergency systems and access points but we do have two fundamental reviews of triple zero at the

moment one is a senate inquiry into the outage that occurred back in october from optis and there's

one uh a government review of the whole ecosystem so there will definitely be some changes i think

there's a broad recognition um from government and industry that there needs to be some uplift

one of the things that a can has highlighted recently which has been somewhat controversial

has pinned the fact that you know people are reporting that they're not getting through the

triple zero when they call it so there needs to be more work done about the reliability of the system

and how the system responds to the community at a broader level um so i think there will be a lot of

work being done to ensure that the system is upgraded and meets the current modern day requirements

that the Australian community has because it's so fundamental it is to help people i think they

overthink the whole thing if i'm honest i think they overthink the whole thing we should just be

funding with all of our might because we spend money on crazy things we should be funding a

brand new technology that sits between the call centre which is you know a really important part

of it and the devices which could be any form of device and simply make sure that every single

method of contact can be done through that technological system into the call centre really

it's that link in between the physical triple zero uh call centre and the physical handset

is what we need to build and i think we've got some of the smartest minds in the world here in

australia i don't know why we can't just say here's x million dollars build it and make it so robust

it'll work no matter what it's quite simple yes yeah and i think we've got our kx systems and you

know that are decades old i keep hearing them say we've got to upgrade this no no no don't upgrade

anything keep the thing running and build another one over there that routes through to the call

centre and when we're ready switch it over and just be the most modern emergency system in the world

well i think you reflect what a lot of australians are thinking and feeling at the moment

and expect expect and they're paying for it so they do expect it to work when they most need it at

their hour of need and to be sort of faced with the prospect of these outages occurring

um you know of the fact that they might not be able to get through if they need it i mean 47

percent of australians have said to us that they're concerned they won't get through to triple

zero if they call it so that suggests we've got a lot of work to do um there is a lot of work

underway so that is very good and there's a lot of increased legislation regulation obligations

on the telcos which there does need to be because it really hasn't had that kind of focus um as other

sectors have um and really it's become now a glaring problem because we're all reliant on this

technology we all need to have it in place to you know to ensure that we can actually you know

connect to our family friends workplaces health services and so on but also for our safety so it

is a fundamental issue it needs to be the highest priority to ensure that we get this right so people

can actually function in their daily lives it's really important well thank you for the

efforts so you're putting in and the work that you do to lobby on behalf of not just your members

but generally the the public at large and uh hopefully there is some some more push and some

modernization and some change because we live in such an amazingly awesome advanced world

we can't have systems and uh and policy that lives in the 90s let alone the 70s absolutely

agree trevor great to chat to you thank you carol 0 4 7 7 6 5 that's the text line

thanks to vodafone get in touch and ask trev today

see i love the stings how long's it been since we updated those good year or so

i think they've grown on us all haven't they have the stings grown on us all i feel like they have

so uh thank you ralph for enjoying the stings um but yeah they've grown on me i hope they've grown

on you as well all right let's do it all again next week folks uh next week we're going to talk

computers uh again we're going to talk laptops with hp i'll get i'll talk to mark fenceon from hp

about the the state of the aipc market and what i've learned about what's required

to power an aipc and it it might surprise you as it did me but anyway that's all next week

on the eftm podcast this is the eftm podcast

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