Telstra has revealed its new broadband pricing plan, on the back of its move to clamp down on excessive downloading earlier in the year.

Following its June decision to cap -unlimited" downloads to three gigabytes, Telstra postponed its planned additional usage fee rollout scheduled for September following an uproar from the broadband community. Telstra said it was assessing feedback.

The new pricing can be accessed on Telstra's BigPond Web site, but ultimately the three gigabyte limit is now enforced with a fee for excess usage set at 18.9c per megabyte between 3GB and 5GB, and 17.5c per MB thereafter, as opposed to the initial 18.9c usage charge, regardless of excess usage, set down in June.

-If you use 4 gigabytes in one month, the fourth gigabyte will cost you AU$175 in additional charges, or around double what you paid for the first three," broadband community Web site Whirlpool pointed out.

Telstra will also introduce a 5GB plan and a 10GB plan with unlimited speed or Telstra BigPond cable and speeds of 1.5GB/256MB for Telstra BigPond ADSL. For ADSL users, the 5GB plan will cost AU$224.95 per month and the 10GB plan will set users back AU$429.95. Users subscribing to the 3GB plan will pay a AU$89 monthly fee.

The BigPond usage meter will also be upgraded.

"The main difference is that it will be active all the time and provide updates up to the last hour," Telstra spokesperson Stuart Gray told ZDNet Australia.

The new usage meter will also send automatic notification e-mails to assist users managing usage and costs.

The current usage meter has attracted a barrage of criticism from users who find it inadequate to effectively manage their accounts, however, Telstra said it was confident the new meter would work better. "We're confident it will [work better] and we do realise it's extremely important to have it working properly," Gray said.

Telstra maintains it's not "commercially viable" for it to provide a flat rate charge for all members when some are downloading very large amounts of data -- in many cases, greater than 20GB a month. "Telstra does not recoup the cost of providing the service in these circumstances," the telco behemoth said in an e-mail sent to users to layout the new prices.

"We believe the new pricing structure outlined above is an equitable solution for our members. Usage varies enormously from one broadband member to the next and to raise the monthly fee for all Freedom Plan members would see the majority of users subsidising the use of a small proportion of heavy users. Those members using less than 3GB will not be impacted by the changes, while members who wish to use more than 3GB per month can choose to do so and pay for that additional usage."

To reflect the changes, Telstra has revised its Terms and Conditions and Acceptable Use Policy.

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