Aussie telcos don’t usually broadside each other, but this week we’ve seen Aussie Broadband and Telstra engage in a bit of a tit for tat.
Early in the week, Telstra put up a page directly comparing its service to Aussie Broadband, the fourth most popular NBN provider in terms of market share and the largest smaller provider (which we may have to grandfather when talking about Aussie).
On the page, Telstra tries to come across as the best option, directly lining up areas of comparison. Noting that Telstra is No. 1 for average download speeds, according to the ACCC (which it is as of its August report). Some of Telstra’s comparisons, however, are a little trivial.
For example, when comparing “Customer support available in person at retail stores, over the phone, and online”, Telstra notes that it offers walk-in stores, whereas Aussie doesn’t.
When comparing modems included on plan, Telstra also mentions its modem is included when you stay signed up for 24 months, whereas you have to pay $149 for Aussie’s modem. If you’re happy to stay signed up on a Telstra plan for that long, great! If you leave before then though, you’ll need to pay out Telstra’s modem — a hefty cost of $216, or $9 for every month you haven’t been a Telstra customer leading up to 24 months.
Missing from Telstra’s modem comparison is the fact that you can’t bring your own modem — you MUST take Telstra’s modem, whereas Aussie gives you the option.
What was Aussie’s response to all of this? Well, Phillip Britt, the managing director of Aussie Broadband, wrote in a post on LinkedIn basically patting off Telstra’s dig.
“You know you’ve made it when the 400 pound Telstra gorilla feels the need to create a comparison page,” Phillip said in his post.
“Shame some of their data isn’t correct,” he added, directly tagging Andrew Penn, the CEO of Telstra. “You might want to get your team to use current Netflix stats and whilst they are updating perhaps add your product review rating of 1.7 stars vs our 4.5!”
Drama aside, it seems like Telstra is now taking Aussie Broadband serious as a competitor.
Although both telcos are pretty pricey, Aussie gives you a bit more flexibility, whereas Telstra focuses harder on being a bundle provider, letting you have all your home internet, phone, entertainment and gaming services on the one bill.
Anyway, as you were.