Internode hikes ADSL prices

Send to a friend Print
Dan Warne04 June 2007, 1:39 AM

Internode has blamed ADSL price rises on rising BitTorrent and YouTube use, saying that the cost of buying IP traffic wholesale has bottomed-out.


Broadband ISP Internode has raised ADSL prices by $5 to $40 per month, arguing it is the first price rise in two years.

The changes affect home and SOHO users only, and don't affect business customers. The worst of the price rises appear mainly targeted at plans with very high download allowances.

Simon Hackett: Managing Director, InternodeSimon Hackett: Managing Director, Internode
Comments by Internode MD Simon Hackett suggest it is likely that Internode has been stung by customers using their full download allowance each month.

ISP pricing is generally calculated based on the presumption that some users will use their full allowance, but most users won't.

However, in recent months, most other ISPs have raised their prices, which may have seen an influx of high downloaders defecting to Internode.

"Since our last major plan changes, we have seen a boom in data-intensive online services such as BitTorrent and YouTube," Hackett said.

"As a result, average download volumes are increasing across all plans due to customers using these data-rich services. At the same time, the cost of delivering IP traffic has ceased to decline."

Internode said it had announced the introduction of a system that allows customers to buy extra 'data blocks' if they are coming close to their monthly quotas and want to buy more access at full speed.

Internode customers have the choice of moving to a different plan that suits their needs or moving to a different ISP with no fees charged by Internode.

Double whammy

Internode also says it is tightening controls on the speed of users' internet connections if they exceed their monthly allowance.

Currently, Internode has one of the more generous 'shaping' policies on the market, slowing SOHO users' internet connections to 128Kbit/s once they exceed their download allowance (while home users get a more standard 64Kbit/s).

It now says that if users go over their allowance by a further 3GB, Internode may apply 'additional access constraints', though it didn't specify exactly what these would be.

It's understood that Internode may be considering some differential traffic shaping once users exceed 3GB beyond their monthly allowance -- for example, YouTube and BitTorrent traffic might be slowed further or stopped, while web and email access will remain open.

The new plans


Post your comment



Comments

 RSS feed Email alert

Doug:

Hers I was getting ready to cgange ISP to Internode Hoome 1500 Power20 now it is going to cost me &20 a month more than IO bugeted for. So long Goodbye farewell

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

McBanjo:

No, no, no, nooooo. No, how can they do this? Once my plan rolled over I was determined to 'up' my plan to ADSL2+. Bad move by Internode. Now instead of getting another $30 a month of my cash ($360 a year), they get nothing.

You need to look at this from a consumer point of view. Sure it's only $10 a month, but that's $120 a year. Big difference. I hope they bring prices down again in the future.

But I appreciate their honest approach to this, they are not charging any fees for early cancellation or line speed change, which means I wont be changing ISPs anytime soon.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Mike:

these price increases is just Telstra increasing the price of BB via the backdoor.
As the increases have been industry wide.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

raindog:

My Node plan remains the same, and even if it doubled it would still be less than a quarter of what the same would cost me from Bigpond.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

webmonkey44:

Ouch! that will hurt those with a tight budget.

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Nila:

"haven't increased them in two years???"

That's meant to be a positive thing?? lmfao.

In most other parts of the world the prices are decreasing and the speeds increasing, in Australia, not only do they consider that they shouldn't be dropping them but they think they should actually put them up??

Glad to see all the breakthroughs and drop of technology costs is coming back to us and saving us money!

29 February 2008, 8:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tony Brown:

Good morning all :) I've been with Internode now for about 15 months. Started with them when my old ISP (BoldWeb)was taken over by some WA company.
Initially I was on a 8Gb/month limit for $29.95 + fees which has now become 5GB/month for $40.95 per month including fees. I mean the guys want to direct/debit my bank acoount so I can save $3.50 (shock/horror) I think it's a bit much but as I never use my limit I guess I'll just have to put up with it.
And in all my dealings over the last nine years I've never considered Telstra/BigPond as a provider :):)
Cyas later and have a good day
Tony Brown.

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Not signed in
anonymous user Anonymous user


Tags