Telecom Retail has slashed the cost of its business and consumer broadband plans in preparation for the rollout of ADSL2+.
Ralph Brayham, Telecom’s general manager of broadband, today announced improved plans that deliver up to double the broadband cap of previous plans without throttling upload speeds.
Business plans start at$59.95. Previously the data cap on this plan was 3GB but this moves to 15GB. A $79.95 plan offers a cap of 40GB (previously 15GB) while the top plan at $109.95 moves from 30Gb to 60GB.
For consumers, entry level is $29.95 with the cap moving from 200MB to 500MB. A $49.95 plan now offers a 10GB cap, up from 6GB, while $59.95 delivers 20GB, up from 10GB.
The top plan is now $79.95 offering 40GB, up from 15GB.
The changes see previous top-end plans dropped entirely: $99.95 and $149.95 consumer plans which offered up to a 50GB cap; and a $109.95 business plan with a 60GB cap.
Upload limits of 128kb have also been removed to deliver maximum speeds up and down.
Brayham says Telecom has been working on the plans for some time, aware that rich media downloads and customer time online were increasing fast. Customers will be moved automatically to the best equivalent plans and can change plans any time, he says.
Brayham says Telecom is also allowing more local software update downloads to move traffic from international connections to the local network and save money.
It is also investing in http caching to boost performance and save customers megabytes on their plans using network caching company Akamai.
Brayham says he is comfortable with recent improvements in Telecom's broadband performance, as measured by Epitiro. He says Telecom has moved from the middle of the pack to number three and will work to improve that further.
Telecom has launched a new sub-site to allow customers to find out whether ADSL2+ is available in their area and to explain the plans here. ADSL2+ offers an theoretical maximum download speed of 24Mbit/s and uploads of up to 1.4Mbit/s depending on the distance between the user and an exchange or cabinet.
Telecom also signalled changes to calling plans could be announced shortly.