iiNet’s NBN plans have just been announced. They can be fast (with the addition of a so-called “Turbo” pack), and they undercut the announced plans we’ve seen from Exetel and Internode.
It’s long been a point of contention amongst the pro and anti-NBN camps as to how much NBN plans will actually cost. I’m in the same camp as Danny is here; I tend to think folks are freaking out for no good reason. We’ve already seen Internode and Exetel’s pricing, and this morning iiNet joined the NBN fray announcing its pricing plans for those in the NBN test areas.
Prices range from $49.95/month for a 20GB/20GB peak/offpeak 12/1Mbps plan up to $99.95 for a 500GB/500GB 100/40Mbps plan. There’s only three data tiers (20/20, 100/100 and 500/500) and a choice of four ‘turbo pack’ speeds. The default is 12/1Mbps, with options for 25/5 for $5 more, 50/20 for $15 more and the full whack 100/40 for $20 more.
There’s some clever psychology in play there; I can’t imagine too many power users not opting to spend $5 more to jump from 50/20 to 100/40 speeds. Based on my own pitiful ADSL2+ speeds (disclaimer; I’m an iiNet customer, for whatever that’s worth), I’d certainly jump that way if there was an NBN cable outside my place.
Clearly, some folks won’t be satisfied with this pricing, although it’s notably cheaper than Exetel’s and Internode’s offerings — although probably not for long in the competitive ISP space. What do you think?[iiNet]
Ian
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 9:22 AMI think the prices are pretty reasonable. I pay $120 for Business ADSL with iiNet. It gets me 400Gb with 14mb/1.3mb (down/up).
You get a lot more bang for buck with these plans so I’m not sure what everyone is complaining about?
Cam
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 9:29 AMI think they’ve nailed these plans.
The costs are competitive with iinet’s own ADSL2+ naked plans already, but with the guaranteed speed, as well as the extra download allowance. The only downside is having to pay for voip, but the bottom line for me would be an extra $5/mth.
I dont see many people wanting to stay on an ADSL2+ plan.
Dan Miller
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 9:32 AMI am currently on Optus cable with 1TB limit with the super sonic speed pack. In other words I pay $130 + $15(speed pack). Paying $99.95 a month for the top sounds good. Still I don’t see any cheap high user plans for this NBN. It is cheaper then what we have, but still could be a bit better.
John
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 9:38 AMIt’s cheaper than the plan I have now, with iiNet.
Andy
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 9:59 AMI think Michael has purposely made it too cheap to maintain his stance that he is on the people’s side. A credit to him, however I doubt they would be able to sustain it if everyone was on the NBN.
Antonia Powers
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:16 AMWho’s Michael? Anyhow by reviewing the same “evidence” as you I’ve come to the conclusion that the price is very much sustainable.
james
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:46 PMmichael malone, iinet owner.
David
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:19 AMIMO they have nailed the price point with these plans. They are on par with most of the big ADSL2+ plans but your getting the huge increases in speed plus unlimited national calls for only $10 a month. If I could be connected to the NBN right now, I’d sign up. Also from what I can see they aren’t lock in contracts? Fantastic news.
David
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:21 AMSorry correction I just read that they are 24month plans. Oh well thats a bit of a downer but still good.
lunchbox99
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:36 AM24 month contract? That is an absolute eternity in broadband plan terms. Whatever you sign up for will be 10x more expensive than what is available in 2years time, if history is any guide. Do you get upgraded for free as quotas and prices improve or are you locked into the plan at day 1 of the contract?
My tpg adsl2+ plan has gone from something like 50 or 80GB/month to 500GB/month over that kind of time span. It would truly suck to be stuck on an almost 2yo deal.
DrMike
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:09 AMHistorically with iinet, plans are upgraded for free and automatically unless the previous plan is abolished in which case you are given the choice to stay on the current plan or change at any point to the new.
