Telstra broadband pricing out in front of overseas peers.

Stuart Corner
Monday, 14 July 2008 05:47

Your IT - Home IT

Jameson said: "Our analysis used a standardised methodology to determine the 'total cost of broadband' based on advertised speed and usage levels. The approach included start up costs, headline monthly fees plus any usage charges, all averaged over a 12 month contract period,"

Spectrum found Telstra's initial DSL modem and connection fees ranks as the second highest of all surveyed plans, and a significant contributor the its high ranking. "One of the main issues with the Telstra plans is that the modem and installation fees are quite expensive: $199, which is $15 per month over 12 months. If you did it over 24 months Telstra would be cheaper but would still be at the top end," Jameson said.

Spectrum calculated costs at five levels of usage: 'Ultra Low' (200MB per month), 'Low' (500MB per month), 'Medium' (2GB per month), 'High' (10GB per month) and 'Ultra High' (30GB per month). At all but the Ultra Low level, it found Telstra's plan was the most, or second most, expensive. Prices did not include the line rental.

Only seven of the eighteen surveyed providers offer capped plans (under which the monthly amount of data that the user may download is capped at a specified amount, with any downloads beyond that cap either charged at an excess data rate, or 'throttled' to a lower speed). All of Telstra's plans are capped. Of those that charge excess usage, Spectrum said that Telstra had the highest rates of any provider, six times more than the next most expensive provider. All other Telstra plans throttle excess usage back to dial-up speeds of up to 64kbps.