Terabyte delight?
Filed under: BigPond, broadband, customers, entertainment, internet, ISP, lifestyle, networks, trends
There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the emergence of home broadband plans offering a terabyte of data, with a flurry of internet providers getting in on the act. Competition has even reached the point where a certain provider launched a 1.1 terabyte plan to one-up its rivals.
A terabyte is a lot of data. One provider claimed it’s enough to download about 200 DVD quality movies and still have quota left over. Whilst my inner geek is salivating at the possibilities, the analyst in me is questioning just how many people currently need, or could even use, a terabyte of data each and every month.
Now before someone claims I’m just making excuses for the lack of a terabyte plan in the BigPond broadband offering, take a moment to hear me out.
A quick calculation using the latest ABS statistics (June 2010) shows fixed-line broadband users average under ten gigabytes a month. A one terabyte plan is therefore about a hundred times bigger than what a typical fixed-line user currently consumes. Even for users who need three or four times this “average” usage, there’s a fairly wide selection of plans being offered already, including BigPond’s 50GB plan.
Of course your mileage may vary, and I expect a quick search of the forums at Whirlpool will turn up people who are getting their full terabytes worth. But I reckon Exetel’s John Linton might be pretty close to the mark when he claims these plans are mostly about creating headlines and that the proportion of users consistently consuming a terabyte will be quite low.
Terabyte plans will have appeal to a special niche and demand for these plans will no doubt grow over time. But for now my advice to most people would be to look past the attention grabbing headline, check how big a plan you really need and keep in mind all the other things that go in to making a great ISP.
How much of your current plan do you actually use? Who is the biggest broadband user in your home? How does your household manage its broadband allowance?
Heath, good point about these plans are mostly about creating headlines. Why would any one need to down load so much information or films for that matter. Lets base the average movie at being 90 minutes long. 200 movies would equate to 300 hours or 12.5 days of viewing. I can only imagine how many audio songs this would be (see my blog on http://exchange.telstra.com.au/2010/10/08/music-to-your-ears/ ). Get a life would be my response. In relation to managing my account, being a single person household I purely go on line to check my usage. I have noticed in a different blog how people were complaining they had to go on line to check their usage. Oh please people, if you are concerned on your usage it means you are already on line. Its not hard. By the way I don’t go any where near my usage cap.
I use 120GB a month very easily and that is off legal requirements
Hi Tonavey,
I’m sure that it’s possible to run up a couple of hundred gigabytes of legal material, especially now there is more legal tv and movie downloads/streaming sites. And I would imagine this is even more likely to be the case in a multiperson household.
But a terabyte is a LOT, and it seems unlikely to me that many households would (in the near term) consistently need that much data.
As Larry points out in the first comment, thats a lot of tv/movie viewing to get through even if you were to split it up between three or four people.
While I do agree that 1 Terabyte is a lot of data, it should be recognised that everyone is different, and therefore will use data accordingly.
You could think of it as preparation – Data usage is only ever going to rise, and adopting these marketing strategies can’t do any harm – Internode and iiNet are some of the best ISP’s in Australia, so as long as you pick your provider correctly, there’s nothing wrong with more data.
I use Telstra’s 200GB Cable Plan, and while I do not use close to all of it, I would like to see costs decrease.
- David
I can only dream about 1TB plans, even 100GB plans, this post is just another of many that is like a slap in the face to us wireless users that are unable to get a fixed line service.
How about stop gloating about 1TB or even 200GB plans and consider how us on 10GB try and manage, we are forgotten and are not given the opportunity to use the Internet as an average Australian does due to that limitation.
Though I do agree that 1TB plans are a bit silly, really they are not needed, I mean how much can anyone really download per month and why? How many hard drives must these people have to store it all is just plain stupid. While many watch videos etc that use up quota they need to take a breathe step back from the computer and rejoin the real world and spend less GB’s on the virtual world.
200GB’s however is still not really sufficient, make it 500GB’s for BP top plan and that will be far better, just don;t forget to include wireless users in some additional quota also.
