Telstra attacks terabyte fad

One of Telstra's competitor intelligence specialists has attacked the rationality of terabyte plans, saying that they're more about grabbing headlines than serving customers.

Heath Gibson, competitor intelligence specialist for Telstra's Enterprise and Government division, questioned the need for the plans on Telstra's Exchange blog.

"While my inner geek is salivating at the possibilities, the analyst in me is questioning just how many people currently need, or could even use, a terabyte of data each and every month," he said.

Multiple internet service providers (ISPs) recently brought out plans allowing customers over a terabyte in downloads a month, including iiNet, Primus and Internode.

Heath quoted recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures which showed that broadband users averaged under 10 gigabytes a month.

"A one terabyte plan is therefore about a hundred times bigger than what a typical fixed-line user currently consumes," he said.

Heath said the plans are used mostly to attract attention.

"For now my advice to most people would be to look past the attention-grabbing headline, check how big a plan you really need and keep in mind all the other things that go in to making a great ISP," he said.

Dodo has also lashed out at the terabyte mentality, offering a 3 terabyte plan for a mere five cents less than its unlimited plan.