AAPT's new unlimited broadband - are better deals on the way?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 16 February 2010 11:23

Your IT - Home IT

AAPT has set the cat amongst the pigeons with its new offer of a 'truly unlimited' broadband offering, promising no caps and no throttling, but instead of unleashing a torrent of competition, the early stance from other ISPs is one of 'wait and see'. Should consumers do the same?

Unlimited broadband - it's a promise that Internet users in many other countries are well used to, whether on their mobile phones or via wired Internet services, but one that Australians have never really been able to enjoy.

Sure, some years ago, Telstra stunned the market by offering an unlimited service over cable, but almost as soon as it was released, Telstra decided to take it away again.

Several ISPs today do offer 'unlimited' services, but throttle your speed to somewhere between treacle and snail's pace once a limit has been set, dramatically lowering the value of any such 'unlimited' plan, especially when you have to endure days of slowness until the new billing cycle ticks over.

So, it came as a bit of a surprise to see AAPT bust out into the marketplace with a '24/7 Unlimited Broadband' product, bundled with $50 worth of legally downloadable music from EMI, a music streaming service, included phone line rental and no caps or throttling - for residential customers only.

Offered at AUD $99.95 per month for ADSL2+ customers, with 65% of AAPT's customers getting in excess of 8Mbps, and $109.95 for customers who aren't in the ADSL 2+ footprint and must connect at ADSL 1 speeds, the plan is priced similarly to some offers from ISPs which bundle unlimited phone calls, such as Optus, while being twice the price as ISPs such as TPG who have offered ever higher download limits in peak and off peak times, but still lumber customers with caps and throttling.

But unlike everyone else, AAPT is the only company offering truly unlimited broadbamd with AAPT's aptly (or is that aaptly) named CEO, Paul Broad, who said: 'We've done it. Consumers can now download whatever they want, whenever they want, without having to monitor their usage.  Importantly, they'll have total certainty of their broadband spend without the worry of additional monthly charges or throttling.'

Broad broadly continued, without brooding, that: 'AAPT has committed to unlocking broadband restraints for the past year and what we're now launching will change the broadband telco landscape in this country.

'This is a milestone day for Australia as AAPT's benchmark decision will force our major competitors to do the same thing. All Australians will benefit from AAPT leading the way with unlimited broadband.'

Sadly, the initial response from competing ISPs is that they have no particular plans to do anything about AAPT's new offer - but is it any surprise that their immediate response would be anything different?

Continued on page 2, please read on!