GW
@GW:
My post certainly wasn’t meant as a “slap in the face to us wireless users” or “gloating”. It was simply an observation that based on the latest ABS stats, it seems we’re a long way off the ‘average’ broadband user consistently needing a terabyte. As I said in the original post, its not just 10x but 100x larger than current average usage.
Re: the disparity between fixed and wireless. I think it will be interesting to see how large the quotas will be that are offered on the wireless component of the NBN.
p.s. This post is being submitted using mobile as a modem (I’m holidaying in regional NSW at the moment) so I can empathise with having to be more mindful of usage.
I’ve gone over my 100GB limit this month, strictly on downloading and not using torrents. I’m 2 days away from my next usage cycle to so to see 1TB, I know that would probably be next to impossible in downloading little things like music, books, etc, but one could easily blow it on high quality movies.
I for one would like to see higher usage plans though. I’ve gotten a hang for the 100GB now and I can’t upgrade to 200GB. I’m on the $88 bundle without t-hub or t-box. I use the mobile combo rewards lots. I make a good $30 to $40 a month using that, but the highest 200GB bundle is just too large in price, so I’d like to see usage upgrades, just like how your people eliminated the Turbo speed and 12GB. I think 50GB should be the new lowest from BigPond and 350GB the next highest.
50GB
100GB
200GB
350GB
I do lots of downloading, plus run quite a bit of gaming servers. I’d can upgrade to the 100Mbps, but I’m only going to take that step once there’s a better plan for me.
“Of course your mileage may vary, and I expect a quick search of the forums at Whirlpool will turn up people who are getting their full terabytes worth.” Absolutely true.
Terabyte plans will have appeal to a special niche <– so are you now telling customers what they want?
Get a life would be my response. <– wow insult the customers, go go NEW and IMPROVED Telstra customer service.
For the record I use only about 70-80gb but their is obviously a need for these plans. If telstra does not wish to offer one then that is their choice.
I would like to congratulate telstra on starting to compete with some impressive bundles. I would like to see an fair an open mechanism for whole to retail price however. I would like to know if you have any comment on that Heath?
Hi Brendan,
“Terabyte plans will have appeal to a special niche <– so are you now telling customers what they want?".
No. But I am suggesting that currently, users who consistently need 1TB are probably a lowish proportion of the total broadband. Special as in unique/unusual case. Note that I did acknowledge that there are some users in the market that would currently use this and that proportion will grow over time.
"I would like to see an fair an open mechanism for whole to retail price however. I would like to know if you have any comment on that Heath?"
I have opinions on this type of stuff, but its probably something for another post/thread, or something I might blog about on my personal blog rather than Exchange.
Ok, not everyone wants it yet, but at least these other ISP’s are more forward looking than Telstra
.
If i could, i would stream movies and audio in high quality.
I would run a server from home.
Alas, a full length feature in 1080p with dolby digital sound is looking to be about 20-30 gigabytes.
Currently we use compromise and compression in a vain attempt to enjoy online media, the result of limited bandwidth and limited competition in Australia.
I would do a lot of things, but stuck on a Telstra DSLAM i can hardly afford to.
Being stuck with 1.5 Mbit and low quota is the price i’m paying for Telstra’s monopoly.
If there were a competitors DSLAM in my exchange I’d be all over it.
When will the games stop Telstra?
When will you get serious about delivering a value for money service, and stop gouging us with high priced services (wholesale and retail) with limited functionality.
Heath,
good and accurate reserach – “A quick calculation using the latest ABS statistics (June 2010) shows fixed-line broadband users average under ten gigabytes a month”
I use anywhere between 5-10gb max a month. when i switched to telstra recently from internode, i couldn’t find a 5 or 10gb plan with telstra. it is either 2gb or 25gb in the bundle. so i was forced to choose 25gb bundle.
this tells the story. no matter what the reseach says, all tecom companies lead by telstra are after making money by selling things we don’t want or need. it would be good if you forwared your research from ABS to bundle team, so that they can create a bundle for an average user.
don’t hold your breath, telstra also only wants headlines by pushing products that we don’t need.
