Pricing revealed for Telstra mobile broadband shared plans

David M Williams
Wednesday, 08 April 2009 07:05

IT Industry - Strategy

Last week I spilled the beans Telstra were about to announce new shared data plans for their range of NextG modems. This is a major plus for business users seeking to control costs but yet provide their workforce with mobile working options. The pricing has now been announced.

I've already outlined the traps with NextG (and other 3G) data plans and why it is a good thing to see shared group plans so I won't repeat myself.

Instead, let's get straight to what corporates care about, namely the bottom line.

There are three plans, each of which offers a single data allowance that can be accessed and shared by all modem users on the plan.

The plans are $89 per month for 5GB of data, $119 per month for 9GB of data and $199 per month for 20G of data.

Irrespective of the plan, excess data is charged at 25c per MB.

For each plan one user is included; all additional users are charged at $40 per person per month if you are prepared to go on a 24 month contract. Otherwise, it is $50 per "casual" (month by month) user.

You are required to connect at least one additional user, so you can't run the shared plan just for yourself.

Obviously, these data plans do not include the modem itself. It is also important to note the shared plans only apply to NextG modems; they cannot be applied to iPhones, PDAs or smartphones.

Personally, I'd hoped for more options but nevertheless it is a good start and companies with a fleet of existing NextG modems can take advantage of these new shared plans right away to decrease costs without reducing mobility.