Internode simplifies broadband plans

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National broadband provider Internode has revamped its monthly plan structure, with the aim of unifying its disparate product offerings under one simplified structure, and giving customers small bonuses in terms of extra quota and bundled services.

The company currently offers four main types of broadband services. ‘Easy Broadband’ plans are delivered over Internode’s own broadband network and come with a fixed line telephone connection — provided either by Internode or by another telco. Easy Bundles are delivered through Optus’ network and come with an Internode fixed line connection bundled in, while Easy Reach plans are delivered over Telstra’s network and are generally more expensive than other options.

Finally, Internode also offered ‘Easy Naked’ plans, which do not feature a bundled telephone line as they constitute a naked DSL service.

In a statement issued this afternoon, the company said it had made a number of changes to its plan structure. For starters, its naked DSL service has been revised to align with the Easy Bundle and Easy Broadband plans, and have had an Internet telephony line (NodePhone) bundled in. The most popular Easy Broadband and Easy Bundle plans have had a quota boost of 50Gb in the most popular plan tiers, for the same price, while entry level pricing is unchanged.

There are now just four tiers of plans for the Easy Broadband, Easy Bundle and Easy Naked connection types — featuring 30GB, 200GB, 300GB and 1TB of quota respectively, at different price points.

As for the Telstra-provided Easy Reach plans, Internode has revised these offerings to “more accurately reflect the underlying costs to deliver these services”, retiring a 200GB plan in favour of new 100GB and 250GB plans at price points which Internode said “properly reflect their high underlying delivery cost”.

Internode has also set the discount for bundling phone line rental with these plans to $20 a month — although this discount is not available in all areas, with some regional zones missing out, again due to what Internode said was Telstra’s pricing structure. And the ISP has also removed some minimum contract period requirements and plan downgrade fees in its new plan tables.





Image credit: Ramzi Hashisho, royalty free, screenshots of Internode website

53 COMMENTS

    • If you read Simons blog he is blaming the wholesaler for doing a price squeeze and the ACCC for not doing anything about said price squeeze

        • Internode is not the only ISP offering resold Telstra Wholesale ADSL/ADSL2+, if look around at other ISP’s Telstra port plans you see much better value, it makes you wonder where the problem really is.

          • From what I understand on previous posts on Internode’s Whirlpool forum, the pricing of Telstra Wholesale is different to ISPs and dependent on negotiating skills.

            I think Internode have stood up once too often to TW and are now paying the price.

            It’s interesting that all these changes – and Telsta’s and Optus’ filters – are all coming soon after agreement of $billions to Telstra and Optus with their NBN deals with the government.

          • This is also hearsay: but isn’t NBN access pricing dependent on the number of customers an ISP has? So it’s in Telstra’s interest to vacuum up as many new customers as possible which may be one reason for their recently-released new and cheap bundle plans.

          • no, no, no – the NBN legislation apparently explicitly prohibits wholesale discount (discriminatory) pricing.

          • Sorry the link between ONE relatively small ISP Internode changing their plan pricing across the board, including their own DSLAM plans and the NBN agreements with Optus and Telstra escapes me.

  1. The new plans suck. Short thing to notice is it appears Telstra is moving to price Naked services out of existence. It appears Telstra has greatly increased the cost of the ULL to the point where it is about the same price as having that quaint century old technology, the analogue telephone that they love to force people to have.

    • *It appears Telstra has greatly increased the cost of the ULL to the point where it is about the same price as having that quaint century old technology, the analogue telephone that they love to force people to have.*

      ULL pricing is set by the ACCC, not Telstra.

      • The truth is coming out.. Tosh, you are a Telstra fanboi and Lib stooge… that explains it!

