After Internode previewed its NBN pricing last week, I cautioned that pricing from one single ISP isn’t reflective of what all providers will charge, see: NBN Prices: Why Is Everyone Already Freaking Out? Further proof: Exetel’s high-end 100Mbps/200GB plan will be $100 per month ($20 cheaper than Internode), and 12Mbps/20GB will be just $34.50. And they’re not the only low-cost option now in the mix…
Exetel will provide mid-range options that Internode has now infamously cut. Internode’s NBN plans have a huge jump from 30GB to 200GB monthly quotas (at any speed), while Exetel will give you 100Mbps speed with 50GB (for $60) or 100GB (for $80 per month).
Also — unlike Internode — Exetel connections won’t count uploads towards quota. Once monthly data limits are reached, the budget ISP plans to shape traffic to 512Kbps/128Kbps speeds. All connections will include a VoIP telephone number.
Meanwhile, Dodo has also thrown its hat into the ring. The budget ISP says it plans to offer entry level NBN access (12Mbps/1Mbps) for “less than $40 per month.” Dodo’s chief exec says he also plans to continue unlimited access on the NBN, though it’ll cost more than ADSL2+ unlimited. Expect to hear full details of Dodo’s proposed prices sometime this week.
Quick side note: Unlike ADSL, the ACCC has come out and said that claimed NBN speeds have to be what the customer actually gets.
Let’s take a step back and look at Malcolm Turnbull’s reasoning from last week on why the NBN is already a failure:
a) The NBN estimated a 12 mb/s plan would cost between $53-$58 a month with a 50GB bitcap. Internode has said their 12 mb/s plan will cost $59.95 with a 30GB bitcap.
b) The NBN estimated a 25 mb/s plan would cost between $62 and $68 with a 200 GB bitcap. Internode has said their 25 mb/s plan will cost $89.95 with a 200 GB bitcap – so 32 per cent higher than the high end of the NBN’s scale.
The good news: Exetel’s 12Mbps plan with 50GB cap is $39.50 per month. That’s 25 per cent cheaper than NBN Co’s estimates. The bad: Exetel’s 25Mbps plan with 200GB quota is $80 per month. Though that’s $10 cheaper than Internode, it’s still almost 18 per cent higher than NBN Co’s estimates.
So there’s mixed news here so far, and Exetel is kind of known to chop and change plans. Like I said last week — let’s take a deep breath and wait to see what all the ISPs say before we freak out. I’m watching carefully, though. [Exetel]
Dan
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 4:21 PMSo it seems data rather than connection speed is the major defining factor in prices.
Dean
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 4:40 PM“So it seems data rather than connection speed is the major defining factor in prices.”
Well, duh. It costs exactly the same to send a MB of data at 512kb/s as it does at 100Mb/s. Any ISP offering plans at different speeds is just wanting subscribers to price discriminate against themselves.
“Real work speeds on the NBN are going to be barely better than ADSL2+ for anything other than “local” traffic.”
Where “local” traffic is anything located in Australia. The NBN may actually reduce contention because it will allow traffic to be delivered quicker to the user instead of being buffered.
Adam
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 4:23 PMThe problem will be that these cheaper providers will just limit the bandwidth at the POP and therefore the contention ratio will be terrible.
Real work speeds on the NBN are going to be barely better than ADSL2+ for anything other than “local” traffic.
guykb
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 4:46 PMNo, the ACCC are bound to clamp down very hard on ISPs claiming a speed that they are not offering in real time.
bob
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 5:00 PMwhen your current real world speed of adsl2+ is 1.2 down and 0.2 up & shared between multiple computers and a ps3, these nbn as advertised speeds will be fantastic!
Steve
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 4:30 PMExetel FTW. I’m currently on an Exetel ADSL2 Plan, giving me 200gb of downloads (no on or off peak) that doesn’t include uploads for $50 a month. Not many ISP’s that compare to that, and the service is reliable (for me) with local support.
That pricing just says to me that I’ll be jumping from my currently under-utilised 200gb plan to a 50gb plan for only $10 a month more.
Win for my family. Put me down as a happy face for the NBN.
Ben
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 5:03 PMFWIW I’m currently with EXETEL for my ADSL2+.
I have never had an issue with my connection in 4 years. The only thing I have found to be budget about them is their pricing.
I’m currently getting 200 peak plus 200 off peak plus a VOIP number and a phone line for $80 a month.
Hopefully by the time NBN comes past my house it will be comparable.
Eric
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 5:04 PM12/1Mbps and 150GB/m for $69.50. Good price. I am on the old Internode naked plan and I paid the same for VOIP and internet combined but never get a decent speed (only 3.5Mbps). The line is just very very bad. Couldn’t wait for NBN to be installed.
I'm Jeve Stobs. Give me your money
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 5:14 PMWith the NBN, will it be necessary to still maintain a phone line service like ADSL2+ or can telephone services be discarded?
