Street Advisor needs desperate advice

How do you expect to be taken seriously as a rating tool when you don't even understand what it is you are rating?

Here's an extract from the "What do these ratings mean?" Page:
http://www.realestate.com.au/doc/streetadvisor/help.htm

Cell/Mobile Reception – Does your cell phone work in your street or are you constantly jumping up and down just to get reception?

Internet Access – From 256k to broadband, rate the Internet speeds you have in your street.

Pay TV Access – Can you access the best of cable in your home? What is the selection of channels and reception like?

Cell reception..fair enough..a bit redundant maybe nowdays, and dependant on your carrier not the street, but ok.

Internet access - 256k IS broadband. You mean 56k. Also, these speeds will depend once again, on the service provider, and will vary on each side of the street. Even if ever person in the street had Extreme adsl2+ "as fast as you can get it" plans with Internode, the cable distance between you and your nearest exchange will vary in some cases by kilometers on each side of the street due to the way Telstra lay cable.

Pay TV Access? - IS this an issue? If you cant get cable you can get satellite...if you have pay tv reception should be perfect, its either perfect or you get a "no signal" placeholder screen. Free to air channels yes they vary with suburb and street...

So to make things more useful why not:

Ask for people to specify what carrier they use for their phone, also ask them if their phone is in the "roam" mode often while in their street.

Look up for each suburb whether the exchange is ADSL2+ enabled, and then the approximate distance from the exchange the street is. (Yes, Cable distances and road distances are not the same, and you can live next door to the exchange and still have 2km of cable between you and it...but a rough idea of AGILE status and distance from the exchange is going to mean more to anyone that cares than a whole bunch of people saying their internet is slow..when they refuse to pay more than $4.95 for 128k adsl1 with 3 meg of data included per month). An exaggeration there but you get the point I hope. Yes. I meant meg, not gig.

Pay TV access is relevant. But rather than ask if its available ask what companies offer it, is it cable or satellite, and what is the free to air reception like with a standard antenna.

I know people will try to flame me. Go for it. I don't care. In theory when sitting around a table yes this street valuation service makes a lot of sense...Its the current implementation in SOME parts that is poorly executed.

Also, In regards to this:

Eating out – Food glorious food! How does your area rate? Is it a gourmet’s paradise or is it strictly student fare?

You make it seem like students don't enjoy good food, and they only deserve the crappier side of culinary delights. (Everyone else seems to like to throw stupidly overcomplicated words in when a simpler one would have sufficed...I will too then.)

The fact of the matter is, some students eat better than whole families. And I'm sure if everyone had a choice they would be eating food fit for Kings and Queens. Money however is an issue. So why not ask about the quality of the food RELATIVE to the PRICE of that food.
The local family owned restaurant - Is the food good. Is it affordable.

I admit, I haven't read the entire "what do these ratings mean?" page, and I do think the streetadvisor is a good idea...I originally had a look at it to see what internet is available in the area I would like to move...However a 4 star rating in the "wired" area doesn't give me any information other than I can probably get ADSL and cable there..

If someone who has the ability wants to contact me with regards to implementing these changes, I have relevant experience in web design and scripting languages. I have a bunch of ideas on how you can turn the currently "mostly" useless system into something people will actually go out of the way to look at, rather than accidentally seeing it like I did.

If I thought this was a stupid idea I would have laughed and moved on...I see wasted potential but a good idea.

Feel free to express your own opinions though. The first sign of trolling and I will abandon this thread and let you all whine it out. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Prot3us1