Over the next couple of days, you’ll probably notice that when you visit www.westnet.com.au, you’ll automatically be redirected to www.MyWestnet.com.au , where you’ll find all your member benefits housed under one roof.

Why are we doing this? Simple, we want your Westnet experience to be tailored to your needs as a customer. So, rather than you having to click through the same pages as someone who’s not yet a member, you can go straight to the good stuff like the Freezone, News, and Entertainment (just to name a few).

Welcome to this year’s final Westnet Newsletter (incredible really, I swear the years are getting shorter).

2009 has been quite the year, with Mobile Broadband really taking off, the Freezone growing fat with brand new quota-free content, the Starlight Express Van travelling around the country to visit the kids and some shiny new plan options for Westnet members.

This month’s newsletter seems like a fitting end to the year, with everything you need to put you in the festive mood – some amazing good will, a couple of tips to help you use your quota effectively, two brilliant movie giveaways and plenty more to keep you entertained over the Summer holidays.

Happy reading!

Here at Westnet, we’re very proud to announce that we’ve just taken out the PC Authority Best Tech Awards title of ‘Best Broadband ISP’ for the third year running! The award is based on support, reliability and value for money, with Westnet claiming the maximum five stars for each category.

On top of this, Westnet came an equal first in the ‘Best Wireless Broadband ISP’ category. We’re pretty chuffed to say the least. This award indicated that 90% of voters were either satisfied or very satisfied with our Mobile Broadband service’s reliability.

The best part is that the winners were decided by consumers, rather than industry representatives, in the country’s largest tech survey, with a whopping 17,000 people filling it out. So thank you very much to everyone who took the time to complete it.

Hopefully next year will be our fourth win!

There’s one family of Westnet customers that are very thoughtful indeed – all the way from the kids up.

Inspired by the work of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, Chelsea and Shannon Hardman (aged 12 and 10 respectively) are embarking on a mammoth trek just before Christmas.

With over 400 seriously ill children admitted to hospitals across Australia every day during this Christmas period, Chelsea and Shannon’s support has come at a critical time.

The journey, chaperoned by parents Tania and Geoff, is set to begin at Cape Naturaliste on the 16th of December. The family will then venture through some reasonably heavy terrain to complete the 134km walk to Cape Leeuwin, collecting funds along the way.

The Hardman’s aren’t taking the trek lightly – they’ve already been in heavy training for some time, with Shannon doing Surf Lifesaving, both girls dancing regularly and Tania frequenting the gym daily. On top of that, they’ve been walking most places and have already completed quite a few 8km and 9km walks (the trek will see them doing around 20kms a day).

The girls have already managed to raise over $1000 towards the Starlight Christmas Campaign through setting up their own fundraising page.

Check it out if you’d like to donate: http://www.everydayhero.com.au/capetocapetrek Starlight needs to raise $1.5 million to connect every child to the happiness Christmas time brings with it. This Christmas Starlight is asking the community to donate and send a special ‘Message of Hope’ to all seriously ill children in hospital. Captain Starlight will ensure that Australia’s ‘Messages of Hope’ will reach sick kids in all our Starlight Express Rooms and at their bedsides across the country.

To send a Message of Hope simply donate at www.starlight.org.au or call 1300 727 827.

In our October story, Which Browser Does What, we walked readers through some of the more popular web browsers on the scene. Just like the type of car you drive (or don’t), your choice in browser can speak volumes about your habits and who you are.

Our personal favourite (and CNET download.com’s most popular browser download) is none other than Mozilla’s Firefox. Why? Because Firefox provides its users with a whole lot of customisable options called Add-ons. This month, we’ll take a look at how add-ons can help make your browsing experience online more enjoyable and tailored to suit.

So, what exactly are add-ons? Add-ons are installable features which can be used with Firefox web browsers. Some of these can provide surface enhancements to a browser’s appearance (like changing a colour scheme or icons); others will modify how a browser works; while some can even add entirely new features.

By heading to Add-ons for Firefox, you’ll be able to browse through the hundreds upon hundreds of add-ons which have been created by developers, both hobbyists and serious corporations who are part of the Mozilla community. These add-ons are free and easy to add to Firefox, with some providing the option to donate funds to support their creator – a nice gesture, especially if you find the add-on really useful.

Add-ons are organised into neat categories – Alerts & Updates, Bookmarks, Download Management, Toolbars and loads more. Once you’ve selected a category, clicking your way through the ‘Top Downloads’ and ‘Top Rate’ will give you a decent idea of what add-ons are working for others in cyberspace. When you’re ready to give an add-on a go, installation is as simple as making a few clicks.

If you’re more used to using Internet Explorer, you can now also improve your browsing time with IE Add-ons. It’s taken the people from Microsoft a little longer to cotton on to a good thing, but their latest versions now support add-ons.

No matter what kind of browser you are (whether you’re always on top of the latest social media sites or if you’re content as a casual browser), you’re sure to find more than a handful of wonderful applications to help you save time and make browsing even better.

Chances are, you would have encountered the terms ‘peak’ and ‘off-peak’ when reading about your monthly download quotas – but what exactly do they mean and why do we need to differentiate between the two?

You can think of an Internet Service Provider’s (ISP’s) network as a freeway. During certain times of the day it flows easily and without incident, but once you hit ‘peak’ hour, it crawls along at a snail’s pace. The cause? Too many people trying to do the same thing at once.

ISPs define peak and off-peak times by working out how busy their internet traffic is at certain times of the day. You’ll notice that peak periods usually come into play during the afternoon and evening hours, when more people are online. It’s usually smart to do your general web browsing during these times, saving large file downloads for the later hours when the network’s not so congested.

Off-peak periods usually kick in when there’s less demand on the network – usually late at night or very early in the morning, when most users are sound asleep.

If you’re not exactly a night-owl, you can use a download manager to schedule your downloads (and sometimes uploads) for when you’re asleep or aren’t going to be at home.

It’s pretty important that you pick the right plan to suit your usage habits, so you don’t get hit with excess charges or become shaped. To make the most out of the plan you do have, try heading to the Freezone for loads of quota-free downloads. You should also make sure you use your off-peak quota when you can, keep tabs on your volume usage and are aware of when your monthly reset date occurs.

Westnet and Roadshow Films are giving members the chance to win one of 30 in-season double passes to see BRAN NUE DAE, the adventure that teaches a young boy some grown-up lessons.

It’s the summer of 1969 and young Willie is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome, in the North of Western Australia – fishing, hanging out with his mates and, when he can, seeing his girl Rosie. However, his mother Theresa has great hopes for him and she returns him to a religious mission in Perth for further schooling. After being punished by Father Benedictus for an act of youthful rebellion, Willie runs away from the mission. But to where…? He’s too ashamed to go home, it will break his mother’s heart…

Down on his luck he meets an ‘old fella’, who he calls ‘Uncle Tadpole’. Together they con a couple of hippies, Annie and Slippery, into taking them on the 2,500 km journey through spectacular landscape back to Broome. Willie learns the hard and funny lessons he needs to get home, all the while pursued by Father Benedictus.

For your chance to win one of 30 in-season double passes to BRAN NUE DAE, only at the movies January 14^th, simply click the ‘Enter’ button in the Westnet Newsletter in your inbox. Entries are limited to one per Westnet username. The competition closes at 12.01am (WST) on Thursday January 7^th, 2009.