Internode undercuts iiNet, Primus on Tassie fibre plans

By Mahesh Sharma on Jun 8, 2010 10:43 AM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Prices start at $29.95 per month.

Internode's coverage map for TNBN fibre connectivity in Midway Point, Tasmania.	Internode's coverage map for TNBN fibre connectivity in Scottsdale, Tasmania.	Internode's coverage map for TNBN fibre connectivity in Smithton, Tasmania.
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Internode has pipped iiNet and Primus to offer the cheapest plans for the national broadband network trial in Tasmania, with plans starting at $29.95.

The largest plan is $139.95 for 200GB at speeds of 100Mbps down and 8Mbps up.

Internode said the pricing structure is specifically tailored to the NBN rollout in Tasmania.

The cheapest $29.95 per month plan provides 15GB at 25Mbps down and 2Mbps up.

An identical plan with iPrimus will cost $49.95 without a bundled phone line, or $39.95 when bundled with a phone line. For the same speeds - but 10GB of downloads - iiNet will charge customers $49.95.

However, Internode doesn't sell phone services with the plans, and customers will either need to keep their current copper phone line provider or sign up for VoIP service.

Internode's 15 fibre to the home plans are available only to people living in the three areas serviced by the NBN Stage One pilot program, run by NBN Tasmania in Midway Point, Smithton, and Scottsdale.

Internode CEO Simon Hackett said these prices had been based on discussion for the pilot rollout in Tasmania and weren't indicative of possible mainland pricing.

"Customers, both in Tasmania and nationally, should keep in mind that this initiative is designed as a pilot program," Mr Hackett said. "These prices and products may bear little resemblance to what emerges under the NBN proper, but it's a great start to offer FTTH plans that are affordable for ordinary people."

The download quotas for the Internode plans are not divided into peak and off-peak usage, a marked difference from the plans offered by iiNet and iPrimus. All plans will be throttled to 128kbps once the download limit is exceeded and additional top-up packs can be purchased.

The plans will be charged monthly until June 30, 2011, when official NBN wholesale pricing is expected to be available, Internode said.


.
.	Speed	iiNet (quota/cost)*	Internode (quota/cost)	iPrimus (quota/cost)*#
.	25Mbps/2Mbps lowest quota	10GB/$49.95	15GB/$29.95	15GB/$49.95
.	50Mbps/4Mbps middle quota	60GB/$89.95	60GB/$59.95	40GB/$79.95
.	100Mbps/8Mbps biggest quota	180GB/$159.95	200GB/$139.95	300GB/$139.95
.	Total plans offered	7	15	12
.
.	*peak/off-peak usage limits apply

8 comments in this discussion

"peterh_oz, what are the speeds for the down / up for the $2 per gb download, and where does it tell you that exetel are participating in the NBN pilot? checking facts is worthwhile, the current ..."

By peterhau

Tags

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Comments: 8

jezza333 Jun 8, 2010 12:52 PM	Finally. I'd sign up to those in a heartbeat; they make the NBN prices finally comparable to standard DSL, but better because I don't have to have traditional line rental [and better yet, I don't give a cent of it to Telstra]
jimohalloran Jun 8, 2010 12:58 PM	+1 Absolutely, I'd sign up for one of those immediately... As someone who can't get ADSL2 and is stuck paying Telstra Wholesale prices for ADSL1, those plans make NBN FTTH an incredible bargain... Bring it on, the sooner the better!
greg27 Jun 8, 2010 2:41 PM	Those plans are awesome. Right now I'm paying $59.95/month for Internode's 60GB ADSL2+ plan - for the same price I'd get the same quota and far more awesome speeds.
singo79 Jun 8, 2010 6:07 PM	I agree with all of the above, however this may never see the light of day :( If Labour can't get the legislation through parliament before the next election then the NBN will most likely die under a Liberal Government. The Liberal's of course are totally wrong and cannot be allowed to stem the NBN rollout and future advancement of Australia's IC&T services. I am totally behind the NBN and hope that it can get up and running ASAP.
azaram Jun 8, 2010 6:20 PM	I'd definitely sign up for a 100Mbps account with 200GB for $140. I probably wouldn't use anywhere near 200GB, but it would be worth it for the speed. However, the thought of the government controlling the internet backbone does concern me with the censorship debate continuing. I definitely would not sign up to a government-controlled internet until that "clean feed" legislation is put to bed. I don't want to make it too easy for them to pull the wool over our eyes.
chugs Jun 8, 2010 10:01 PM	ha how over subscribed are these products. $159 for 100mbps yeah right, what a load of BS. You wouldn't get 2mbps of uncontended wholesale bandwidth for $159 let alone a whole 100mbps. I really wish the ACCC would crack down on speed paramaters that ISP claim. For example i have a 10mbps of layer 1 but there is no way in hell i can sustain 10mbps of download, even from my ISP's own FTP servers. whole industry is made of liars and colouring in monkeys/marketers.
peterh_oz Jun 9, 2010 12:15 AM	NEWS FLASH: Exetel has smashed all providers with entry level plans starting at just $2 per Gb download, unmetered upload, and no monthly fee. This was announced weeks ago. So your first line is WRONG. I stopped reading soon after because, if I want to read an Internode press release, I'll go to their website. Journalism requires reporting and fact checking. IT News should be renamed IT Blog if this is what we're going to get. I look forward to a correction, equally prominently published.
peterhau Jun 9, 2010 7:58 AM	peterh_oz, what are the speeds for the down / up for the $2 per gb download, and where does it tell you that exetel are participating in the NBN pilot? checking facts is worthwhile, the current supplier to exetel for fibre in tasmania is Telstra and opticomm, not the NBN tasmania group. The 2gb plan is at 25mbps, with 2mbps up. here is what is said on the exetel site re fibre: Fibre broadband services are in the early stages of development, at least from Exetel, at the moment. Exetel has signed agreements with Opticomm (NSW and Victoria) and Telstra (Victoria) to provide fibre based broadband services in strictly limited areas 'right now' with the expectation that these services will become more generally available over time. We are also in the final stages of negotiation with two other fibre network providers and expect to successfully complete those negotiations in the not too distant future. That is what I would put on my blog. I wouldn't go off and jump up and down about accuracy till I had read all the info. Yes, the exetel info looks good for entry level connectivity, but how many fibre users will be content with 25mbps down? there are monthly fees for larger plans, and the discounting for the per gb for the plans isn't cheaper than the internode 200gb plan, which works out at $0.69 per gb, versus the exetel cost of $0.75 per gb. adding the cost per month of $50 for exetel, and the overall cost per month is $200, if the user hits 200gb. (and we know that people will hit that in the initial stages at least)