      • Oh bollocks Tosh. Everyone knows the ACCC was only ever much given the ability to make noise when the Political minders approved of it. Other than that, it is a toothless tiger. I much suspect the trend will be for a while that the political minders will want to not upset Telstra till the recent deal with them is well and truely set and the concrete is hard before pushing them around again. Till then, I would suggest to say Telstra is doing what it can to take advantage of the environment that exists to increase it’s profit margin before the Government turns on it again and allows the ACCC to exert it’s power again. Then it will comply, and it will have made a nice tidy profit at the expense of it’s competitors. I think that it is canny Corporate politics on behalf of Telstra’s Board. I don’t agree with the ethics of it, but then, Telstra has little in the way of ethics anyway unless it is forced.

        • what are you smoking?

          Fact #1: ULL/LSS/WLR pricing is dictated to the market by the ACCC

          Fact #2: ULL/LSS/WLR pricing has fallen sharply over the past decade

          • FACT#3 It ain’t any more. Complete reversal if these plans are anything to go by. Someone is lying. SH is or some Pollie. Guess who?
            BTW, I don’t smoke.

          • So who other than Internode have recently upped the pricing on Naked DSL and LSS based ADSL/2+ plans?

            Just checked iiNet the biggest seller of Naked DSL and non Telstra ADSL2+ in Australia, also checked ADSL on Telstra ports, nope no change over there.

          • It is a fact that Naked DSL pricing has definitely gone up over the past year. http://www.NakedDSL.com.au is my site and and so we keep a close eye on movements in the Naked DSL market. Take 3 ISPs as examples:

            A year ago iinet had an entry level Naked DSL plan for $49.95 – their entry level plan is now $69.95! They now offer more data, but it’s still a significant price increase.

            Exetel had a range of Naked DSL plans, including a $45 entry level plan. They first eliminated that plan, but then ended up scrapping Naked DSL all together. (http://www.exetel.com.au/a_plan_pricing_adsl2_nf.php and click the “Naked” tab for an explanation)

            Internode previously offered a $49.95 entry level plan, which was replaced by the $59.95 entry level plan with 150GB of data. As of yesterday the price remains the same, but now with only 30GB of data.

          • @Luke

            As you are well aware of course there are number of factors at work in determining the retail Naked DSL plan price by any any ISP.

            The ACCC set ULL pricing is one and that is out of the control of Telstra, the other one of course is the wholesale pricing set by the likes of Optus and iiNet to retail customers like Internode and others on Naked DSL plans from their DSLAM’s, coupled with whatever backhaul pricing is in place.

            Reading most comments though, despite all of that all blame for less value in Naked DSL is apparently all Telstra’s fault, and they don’t even sell it!

    • @TechinBris

      “The new plans suck. Short thing to notice is it appears Telstra is moving to price Naked services out of existence.’

      As Tosh states ULL pricing is set by the ACCC not Telstra, and Telstra or BigPond don’t even offer Naked Plans, you may not think it is cheap enough but bad luck, if you have a problem with that lobby your local MP about the ACCC not giving TW away cheap enough.

  2. I think this is really going to hurt Internode. They may have the excuse of Telstra Wholesale for their Reach plans but how do they explain the changes on plans that use their own Agile and Optus DSLAMS?

    And now all mention of their free Premium Usenet service has been dropped from Internode’s website with the possibility of the service being dropped altogether.

    http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1736411

    And with wait times on the phone currently approaching the hour mark, Internode’s claim to be a ‘premium’ ISP is not sustainable.

    I’ve used both Bigpond and Internode recently via the same Telstra Wholesale port and ping and speed times have been exactly the same. BP have answered the phone within a minute or two of getting past the menu system.

    I wonder if this is a prelude to a sale or merger?

  3. Wow, all their prices have gone up considerably. Not only that, I’m STILL forced to pay a $30 tax to Telstra each month for a phone line that’s never been used to make a phone call…

    Internode I’ve loved your service since switching over a few years back, but these plans are another nasty jab at the consumers. I won’t be changing my plan, but I will be considering how much longer I’m going to be putting up with Simon constantly trying to nickel and dime me with the excuse of ‘telstra made us do it!’.

