Just weeks after Internode revamped its broadband plans, managing director Simon Hackett (pictured) has revealed the national broadband provider is again considering its options, as Australia’s ISP industry continues to be shaken up by massive download quota increases.
Last week iiNet launched what it claimed was the nation’s first broadband plan with a terabyte download quota — a move soon after followed by similar plan releases from Primus and TPG. Others such as Dodo have revamped “unlimited” plan offerings and Spin has even promised a 2TB plan — although no pricing is as yet available and the company has not responded to an enquiry asking for more details.
“Despite having only just revised its plans a few weeks ago, Internode will indeed respond commercially to various significant changes in the marketplace,” said Hackett on the forums of broadband information site Whirlpool. This story was first broken by Computerworld.
“We’re currently waiting on some answers to important and relevant questions from various suppliers over the next few weeks, before we can fully determine and release our next plan revisions … When we’re ready, we’ll just do it — as we did with the previous round of changes.”
Hackett said Internode’s response to the quota war would be “substantial” and that the changes concerned would be “significant”.
Internode currently appears to have two major suppliers — Optus and Telstra.
Internode customers had been speculating feverishly about the plan changes over the past week and immediately started discussing Hackett’s announcement — although not all comments were immediately positive.
“I thought Thodey is a more approachable guy? It doesn’t need weeks, does it ;-),” one poster gently teased Hackett. “I’ll take a guess and say that there won’t be any love for those of us on [zone 2/zone 3] Telstra Wholesale ports though,” wrote another.
The current broadband quota war was kicked off by Telstra in late July when the company dramatically cut prices on a range of its plans, including a massive chop on its 200GB Elite plan which saw monthly prices drop from $179.95 to just $89.95.
The price changes were immediately greeted by complaints levelled at the telco by rivals to the national competition regulator.
Image credit: Internode
Why bother with capping it? Someone have the balls and go UNLIMITED – much sexier then 2TB of downloads
I think the ISP answer to this is “Do you want to send us broke??”
However I agree with the sentiment ;)
Internode really needs to sort out Telstra Wholesale pricing as soon as possible. Their Zone2/Zone3 customers are really suffering at the moment and I can imagine Internode is losing a lot of business to Bigpond because of this.
We are one of those Big T carrier Z2-3 Internode customers AND we shall be staying with them as our ISP of choice for the foreseeable future.
I have always had positive experiences and interactions with their highly professional and capable Technical Support Reps. I put my trust in Simon and his team to deliver our services and the Day when we can go fully over to them for everything telco will be a day of celebration in our household.
One only has to do a bit of research into the user stories of those who have “Rapid Churned” to BP internet. Sign Up issues, dropouts, speed issues and locked in safely for twenty four months … I have learn’t to be patient and sit out the Uncertain times of ” T’s Market aggression”
Keith, you’re absolutely right about the quality of Internode’s provision and service versus Telstra. My family are also stuck on a Telstra port, and will also be delighted the day we can switch all our services to Internode.
However, BigPond does gain a great many new customers whenever it does its strategic price cuts. These are generally people who think all ISPs are equal (sort of like electricity companies) and thus make their decision based on price. These people don’t expect to need direct contact and support, because it’s all magic (like electricity) and will just work.
The discount for bundling BigPond with one’s phone account is also a potent financial motivator. So, taking strained budgets and ignorance into account, Telstra does very well out of selling Internet retail services under wholesale cost.
I guess a short delay while they run the numbers might lose them a few of those customers whose primary concern is how many movies and TV episodes they can download. For my part, I couldn’t be happier with Internode and quota is only one small variable in the equation.
I agree John. I don’t think Internode will lose that many customers at this time. Most people who join Internode tend to know the difference between a good and a bad ISP. Luckily I switched to their 60GB ADSL1 plan in July before it was canned. I assume this plan is now losing money for Internode because of the inherent Telstra Wholesale fees charged to Internode.
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