We’ll also look into the changes to the nation’s classrooms courtesy of the NBN and how you can get the most out of your everyday Google searches.

A quick reminder to members looking to take advantage of our extended Christmas Mobile SIM offer that you’ve got until February 29 to receive six months’ worth of calls, texts and more. This great value offer has been a big hit so be sure not to miss out.

To top things off, action movie fans will want to get their hands on one of the 25 double passes to see
21 Jump Street we’ve on offer thanks to Sony Pictures, in cinemas March 15.

Thanks for reading; we’ll see you again in March with a new-look Westnet newsletter!

To get an idea of where these hotspots are located, head over to iiNet’s WiFi hotspot page and take a look at the available map. You’ll also be able to read the instructions on how to get yourself connected in the city.

For those of you outside the boundaries of the Perth CBD, you need not worry. Our friends at Tomizone have a massive number of hotspots around Western Australia (and indeed the world) for use by Westnet members.

The days of waking up in the morning, packing your child’s lunch for the day and then waving them off as they walk or ride to school could very well be coming to an end for some parents. Instead of being in a classroom of thirty students, your child could be seated a desk in your very own home. In fact, several rural schools throughout the country have already connected to the NBN and are reaping the benefits of studying in a digital classroom.

How will this happen?

Through their connection, students can download their lessons and set tasks for the upcoming day or week and correspond with their teacher or teachers via webcam as if they were in a classroom with a teacher in front of them. Thanks to the NBN, the classroom of tomorrow will allow students to work and learn efficiently no matter where their desk is located.

And it’s not just the location of the classroom that has changed. Rural students in NBN areas are able to tap into a variety of previously unavailable resources. It may seem hard to believe, but sometimes rural students haven’t been able to study the subjects they need to succeed in their chosen career path. If there is a lack of teachers in the subject, it’s liable to be axed altogether. With the help of the NBN, students can study a subject even if there are no subject-specific teachers available in the area.

Teachers themselves can supplement the learning possibilities of their students by connecting with experts online. In addition, students and teachers have access to a host of online resources while researching. Instead of dusty old dictionaries and atlases, there is a world of information online.

In short, the future is bright for our rural students.

“quoted searches”
Rather than just searching for a bunch of words (eg – teenage mutant ninja turtles), throwing quote marks around them asks Google to hunt for the phrase – narrowing things down and improving results.

“teenage mutant ninja turtles”

Site searches
If you know the site you want to search, you can politely ask Google to restrict results to only come from there.  Just start your search with the site: prefix, then add a web address and the keyword you want to search.

site:www.reddit.com kittens

Word definitions
A handy way to not only find a host of word meanings, but also to check spelling is to throw a define: prefix ahead of a keyword. Google will return a list of definitions for that word, from a broad range of dictionary and encyclopedia sources online.

define:orthography

Going local
Restrict your search to a geographic area by adding a postcode or location name to your search. Google is often clever enough to know roughly where you are in the world already, but adding a postcode really narrows results down if you’re looking for a local service of some sort.

pet shop 6008

Doing the hard sums
Google is your personal Swiss army knife for all sorts of obscure calculations – find out how many furlongs are in a light year, or see how many Yen you get to the Peso. It’s dead easy, type it into Google as you’d say it out loud:

How many furlongs in a light year
what is one yen in pesos
what is 23 plus 19

Easter eggs
Now some entirely useless searches for a quick chuckle. Do a Google search for ‘recursion’, ‘anagram’, ‘tilt’, ‘do a barrel roll’… seems the Google boffins have a sense of humour.

For more information, Google have published a few handy pages on their site listing not only a few of the tips above, but also a heap of guidance on happy searching in general.

We’ve got 25 double passes to see 21 Jump Street, rated MA and only at the movies March 15. To win one, simply email newsletter@westnet.com.au with “21 Jump Street” as the subject line and include your full name, address and Westnet username. Entries close at 5pm on Friday March 2, one entry per member.

We’ve kicked off the new year with a bumper January Westnet newsletter featuring news on Mobile Broadband plans with bigger value and fetchtv packages at smaller prices. In more good news, we’ve extended our Christmas Mobile SIM offer until the end of February. If you’d like to pick up a $20 SIM on us for six months and talk more for less, take a look.

This month we also run you through the speeds on offer when the NBN rolls into your area, plus alert you to one of the many phishing scams currently hitting mailboxes.

Lastly, if you’re a big fan of a good love story, you’d want to get your entry in to win one of 25 double passes to see The Vow, thanks to Sony Pictures, in cinemas February 9.

We’re excited about a big 2012 ahead and look forward to having you along for the ride.

