Telstra, Australia's largest Internet provider, also known for being one of the most expensive options have today announced their long-promised quota-increases and price drops across their range of broadband plans.

Although the new plans won't be available or listed on the site until December 1st 2009, the full media release can now be found over here.

From 1 December 2009, Telstra's new broadband plans will offer:

• Ten times more data allowance on the entry level plan - BigPond® Turbo ADSL or Cable plan offering 2GB of included data for $29.95 per month for 24 months¹ when combined with a Telstra home phone² on a single bill.
  
• New high usage plans of 100GB and 200GB to satisfy the growing demand for movie downloads and more family members connecting at the same time.
  
• The BigPond® Elite Liberty (12GB) - ADSL 2+ plan for $59.95 per month for 24 months¹ - when combined with a Telstra home phone² on a single bill. This is $20 less per month than our current 12 month broadband pricing.

Check out the full announcement for further details.

About bloody time. Good to see the high usage plans are capped instead of charged for excess billing.



last edited by Alt_F4 at 13:31:00 26/Nov/09

might change to 100gig since its less than what im paying now for 60gig.

Still not that great....

Presumably this will have flow on effects to other ISPs right?

BigPond Liberty 200GB** $169.95/mth

Ouch. Yeah, better but not much better.

only if it affects wholesale pricing surely. Most ISPs seem to be cutting it pretty tight with the wholesale prices and are still cheaper than the new telstra plans by a fair bit.

Ouch. Yeah, better but not much better.

It's for cable too though, be good for those Melbourne users that are about to get the 100mbit tap switched on.

They no doubt still meter uploads though :(

No need, other ISP's are already (and will still be) cheaper.

I didn't know that Telstra still actually had a 200mb Cable plan. If you only have 200mb to use do you really need 'super fast' broadband?

only if it affects wholesale pricing surely. Most ISPs seem to be cutting it pretty tight with the wholesale prices and are still cheaper than the new telstra plans by a fair bit.

yeh that's what I mean, I woulda thought they could only make these changes if they altered their wholesale pricing - but that was based on the "ten times bigger" plan. Reading on though I see it's taking the 200mb plan to 2gb, which is sorta laughable

What? Not 3gb? I'm disapointed!

Also curious if they're going to stop counting uploads - although I doubt it, as it'd too much of a money spinner/saver for them.

I only just cancelled the second of my three bigpond cable plans (60 gig at $129.95 a month) and boy they just didn't want to let me go. Telling me I'd be lucky to find an adsl provider who would hook me up etc. Who knows, I might switch over to the 200 gig plan now.

This is the best thing Telstra has done since unlimited cable all those years back. I'm not with Telstra but for them it's quite a good deal. And when you think of all the Linux iso's it practically pays for itself.

All I can say is....(and I work for Telstra) is a big fat LOL in their face ... 24 month contract lol LOL LOOOOOOOOL and the price lol LOL LOOOOOOOOOL

Oh sure its better then their already horribly priced/quota'd plans but stop preying on the uneducated Telstra and actually give us what we want

Some of those packages are pretty decent if you use home phone alot too, great changes for mums and dads.

Holy s***, I might actually have a reason to swap to Telstra.

HomePremiumTV 100GB Ultimate Bundle - BigPond Ultimate™ Liberty plan with 100GB internet data allowance, Home WiFi via the latest Home Network Gateway, unlimited local and STD calls along with capped calls to Australian mobile numbers, FOXTEL Platinum iQ for $269 per month for 24 months*.

Currently paying ~ $120 for foxtel platinum, $100 for 75gb internode and ~ 100/m for AAPT home phone.

The world must be ending.

edit: Woah, even better, I could get cable again...

last edited by mongie at 14:14:28 26/Nov/09

What the f*** mongie are you SERIOUS MY GOD MAN

24 month contract is dongs though

Some of the issues I see with this:

1. I'm currently on a 90GB no peak plan @ $89.95/mth - 100GB is $20 more with Telstra and probably has on/off peak periods
2. My plan doesn't count uploads - Telstra probably will
3. I get shaped down to only 256kbps - Telstra slows to 64kbps

I could give a rats about contracts, if I'm happy with 'em I'll keep it going.