Drew
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 1:34 PM24 month contracts are the standard with telcos
panderiz
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:28 AMI’m on $90 phone rental and ADSL2 UNLIMITED with dodo, why on earth would I switch. The speed has ZERO benefits over adsl2 for home use right now. I can stream MLB.com in HD and download at over 500kbs per/sec at the same time no worries at all. Biggest waste of $36billion dollars.
Alternate uses for the NBN cash, $36billion divide $10,000 (approx cost of solar in the avg household, 3kw unit). Thats solar for 3.6MILLION Australian households, but no lets whack in a carbon tax.
Lord Crumplebottom
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:43 AMThose new fangled auto-mobiles are the biggest waste of road infrastructure ever too.
adamthemountain
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:49 AMGreat way to compare too completely different issues…why not compare to immigration, or health, or education, or roads?
Your narrow minded view that what we have now is good enough for how you wish to use the net in the short term future – this is whats wrong with every argument against the NBN. Just because you think that streaming baseball to your TV is the pinnacle of a global network, doesn’t mean the rest of the country should be held back. If we all thought like this, we’d never spend any money on health or technology or public transport, or any other research (including solar energy!).
panderiz
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:56 AMAre you for real, this sort of infrastructure should be delivered by businesses and telecoms, not public moneys. Roads/Health are an example I would 100% agree with, solar is just an example. The more critical situation will be the inevitable overspend that will occur, public service isn’t capable of delivering something so complex (liberal or labor). The issue here is where public money is spent, the bloody internet is NOT this nations current critical priority and WILL NOT be in the near future.
Lord Crumplebottom
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:03 AMI don’t think you understand – maybe you’ve always lived in the range of a capital city though. Which just means you have no idea what’s happening outside your own personal bubble.
If it was left to the whims of Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, et al then more than 80% of the country would remain on RIM exchanges for the next 30 years. With a growing population it’s irresponsible to leave such infrastructure growth in the hands of private enterprise. Growing internet demands DO compare with medical and education needs – especially so if you live in remote communities.
So sorry to burst your bubble, but there is more to the outside world, than your own backyard. Perhaps you should get out there and not only see it but also live it like others have to do every day.
panderiz
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:47 AMLord crumplepants, I’m not saying that you don’t need to improve services and coverage to remote areas. Majority of the pop lives in non remote areas, we do NOT need to blow 36billion (which will end of 50billion most likely) when there are more pressing issues in this nation. Sure take a portion of the cash and improve regional coverage, because I would agree it is a problem and the telcos won’t do it, I agree. There are plenty of other infrastructure that requires, pooring money (the most on a single project in the nations history I add) into 1 bucket is not responsible usage of public money.
Lord Crumplebottom
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:02 PMYou’re still ignoring the basic fact that Telstra and all the other telcos would NOT deliver an NBN in any form if it was left up to them. History of the past 10 years shows they are quite happy to let the system become overloaded, slow and tacked on while still charging premium rate for sub-par services. That does not inspire confidence they could even deliver a 2-cups-and-string solution within a reasonable timeframe.
Regarding using public monies for other infrastructure and social needs – $36bil over 10 years is very reasonable. You just need to look at what we’ve spent on other go-no-where programs of the past 10 years to see that. At least at the end of this there will be a tangible asset, the worlds single largest fibre national network, which may/may not also be auctioned off to recoup investment anyway.
bri_cheese
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:23 PMActually, Lord, that isn’t a fact – Telstra would be more than happy to deliver upgraded services if it could be sure the ACCC wouldn’t mandate that it then wholesale that service at what Telstra considers to be below its cost of providing that service. For example, remember the ADSL2+ exchanges? All set to go but Telstra wouldn’t turn them on, because the ACCC would make them on-sell the slots at less than the cost of providing them (in Telstra’s opinion – which is what counts, as its Telstra’s decision).
And I won’t even go into the USO today.
Lord Crumplebottom
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:36 PMYou know that’s a load of codswallop. It’s double talk for “Look, we would, but we can’t. So have this lesser service for the higher price.”
