Dan Warne29 August 2008, 5:24 PM
People Telecom has started reselling Telstra ADSL2+ at prices that undercut Telstra's own pricing, with coverage across 900 exchanges.
So you live in an area that doesn't have ADSL2+ yet from any other provider than Telstra? Given Telstra BigPond's high prices, you'll be pleased to hear that People Telecom is the first company that has been granted approval by Telstra to resell Telstra ADSL2+ at cheaper prices than Telstra itself charges.
With People Telecom, the pricing is as follows:
10GB peak + 10GB off peak - $84.95 (off peak midnight-7am)
20GB peak + 20GB off peak - $94.95 (off peak midnight-7am)
60GB any time - $119.95
Compare that to Telstra BigPond's pricing:
12GB - $89.95
25GB - $99.95
60GB - $159.95
Clearly, there's not much between Telstra and People Telecom's pricing at the low end, but at the high end, $40 a month difference on the 60GB plan is substantial.
People also has a much more rational approach to excess usage charging than Telstra. Rather than charging extortionate fees like $150/GB of usage beyond the allocated monthly data allowance, People simply slows your connection down to 64Kbit/s once you reach the limit.
You can also ring up if you're getting close to your limit and purchase an additional block of data allowance. Prices are as follows:
1GB - $5
5GB - $20
10GB - $35
People is offering free connection to people who are churning from an existing Telstra Wholesale based ISP that offers the "fast churn" or "rapid transfer" process. There's also free connection for new connections on a 24 month contract. Otherwise, it's a $99 setup fee.
People Telecom's information page on the new plans is
here.