No bandwidth please, we're Australian
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 6:53AM After a mention on one of the recent TWITs/MacBreaks, it must be common knowledge that here in Oz, bandwidth is at a premium. Leo Laporte, after a trip down under, revealed our shame in talking about the horrid cost of broadband for mobile and fixed. With the roll out of ADSL 2+ in it's early stages (12mb - 24mb) things were looking up, if you could afford it. But then I hear that the Internet is going to be full by 2010, and I'm beginning to feel like the guy arriving to the party after the drunk guy has fallen through the glass sliding door and everyone is making a break for it before the owners come home.
Here at home, I'm on a ADSL 512/128, which would be around base access for most. As much as I want/need a better speed I'm tied by location mostly, and price to a lesser extent. There are cheaper and better plans out there but due to location, at the writing of this, these are the ADSL 2+ plans I have access to:
| Plan speed Up to 24576 / 512 kbps | Pre-paid data | Excess data | Upload data | IP | Monthly cost | Calc TCO |
600MB ADSL2+ (Bundled)  | 600 MB | $150 /GB | Counted | Dynamic | $59.95 /mo |  |
| 600MB ADSL2+ | 600 MB | $150 /GB | Counted | Dynamic | $69.95 /mo | |
| Liberty ADSL2+ (Bundled) | 12 GB | Shaped | Counted | Dynamic | $89.95 /mo | |
| Liberty ADSL2+ | 12 GB | Shaped | Counted | Dynamic | $99.95 /mo | |
Up to 24576 / 1024 kbps | ||||||
| Liberty 25GB ADSL2+ (bundle) | 25 GB | Shaped | Counted | Dynamic | $99.95 /mo | |
| Liberty 25GB ADSL2+ | 25 GB | Shaped | Counted | Dynamic | $109.95 /mo | |
| 60GB ADSL2+ (Bundled) | 60 GB | $150 /GB | Counted | Dynamic | $149.95 /mo | |
| 60GB ADSL2+ | 60 GB | $150 /GB | Counted | Dynamic | $159.95 /mo | |
From Whirlpool.net.au.
The big T (Telstra ) has excelled itself in providing the worst broadband plans of all time, and because of their size and name, people pay it. As a comparison, here is an ISP that isn't in my area yet:
| Plan speed Up to 24576 / 1024 kbps | Pre-paid data | Excess data | Upload data | IP | Monthly cost | Calc TCO |
| HOME-Extreme-Starter | 10 GB | Shaped | Free | Dynamic | $49.95 /mo | |
| HOME-Extreme-Value | 25 GB | Shaped | Free | Dynamic | $59.95 /mo | |
| HOME-Extreme-Boost | 40 GB | Shaped | Free | Dynamic | $74.95 /mo | |
| HOME-Extreme-Pro | 55 GB | Shaped | Free | Dynamic | $89.95 /mo | |
| HOME-Extreme-Super | 80 GB | Shaped | Free | Dynamic | $119.95 /mo | |
| HOME-Extreme-Elite | 100 GB | Shaped | Free | Dynamic | $149.95 /mo | |
From Whirlpool.net.au
We could go into the contentious issues, but from experience though my work, Telstra are not the premium provider that the price would have you believe. Internode, whose pricing is above, are one of the more popular providers, but sadly isn't in my area. Poor geography? Or poor penetration? but really, isn't it 2008?
Jason
Reader Comments (2)
Just an update, still terriable broadband to my house :(
save a thought for rural users, we pay a premuim. 1G satellite [lag is included free] download [upload is counted] @ 512/128 is $50pm......what a rip!!