Telstra hoses down broadband pricing expectations

By Iain Ferguson
12 February 2003 01:10 PM
Tags: milne, broadband, telstra, iain, ferguson, whirlpool, dsl, hose
Telstra's broadband services head has moved to hose down debate over DSL broadband service pricing as the telecommunications heavyweight prepares a huge marketing push to meet its goal of one million customers by 2005.

Justin Milne told ZDNet Australia   any comprehensive restructuring of pricing was "not on the radar," with any adjustments likely to involve "tweaking" only.

Milne's comments follow a week of debate over pricing fuelled by the posting on broadband community site Whirlpool of questions asked by market researchers of Big Pond users regarding options for change to various aspects of the company's broadband offerings.

One of the questions asked was whether users would be prepared to pay a surcharge for a faster response time to "resolve" any technical issues Telstra may be having.

Milne said later some tech-savvy users of Telstra's DSL broadband offering may benefit from a cheaper plan that would include lower tiers of support.

However, Milne reiterated plans to continue surveying its customer base about various aspects of Bigpond broadband service. He foreshadowed the introduction of what he described as a "permanent online survey" through which users could provide feedback about their experiences.

He said part of his brief at Telstra was to re-energise the customer service focus of broadband staff at the carrier.

Telstra tonight in Sydney officially launches its DSL self-install product, which the carrier claims can bring service online in eight clicks in less than six minutes for some users and 12 minutes or so on average.

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Talkback 3 comments

    Why drop charges for tech savv ...Anonymous -- 12/02/03

    Why drop charges for tech savvy people when all you need to do is increase chagres for non-tech savvy people?

    After all, Macdonald's don't give you a discount on the price of a Big Mac if you ask them to leave out the cheese, but they charge you extra if you want more cheese.

    Why would Telstra be any different?

    Telstra is one of few that cha ...John Huett -- 13/02/03

    Telstra is one of few that charge for uploads, their pricing is still the most expensive, and the tech support isn't that great anyway. For people like myself that are IT professionals, it seems a great way to save costs, by being able to select what services you are paying for, ie. Tech support. People like myself (and at least 50% of the DSL population), just want the broadband connection...

    Telstra is merely a money hung ...Howard Bailey -- 15/02/03

    Telstra is merely a money hungry monoply that people unfortunately have to live with. While I have no choice with my landline phone, it would be a cold day in hell before I took up anything to do with the internet and Telstra. Though only on dialup connection I am more than happy with my ISP "IHUG" who truly know how to look after clients. On top of a reasonable monthly charge they also have a program that aids newbies with viruses before they can be downloaded. Broadband with Telstra? No way. Broadband with Ihug or someone other? Perhaps. The whole issue is still pricing. While the current pricing may be fine for young, well paid, computer savvy know it alls, it is well out of the range for pensioners like myself, who live from week to week, and who, incidentally, are the age range taking up the the computer in the largest numbers. Dial up may be slow but it is still the only way a pensioner can surf the net for a reasonable price.

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