Price Increase Of $5.00 per Month On All Old ADSL Plans

[terrox]

Except that it was free at some point. And now it isn't.

[Klaas]

Except that it was free at some point. And now it isn't.

Petrol used to cost $1 per gallon, and now it doesn't. Times, the economy, and business models, all change over time.

I really don't understand all the fuss over this. It's an internet connection, not a cure for cancer. If a customer is not happy with Exetel's pricing of their products and services, there are many other ISP's to choose from - it's all part of consumer choice.

I don't have a problem with people complaining about it, but to keep on harping on seems a bit over the top.

[terrox]

Bandwidth is supposedly cheaper then ever now, according to John Lintons blogs!

Changing prices for the good of customers is welcomed. This happened back in the days when bandwidth was more expensive than it is now?

Changing prices for the worse is not welcome. Especially when it could be avoided like it used to be (increasing limits, reducing prices, adding features etc), now it just seems like a gouge to FORCE people to change to the new plans - why not just say "WE WILL CHANGE YOUR PLAN TO A CHEAPER PLAN OF EQUAL OR BETTER VALUE UNLESS YOU CLICK HERE". Then there's hardly any problem if Exetel just admits Exetel wants 100% of customers to be on their new plans! Just bloody do it and stop jerking around with old plans. - If you're on an old plan out of contract, Exetel move you to a new plan - how is that any worse than unexpected price increases and admin fees?.

They used to offer free plan change when their plan changes negatively affected customers, now they don't.

I'm annoyed by Exetel's change, I am expressing my annoyance on the Exetel forum, what do you expect when you come here?

[CoreyPlover]

Bandwidth is supposedly cheaper then ever now, according to John Lintons blogs!

So. What has this got to do with plan change fees?

I'm annoyed by Exetel's change, I am expressing my annoyance on the Exetel forum, what do you expect when you come here?

A little bit of common sense and rationality would be nice. Plus, this is a "support forum" for solving problems and understanding issues relating to Exetel, ISPs, etc. Not a "whinging forum".

[terrox]

It would do that if you ticked shaping when it was available long ago. Changing plans doesn't remove the shaping/$6 option, you have email support to remove it.

Is that a bug? is there any reason for keeping it?

[Rex Nebular]

I don't think so but if you never went more than 2GB over your limit then it was the cheaper option. I just got sick of the unreliable block page since it sometimes blocked when I wasn't over the limit or blocked multiple times even after I had accepted the extra charges. I was also never sure when it was going to kick in. Now with only $0.50/GB excess charges, I might pay a few bucks a month extra if I got over my limit but no more annoying block page and no fear of $6/GB charges.

[CoreyPlover]

Is that a bug? is there any reason for keeping it?

The reason was that if the user previously selected it for some reason, Exetel assume that that reason is still valid and that the user wishes to retain shaping until explicitly told otherwise. The reasons for keeping it are slowly diminishing though, with 512kbps shaping now applicable on peak time usage on new plans. So perhaps in the near future Exetel will just migrate everyone to the current $0.5/GB pricing, or possibly even the unlimited usage plans.

[davidotas]

Simple question. I've noticed that my plan seems to now be Unlimited Offpeak. I believe in the past it's been "unlimited" but only if you download no more than x amount, then we'll have a stern word with you or something.

So is it unlimited and I can go nuts this month and download to my hearts content or what is the soft limit?

And no I didn't hear about this change in any e-mail nor can I find anything about it in this forum and someone will now point me to it and call me names.

Thanks in advance.

[CoreyPlover]

Simple question. I've noticed that my plan seems to now be Unlimited Offpeak. I believe in the past it's been "unlimited" but only if you download no more than x amount, then we'll have a stern word with you or something.

So is it unlimited and I can go nuts this month and download to my hearts content or what is the soft limit?

And no I didn't hear about this change in any e-mail nor can I find anything about it in this forum and someone will now point me to it and call me names.

Thanks in advance.

In the past Exetel have used terms like "Uncharged" with an Acceptable Usage Policy that says "don't go over 3 times the average Exetel user's quota" which as at April is about 89GB.

What they have now been doing is migrating to "unlimited" off-peak, which has no hard limit associated with it. In fact, there is no official statement about 'acceptable usage' at all. But as you seem to be aware, you should not interpret it as being synonymous with "go nuts and download as much as you can". The concept is more akin to "keep using the service as you previously have been, but don't worry if you have the odd month in which you exceed the previous hard limits". As with most Exetel initiatives, it is a case of "if you don't abuse it, you get to retain the extra benefit it brings"

[davidotas]

Yeah I have no idea about this, I thought at some point I was paying for a certain amount of downloads in the offpeak period, now I'm vaguely told to be ethical about it? So it sounds like from what you are saying is that 210gb or so would be too much? Well I'm in the 80's now so I'm just going to download to my hearts content over the next 4 days and I'll assume that's fine unless told otherwise.

[CoreyPlover]

Think of it this way: $10 in order to roll over to a new plan *without a new contract*. Other ISPs would either not provide the option of rolling over to a cheaper plan, or would restart you on a new contract.

Wrong. I was out-of-contract, then paid $10 for the changeover and have been forced onto a new contract.

My understanding is that a new contract only applies if you elected the FP-D1 or FP-D2 8Mbps unlimited plans, or if you switched infrastructure (like BYO Line plan moving to a Naked or IncTel plan, or vice versa). Is this the case, or not for you (what plan were you on and which did you move to)?

[ForumAdmin]

Topic closed - no useful purpose has been served for the last ten pages.