Nice article though. thanks
Hi Litapajar;
Thanks for the feedback.
“it would be good if you forwared your research from ABS to bundle team, so that they can create a bundle for an average user.”
Once activity on this thread slows down I’ll try and collate the comments in to various themes and forward on.
Re: your comment about not being able to get exactly what you want in a bundle, I’d suggest this isn’t unique to the telecoms sector. For example, my ideal fast food bundle would be a regular burger, small fries and a large drink. That bundle doesn’t exist.
My brother his partner my partner and I have a 200GB plan. I download Heaps of music and movies thorugh Zune and XBOX-LIVE plus we all game several hours each week. Aside from that I am a update freak. Always making sure my brother and my partners phone/pc/laptop/conosles have the latest firmware updates available and I only hit about 130GB average.
I seriously laughed quite loud when I heard Dodo offering 3TB plans.
You make a good point Heath, and a while back I would’ve completely agreed with you… However, these days, many consumers have a large number of Internet-connected devices in the household and some of these devices consume large amounts of data.
For example, in my household we have Sony’s PlayStation 3 which among other things, requires an Internet connection and high bandwidth for firmware updates, PlayStation Home (3D chat, similar to Second Life or IMVU), the PlayStation Store, VidZone (music video streaming), IPTV (television streamed over the Internet) and countless other online features – it is not uncommon for “everyday use” of our PlayStation 3 to consume 50-80GB+ over the course of a month!
Add to this the two Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 cell (mobile) phones we have, plus our Belkin Skype phone, two Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable) game consoles and later this month, Telstra’s Android-powered tablet… Well that’s a MINIMUM of 100GB in “everyday circumstances – heavy usage might push that out to 200GB-ish!
Is 1TB+ too much? Absolutely.
But I think you severely underestimate just how much data a typical household uses these days and I think in some households, it wouldn’t be difficult to get close to 500GB-ish via legitimate means (I’m sure there are a select few that would reach 1TB+ through legitimate means, but in my opinion, the majority of people requiring such large amounts of data in a HOME environment would be using the data for illegitimate purposes)!
Hi Gregory
“But I think you severely underestimate just how much data a typical household uses these days and I think in some households, it wouldn’t be difficult to get close to 500GB-ish via legitimate means”
If typical = average, than the data says … about 10GB per month based on Bureau of Stats data. I was surprised myself that it was so low.
If typical = median… unfortunately the ABS data isn’t there (currently) at the right level of granularity to calculate this. Ideally I would have loved to be able to provide more detailed descriptive statistics to see what the proportion of total usage is by each declie of users.
If we average the speed of a person over the course of a month you can find their pace is approximately 0.1m/s with an average distance per travel of 5m. If we apply the same principals to your argument, that of the average download and speed required then yes, you will get low averages and short amplitudes. Your not taking into account the fact that when when someone wants to move from A to B they do not want to move at average speeds or average distances, they will want to go as fast as they can for as long as they can.
I’m not sure who has been working on the telstra business model but they need to get their arse in gear or get fired because you can have a win/win scenario with your product instead of the constant win/lose telstra is known for. Your lack of foresight and innovation is very disappointing, your should never make the argument that capacity is an issue its will reduce your share value. Stop crunching numbers and start living in the real world as an project engineer I can tell you that unless you build excess capacity rather than sit and moan about others your about to take a short walk off a long plank. If you have any questions or need advice email me or look up some independent contractors to push your limits. I am a telstra customer, it has allot of potential but it seems no one there realises it.
Heath your point is statistically valid, but the problem you guys have is that you can’t attract people who use a lot of data because you don’t offer such people a suitable plan. Want more than 200GB? Tough. Sure, demand for those plans will be low in the short to medium term, but having the option ensures that Bigpond stays competitive rather than always looking like its chasing the rest of the market.
