Whilst the telco heavyweight is lowering the bar of Net access with lower entry costs, it will sting dial-up users of its most popular “Essential” plan who do not sign up for a year with an additional AU$4 a month fee. And a contractual minefield will face those who do sign up to the year-long contract, with users unable to dodge early termination fees that could mount to AU$48.
Telstra executive director broadband and online services Greg Willis billed the early termination fee as a “prudent business practice” that puts all customers “on the same footing”.
Although dial-up Internet access will be available to customers from AU$5.95 a month, under a limited hour plan, users will be whacked with a reported AU$14.95 fee for helpdesk enquiries beyond the first month, unless the enquiry relates to a problem caused by the telco itself. No specifics were given.
The new pricing regime, in which Telstra’s preaches “pay for what you need”, also heralds the arrival of a 1gigabyte (GB) broadband plan for ADSL and cable customers, but says nothing about 3GB plans – which most users are on. Information leaked to the press shows that 3GB residential plans are set to rise AU$6 a month for ADSL users and AU$21 for cable customers.
Telstra claims most of its broadband customers actually use less than 1GB of data a month.
The new Net charges comes at a time when the dominant telco’s new mobile pricing plan is not yet hot off the press. Some Telstra mobile users will also be locked into 12-month contracts – a move that has been heavily criticised as counteracting Mobile Number Portablility and which is under investigation from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
The new Net access plans will be effective as of February 1. Customers will be able to exit current plans without incurring penalties.
Monopolies will do everything they can get away with.