Bigpond broadband- Big price cut - Big increase in net usage?

[Honan]

Got a shock in the snail mail this morning
Telstra telling me that they are reducing my 100 gig cable bill by $50 a month from July 25th 2010
I thought it was a mistake
Confirmed it was correct on my account tonight

I think this is a big boost to the Australian online community, unless of course you are a competing ISP

Expensive plans, with limited gigs were holding back the online economy

I know quite a few people who spent 2 weeks every month screwed to 64k because they had eaten up their 12 gig or whatever

Expect a sharp increase in internet usage in Australia
And what does that mean for the entrepeneurial members of dntrade ?

Will it mean domains become any easier to sell?
Will it mean that developed .au sites get more eyeballs?

 

[Timmy]

It's about time we caught up to the rest of the world. I remember back in 96-98 struggling away on 28.8 dial-up while the American's had T1 and T3 connections for $49.95 a month haha.

I've loved having ADSL2+ for the last couple of years and on another front, my phone plan is unlimited for less than 5% of what some monthly bills were a few years ago - we're finally getting somewhere, and it works for me!

 

[WG2010]

You're only getting the same pricing that everyone else who doesn't use Bigpond has been enjoying for the past few years.

I can't think of a single reason anyone would choose Bigpond over a competitor (where they have the choice).

 

[Honan]

You're only getting the same pricing that everyone else who doesn't use Bigpond has been enjoying for the past few years.

I can't think of a single reason anyone would choose Bigpond over a competitor (where they have the choice).

Does anyone else except optus and telstra have HFC cable ?

 

[WG2010]

Does anyone else except optus and telstra have HFC cable ?

Doubt it. Then again, most people don't have access to it and even if they do, might opt for slower speeds and larger quotas. HFC might be awesome but what's the point if the quotas are tiny (for my needs).

 

[soj]

Just called up Telstra, got onto someone in about 10 seconds of calling, he managed to connect me to the 200gb elite plan (as we previously had cable) and within 72 hours my connection will be up and running. Thanks Telstra for finally realising we need more data

 

[snoopy]

Hopefully it will pass through to pricing with all the other ISP's. I'm starting to regret moving to ADSL 2+ a couple of weeks ago (iinet), could have got cable (double the speed) for a similar price perhaps.

 

[Link]

Hopefully it will pass through to pricing with all the other ISP's. I'm starting to regret moving to ADSL 2+ a couple of weeks ago (iinet), could have got cable (double the speed) for a similar price perhaps.

I wouldn't regret going with iinet. Telstra appears to be moving in a better direction in regards to actually offering customers some value and service, but just dropping the price doesn't change a big, cumbersome company like Telstra overnight. Companies like iinet and Internode are innovative, fast-moving and customer-focussed.

It will be a happy day (in my humble opinion) when we have broadband infrastructure that runs independently of any Telstra involvement. Sure, have them as a retail competitor - just don't have them playing the game and trying to make up the rules for all the other players.

Back to Joe's original questions - I don't think this change will make any major difference in the domain space now. When the NBN is rolled out and is an open network I think there will be lots of entrepreneurial opportunities.