Back To The Future?

[CoreyPlover]

So the "No Charge" for Off-Peak in base plans for ADSL2 means UNLIMITED Off peak ?

It is actually quite unclear, isn't it? Because one column has a GB limit and the other just has a rather cryptic "no charge" and then you've got third column confusing things even more saying what the relevant charge is.

The other confusing aspect is how the "No Charge" is only being offered on the cheapest NF ADSL2+ plans. Meaning that if "no charge" truly means "unlimited" you can elect to pay more to get less off peak quota which seems rather inconsistent.

I think the pricing pages can be made much clearer and I will email someone to get some clarification

[David R]

If you ask me that is being very generous re: ADSL2 base plan unlimited^ .. unless coming from the 'experimental'/network side of Exetel, it is almost incomprehendable.
With ADSL2 in the mix, it really seems like its back to the future.

Are they trying to measure how interchangeable is the quota nowadays, Peak: Off peak
ie trade convenience for Off peak +scheduling?

Is it a (lowering of revenue) ie gift to forum readers?

There was once a pool for 'greedy' downloaders...pretty much took care of things automatically - they are leaving this point silent I gather.

Then - it would be a strange result if non-interactive things like p2p had to be payed for in 'peak time' to get them Perhaps we should wait for clarification.

Anyway, Hasn't bigpond sealed things off so that customers (ADSL2/X-dlsam) can't escape its infrastructure?
bigpond always ranked top of Exetel's ingress churn numbers.

'no charge' is very generous - but is it destined to be flooded by hungry users.
Disclaimer: My views and my thoughts - merely a consumer, IP(/Exetel) service.

[CoreyPlover]

Are they trying to measure how interchangeable is the quota nowadays, Peak: Off peak
ie trade convenience for Off peak +scheduling?

I think it is all about simplification. Previously the preferred concept was "pay for what you use" to avoid the whole concept of 'capped' and 'inclusive' plans. Now the logic seems to be "use as much as you like" but the implication is to avoid P2P. P2P will always be de-prioritised.

Is it a (lowering of revenue) ie gift to forum readers?

As with all plans, these "no charge" plans are open to anybody, not just forum readers

Anyway, Hasn't bigpond sealed things now so that customers (ADSL2/X-dlsam) can't escape its infrastructure?

You can always escape, you just sometimes incur downtime. The participants both need to support single service transfers (SST) - See http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/bc/?action=list&type=sst. Telstra do not support SST. Bigpond ADSL1 transfers can be migrated without downtime via other means I think but I'm not sure about Bigpond ADSL2+ services.

[LordS]

If my calculations are correct, a 1.5Mbit plan can burn through 200GB in a month (in off peak).

If Exetel is allowing this, why not up the 8mbit to that limit if you're unwilling to offer unmetered,

[David R]

What is an Off peak exactly worth......... in these adventurous times where suppliers to providers can charge bandwidth on a dynamic basis ??

For this I refer to the metered rates on the ADSL1/NO Frills basic table. =50c a gigabyte, right?

Converting 1 gigabyte (gb) to applied capacity you have 1 /324ths of a megabit (Mbit) or more simply $.50 x324GB,
ergo Exetel delivers a megabit with $162 funds

On ADSL2/NF it rises to "$1.00 per gb" based on peak, so a neat $324 a delivered Mbit to those users

5,000 Mbit aggregated =Exetel monthly IP bill ,
so approximately $1-1.5M+ allowing for mixed speeds and amounts generated in cache.
(I haven't checked to see if this sometimes discussed? figure has come down/gone up or even is accurate..I find the Mbits more interesting to track.)

After reflecting on that pricing giving half the month away for free/ 'uncounted' hardly seems like a trivial task to deliver as we are speaking of value in excess of a million dollars pm (!)in extant bandwidth, depending on which side of midnight you're counting - just as there are ISPs who don't split the day in two periods/'waste is immaterial' ..or if they do do it they apportion it to the prepaid subscription - while others play in hyperbole and conflictory definitions of unlimited.

[David R]

As for Off peak's value when unmetered, this truly is intriguing. . . Remember, with ASDL2, the way it is utilised costs the network <$324 per Mbps.

"Average from 100 Test Users was ~9 Mbps". to supply that 1:1 would cost some $162*9 =$1,458 per connection a value of 1.45 TB for a half month used for free. {{1.45 TB}}-might be interesting as I purchased a hard drive from the markets in that range very recently and received change from 150.

If the network bill was $1.5M and not rationed sensibly, this could all fall over with under 1,000 people.
I guess 'Free' and 'Paid' are quite different concepts to mix.

.......So next time you're an ADSL 2 user and you're downloading busily in "Off peak," you might ask yourself "How many gigabytes did I actually pre-pay this month in Peak ?" - and divide your answer by 324..... That's all the megabits you've possibly put in to the system, and for many users the bottom line is just 0.1 mega bits put in..... yet you have been allowed 9 mbits.

Every '67.5 MB' data per-minute' these users leave their 9mbit connections consuming, that generates a cost similar to 7c/min....now if that should be reduced to 0c/min for a period then that is all the more users down loading in that period unchecked.
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I hope the average new user, particularly those more exploitative types can understand properly the subtle distinction between the cheesier term 'unlimited,' and the more practical/truthful indication of 'no charge' put forth by Admin.