    • “I won’t be changing my plan”

      Let’s hope that is an option. I’m on a ‘grandfathered’ Reach plan (Telstra Wholesale) but I’m no longer confident that Internode won’t remove that plan.

      “Please note that Internode is currently considering whether some pricing/plan changes may be necessary for a subset of existing customers who are also outside of their initial contract terms.”

      http://blog.internode.on.net/2011/07/12/internode-plan-changes-july-2011/

      I wonder if Internode might be happy to lose all their TW customers except the ‘mum & pop’ ones who use only an Mb or two a month checking email.

      • Yeah these new plans slightly resemble the pricing they had 2-3 price changes ago, except with a bit more data usage + now they charge you for uploads aswell (unless you’re on SOHO or plan with a power/business pack).

        I’ll be sticking to my grandfathered SOHO plan that’s currently around $20 cheaper than new plans and DOESN’T count uploads (the new ones do).

        Total price gouge mates. But remember, it’s not their fault. Telstra did something and then did something to the pricing of something else, and that made us have to raise our prices or something – and so these price changes were completely out of their control and you should stop hating. Get it?

  4. “I’m STILL forced to pay a $30 tax to Telstra each month for a phone line that’s never been used to make a phone call…”

    That’s your choice to pay a premium of $30, the cheapest line rental charge is $20.95 from Telstra and if you take a Naked plan from any number of ISP’s that offer it on their own or non-Telstra exchange gear it is even cheaper.

    To call it a tax is disingenuous, it’s not just about phone calls, you use the line for your BB and it needs to be maintained and faults fixed like any other utility line/pipe based service, it’s just like the standard service charge on your gas and electricity bills.

    • I actually live and work in a regional area where Internode is forced to use Telstra’s gear at the exchange.

      Not only does the whole of Northern NSW not have access to Naked plans, I also have several customers who are forced to dish out the $30~ line rental fee in order just to have an Internet connection. Puts VOIP and mobile contractors in a stand-still in the area, and is another cost burden on businesses who run fleets of mobile phones or work remotely and don’t need a phone line.

      Naked ADSL good, if you live in a capital city. Oh, and by these new price plans you probably have to be in the upper-tier income brackets ;)

      • “I also have several customers who are forced to dish out the $30~ line rental fee in order just to have an Internet connection.”

        So why cannot they have Telstra Homeline Budget at $20.95?

        • Because it’s usually cheaper to get bundled plans with an ISP rather than just their ADSL service. It only becomes feasible to get a phone line with Telstra, and your Internet with another ISP when you are looking at the lower end plans with small amounts of bandwidth, and even then the savings are minuscule.

          • Yes I understand how it works, the point is though they are not forced into paying the $30/mth for line rental are they?

            It’s all about evaluating value across line rental/ADSL options across all ISP’s not just Internode and not being locked into Nodeline, Internodes resold Telstra PSTN product just because that’s the way Internode have set up their best value BB plans to suit Internode.

          • Well yeah.. you’re wrong buddy.

            People who don’t live in capital cities don’t have the option of not paying for line rental and just a broadband service, regardless of how pure you think their business models are.

          • “don’t have the option of not paying for line rental and just a broadband service,”

            That wasn’t the point of my post, I wasn’t referring to Naked DSL in that instance,it’s just that regional and rural customers can buy Telstra HLB at $20.05/mth like anyone can in a capital city, and mix and match with a multiple ISP ADSL plans.

          • And furthermore, the pricing models for bundled packages and even phone lines with other companies which people are forced to subscribe to are often not even required (as some people just want Internet, like my self and several businesses I contract for). It is for these reasons I consider phone line rental a ‘tax’ rather than a ‘service’.

          • “. It is for these reasons I consider phone line rental a ‘tax’ rather than a ‘service’.”

            So if the phone line requires maintenance or requires a fault to be fixed you figure Telstra should wear that cost for zip why?

          • Yep I have 4 Unwanted telephone lines at our business for ADSL connections we don’t need them because we use digital lines for a 100number range for commander style phone system.

