Telstra's ultimate unbundle for cabled Melbournians: speed!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 21 March 2011 12:35

Your IT - Home IT

If you're in Melbourne, in an area that can get Telstra's BigPond Cable Ultimate Plans but were put off by the need to partake of a specific Telstra bundle, the need for speed now comes unbundled for those who wish to connect to a broadband bundle of joy!

While bundling can deliver a range of services at a price lower than getting those services individually, sometimes bundling also means needing to get stuff that you don't need just so you can get what it is that you do.

In this case, what's needed is faster broadband, and although Telstra has had its Internet/pay TV cable upgraded to superfast 100MB download speeds, specific Telstra bundles with things like Foxtel needed to be taken to qualify for the 'Ultimate' upgrade.

Now, due to 'consumer demand', Telstra has unbundled itself of the bundling requirement, noting that Melbournian customers within the BigPond Cable Ultimate zone can get a 50GB plan for $79.95 per month, or a 200GB plan for $99.95 per month - if you're a Telstra 'full service fixed phone' customer.

Naturally, prices will be a higher per month if you use someone else's phone service, but Telstra's page indicating extra pricing details, linked to here, simply isn't loading for me when I try opening it.

Perhaps by the time you're reading this the page will work and you can see the prices for yourself, but they'll likely be $10 to $20 per month extra.

Telstra's Executive Director of the Consumer business, Ms Rebekah O'Flaherty, said that 'The average Melbourne household has entered a new age of online connectivity. Telstra research reveals more than half of all households now feature four or more types of internet enabled devices - from wireless laptops to smartphones, the T-Hub, game consoles and internet TV PVRs such as the T-Box.'

Continued on page two, please read on!