Telstra slims down Dial IP network

Telstra has switched off the first of 87 points-of-presence for its ageing Dial IP network.

The telco revealed the wind-down in a video posted to its YouTube channel today.

"We've just shut down the last access server of the Dial IP network in the Northcote exchange," said Rex Pilgrim, a technical expert in Telstra's IP network operations division.

"It makes me feel a bit nostalgic starting to shut down the network as it's the first of 87 of these sites to be shut down."

Telstra's media and content delivery networks team manager Greg Bull said that although the Dial network had carried "over a million customers" in its heyday when it offered speeds of 56 Kbps, the customer number had dwindled to "just over 200,000."

"So there's quite a scope there to reduce the network footprint," Bull said.

Telstra said its Dial IP network provides "dial-up access nationwide and internationally on a secure and authenticated interface."

It was "ideal for working from a remote site, or for temporary data access for partners and small branch offices", the telco said.