Let's see what else:

Telstra home phone - check
Little ladies mobile - on Telstra - Check

Well I would qualify for their stupidly thought out plans, but I'll need to know a lot more about them before I even think of committing, mainly:

ARE UPLOADS STILL COUNTED!?!?

ARE UPLOADS STILL COUNTED!?!?

I'm certain that it'll still count but we'll have to wait and see. I logged in to Bigpond account and the new plans are still not available to be switched to..... yet

ARE UPLOADS STILL COUNTED!?!?

I'm certain that it'll still count but we'll have to wait and see. I logged in to Bigpond account and the new plans are still not available to be switched to..... yet

Cheers, M8. I will be waiting to see if they are.

My next question, as I'm an ignorant "non-Telstra" broadband user, is what's the diff between Turbo and Elite?

how soon until the market responds? i want optus to match..

24 month contracts and bundles are the devil.

Telstra is still waaaaay off.

I only just cancelled the second of my three bigpond cable plans (60 gig at $129.95 a month) and boy they just didn't want to let me go. Telling me I'd be lucky to find an adsl provider who would hook me up etc. Who knows, I might switch over to the 200 gig plan now.

Are you saying you run three internet connections in one home?

But they are still having 2 bites of the cherry......counting uploads. It makes no sense when as a business I've been negotiating with Telstra recently and they'll offer me a fibre connection with 100Gb data and downloads are only counted if I exceed a 1:4 ratio. There is no reason they cannot offer this to residential users.....its not like the data isn't already paid for.

Finally on the right track now Telstra, hopefully a sign of things to come.

Nice Telstra, but no cigar.

Yeah it is funny because aaNet are offering 25G ADSL2+ plans (12 month contract) for $39.90.

Hrmm, forgot about uploads.

17mbit would be super sweet though, 5mbit is pretty dongs.

I still approve of metering uploads, though I think they should be uncapped speed-wise (and possibly unmetered within an ISPs own network). Bandwidth is bandwidth no matter which way it is going. Uncapped uploads are infinitely more useful to me than unmetered uploads.

ADSL2+ uploads aren't capped...

Cable uploads being uncapped I think negatively impacts network performance in a big way.

ADSL2+ are capped, generally to either 1mbit or 2mbit, they are far from uncapped

I still approve of metering uploads, though I think they should be uncapped speed-wise (and possibly unmetered within an ISPs own network). Bandwidth is bandwidth no matter which way it is going. Uncapped uploads are infinitely more useful to me than unmetered uploads.

Why meter uploads at all? It just causes you to hit your cap faster, and for those of us that share files with family members around the world, this is a huge hindrance.

ADSL2+ are capped, generally to either 1mbit or 2mbit, they are far from uncapped

I see Telstra cap it to 500/1000kbit.

I was more refering to all providers :D

Why would you agree to uploads counted........if user a pays for 100Gb downloads and no uploads and user b pays for 100Gb of downloads and no uploads and user a downloads 100Gb from user b and vice versa the uploads are paid for.......by charging for uploads and downloads users are paying twice.

mongie - which other providers? I'm sure they all cap them at some point (from memory)

EDIT: Just checked whingepool, as I said initially ALL providers generally cap at 1mbit or 2mbit with Internode being the exception at 2.5mbit - whilst this is good, it's not 'uncapped' uploads

last edited by HeardY at 16:51:27 26/Nov/09

Internode support Annexe M which allows for 2.5Mbit uploads (its an extension to ADSL2+)

Exactly, 1Mbit/2Mbit uploads are part of the standards for ADSL/ADSL2/ADSL2+.

Why meter uploads at all? It just causes you to hit your cap faster, and for those of us that share files with family members around the world, this is a huge hindrance.

That's exactly what I said!

Why would you agree to uploads counted........if user a pays for 100Gb downloads and no uploads and user b pays for 100Gb of downloads and no uploads and user a downloads 100Gb from user b and vice versa the uploads are paid for.......by charging for uploads and downloads users are paying twice.

I don't see your point- why shouldn't uploads be counted? It's not magically different network traffic because it's going the other way through the wire between you and the Internet. If you upload 100gb or download 100gb, you've used your Internet connection to move 100gb of data somewhere.

