iiNet axes AAPT unlimited plans
AAPT customers on 24/7 unlimited plans will be shifted onto capped plans at the end of their next billing period, following the finalisation of iiNet's takeover of AAPT's consumer division on 1 October.
(That's not an axe image by Kelly Teague,
CC BY-SA 2.0)
After iiNet shareholders last week approved the $60 million takeover, iiNet yesterday confirmed user reports that it had begun informing customers on AAPT's unlimited 24/7 plan that it is no longer available. Customers will be required to move onto capped plans in the next few weeks.
"The first batch of letters to 24/7 Unlimited customers were in the mail that afternoon," iiNet representative Joe Selvaggi said on broadband enthusiast website Whirlpool last night.
"The plan changeover date varies according to your monthly billing date and will occur on the billing date after 30 days from the date the notice is sent. So if your monthly billing date is the 15th of the month, and the notice was sent on 1 October, allow 30 days to pass, your changeover occurs on 15 November," Selvaggi added. "This means you get at least 30 days notice, plus however many more days until your next bill cycle."
Selvaggi suggested that users may wish to switch to AAPT's 200GB on-peak and 200GB off-peak plan that arrives at the same $99.95 cost when bundled with the home phone connection.
Joseph C, a fellow iiNet representative on Whirlpool, also responded to customers unhappy to be moved from the plan as a result of the takeover.
"ISPs are not a charity, guys. We're here to run a business that we can be proud of as much as we're here to provide a service to you that you can use without fear of issues like congestion, which oddly enough can be caused by plans such as the Unlimiteds," he said. "That will always lead to compromises that some may not agree with, which is why contracts such as the AAPT SFOA [Standard Forms of Agreement] are designed with 'get out' clauses if you disagree with any forced changes that we make."
The removal of the unlimited plans comes as no surprise, with iiNet chief regulatory officer Steve Dalby flagging in July that it was unlikely that unlimited plans would move over to iiNet with AAPT's customers.
"It's unlikely we'll continue support for the unlimited plan because it doesn't fit with our model," he said. "We've looked at it in the past and decided against it quite deliberately."
iiNet CEO Michael Malone used stronger words to describe why the telco would not go unlimited.
"Think about it, who is going to pay a high rate for unlimited when they only download a few gigs a month? They'll take a low price, reasonable volume deal from someone else instead. So all you end up with on unlimited are the leeches," Malone said on Whirlpool in July.