If you’re an existing customer on a Mobile Broadband 1-3 plan, you would have received your quota boost by now. Your new, reduced price kicks in at the start of your next billing cycle if it hasn’t already.

On a Mobile Broadband 4 plan? You can leave things as they are if you like, or upgrade to the new Mobile Broadband 4 plan for an extra $5/month. Log in and make the change in MyAccount or call our Support Team on 1300 786 068 for a helping hand.

For more on these upgrades, visit our Mobile Broadband page.

We’re also hard at work on some great new product enhancements including expanded content, a new interface and the recently-launched iPhone and iPad app.

The fetchtv Starter and Entertainment packages offer outstanding value with more movies than ever, more content and a huge terabyte of storage for all your favourite TV shows.

If you’re thinking of opening up your viewing options with fetchtv, head to the fetchtv website and have a look around. While you’re there, discover more about our new and reduced prices.

For most people, any plan on the NBN will be faster than what they have now on ADSL – but how much faster? And are there limitations? This month we asked our NBN Manager, Rachael McIntyre, about the speeds you and other Westnet members could expect once the network is up and running in your area.

First things first – what are the theoretical maximum speeds with the NBN?

For our technical enthusiasts out there, here are the maximum speeds you can get to your home. These speeds aren’t necessarily the speeds you’ll get on that particular plan. Real world usage is unlikely to consistently achieve such speeds, due to the factors we’ll touch on soon.

The theoretical maximum access speeds for Westnet’s NBN plans are:

• Standard – 12/1 Mbps – which means that the theoretical peak download speed (from the Internet) is 12 Megabits per second, and the theoretical peak upload speed (to the Internet) is 1 Megabit per second. This is the basic service, comparable to an average ADSL2+ connection.
• Fast – 25/5 Mbps – which means that the theoretical peak download speed (from the Internet) is 25 Megabits per second, and the theoretical peak upload speed (to the Internet) is 5 Megabits per second. This is ideal for most home applications.
• Faster - 50/20 Mbps – which means that the theoretical peak download speed is 50 Megabits per second, and the theoretical peak upload speed is 20 Megabits per second. This may deliver a better outcome if there are multiple online users at your house.
• Fastest - 100/40 Mbps – which means that the theoretical peak download speed is 100 Megabits per second, and the theoretical peak upload speed is 40 Megabits per second. This is a professional grade service, and you’ll need a professional grade router to get the full benefit from it.

Will everyone get maximum speed with the NBN?

When connected on a service with (for example) a 100 Mbps rated speed, but it’s not guaranteed that everything that you download from the Internet will come to you at 100 Mbps. External factors that might affect your actual speed including things like:

• the computer you’re using to access the Internet
• the links between Westnet and your computer
• the network connecting your community to Westnet

What kind of technical factors can affect speed performance?

You might find your speed is affected by technical issues within your own home. Things that might affect your speed in this respect include:

• hardware you use to connect to the network – for example, the capability of your router
• performance of your home network – for example, your line speeds may be greater than that of your wireless home network
• limitations imposed by the hardware and software operating in your PC

When choosing a plan, it’s important to remember NBN plan speeds described on our website are the ‘theoretical network maximum speeds’. Your actual speeds may be slower due to a number of factors beyond our control.

Emails such as these are known as phishing scams and involve cyber-criminals mass-emailing randomly, claiming to be someone they’re not and in the hope unsuspecting victims will take the bait.

We recently received a similar email claiming to be from ANZ Bank Australia, complete with official-looking email address and attachment. The email message reads:

“Your ANZ Bank Account is currently locked, and only after you download the attached form and verify your account information, the account will be unlocked and ready for use.”

When opening the email’s attachment, we see an ANZ-branded form prompting us to enter credit card details before the ‘account can be unlocked’. Of course, it’s just a crafty attempt to access the credit card details of unsuspecting victims:

Being an Internet Service Provider we’ve seen many emails just like this but for a fist-time recipient or someone who’s not particularly ‘net-savvy, it can be an easy trap to fall into.

Phishing scams come in many forms but just remember: generally speaking, if the information contained in a suspicious email looks too good to be true – it usually is.

One thing’s for sure, Westnet members will never be asked for credit card or payment information via email. If in doubt, jump on the phone to the organisation for reassurance – it could be the best phone call you ever make.

If you’re after some more information on phishing scams, there are plenty of helpful sites around to help you recognise a bogus email when you see it. Debunk or confirm shams with Hoax-Slayer or Snopes.com, learn from the experts at SCAMwatch and keep an eye on their SCAMwatch radar.