Telstra already have ADSL2+ in my exchange and they DO charge higher prices for other ISPs to access them. So that ol’ ACCC excuse is fiction so far.
bri_cheese
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 1:51 PMAnd I imagine you live in somewhere Band 1 – that is, somewhre inherently profitable – so other ISPs also have ADSL2+ hardware in your exchange. That was the determinant in whether or not Telstra would offer ADSL2+ as well…
Telstra’s line was always, we’d love to, but we can’t build it and give it away and subsidise our competition in doing so. If they *could* charge for it, why on earth would they not offer it?
If the ACCC don’t do anything to Telstra why are they sticking their noses into the NBN? Or would you rather argue one thing at a time?
Steve
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 8:10 PMIf we’d had structural separation when Telstra was privatised then the other providers wouldn’t be competitors, they’d be customers. Of course the ACCC is a blunt instrument, but they’re only a symptom of that original policy failure.
bri_cheese
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 10:07 AMSteve, pretty much agree with that. The whole telecoms “free market” is a sordid mess…. The only thing that bugs me is people that expect the current Telstra to behave like a government entity, ‘cos it’s not anymore. And the ACCC pricing on (wholesale) ULL is nuts when you sit it next to the (mandated-constantly-priced to retail) USO.
Ray
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:46 AMWe could also install insulation into every home in Australia,
no wait we tried that didn’t go so well.
We could do the solar thing but it likely turn out be some huge suburbia death ray .
Lord Crumplebottom
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:28 AMI hope that they review these plans by the time NBN rolls out were I am. I use more than 100/100 but no where near 500/500. A nice balanced 200/200 or 250/250 plan would suit me more.
Skin
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:28 AMUnless the plans include both unlimited downloads and uploads, I am not interested regardless of speed.
Damo
Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 3:21 PMYup. I’m with node on 150gig a month for 60 dollars ADSL2. Can download, play secondlife, watch youtube without stopping and starting. No point having super fast speed with low gig quotas. You’ll be on dial up the next day.
Gino Rodrigo
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:29 AMConsidering what I currently pay for with iiNet’s plans, using the fastest speeds with the 100/100 plan means that I only have to add an extra 10 bucks. That upload speed would be mighty welcome.
Rossco
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:37 AMWhen can I sign?
bazuden
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:46 AMI’m on TPG’s $59.99 Unlimited plan at the moment. I don’t think I would take one of these plans over my current plan, but I am impressed with the pricing. Cheaper than I expected.
Beredan
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:47 AMDeals seem reasonable. have to remember these are early days. the more people thats on the nbn the more they can spread the 1 off costs and general costs between resulting in a reduction in price.
Cameron
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 10:56 AMIt’s good that they’ve been kept similar to their ADSL2+ plans (in terms of price). It’s also good that the speed upgrades are only $5 for each tier, at that price I’d almost start at the 12/1 plan and just move up if I felt I was saturating my link.
Dan Miller
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:00 AMJust saw the post saying your locked into 24 month contract. Why? Lock in contracts need to be outlawed. Sorry iiNet, get rid of the 24 month lock in and I’m in.
Miffy
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:03 AMWhile I’m all for high-speed internet (what gamer in this day and age isn’t?), the current prices are reminiscent of the initial launch prices for ADSL. Bearing that in mind, if we hold off for, ooh, 12-16 months, the price will drop substantially enough that we can see a range of $40-$70 for 100 GB of internet usage.
Ogre
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:15 AMSo what do these speeds get shaped to?
poedgirl
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:17 AMI pay $129.95 per month for up to 24mbps 500gb/500gb. With this, I can get 100/40mbps with the same quota for $99.95. Now hurry up and lay my cable!
james
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:48 PMthat’s what she said?
panderiz
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:37 AMLord crumplepants, I’m not saying that you don’t need to improve services and coverage to remote areas. Majority of the pop lives in non remote areas, we do NOT need to blow 36billion (which will end of 50billion most likely) when there are more pressing issues in this nation. Sure take a portion of the cash and improve regional coverage, because I would agree it is a problem and the telcos won’t do it, I agree. There are plenty of other infrastructure that requires, pooring money (the most on a single project in the nations history I add) into 1 bucket is not responsible usage of public money.