          • So if you have 4 unwanted phone lines get them disconnected and stop paying line rental on them, is that too hard?

          • Actually Alain, it most probably is impossible for Mathew. If those services are in an area where there is no competative backhaul available, the only equipment those poor people can connect to for DSL is Telstra. Why do the other companies not install equipment there? Telstra has ridiculous backhaul charges that are unviable for business reasons to utilse. Those economic road blocks resolve as soon as competitive backhaul comes along. There is a whole Government program to resolve this very problem around the Nation, so the problem cannot be denied to exist. In those areas where Telstra has the monopoly, it is a undeniable Australian truth that to get an ADSL service, you must compulsorarily get a PSTN service even if you never use it. Just like we get no choice about death and taxes, in the Telstra world, no phone…no ADSL for you.

          • Sorry you have a drastically different reading on what a ‘unwanted telephone line’ is to me, and also the words ‘we don’t need them’.

            I offered a simple solution, disconnect them and stop paying for them.

            You then waffling on about agenda driven rubbish about back haul, economic roadblocks etc etc is I take it something you needed to get off your chest at the earliest opportunity, but it would have been more interesting and somewhat more relevant if you gave us tomorrows weather forecasts instead.

          • so, broadband is bundled with a phone – big deal.

            you do realise that margins on “broadband” are lower than “voice”? if Telstra only earned the revenue stream from “broadband”, they make less than what is required to maintain a target free cash flow for the copper network as a whole.

          • You have remember that many poster in Delimiter and Whirlpool would be totally happy if Telstra went to wall tomorrow.

            The fact that all ISP’s would follow them all the way to that wall doesn’t enter their irrational heads!

            The main point I see coming from all the protestations about Telstra from Internode is that despite all their DSLAM’s supplying so called ‘innovative BB plans’ their total dependance on Telstra Wholesale after nearly 14 years of ACCC control over Telstra monopoly infrastructure and the setting of competitor pricing from it is still a key factor.

          • @alain

            what most people don’t realise is that Telstra is the locally-owned “domestic champion”. if anyone is going to succesfully challenge Telstra for post-NBN market share, it will be the foreign-owned players like Singtel Optus and Vodaphone.

            if TPG, iiNet and Internode merged their subscriber bases and beefed up their balance sheets, they *might* have a “chance”. but you can forget about all the small little ISPs stealing market share from Telstra…. lol….

          • Yes alain, TechinBris does have drastically different reading.

            He/she has a rational outlook on why people have to do what they have to do, as they have NO choice… Whereas because you have plenty of choice (including cable) you care not about anyone else…!

            Thanks goodness we are all (including me who is much in the same situation as you alain – sans cable) getting an NBN?

  5. It seems like a plan adjustment to me…. not up nor down. There are a LOT more cost to consider then ULL. There are companies which are cheaper but in this case you get what you pay for. their contention ratio is a lot higher then many of their cheaper competitors. I remember a friend on TGP having an unworkable connection while my connection was flat out on Internode! I wouldn’t question their pricing. if the service delivers what I ask of it why would I change. I was willing to pay that money before why should the same service now be cheaper?

  6. Got to love how Internode love to blame anyone but themselves. They blame Telstra yet plans on Internodes own equipment are also worse value.

    I leaving for an ISP with better plans, Internode now suck.

      • Ever noticed how a business when they’re begin a downwards spiral – whether because of poor product, bad service, lousy management or whatever reason – start to up prices, downsize staff and product range etc. which only exacerbates that spiral? When instead they should be looking at the business plan and the root problems and looking for solutions.

        Not for a moment suggesting this is Internode’s problem but you can’t help but wonder.

        • It’s also interesting to note how most of Internode’s Whirlpool ‘fanbois’ have are now biting the hand that has sustained their loyalty after this very negative release of backwards-looking plans?

          And the implied suggestion that Internode may drop TW customers and the ‘free’ Usenet access has so many positively frothing at the mouth.