Heath,
I can see your point with the 1TB plan. It is clearly far more than I currently need.
Recently in fact I looked at how much bandwidth I use and If I wanted to switch providers. I am currently an internode customer and this is what I discovered:
Internode:
Download = 30GB
Upload = 15GB – Free
ABC iView usage = 40GB – Free
Plan Required = 30GB
If I moved to Telstra:
Download = 30GB
Upload = 15GB
ABC iView usage = 30GB
Plan Required = 85GB
Telstra’s problem is not that they don’t have a 1TB plan, it is the misleading way bandwidth is measured at Telstra.
Actions Required:
Stop charging for upload
Unmetered Free to air TV catch up services
1GB = 1024MB – by definition
Telstra is unique in the way they formulate their misleading billing framework. It needs to be addressed before you can even compare Telstra plans to other ISPs.
I think with upcoming new services such as IPTV we’re going to need bigger plans. Unless that content comes unmetered of course!
Hi John:
If we average the speed of a person over the course of a month you can find their pace is approximately 0.1m/s with an average distance per travel of 5m. If we apply the same principals to your argument, that of the average download and speed required then yes, you will get low averages and short amplitudes. ”
I was talking about usage allowances, not speeds.
“Stop crunching numbers and start living in the real world as an project engineer I can tell you that unless you build excess capacity rather than sit and moan about others your about to take a short walk off a long plank. ”
I suspect this is going to be one of those ‘agree to disagree’ type situations where we could debate for hours (days? weeks?) what is the optimal amount of excess capacity and what is the right price to generate sufficient revenue to cover the ongoing investment needed to maintain the desired level of capacity.
As for moaning about others? Apologies if thats how you perceived it. It was simply an observation about the noise being made in the market about these plans relative to the proportion of customers who really need these plans.
Hi June,
IPTV was one of the services that I had in the back of my mind when I added the qualifier \currently\ to my observation.
Re: unmetering of IPTV. One of the things I would be interested in is whether people would rather have unmetered IPTV (with the cost of bandwidth built in to the cost of the IPTV package) versus having cheaper IPTV and having to pay in a possibly more transparent manner for the bandwidth.
Heath, what do you think about people on the AAPT unlimited plans downloading 45-47 Tera-bytes per month?
Hi Brendan,
What do I think of people on the AAPT Unlimited plans downloading such large amounts?
If you were one of those extremely high usage households out there looking for a plan to suit you, then the AAPT Unlimited plans would have looked very appealing. AAPT would presumably have expected to attract high usage customers on to those plans, but may not have known just how heavy some users would be until after they had signed up.
The situation reminds me of what economists call “adverse selection”.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_selection)
I am not surprised by the decision by iiNet to exit the Unlimited plans following the acquisition of the AAPT consumer broadband customers.
Well we do we or dont we need the National Broadband Scheme?
Heath, is BigPond cosidering making larger usage plans?
I’d like to upgrade to a 200GB bundle like the $99 100GB bundle.
Hi Frank,
I’m not able to comment specifically on something like a 200GB plan as (1) its potentially commercially sensitive information and (2) I’m not directly involved in BigPond pricing.
What I can say is that Telstra does actively monitor what is happening in the market (that’s what my ‘day job’ is all about!); and I think is also making a real effort to listen better to customers – hence the number of plan changes and new bundles that have been launched this year.
I’m planning to put together a summary of the feedback from this thread once things quieten down.
Hi Frank,
If you’re out there still. Check this page for the latest bundles. At the time I am posting this it lists a 200GB bundle.
http://www.telstra.com.au/bundle_save/home-bundles.html?red=/bundle_save/home-bundles/
Although it be cheaer to pay as you go, and pay as you need with technology. For instance phone plans, you be better off to pay a very very low call rate and pay one month at $100 and the subsequent 5 months at $20 then pay a constant $49 a month, as it is more flexible, no high ongoing costs, and effectively utilising the level of value much higher.