Tb
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:45 AMThese look pretty good for me, I would be happy to pay $100 a month for fibre net with a 1TB dl quota. Considering I presently live in a well established well to do suburb adjacent Fremantle (WA) and can’t get ADSL2, or ADSL1 that isn’t on a RIM exchange. I am with vivid on their Wimax network ($80 a month, unlimited), I get better speeds on this than when I used to be on the 8mb ADSL1 RIM bull%&$& I was on at my old house. My latency is out this world for gaming, but speeds are pretty good except in really heavy peak times.
People that think that we don’t need to upgrade our current telecommunications infrastructure obviously don’t live in a major population area that can’t get ADSL1/2. It isn’t just regional areas that are putting up with &%$@ infrastructure.
Lord Crumplebottom
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:09 PMThat’s just further proof that private enterprise has neither the will nor the means to provide now-world technology. It’s a national disgrace, that even in high population developed areas, that telcos feel it’s good enough to just tack on a RIM exchange. Not only does it stress an already overloaded network but it then costs more to remove and replace at a later date. It boggles the mind.
Roachless
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 11:49 AMI think the only issue is we were promised that they would be SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than what we pay now. But with NBN Co setting the prices, ISP’s have less wiggle room.
Daniel
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 1:02 PMYou weren’t promised significantly cheaper anything.
np
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:30 PMI pay $50 a month for ADSL2+ TPG Unlimited.
Would love the boost in speed but it is just such a luxury not having to worry about how much and when I am downloading.
So I won´t get to where I am going as fast but at least I won´t run out of fuel along the way.
moloko
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:51 PMa little bit more data would be nice but I think I would be happy to pay that price, since I can’t even get ADSL2 in my area. But the uploads counting to downloads and the shaping to 256/256kbps makes me LOL,seriously 100/40mbps to 256/256kbps is a bit harsh.
StevoTheDevo
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:59 PMMore improtantly, these also blow away the argument that ADSL2+ can offer a similar value offering..
You physically cannot get a 25/5 connection on ADSL2+ (you might if you live next door to the exchange, get a 23/1 connection…
I’m not so worried about the 23 vs 25.. it’s more the 5 vs 1 (or 20 vs 1 or 40 vs 1) upload speed boost..
Decent upload speed is really what the NBN brings and really has the possibility to change the way we use the net.
It’s disappointing that this unarguable benefit hasn’t been spruiked at all!
Thomaskc
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 1:00 PMI personally don’t think the higher speeds matters in Australia at this point. At the end of the day people won’t be getting that much more out of a 100mbit than a 20mbit with the current state of Internet in Australia.
The biggest issue is the latencies that Australia has to the rest of the world, which basically means that your new awesome 100mbit will still have delays when it comes to unline streamer, gaming and every day stuff.
The only place where Australia benefits from 20 to 100mbit at the moment is if you down from Australian servers and I honestly have no idea what you would be downloading where the speed would make a difference (specially compared to price).
Nathan
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 3:01 PM@ Thomaskc. You’re right. Currently there isn’t all that much to download, except for australian servers which provide great speed of which most apple itunes content is on. This of course means that if you’re happy to go through itunes/apple tv you can get HD movies instantly to stream to your house.
The big change will be with big telcos (including iinet) signing up for a new pacific fibre deal. Here is a link http://goo.gl/VUfMA
This means that according to their schedule, by early 2014, all content coming from the USA will be delivered magnitudes faster than it currently is. Top this off with the fact that our country will have one of the worlds best and largest fibre networks means big things for software developers and companies around the world. Hopefully with the insane prices of property in silicon valley, some of those businesses will consider launching from Australia.
Sorry for the rant, just how i (want to) see it.
Steve
Monday, September 19, 2011 at 8:16 PMTurn of the millenium mindset man. We’re living in the age of video now, nothing stopping that from being mirrored all over the world.