          • LOL

            The pro-Internode moderators of WP must also be frothing at the mouth, looking with dismay at how many negative posts they would have to delete under the WP rules of ‘trolling’ and ‘off-topic’ ,which is adjusted any way they want to it to be to accommodate their known bias.

          • Yes! I’ve been with Internode more years than I haven’t been (and currently am) so I’m not anti-Internode. However, the fanbois have always really annoyed me on the WP forum. And I’ve always believed, too, that someone at ‘Node had enough influence at WP to have topic closed off – there seems to be a lot more ‘censoring’ on the ‘Node forum than any others that I frequent.

          • It always been like that on whirlpool

            they allow more anti telstra threads, they ever will against internode and some of the former mods were so bleeping obvious they favored internode

          • basically, under the new NBN access and pricing regime with a so-called “level playing-field” and variable data tariff on the tail circuit, the cost structure and pricing of Optus, iiNet, TPG and Internode’s broadband plans in the fixed-line space will converge upwards to that of Telstra.

            if one assumes that the NBN will proceed in its current form with $20/Mbit data charge, all of Telstra’s competitors will be looking to reposition themselves in the market by reshaping their subscriber base to reflect the higher cost of provisioning large quota plans. under the current copper regime, large quota plans are “economic” to provision because there is no data tariff on the tail circuit and the cost of international backhaul is falling rapidly.

            post-NBN, the subscribers that are the most attractive to service will be the ones who utilise very little bandwidth. the “larger” quota plans will still offer the higher margins to ISPs but there will be fewer customers on these plans because the price of these plans will have to rise substantially to offset the high cost of bandwidth provisioning on the tail circuit. otherwise, as an alternative to a price hike, these plans will be highly-contended and will lose their attractiveness to subscribers anyway.

            so, essentially, unless you want to run a second-grade and highly-contended ISP service, all the major players will be forced to adopt Telstra’s pricing model. the corollary of this is that they will all be fighting for the same type of (low usage, non-leeching) customers.

            it goes without saying that it will no longer be economic to offer untolled access to “usenet” because the data tariff on NBNco’s tail circuit cannot be circumvented. it doesn’t matter how many retail competitors you have on the open access NBN platform, every ISP looking to offer a high quality service will be forced to reoptimise their business and pricing models to reflect NBNco’s higher cost structure.

  7. Sticking with the SOHO plan (which I’m guessing is grandfathered now) until it goes bye bye then I”ll probably follow it out the door.

    And Alain is correct, people have the option to choose a cheaper monthly rental option if they wish to. I would humbly suggest that most people stick with the 30 dollar a month option because they choose to as it meets their needs…

    That’s hardly a tax. Next thing people will be bitching that it costs more for fuel if you choose to drive further…

  8. Here’s another possibility, perhaps Internode is getting in early because of the carbon tax, but just calling it a price adjustment. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck….
    Oh how people don’t like to pay extra….

  9. I can see how they’ve simplified it with the 30, 200, 300GB plans (and 1000GB plans in locations served by Agile) but it’s unfortunate that they haven’t been able to do the same with the Reach. The new Easy Reach plans delivered via Telstra wholesale stick out like a sore thumb in terms of value. What really irks me though is the fact that only those who reside in “Zone 1” areas are eligible for the bundling discount. Internode lists all TW exchanges here:

    https://secure.internode.on.net/webtools/dsl-coverage-table?carrier=Adsl

    which lists whether they qualify for the bundling discount. I decided to do a bit of sorting and found that in Australia overall, only 20% of exchanges are eligible for the bundling discount.

    Here’s the sorted exchanges eligible for the bundling discount (each state is accessible at the bottom of the page.):
    https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlJh-KEiyDMDdF9ybjZkQk52bU9XRVdVakZHaXUyWkE&hl=en_US

    The new Reach plans also mean that the cheapest plan for people in Zones 2 or 3 is $59.95 for 5GB which is such poor value.

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