Danny Allen
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 5:16 PMYou’ll have phone via the fibre connection. Unless you’re way rural, the old copper phone lines will be turned off.
Matt
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 5:14 PMWhy do we even have data limits anymore?!? Just charge on speed like other countries or at least bring plans up to realistic limits!
JT
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 5:31 PMI’m sick of this too and I hate everyone thinking these are reasonable rates, they’re not! It’s just an easy way to get more money out of us.
GET RID OF THE DATA LIMITS!
typedmillepede
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 5:47 PMcountries are actually going the other way about this… most notably america is now adding a cap to the dl limits at 200gb across the board. use more? too bad, no unlimited option for you. at least we have gotten the unlimited option now… albeit on adsl2+, which maxes out at 3mbps on a good day for me at my house.
Mitch
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 7:47 PMThe data limits is attributed to many things, but one of the biggest these days is that the television & media companies are inextricably linked to most of these ISPs and if you have large download limits, that means more torrenting and using streaming sites like Hulu, ABC iView and the like, and less money for them.
It also puts less strain on the ISP backbone, in theory. But it’s not likely they’re going to put the majority of your money into upgrading the lines, when they could just pocket the money, right?
Winky
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 11:47 PMI’m getting really sick of hearing that the US is turning towards data caps. It’s simply not true (unless you are talking about USB mobile sticks). 1-2 big companies tried such a thing and got HUGE negative reception of the idea.
The majority of the US is uncapped and unshapped. Take from an American whose been there for years and who has been involved in the tech community.
trk
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 5:19 PMAnother Exetel fanboy here. Check out their current ADSL2+ prices with the 4 months of free connection… unbelievable prices.
Not surprised to learn they’re the first ISP with a half-decent pricing structure. As soon as its available here I’ll be jumping on board… well, I’m already on board…. but I’ll be MORE on board!
pd
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 8:47 PMBite me Turnbullshit! It’s called competition moron. Jumping on ONE COMPANY’S announcement clearly shows you are a complete horse’s arse moron who cannot even understand a fundamental 101 concept your party claims to espouse: free market economics! Eat turds wanker! Go flip your ALP/LNP coin another bunch of times and with any luck it will come down ALP and help you to flip your illogical belief that your politics belong in the LNP.
Either that or *pull your finger out* and topple that rAbbott so at the very worst, we might have a semi-respectable opposition leader (after your crash night course in economics 101) instead of the right-wing, cowardly lion lunatic currently in office over there.
Rob
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 3:10 PMErm, you do realise that Turnbull was a merchant banker and would know more about economics that you could probably learn in a lifetime, right? That’s the annoying thing for you lefties, most people on the right of politics have been successes in business prior to politics and actually know what they’re talking about, rather than just being rabble rousing trade union idiots before being parachuted into safe Labor seats like most on the left.
Seamus Byrne
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 3:24 PMAll those smarts and he still jumped in and got it wrong. You must be very annoyed.
smurfydog
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 7:48 PMThank you Seamus!
First real belly-laugh I’ve had all day!
Trav
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 9:03 PMI used to live in the US in Wyoming, we paid $70 a month for 8Mbps internet and 65 decent cable channels, no contract or limits, came with modem and universal remote and no setup fee.
Just about any show could be streamed free from network websites, Netflix was $9.95 a month for unlimited movie streaming, redbox video rentals were a dollar, and they had gamefly, look it up, subscription based xbox and ps3 rentals, pay 15 buck for 2 games for as long as you like, switch them when you are done, i’m sick of getting ripped in oz
Daemos
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 2:27 AMSolution is simple. Move back to the US. As a former canadian, the isps in canada are implementing caps now, at least they have true unlimited internet and mobile plans here.
T
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 1:32 AMI used to live in Thailand, we paid 20$ per month for 7Mbps+ with unlimited data.
Rob
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 3:07 PMSo they’ll give you super speed, but next to no download allowance, LOL. It’s like having a Porsche and only being allowed to drive it around the block. And this is what people still clinging to the left of politics try and throw at Turnbull’s comments? What a laugh.
smurfydog
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 7:56 PMThese are only the first few NBN plans to be announced.
They are a lot better than the first ADSL2 plans were. And can you remember the first ADSL plans? We were grateful to get a handful of GB at 512kb for $60.
As more players enter the market and customers actually start to sign up the plans will only get better. And better.
Namarrgon
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 4:31 PMIn my day, we got a whole 100MB of BigPond Cable for $70/mon (with $4/MB excess fees), and we were just glad to get off dialup.
In soviet Russia
Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 1:44 AMIn soviet Russia in a small town with a population of 400 000 ppl we get a 10Mb/sec unlimited Internet for $20 deeeerp…
Or $25 for 100Mb/sec unlimited internet in Moscow double derrp…
Rob
Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 11:01 AMI have an Optus account, and get a reliable 10mb/s download. 1Tb of download PLUS all calls in Australia for $99 per monmth. This is just going to be terrible. I will be paying way more for less download and NO phone calls!!!