BigPond Broadband at dial-up prices

[PtP]

BigPond customers can soon enjoy broadband access from $29.95 per month, the same price point as some dial-up Internet plans. View plans

"BigPond is introducing an extremely attractive entry-level plan to ignite the broadband market in Australia," BigPond Managing Director, Justin Milne, said.

BigPond’s new cable and ADSL 256K plans are priced at just $29.95 per month on a 12 month contract after installation and include 200MB of usage.

BigPond will also be significantly reducing the cost of many other plans including popular unlimited* download plans.

“This will allow dial-up users to economically migrate to broadband,” Mr Milne said.

“The value of our new entry-level plan may be even greater for some dial-up customers when they factor in the cost of local calls required each time they dial-up to connect.

"With this new entry-level plan, there is every reason to switch to broadband.

"After dial-up customers have switched to broadband, they will enjoy speeds up to 25 times faster than they're used to, they'll always be on-line, and they can use their Internet and telephone service at the same time.

"BigPond broadband customers enjoy access to discounted legal music downloads, exclusive coverage of V8 supercar racing, and other popular entertainment.

“We also pride ourselves on technological innovation and superior customer service," Mr Milne said.

Existing BigPond customers can stay on their current plan if they wish, or move to the new prices. New customers join BigPond today and move to the new prices from 27 February, 2004.

Unlimited Downloads - 256/64 - $59.95
Unlimited Downloads - 512/128 - $89.95
Unlimited Downloads - 1500/256 - $119.95

Also you cable guys dont miss out:
Unlimited Downloads - Uncapped/128Kpbs - $59.95

All I can say is Telstra Rox :)

Check out all pricing here. (http://www.bigpond.com/announcement/)

[Bully]

Me waits for a coment from viss :?

[MadMax]

For a comparison from the Optus web site:

THIS IS UP UNTIL END OF FEB


550MB Plan

Choice 4 $54.95/month

Choice 5 $54.95/month

Stand alone $64.95/month


Standard 3GB Plan

Choice 4 $69.95/month

Choice 5 $69.95/month

Stand alone $79.95/month

Pro 6GB Plan

Choice 4 $99.95/month

Choice 5 $99.95/month

Stand alone $129.95/month


Ultimate 15GB Plan

Choice 4 $239.95/month

Choice 5 $239.95/month

Stand alone $299.95/month

Not only can you make the most of your Internet experience with OptusNet Cable, but you can also enjoy substantial savings when you connect to an Optus Choices package. Choose to combine OptusNet Cable with your local and long distance phone services – <span style='color:red'>Choice 4, or OptusNet Cable with your local and long distance phone services and Optus TV – Choice 5. If you’re only looking for high-speed Internet access, connect to OptusNet Cable as a stand alone service.</span>

[MadMax]

And from March 1st 2004:

Starter 300Mb &#036;59.95 or &#036;49.95 if you have another Optus service

Lite 1Gb &#036;64.95 or &#036;54.95 if you have another Optus service

Unlimited &#036;79.95 or &#036;69.95 if you have another Optus service

Unlimited Pro &#036;129.95 or &#036;109.95 if you have another Optus service



Speed limiting applies to all OptusNet Cable plans once data allowance is reached. Unlimited downloads. Speed limiting applies after 12GB on Unlimited plan and 20 GB on Unlimited Pro plan. Should you exceed your plan&#39;s monthly data allowance you will not pay any excess usage charges. Instead, your data usage will be speed limited to a maximum speed of a 28.8kbps dial-up modem until the first day of the next calendar month. You will stay connected to your OptusNet Cable service for the remainder of the month and will be able to use email, surf sites and download information - just at the slower speed. In practice the speed will be limited to a data speed ranging between 20kbps and 28.8kbps. Data Usage and Data Allowance are measured in Megabytes (MB) and for all purposes 1 Gigabyte (GB) = 1000 Megabytes (MB). Unused Data Allowance in any month can not be rolled into subsequent months.

[MadMax]

I tried to find out via the web what speeds the plans run at and could not find out, so I rang Optus, and despite purely wanting to ask a simple generic question they wanted details of my account before they answer SHEESH, anyway the operator eventually said all the plans were:

200 to 600k download
16k upload


So my plan is :

Unlimited downloads - 600/16 &#036;69.95/month

* unlimited downloads means my plan will drop to a 28k rate after 12Gb of downloads which is never going to happen.

Accordding to ptp&#39;s gloating the equivalent Telscum was:

Unlimited Downloads - 512/128 - &#036;89.95


You be the judge, or am I not seeing the picture?

Cheers,
Max

[EpharGy]

ptp&#39;s plans were for adsl not cable, cable price was @ Unlimited Downloads - Uncapped/128Kpbs - &#036;59.95

so suck it :)

[PtP]

Look down at the bottom of my post and you will notice:

Also you cable guys dont miss out:
Unlimited Downloads - Uncapped/128Kpbs - &#036;59.95

PtP = Winner :)

[RustyBlade]

SHWEET&#33; :)
:party:

[Bully]

TELSTRA&#39;S sharp broadband pricing cuts are being investigated by the competition watchdog following protests from competing ISPs that they risk being forced out of the market.

