TPG reduces ADSL shaping speeds

TPG has scrapped ADSL2+ consumer plans with high shaping speeds as part of a plan refresh which saw the number of unbundled plans reduced from six options to four.

The service provider, which last week entered a $12.8 million bid for cloud provider IntraPower, refreshed its offerings yesterday with the most notable difference being significant quota increases to most plans not bundled with a TPG home phone line.

Users signing up to TPG's cheapest unbundled plan would receive 50 GB for $29.99 per month rather than the 15 GB previously offered. The $39.99 per month plan now came with a quota of 150 GB instead of 60 GB, while the 200 GB, $49.99 plan now offered 500 GB of data.

Quotas for all metered plans were split into equal peak and off-peak periods. TPG retained its $59.99 unlimited plan, which had previously escaped fines from the competition watchdog for alleged misleading advertising earlier this year.

The company scrapped a more expensive 500 GB plan as well as a premium 250 GB plan which shaped users to 4 Mbps once they exceeded their quota.

Users on all unbundled plans would now be shaped to 256 Kbps upon reaching their quota.

Though this speed had already been enforced on the cheaper $29.99 and $39.99 plans, users on the $49.99 and more expensive metered plans were previously shaped to 1 Mbps symmetric speeds once over the data cap.

A $29.99, 500 GB plan bundled with a TPG-provided home phone line retained a higher shaped speed of 1 Mbps symmetric, reduced from the previous 4 Mbps/1 Mbps shaping speeds previously offered.

A spokesman said TPG decided to reduce shaping in favour of increased quotas and lower prices.

"We see the overall benefits of extra data far outweigh the speed of shaping," he said. "In the last 24 hours, we have seen a large amount of customers asking for the changes as they see the updated plans as new and improved.

"Existing customers will not be affected ... [but] can request a change of plan at no extra charge as long as they remain on the same monthly price. So really we give the customer the choice [to] stay [or] take advantage of new plans if you wish."