My point is, the traffic needs to be accounted for somewhere. Pretending uploads are somehow "free" by unmetering them and capping the s*** out of your upstream is really annoying.

http://www.staging.bigpond.com/internet/plans/cable/plans-and-offers/

From Whirlpool.

trog - I think Mass' point was that for stuff going between A and B:
User A pays for all the data he downloads, including data uploaded by user B
User B pays for all the data he downloads, including data uploaded by user A

They are double dipping the chip. Seems like the norm these days.

Well, for people like me on a RIM network, my only choice is Telstra Cable. This is a good thing for us.

They are double dipping the chip. Seems like the norm these days.

They all watched that episode of Mythbusters and decided it was acceptable.

I don't see your point- why shouldn't uploads be counted? It's not magically different network traffic because it's going the other way through the wire between you and the Internet. If you upload 100gb or download 100gb, you've used your Internet connection to move 100gb of data somewhere.

Trogzor i cant beleive you just said that dude. Of all the people i expect you to realise why its so bulls*** for them to count uploads.

Thats like saying, it doesnt matter if someine sends an sms to someone they should pay for the sms to be sent and the person who receives it should pay to receive it?

The telco leases lines, they dont pay for data (usually) they pay for a speed (capacity) per second... thats it. They dont usually get charged more for the more they downlaod or upload.

The idea behind not counting uploads is because the people downloading the data are already paying for it so why should they get to jib you twice?

The other idea is that usually telcos and isp purchase (making up figures here) a 3mbit connection BOTH WAYS up and down...

The majority of time that pipe's utilisation is like (making up more figures) 80%-90% utilised downstream data but only about 5-30% upstream.

It costs them NO MORE for the unused upstream pipe to be used.

There is also an arguement that for you to request more data to be sent to you (downloaded) you are sending packets to say 'give me more please' which is a slightly easier argument to shoot down but you can get the general idea.

The telco leases lines, they dont pay for data (usually) they pay for a speed (capacity) per second... thats it. They dont usually get charged more for the more they downlaod or upload.

This!

Trogzor i cant beleive you just said that dude. Of all the people i expect you to realise why its so bulls*** for them to count uploads.

That's because you don't know how I use the Internet, I guess. I rarely upload. I never use BitTorrent, EVER, for anything, even real Linux ISOs, because my ISP has a mirror. There's zero advantages to me being on an ISP network which has unmetered uploads, because it means other customers on the network that I share with them will just be spamming data all around the place. When I DO upload, I want it to be as fast as possible, and hence would rather they be metered but uncapped.

The rest of your post, all the numbers/figures/facts you've stated, I don't know if they're true or not but if you can provide citations I'll happily check them out.

12GB for only 60 bucks??? THEY MUST BE JOOOOKING!

Hey Telstra, sorry but I can get 80GB for 60 bucks with TPG. Kthxbi

It costs them NO MORE for the unused upstream pipe to be used.

I completely disagree with this, btw. If you allow unrestricted uploads, people will just trend to uploading all the time. This will mean congestion on links, which if they want to fix will mean more costs, more equipment, etc, etc.

I think from my side of the fence where I just see examples all the time on how fast it can get sucked up I have a completely different perspective than most people. I just think people need to stop thinking bandwidth is some big unlimited magical resource.

It boggles my mind that Telstra has only just realised that people use BROADband for more than just email and browsing. Well f***ing DUH. Ever since we hit 512K back in like 1889, people have been leeching large files and media...

last edited by 3dee at 18:47:56 26/Nov/09

It boggles my mind that Telstra has only just realised that people use BROADband for more than just email and browsing. Well f***ing DUH.

I don't know why you would think that.. whine all you want about their low bandwidth limits, but they've also got a whole lot of products that are tailored specifically for broadband users that are really useful - Games, Music, Movies. They've done more for broadband gamers in Australia than any other ISP (I would say almost more than all the other ones put together).

Well apparently that's what some dude at Telstra was quoted saying... "Its apparent people use broadband for more than email and browsing." Yes Telstra, they have been using it for more than email and browsing for about seven years already....

Well apparently that's what some dude at Telstra was quoted saying... "Its apparent people use broadband for more than email and browsing." Yes Telstra, they have been using it for more than email and browsing for about seven years already....

oh, well he sounds like a dick

I lament not being able to migrate my bigpond cable from old house to new
I am now stuck with adsl

trogs on the payroll...

