Telstra drops broadband prices, but is it enough?!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 26 November 2009 08:34

Opinion and Analysis

Then we hear from Telstra’s Glenice Maclellan, the Acting Group Managing Director of the Consumer division, who “said the new plans catered for the changing way Australians were using broadband for communication and entertainment at home.”
 
Maclellan then said: "Gone are the days when broadband was used only to check email or internet surf. Australian families now also use broadband to download videos, play online games, or check social networking sites all at the same time”.

Well… connected families have been doing this for years now. Broadband was never about just email and Internet surfing, that was commonplace in the dialup days, the perception that broadband was only for surfing and email was because of Telstra’s outrageous limitations of the cheaply priced 200mb for $29.95 and 400mb for $39.95 per month plans.

Offered since 2004, these were at “fraudband” speeds of 256kbps, which some people on Telstra BigPond are still stuck on to this day, and both plans paying $0.15c per megabyte excess usage fees on, are finally being replaced from December 1, 2009 for new users.

One big change is that no-one will ever be stuck at 256kbps or 512kbps again, with the new unadvertised minimum being 1.5Mbps for ADSL services and however fast your ADSL2+ modem can go based on your distance from the exchange, which is probably anywhere from 5 to 20Mbps.

Finally Telstra has acted, but where was the visionary leadership before? It was within Telstra’s power to ensure that at least 512kbps or 1Mbps was the minimum speed much sooner – at least it has acted now and 1.5Mbps is the new minimum, which most ADSL 1 users should be able to achieve.

Download speeds are, as you’d expect, still throttled once download limits have been reached, but these are still stuck at the effectively unusable speed of 64kbps, which is a very quick prompter to upgrade to a higher plan. At least Telstra lets you move to a new plan and have it activate from midnight of either the same or the next day, whichever it is.

Another big change is that $29.95 now gets you 2GB, which is a long-overdue and still paltry increase of ten times the previous 200mb abomination, now leaving it as the only plan with a $0.15c per mb excess usage fee, clearly designed as it is to move these users up a plan the $39.95 plan.

This time, however, rather than a paltry increase from 200mb to 400mb, Telstra is giving these users 12GB of download, which is much more like it as a minimum – and finally removing the $0.15c per mb excess charge. 

Most $29.95 users will be forced to upgrade because in a world of endless operating system, Internet security and software updates, 400mb as a minimum was never enough, and 2GB isn’t either. Telstra should abolish this plan or bump it up to at least 5GB, but for marketing purposes it obviously still needs to offer it and get users to upgrade after the first time an excess usage charge stings them.

Let’s also not forget that these “low” prices are only achievable if, according to Telstra, “other eligible service types are a Telstra mobile, BigPond wireless broadband or FOXTEL from Telstra on a single bill, with a minimum combined monthly access fee of at least $89.”

Otherwise, the prices for the 2GB and 12GB plans are $10 per month more expensive on a 24 month plan and $20 per month more on a 12 month plan.

Naturally, Telstra has more expensive plans that let you download much more, and as always with Telstra, uploads are still counted towards your download limit.

These include 25GB, 50GB, 100GB and 200GB plans at $59.95, $79.95, $99.95 and $149.95 per month for ADSL 1 users and $49.95, $69.95, $109.95 and $159.95 per month for ADSL 2 and cable users – when bundled, of course.

But where's the true value? More pricing issues, details and a possible Telstra/Foxtel extra charge trap and an update on page 3...