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]