Internode drops Optus ADSL2+ offering

ISP Internode today dropped its Optus ADSL2+ offering to avoid confusion when it came to choosing from its ADSL plans.

The ISP today announced it had "reshaped and simplified" its broadband plan table by launching 40 new plans with boosted data quotas, culling more than 80 "redundant" plans from its line-up.

The changes were earmarked earlier this year when dates were confirmed for the launch of Pipe Networks' PPC-1 cable, which is expected to go live on Thursday.

Internode managing director Simon Hackett outlined the reasons behind the plan changes on the Whirlpool broadband forum this morning.

"NakedUltra and UltraLine are at 'end of sale'. That means we're not selling any new ones, and all existing plans continue unchanged and fully supported. That includes relocations - those may still be made," Hackett said.

Internode said it would drop Optus Wholesale's standard ADSL2+ offering and Naked ADSL offering. It will drop Optus' ADSL2+ offering due to an arrangement struck with Telstra Wholesale.

"When we did the deal with Optus we didn't have that arrangement in place with Telstra. And it's become, now, something that adds complexity to the process of choosing what Internode plan is right for you," Internode's carrier relations manager John Lindsay told iTnews.

"You could be on Optus with or without a dial tone or you could be on an Agile DSLAM with or without Internode's supplied dial tone as in with the wholesale line rental. But of course you always had a dial tone if you went with the Extreme product or you could go with the Naked Extreme product and have no dial tone at all.

"So you had three different ways of using an Agile DSLAM and then you've got two different ways of using a Telstra DSLAM port. So we've gone from nine down to five underlying technology choices," Lindsay said.

He said Internode's standard ADSL2+ plans would still be available on Telstra and Agile exchanges whilst its Naked ADSL2+ service would be available on its Agile exchanges.

Lindsay confirmed that while often misdirected, complaints from users "about things happening to customers connected on Optus ports have a certain basis in fact."

"But we should also acknowledge that Optus have been working to try and resolve that problem," he said.

An Optus spokesperson told iTnews it had no ill feelings with Internode for abandoning the resale of Optus ADSL2+ wholesale ports.

"They are still using a vast array of Optus services," the spokesperson said.

Optus will continue to service existing Internode ADSL2+ customers, even if Internode has chosen not to continue selling this service to new customers.

"[Internode] have got lease lines with us on Broadlink, they've got domestic IP services [and] they've got dial-up internet as well as voice and data with mobiles," the Optus spokesperson said.

"We still sell, and are very happy to have them as a wholesale partner."