Telstra was recently forced to change its pricing structure after an Australian Consumer and Competition Commission review, and the new wholesale price for broadband has now allowed companies to supply broadband services to the general public.
-Now it's affordable, so we're not wasting any time in becoming the first company to deliver this in SA," said Simon Hackett, managing director of Internode.
The service is currently available in Adelaide and regional SA, as well as Darwin and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It will be available in Sydney, Melbourne and regional NSW and Victoria in April.
Internode Personal ADSL costs AU$139 to set up, plus equipment charges if required. The prices range from AU$49.95 for 256K/64K speed 300 MB download limit to AU$199.95 for $1500K/256K speed 8 GB download limit, with excess downloads charged at 15c/MB.
The Telstra pricing for equivalent service is AU$59.95 for the lower end service, and AU$224.95 for the high speed service with 5 GB downloads, although at this level excess downloads are 12.9c/MB.
Still too expensive. I returned from Toronto recently and the major telco was offering DSL at $40 a month with no download limits. Either it's poor infrastructure/technology, or Telstra's greed has just made affordable broadband in Australia a pipe dream.