I'd argue both points.
Telstra is stupidly overpriced and is double dipping.
However, the steam mirrors, file mirrors and other little bits are nice.
but ...
Reinventing the wheel and having yet another music selling service... stupid rather have free traffic to certain existing services.

Reinventing the wheel and having yet another music selling service... stupid rather have free traffic to certain existing services.

competition is good... I think the BP Music mp3s are better quality than iTunes ones as well? 256kbit mp3s at least mostly?

Reinventing the wheel and having yet another music selling service... stupid rather have free traffic to certain existing services.

competition is good... I think the BP Music mp3s are better quality than iTunes ones as well? 256kbit mp3s at least mostly?

not to mention it's a business that makes money
what's stupid about that

iTunes is 256kbps AAC (which is higher quality at same bitrate than MP3). iTunes got rid of those 128kbps AAC.

iTunes is 256kbps AAC (which is higher quality at same bitrate than MP3). iTunes got rid of those 128kbps AAC.

ah ok cool.. I have never bought anything off itunes but thought they'd moved to mp3 as well for some reason

competition is good... I think the BP Music mp3s are better quality than iTunes ones as well? 256kbit mp3s at least mostly?

competition is good if it is actually competing


Worth noting itunes rapes aussies with regionalised pricing : /

not to mention it's a business that makes money
what's stupid about that

drug's make money... yes that's a strawman, but it seemed an appropriate response to your red herring.

I downgraded cause I realised crappy netgear switch thingy was only 100mbits, so went from the 120mbit internet to the 90mbit one

http://www.upc.nl/internet/internet_90/

Internode support Annexe M which allows for 2.5Mbit uploads (its an extension to ADSL2+)

Good luck getting that plan tho :(
My account meets the prerequisite for it however my exchange doesn't support it :(

Graph of iiNet's network utilization over the last 24 hour's (shows relative up/down).

http://www.iinet.net.au/iinetwork/graphs.html

iiNet do not meter uploads

Trog _IS_ on the payroll...

But people do use the internet in different ways.

Telstra make massive profits, so they don't really have any reason to cut prices. I'm happy for them to do whatever works on a retail level, its the wholesale side of things that I dislike about them.

Having been with Telstra before for cable, I would happily recommend them to someone if price was not an issue. They do offer an excellent quality connection and a lot of extra content. They just aren't super suitable for me.

I could get 150gb/m from TPG, but instead I get 90gb/m for about the same price from internode. You get what suits you. I don't want off peak, and I'm happy to pay more for a solid network.

Telstra make massive profits, so they don't really have any reason to cut prices. I'm happy for them to do whatever works on a retail level, its the wholesale side of things that I dislike about them.

So f*** the consumer but lets worry about how a telco treats other telco's?

drug's make money... yes that's a strawman, but it seemed an appropriate response to your red herring.

not sure what you mean by red herring
I was pointing out what I thought was pretty obvious - that maybe they weren't trying to reinvent the wheel, but instead, saw a business opportunity
surely it's not the first time someone has jumped into a market someone else already invented simply because they saw the opportunity for making money? surely it's not the first time it's paid off for someone?

So f*** the consumer but lets worry about how a telco treats other telco's?

Telstra is the giant in the market... they're never going to be cheap.

If they provide quality wholesale, then other smaller competitors can provide better prices retail products.

You have NO cluse what you're talking about mongie.

Trog _IS_ on the payroll...

and what difference, exactly, do you think that makes to my opinion? I'm not a telstra customer or shareholder. All I do is [edit: try to] add value to their products. If you think it makes any difference to my opinion on things you are completely wrong.

Trog has BigPond stickers all over his monitor and computer and big Telstra banners on the walls in his office. Not to mention the BigPond bandanas he wears ...

This pisses me off, they want you to get it with a home phone to get discounts, well the internet is in my name, the phone is with telstra but it's in someone elses name so to get the discount we'd have to disconnect the broadband, and then sign up again.


f*** off telstra.

I only just cancelled the second of my three bigpond cable plans (60 gig at $129.95 a month) and boy they just didn't want to let me go. Telling me I'd be lucky to find an adsl provider who would hook me up etc. Who knows, I might switch over to the 200 gig plan now.

