Telecom has launched three new DSL plans aimed at business users. Called Business Jetstream, Xtra offers two 1Mbit/s download speed plans with 3GB and 10GB monthly data caps and one 2Mbit/s with a 15GB monthly data allowance. The upstream speed for all three plans is limited to 128kbit/s and will launch on July 8, the same time as Telecom's 1 and 2Mbit/s Unbundled Bitstream Service (UBS) plans become available through other ISPs.
Xtra will continue to offer full-rate DSL plans, which offer download speeds of up to 8Mbit/s and uploads of 600kbit/s, but cost a great deal more than the new lower speed plans for the same amount of data. The full-rate Jetstream 3000 with 3GB allowance costs $309.78 a month compared to $119.95 for the Business 3GB plan; the 10GB Jetstream 10000 costs $905.78, or six times more than the Business 10GB plan. The nearest existing Xtra full-rate plan to the new $299.95 Business 15GB offering is the Jetstream 20000, with 20GB cap; this costs $1,617.78 a month.
Excess usage over and above the monthly data allocation is also costly for the full-rate plans compared to the new ones, ranging from 9c and 10.7c/MB for Jetstream 20000 and 10000 to 14.3c/MB for Jetstream 3000, whereas the new plans charge 4.44c per megabyte and also have an option to throttle down to 64kbit/s once the monthly allowance has been consumed. This "throttle on cap" option is not available on the full-rate plans.
Telecom's 1 and 2Mbit/s UBS plans will cost ISPs $97.20 and $172.20 a month respectively. Unlike the residential UBS plans, Telecom will allow wholesale ISPs to promote static IP addresses with the business plans.