Telstra is -teetering dangerously close to retail extortion" according to one BigPond user dissatisfied with the telco behemoth's new broadband pricing plans.

The telco heavyweight announced it's new pricing plans for broadband users last night and ZDNet Australia has been inundated with complaints from users who consider Telstra to be lining its pockets to the detriment of its customers.

The pricing change rides on the back of Telstra's three-gigabyte cap on data download announced in June this year.

-The 'three gigabyte cap' announcement was perhaps the biggest reaction I have ever seen from the broadband community, and deservedly so," webmaster of broadband community Web site Whirlpool, Simon Wright, told ZDNet Australia.

The telco's plan that users incur an 18.9-cent per megabyte additional usage fee between 3GB and 5GB and 17.5c per MB thereafter, means every additional gigabyte for Cable users will cost between AU$175 and AU$189, Wright said, describing the telco giant as -teetering dangerously close to retail extortion... not to mention the sheer hypocracy (how much does it cost Telstra to shuffle one megabyte?)"

Wright was just one of many broadband uses vocal about Telstra's revised pricing, another user interviewed by ZDNet via e-mail had the following to say.

"Although I have never been close to the 3GB limit I think it's not really fair to change the rules from what seemed to be an unrestricted service when I joined. DSL is here now so why slam us users for taking up the technology in the first place...why not throw the doors open and give us the freedom to use it. Like children we will get over the initial excitement of what we can do and settle down to reasonable usage."

Whilst Telstra previously constituted 3GB as acceptable usage, it didn't charge users if they surpassed the limit, spurring one ZDNet reader to question why Telstra didn't simply enforce the Acceptable User Policy (AUP) to kick off the excessive users, and another to question why the telco didn't move to restrict excessive users to e-mail and telstra.com after surpassing the prescribed limit rather than incurring a financial penalty.

Although telecommunications analyst Paul Budde said he agreed with Telstra's move to prevent excessive usage, he said a penalty of this kind -would have been a good option".

-I would say at least 95 percent of users are happy with 3GB," Budde said, adding that those dissatisfied with the limit were a -vocal minority...I believe no more than 2-3 percent."

Whilst Budde supports Telstra's price differentiation for heavy users he expressed concern that users would be locked into pricing as 3GB becomes insufficient, in about three years time, when the pattern of broadband usage changes in Australia. -Telstra will have to come up with better pricing," Budde said. -Telstra must be sensitive to prices in the market."

Telstra spokesperson Stuart Gray told ZDNet Australia that pricing was something always up for review. "Set in stone? These are the pricing plans I don't know how long for, they're constantly under review."

Whilst Telstra refuses to reveal how much data transmission costs, Budde said: -I wouldn't be surprised if the 2-3 percent [of heavy users] are taking up 20-25 percent of that cost".

Telstra maintains that it's not -commercially viable" to have a one price fits all solution and refutes that it's lining its pockets in moving to charge for excess usage, however users remain unconvinced.

-I have both Telstra and Optus, Telstra at home and Optus at my office. The two are so different in every way. Telstra make you pay for additional users, they cap you at 60kps and they have a 3GB limit, while Optus have only the Netstats AUP (which you can do 20GB a month without going over 9.0) and uncapped speed (I have had up to 600kps) and you don't have to pay for additional users. With Optus I can have three computers downloading simultaneously at 150kps+ each while on Telstra I can only get three computer at 60kps. I can't see how Telstra claim it's not commercially viable not to do what Optus does. I think they just want to line their pockets more. The only reason I have Telstra at home is that Optus isn't in my residential area," Andrew Craigie, an active server pages developer, told ZDNet.

Cargie is not the only disgruntled BigPond user who would take his custom elsewhere if he had the choice. John Taylor a managing director based in Brisbane claims he too is stuck with Telstra, whom he says is holding back broadband Internet for Australian consumers.

-Telstra actively promotes high-bandwidth, content rich media whilst punishing customers for using it. When are they going to realise that they have already alienated their next generation of customers, teenagers? I have to use BigPond cable at my address as there are no other suppliers, but rest assured Telstra the day will come when I move my custom elsewhere as I have already done with my business."

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