Are you saying you run three internet connections in one home?

I use to have 3 accounts with 60 gig per account (180 gigs a month) costing me $390 a month. I cancelled one about 2 months ago, and have just cancelled the 2nd. I'll probably keep the third and have it swapped into that $200 gig plan. I LOVE the fact that they don't have the extra download fees on these plans and they just throttle you back...no more surprises come bill day =)

iiNet do not meter uploads

They do on Naked plans.

use to have 3 accounts with 60 gig per account (180 gigs a month) costing me $390 a month. I cancelled one about 2 months ago, and have just cancelled the 2nd. I'll probably keep the third and have it swapped into that $200 gig plan. I LOVE the fact that they don't have the extra download fees on these plans and they just throttle you back...no more surprises come bill day =)

Intervention time!

not a good idea to sign up with inet rite now as their in a lawsuit faahahah

Someone explain to me why anyone would want 3 cable accounts.

This pisses me off, they want you to get it with a home phone to get discounts, well the internet is in my name, the phone is with telstra but it's in someone elses name so to get the discount we'd have to disconnect the broadband, and then sign up again.


f*** off telstra.

Probably not, ring them up before jumping to conclusions.

Personally, I might consider telstra cable if they'd install cable to my house (and not charge me 300 or whatever it is).

Probably not, ring them up before jumping to conclusions.

everything had to be in the one persons name when we signed up for internet/phone bundle.

It says it right there in the OP, bundled with a home phone on the same bill and (unless it's changed) I got a notice from telstra telling me I can't get a discount because I don't have a phone line in my name a month or two ago.

Couldn't you just change the account holders name for the phone to yours?

It's not like you're ever going to move out of your parents place :P

I have a special hatred for Telstra this year. No doubt the Mammoth Media boys will be all over this post defending their biggest client but I've been meaning to rant about this for a few days now.

I found out this week that their sales jerks signed my 77 year old widowed, pensioner grandmother up to one of their ripoff scumbag 200 meg plans, and are currently smashing her with a 200 dollar excess because her computer had the audacity to install a service pack.

I've explained how to go to the TIO about it but I don't think she understands, and of course Telstra won't discuss the account with ME because of privacy issues. Ironically she's with Telstra because she's always been their customer and felt some sort of old school loyalty...

f*** you Telstra, you f***ing arseholes, shame on you selling a 200MB plan with .15c per megabyte excess to an elderly customer who has been with you for fifty f***ing years. 100% c*** of an act, those plans are vile.

And don't give me s*** about 'she should know better' she is nearly f***ing 80 and just wants to get emails of the great-grandkids.

last edited by Hogfather at 00:46:33 27/Nov/09

No because the foxtel and phone are in the same name for the discount on that, so it's either transfer the broadband onto the other account or transfer foxtel & phone to my name.

I'll just be content to swear at telstra until a suitable form of broadband that plugs directly into my brain comes along.

Other than this stupidity with the phone needing to be in with broadband to get a discount (especially since I'm on cable and I don't even USE the phone line, WTF?) I don't have many problems with telstra and I don't download anything so 12 gig is usually more than enough.

That's a f***ing joke hogfather!

Your grandmother should go and complain to TIO and also move her phone and internet to another provider because Telstra are f***ers

To be fair it's not really her fault and it's not really telstras either. If all you do is check email then the plan they stuck her on would most likely be fine. I suppose had telstra inquired as to whether or not she used automatic updates they might have suggested a higher quota plan but mostly I figure they're just plebs who read off a screen & depending on the answers you give they select the plan the computer says is appropriate.

Would you rather they sell her the big pond liberty plan for $70 a month instead? There's no over-usage fees on that one but would she be able to afford the extra $$ per month?

This is why I set automatic updates to manual, if I see it's gonna go & download a 300mb service pack or something I check my usage & see if it'll tip me over. You should teach your granny proper internet usage habbits & some computer skills.

To be fair it's not really her fault and it's not really telstras either. If all you do is check email then the plan they stuck her on would most likely be fine.

No, it's Telstra fault. No plan should have excess usage charges so completely and utterly out of touch with the actual cost of bandwith. The only purpose these kind of plans serves is to catch out people who aren't technically proficient or don't know their rights as a consumer.