Telstra shocked the industry by announcing both ADSL and cable prices as low as &#036;29.95 monthly.

The announcement followed Optus&#39;s announcement on Friday it would begin selling ADSL this week.

While the &#036;29.95 plan has a small 200MB monthly data download allowance, hundreds of competing ISPs - which rely on Telstra for access to the phone network and ADSL infrastructure - will face an uphill battle if they cannot extract lower prices from the telco&#39;s wholesale division.

IiNet,one of Telstra&#39;s biggest retail competitors, with more than 30,000 ADSL customers, is one of many ISPs contacted by The Australian that said it had complained to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission about the pricing.

IiNet chief executive Michael Malone said he had been surprised by the announcement.

Internode managing director Simon Hackett said he had been "gob-smacked" by the pricing, because Telstra charged its wholesale customers more than &#036;30 monthly for even the most basic ADSL connection.

"The lowest speeds cost in the low &#036;30s, plus GST, plus connecting to their network, plus data," Mr Hackett said.

Vic Cinc, chief executive of internet services company CIA Group, which has only about 100 ADSL customers, said he would close down that part of the business if a better wholesale price could not be had from Telstra.

"If our wholesale price is above Telstra&#39;s retail price, there&#39;s no point being in business - it&#39;s just silly," Mr Cinc said.

An ACCC spokesperson said it was "investigating whether there are competition concerns" in the broadband market because of Telstra&#39;s price changes.

Telstra&#39;s wholesale ADSL pricing has never been far from controversy. In November 2001 the ACCC served a competition notice on the telco, threatening it with millions of dollars worth of fines because its wholesale prices were higher than its BigPond retail prices.

Telstra quickly reduced its wholesale pricing by 30 per cent.

When asked if Telstra would cut its wholesale ADSL prices, spokesman Rod Bruem said: "Obviously we&#39;re obliged to ensure that our wholesale customers have margins on products. Customer negotiations are conducted on an individual and confidential basis."

However, ISPs contacted by The Australian said Telstra&#39;s wholesale representatives did not have details of any price reduction yesterday.

"My perception was they didn&#39;t know this was happening either," iiNet&#39;s Mr Malone said. "There was no sense of a formal response."

[[WTF]hakenspit]

I&#39;m stillyet to see a plan that rivals my 3 gig 512 for 30 bucks.....sure it aint unlimited but there is only sooo much pron you can d/l. besides I getting the 200 mb 256 plan cost with much better conditions....gotta love my idiot of an isp :D

[EpharGy]

what plan? who through?

[MadMax]

"uncapped" in my mind is misleading. There has to be a maximum speed at which telstra provides download speeds?

I have a supercomputer at work and I doubt I can download at a trillion Gigabytes a microsecond while connected to Telstra, but uncapped obviously means if my supercomputer is capable of throughput at that neckbreaking speed then Telstra can do it.

How can they say uncapped speed? What does that mean?

:-?

Oh and the website of bigpond doesn&#39;t mention any &#036;59.95 plan unlimited , only &#036;69.95 where is this new pricing documented?

I&#39;m not into the "Your ISP sux" wars, just want the facts ma&#39;am&#33; If one ISP is quite obviously better in all respects, and it&#39;s a cost saving to move as well (eg broadband modem change, installation factor included) then I&#39;d do it.

Cheers,
Max

[PtP]

Geez max you are getting old there is a link at the bottom of my post as well ;)

[MadMax]

(Spotted this in PC Powerplay site)

Monday, March 01, 2004.
The telco&#39;s fight but we win - how cool is that?

Australian IT (http://www.australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,8739520%5e16123%5e%5enbv%5e,00.html) reported late last week that the BROADBAND price wars have gone into overdrive since Telstra BigPond&#39;s price cuts last week, with OzEmail and Optus the latest to join the battle.



In the wake of Telstra&#39;s &#036;29.95, 256kbit DSL and cable plans, which include 200MB downloads and excess charging of 15c/MB, its competitors in the broadband market - most of whom are also its wholesale ADSL customers - have scrambled to provide competing plans.

iPrimus, which this month acquired AOL7, one of BigPond&#39;s biggest competitors, announced a &#036;39.95 256kbit ADSL service with 100MB at the same time as BigPond&#39;s announcement.

OzEmail has announced a &#036;49.95, 256kbit unlimited download plan, and several medium-sized ISPs have also indicated they are re-assessing their plans.

However matching Telstra&#39;s sub-&#036;30 prices is proving difficult for BigPond competitors, who say that even with a small download limit they have to pay more than &#036;30 in costs to Telstra for a 256kbit connection, allowing no opportunity to make a profit.

Nevertheless, iPrimus&#39; general manager of consumer Geoff Neate said his company would make a profit on the &#036;39.95 price.






The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said last Monday it was investigating the difference between Telstra&#39;s BigPond retail prices and the price it charges wholesale customers for access to its ADSL network.