Dan Warne14 April 2008, 4:41 PM
Internode says customers who already have a phone line can now get Naked ADSL2+ connected on it, rather than having to get a whole new line connected.
The transfers will be cheaper than new line connections, too, at $129 rather than $149, and will only take two to four weeks to complete, rather than up to six weeks for a new line.
However, Internode is still not able to convert lines that have a current ADSL2+ service from any provider except Telstra on them -- classified in Telstra lingo as 'Line Spectrum Sharing (LSS)'. Telstra does not provide a process for this yet, so customers have to fully disconnect their broadband before the line can be converted to a Naked DSL line. If a customer is on Telstra ADSL or ADSL2+, though, they can convert to Naked DSL.
The new transfer process does allow people living in apartments to get Naked DSL through Internode, as long as they have a continuous copper line to the phone exchange (as with any DSL service), and no technician visit is required because the line is already in place.
Internode says it has been surprised by the demand for Naked services, signing up over 1,000 new customers since the service was released a few weeks ago.
Naked ADSL2+, which is offered through numerous ISPs that have their own DSLAMs installed in phone exchanges, offers broadband without Telstra line rental charges (though a line rental fee of approximately $14 is built into cost of the broadband plan itself). The service is called "naked" DSL because there is no dial-tone and no ability to make phone calls, which is why most naked DSL providers include a VoIP service as part of the plan.
In related news, Internode said today it had made its entire business carbon neutral, by undertaking a greenhouse gas emission audit by "Carbon Planet". The audit identified 3899.1 tonnes of carbon emissions by the company in the last financial year. The majority -- two thirds -- of this came from electricity consumption, no doubt from Internode's large data centres, while other major areas were flights, equipment, third party services, ground transportation and employee services. Internode zeroed out the effects of these emissions by purchasing 3900 carbon credit offsets.