All light user plans should have enough excess bandwidth to cope with software updates. 200mb is shocking. Even if you just checked email and the news there
are all the flash ads and other multimedia to download.

My idea of a light user plan would be more around 2 - 3 Gb. thats ~1Gb for updates and 1Gb for surfing/email.

out of touch with reality again hogfather
personally I'd hate to do business in a manner where there appears to be no perceivable purpose for a pricing structure other than to milk unwary/uneducated users, and have them dislike or hate my business as a result

hoggy, just get her to call/email/fax authority for you to speak on her behalf and then have at them.

yah simple solution to get them to talk to you. if shes in the new account system which is more than likely get a full authority form filled out and you are good to go. If shes in legacy you can be added as an authorised rep atleast and they will still have to talk to you.

If she is in the new system all the phone operator you speak to has to do is put a service request in for the problem. It will then be shot off to an area which deals with this stuff specifically and someone will call directly. Great because the phone operator who really doesnt want to help you doesnt even have to.

Whilst these plans indicate someone in telstra was just dragged from head office kicking and screaming most of you here would find much better value just by shopping around. This sort of plan change is still aimed at the mum and dad market though.

Also (flaming coming?) you would be surprised at the amount of customer who still Choose the 200mb plans even after auto updates to windows/virus software is explained. Most of bigponds current deals either offer a free start period of half price period in which customers can change plans up or down(this will change though). Its obviously the person who sold this particular 200mb plan who is to blame. Plenty of people in this world who just goto a job to work there and not to care there.

People who rarely upload are much better off with a provider who charges for it assuming the price reflects it. Less network congestion due to less p2p/etc is always beneficial.

I'm just going to put it out there but its mainly pirates who wants unlimited uploads to keep their private trackers happy.

edit:

The only purpose these kind of plans serves is to catch out people who aren't technically proficient or don't know their rights as a consumer.

Yup, there isn't anything else i can do to make family members more aware of how little 200mb is, and how much 15c per mb is.

You're talking about at 1mb/sec download speeds, less than 5 minutes of downloading.

last edited by skythra at 14:36:52 27/Nov/09

I'm just going to put it out there but its mainly pirates who wants unlimited uploads to keep their private trackers happy.

duh :)

Get on usenet and you'll never need unlimited uploads.

People who rarely upload are much better off with a provider who charges for it assuming the price reflects it. Less network congestion due to less p2p/etc is always beneficial.

See but the thing is that the providers that charge for uploads aren't the cheapest, rather the contrary. If that was the case, then it wouldn't be the issue for most of us that it is. I'd be happy to support metered uploads if it was actually a factor that lowered overall pricing but it's clearly not.

I'm just going to put it out there but its mainly pirates who wants unlimited uploads to keep their private trackers happy.

I disagree with this, the disparity in ISP plans has been around since long before torrents. It might be a driving force for some, but the rest of us just see metered uploads as an unnecessary con when comparing broadband plans.

I'm just going to put it out there but its mainly pirates who wants unlimited uploads to keep their private trackers happy.

got anything to back that up with? how long have you considered other possible uses for uploads? the possible cost offsets for the ISP?

trogs on the payroll...

and what difference, exactly, do you think that makes to my opinion? I'm not a telstra customer or shareholder. All I do is [edit: try to] add value to their products. If you think it makes any difference to my opinion on things you are completely wrong.

I wasn't suggesting it changes your opinion. I assume Tepid was joking about you being on the payroll since you are very kind to Telstra in comparison to most posters. I simply pointed out that you actually are on the payroll.

People who rarely upload are much better off with a provider who charges for it assuming the price reflects it.

Big assumption. Unfortunately it doesn't reflect reality.

I'm just going to put it out there but its mainly pirates who wants unlimited uploads to keep their private trackers happy.

Let's just pretend that's true for a moment: so what? You're derailing the argument. Whether some uber-pirate is sharing the latest movie or uploading 4GB of 1080p puppy videos to their favourite image/video hosting site as a backup, the actual use or legality is irrelevant to the topic at hand.

last edited by parabol at 15:10:09 27/Nov/09

Thanks be to PIPE

Big assumption. Unfortunately it doesn't reflect reality.

TPG were s*** for most of all last year because their network got flooded by downloaders. I however was completely unaffected on iinet. :P

I'd say that's reflective.

the actual use or legality is irrelevant to the topic at hand.

