The first question you have to ask about Telstra’s decision to throttle mobile data instead of charging exorbitant rates for excess usage is why it’s taken so long? The second question you ask is why no other major carrier has beat Telstra to the punch on this?
Telstra last night announced that it is building the backend to allow them to shape mobile data usage when a customer exceeds their monthly allowance, and it should be available by the end of the year. Should a user wish, they’ll be able to top up their data to resume full-speed browsing.
In addition, Telstra is working on upgrading its SMS notification system so customers can be warned of their mobile data usage in close to real time.
The ACMA has already come out in support of Telstra’s announcement, as will pretty much any customer who’s received a monthly bill pages longer than they expected it to be.
But the real question is why it’s taken any of the major telcos to take this long to do this? Throttling is a standard practice in the fixed broadband space, so it’s not a surprise that it’s an approach that both works and is welcomed by customers. Hopefully Telstra taking the first step will drag Optus and Vodafone along from the excess usage fee dark ages.
[Telstra]
Peter
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 9:25 AMAbout time, I have a $480 bill from 3 thanks to my girlfriend borrowing my modem and leaving bittorrent on. I’m paying the bill, but I’m canceling my account afterwards
Tim'o
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:24 AMAhh, i had a girlfriend like that once, she thought that apple computers didnt get malware, so i come home one night to a black screen and all my data gone :(
needless to say, so was she after a few more months of her mistakes (she bought a windows phone!!)
matt
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:34 AMlol!
“Hey hubby! I’m really enjoying our honeymoon. Check out my new Zune!”
“… I think we should see other people.”
wsDK_II
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 9:32 AMSeems i made another right decision when moving to Telstra :)
These guys keep getting better and better.
Lord Bob
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 2:23 PMYes but when your at the bottom of the pile the only direction to go is up. The only worse internet providers are those ones that prey on people in remote areas who can’t get ADSL and have to have wireless. I’m looking at you Ocean Broadband you overcharging, line droping B@ST@RDS!!!
Frank
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 9:33 AMI was already going to move over to Telstra because of their new cheap plans (+ free unlimited SMS!! Wooo :))
but this just sweetens the deal for me
Mr C
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 7:09 PMI understand ya pain
I was soooo glad to get off the bottom of the pile when ADSL rolled into our street and I could dump the useless Oceanbroadband. What a joke that company is.
tropolite
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 9:42 AMGood move Telstra.
I’ve know several parents stunned by excessive costs. Shaping after the allocated data plan will be a win-win for Telstra and Customers.
Gazman
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 9:43 AMI got an answer to the second question (why it hasn’t been done yet) – They’ve made a crapload of money this way.
Dom T
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 9:55 AMTelstra is still too expensive for me, so i do hope other carriers follow this trend.
James Barch
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:59 AMTheir prices are only a little bit more then optus’s and your getting a network that is 10x better – imagine not having to call someone 5 times to hear the whole convo! :P
KC
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 1:16 PMI just moved over to Telstra from 3, i’m paying less and getting a crapload more. $49 Freedom Connect BYO plan, i get $550 of calls, unlimited SMS and 1.5GB of data on NextG. Sooo much better than a lot of other companies.
Namarrgon
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 3:18 PMThat’s certainly improving, but OTOH TPG have a plan with $600 calls (+ $400 to other TPG phones) and 2GB data for $30/month. Personally I’m quite happy with their $10 plan.
Rhys
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 9:55 AMI just moved to Telstra also, they are getting so much better by the day imo. Hell they even put $200 credit into my bill in the first month. I won’t ask questions!
Cameron
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:24 AMThis is a good move. What I don’t’ get though is how Telco’s are allowed to have data usage sites and pages that are up to 48 hours behind. You can potentially rack up a lot of charges in 48 hours.
Josh (Telstra Employee)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 11:06 AMCameron, with this, before this upcoming update the Mobile data usage meter was typically 6 hours behind, rather than 48 hrs behund. This update I believe is an amazing step for the telecommunications industry.
Also named cameron
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 11:07 AMI’ve had numerous arguments with telstra about their data monitoring system not being up to date too.
“Telstra working on updating their sms notification system” really means that they need to spend the next 12 months getting their antiquated logging systems up to date. SMS notification already works (and even gets delivered on time), but its only as good as the back end crunching the data.
Anyway, good on telstra leading the mobile market!
Nathan
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:38 AMLast Optus bill topped $512 with 4.5GB of mobile broadband usage. Pretty scary when they don’t have an app to check mobile data, instead overall bill usage. Optus mentioned something will be implemented soon although their contention ratios on the tower local to me are pathetic…
Tryion
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 8:03 PMNathan, considering that Optus do in fact have the ability to tell you your usage, with various different methods depending on the service you have.
Quite funny that people blame the Telco’s when they exceed their caps. I work for one of the big companies. If we were to create caps that stopped customers from using it after they exceeded their limits customers would complain still. Can’t win either way :)
It shouldn’t be on the company to hold your hand when your using your account. If your unable to follow your own account and check your usage then maybe you should be prepaid :)
Josh
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 10:42 AMWith them introducing the ability to top up your mobile data, will they allow you to do the same on their fixed line plans? I dbout I will ever have to(200gb cap), but with 3 IT nerds/gamers in the one house with access to netflix and hulu…. things might change.
James Barch
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 11:01 AMTelstra about about to launch at 500GB plan – more then enough for most people (also, games dont take up to much data usage, compared to movies anyway)
Virus__
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 11:39 AMDepends how many Steam games you buy on these sales they keep having D:
wsDK_II
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 12:02 PMIndeed – and i love how with portal 2 they stuffed up and made the portal 2 pack + walkthrough cheaper then the game itself! :)
i took advantage of that one before they fixed it
Scott B
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 12:46 PMYou do know that you can set your steam account to the Telstra server and it becomes unmetered downloads.
wsDK_II
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 1:34 PMWHAT! how do you do that?
Patrick M
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 11:03 PMFor Telstra subscribers go into Steam’s settings, go into the “Downloads and Cloud” tab and set the download region to “Australia – NSW (Telstra)”.
Tested it with Portal II, 11 GB of downloads completely unmetered.
Internode subscribers have a simimar perk, look for either of the download servers with Internode in their names.
Hope that helps wsDK_II.
th3Pil0t
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 11:11 AMIt appears Telstra have really restructured the way they are operating. They have introduced so many changes recently to become the best carrier for a lot of people (mainstream not just business anymore).
If I had the money, I would buy shares right now…
Lord Bob
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 2:41 PMhmm reading some comments I starting to get the picture that my decade long hate-fest against telstra may be about to start erroding. I can still tell you a dozen or more stories about my self and friends who have been screwed by telstra (conned my grandma into the worlds worste internet over the phone, she thought she was just linking the house and mobile bills). Lets hope some of these changes eventually reach outside of the bigger cities to where the rest of us live.
Albi Kl
Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 1:14 PMIt’s amazing how excited everyone is getting over Telstra bringing us back to the dark ages. With unlimited broadband plans becoming the norm (negating the need to shape/throttle data usage) and the sharp rise in mobile data usage one would think the first step to the mobile bill shock issue would be to raise data limits to a level that is congruent with the demands of the modern mobile device.
Some may argue network congestion would raise new issues, but how is this any different from having highly limited data limits which are then shaped when that limit is reached?
This is a step in the right direction as some people are simply impervious to education, but australia’s mobile internet industry shall be as handicapped as it was in comparison to nations such as the US in earlier days of the internet.