Internode to offer terabyte plans next week

ISP Internode will join the terabyte internet craze next week with a revamp of its ADSL2+ Easy Broadband plans.

Word of the new plans first leaked out to the Whirlpool broadband forums last night but was deleted by this morning.

In a blog post, Internode said it would double the data quota on its Easy Broadband plan from 50 GB to 100 GB per month.

It would also introduce plans with 200 GB ($69.95 bundled with NodeLine telephone service), 300 GB ($89.95 bundled), 600 GB ($99.95 bundled) and 1 TB for $149.95 a month when bundled with the phone service.

The NodeLine service cost $34.95 extra a month.

The new plans were "also available on an unbundled basis, using third party phone line rental, and as Naked ADSL2+ plans", a spokesman said.

"Pricing for these options will be made available at the time of plan release," the spokesman said.

The plans would be available in 300 exchanges nationally on either Agile (Internode) or Optus DSLAMs.

Managing director Simon Hackett said users on Telstra infrastructure would see their plans revised "when our ongoing negotiations with [Telstra Wholesale] toward their pricing becoming sane are completed.

"The Easy plans announced today aren't related to Telstra ports at all," he said.

The revised Easy Broadband plan quota was not split into "peak" or "off-peak" usage - prompting Hackett to claim Internode as the "first 'real' 1000GB plan on the Australian market".

"That's in stark contrast to existing high-end market plans that have split their quota into peak and off peak amounts, with the off peak only available for a minority of the time," he said.

Internode rumoured the plan changes on Whirlpool a fortnight ago.

They came after ISP iiNet launched a terabyte broadband plan available both on its own and Telstra's ADSL1 DSLAMs.

iPrimus and TPG countered with terabyte plans of their own, but these were limited to a smaller number of exchanges.