Optus unveils trial ADSL pricing
Four plans are on offer for trial users, with download limits of 550MB, 3GB, 6GB and 15GB, and a connection speed of 512k downstream and 128k upstream. The plans range in price from AU$61 a month for the 550MB plan, as a stand-alone subscription, to AU$67 for the 15GB plan. There are no excess data charges -- once a user has gone over their download limit, their connection will be throttled back to the maximum speed of a 28.8k modem. Those trialling the new Optus service will also have the option of boosting their connection speed to 1.5M for an extra AU$30 a month.
However a spokeswoman for Optus told ZDNet Australia the pricing is not what customers can expect when the service, which essentially consists of re-sold Telstra ADSL connections, is launched by the end of March.
"The purpose of this trial is really to check our back end systems, give our customer service folk a chance to work on various systems, check the billing platform and get feedback from customers," she said.
The spokeswoman would not confirm if the plans being trialled are those being launched, and described the service's pricing as "one of the closest guarded secrets we have".
The launch of the trial coincides with a major shake-up of cable Internet rates by the company, which lowered some plan rates, and increased the download limit of others.
The trial is available to those who registered interest in trialling the company's ADSL service last year.