If i don't upload on a plan thats being not charged for uploads, I'm still shelling out the same cost as someone who is happily pirating away. In other words, because bandwidth isn't free, I'm paying for his ability to share.

No matter if its legitimate or not, I still don't exactly feel all that keen on paying for a service i'm not going to use. If i wanted to upload something, i'd happily download less. Which is easy, because I don't exactly spend a lot of bandwidth downloading :P

Somehow my standard of living seems to be fine without the most up to date episodes of things/masses of other downloadables (of course there is a fileserver which is unmetered which i can get nearly any legitimate download, and watch episodes on the ABC i miss.)

you're using a shared network - regardless of whether you think it's people using it illegally that are causing you issues or not, you've made the choice to use it

TPG were s*** for most of all last year because their network got flooded by downloaders. I however was completely unaffected on iinet. :P

Big assumption. Unfortunately it doesn't reflect reality.

I've been with TPG for a while now and the overall connection has been no better or worse than when I was with iinet.

If you so desparately want an ISP that meters uploads, there are clearly providers that can accomodate your desire. Clearly however, you've chosen an ISP that doesn't (unless you're on naked?) - kind of undermines your own position on the matter hey.

I understand why people think tpg is s***, but I love them and I love my 150gb cap

No matter if its legitimate or not, I still don't exactly feel all that keen on paying for a service i'm not going to use. If i wanted to upload something, i'd happily download less. Which is easy, because I don't exactly spend a lot of bandwidth downloading :P

This is the crux of the matter to me as well. I don't need unlimited uploads, so I'd rather not have them in my plan. Of course I could change providers, but I love my current provider because of all the services they off. It's not a big enough deal to me to warrant changing.

Actually I think Node just created some new metered-upload plans actually that are heaps cheaper? I guess I should check that out and put my money where my mouth is.

People who rarely upload are much better off with a provider who charges for it assuming the price reflects it.

You start off complaining about uploaders ...

TPG were s*** for most of all last year because their network got flooded by downloaders. I however was completely unaffected on iinet. :P

I'd say that's reflective.

Then you change your argument to complain about downloaders. So which is it? Seems you have no idea what your argument is, or you just want to give the impression you have some sort of moral highground which is again completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.

Somehow my standard of living seems to be fine without the most up to date episodes of things/masses of other downloadables

Like I said, irrelevant. Switch to a different provider if it makes you sleep better at night. Keep in mind iiNet still have unmetered plans on non-naked connections, so you're not exactly sticking by your own standards.

Actually I think Node just created some new metered-upload plans actually that are heaps cheaper?

Yeah their Easy broadband plan. 50GB for $50 or so? Considering putting my parents on that as it's pretty good value. Though my dad wants to make some off-site backups of his files over the internet (completely legitimate), so having uploads count may not be so awesome!

is it me or is telstra cable cheaper than the telstra adsl2 plans

haha wtf??

The BigPond® Elite Liberty (12GB) - ADSL 2+ plan for $59.95 per month for 24 months¹ - when combined with a Telstra home phone² on a single bill. This is $20 less per month than our current 12 month broadband pricing.

$60 for ADSL2+ (not naked but bundled) with 12GB and a 24 month contract thats a joke... anybody who already has the internet (and can see other prices) would be insane to go with them.

anybody who already has the internet (and can see other prices) would be insane to go with them.

In some places it's all you can get. You're either stuck on telstra's broadband or you're stuck on 56k broadband. There's always that wireless internet thing but I believe it's still pretty pricey for the amount of ziggybytes you get.

I been with telstra almost 2 years now... and stuck with them coz of the damn pair gain I only found out about this today.. and I just went for it! I was Cable extreme 60GB $129.00 plan, its dangerous how ddangerous it is to be forced to a plan for a long time and get used to it and finding that they made an imporevement to it even though in the first place you hated them. now im so excited from my old plan

60GB limit for a price of 129 and .25c for exceeded usage to
100GB same price , and now capped to 64kbps

thats gotta be huge for me even though I still think telstras overpriced but damn about time!!!

60GB limit for a price of 129 and .25c for exceeded usage

It was 15 cents a meg over your limit, trust me, I paid it enough times!