However, consumers (myself included) would rather pay a constant price, and get more than what they need then have enough and be charged later.
I could go fine with a $59 plan from another carrier, such as optus which includes unlimited optus to optus and unlimited text and I could survive using the rest of calls calling out of the circle of frequently contacted people.
However, I would rather pay $89 a month and not worry about it all who I call, who I message. Logically I be better off saving that 30 a month, and paying extra every now and again, but I’d rather not have bill shock.
With Internet I moved from a 60 gig plan which I used up almost always with just general web browsing.
Now up to one which includes 150 gig, and use about the same 40gb on peak 20-30gb off peak, but I don’t have to worry about it. I don’t have to worry about the time of the day I use it as I know theres always plenty left over, and most importantly I don’t get capped.
When your capped you will pay what ever it costs if you depend on your internet, for education, your next pay check, or entertainment.
Thats why telstra has a 99-200gb plan. So stop bitching about it, the only reason why Telstra doesn’t have such high quota plans, is because they have a better network, and people expect to receive higher quality service, people would exploit it, ruining other people’s experience.
Other telcos, don’t have the network, they would rather their service get exploited and have that market share, give those extra gigs, because most people won’t use the data.
So although, people don’t need that extra data, TPG, iiNet, Internode, etc all know this. Thats why they give it to you.
90% of people don’t use more than a gig of data on their smart phones, yet there are heaps of plans now with 4 gbs of data.
Hi Fabian,
I reckon you make a good point about bill certainty, and this was a point that someone else also pointed out to me over coffee today when I was discussing this post.
1TB would certainly provide bill certainty, but I think for most people it’s probably a bit over the top. ‘Shaped’ plans (with speed throttling once the quota is reached) also help provide bill certainty, which perhaps takes away some of the need to buy a bigger plan just to have peace of mind.
I think most people here are missing the point of a 1TB or more plan.
etc, we are going to need higher download caps.
I don’t think its about how much you use, more about the fact you are no longer constrained by stupid download caps, which frankly are a legacy of old internet technology.
With more bandwidth available to the carriers (not to be confused with your download cap) and new and emerging technologies becoming more common place like movie, music and tv streaming, online video calls and online doctor consultations (NBN dreams
Though having download caps at all is just silly, because as Fabian said, most people don’t and wouldn’t use all their download capacity.
Remove the down caps and you remove the temptation to download as much as possible to get your ‘value’ implied by the plan.
Caps are only used to set the rental price you pay for your internet access from an ISP.
The biggest problem with download caps at present is when you hit your limit and are shaped to a fraction of the plans speed.
Ok Telstra and Optus are the worst at this as they turn your internet into basically a 56K modem (64kbps shaping, most others use 256kbps or more) which is like trying to flush a toilet with only a drinking straw for an outlet. A 56K modem running on todays multi-MB webpages is basically turning the internet off for you.
Telstra doesn’t even offer customers who get shaped the opportunity to purchase additional download capacity (other ISP such as Internode do give this option). Which is strange for a company that wants to charge you for every little thing possible (ie. $7/m to view your mail, seriously if your not using something like gmail then your paying for something you can get for free).
Finally Telstra could never have a 1TB or more plan. Why?
Could you imagine the cost!
They live in the past. Telstra is not an innovator, its an very poor imitator.
The CEO of Telstra has being very public lately about trying to keep customers and to attract new customers.
As a new customer to Telstra who’s internet connection took 2 months to be connected, all I can say is that a lot will have to change to make want to stay after my contract is up. If I last that long. If I could ASDL+ or better from another ISP I would change in a heart beat.
Want you Telstra need to do to keep me as a customer?
1) Decrease their plan pricing to be inline and fully competitive with other ISP’s.
2) Improve customer service. Admittedly an impossible task for such a large company. (Should Telstra be split much like AT&T in the US?)
3) Offer additional download data block purchases for when you exceed your download cap. If it happens every month then upgrade to new plan, but if it happens every so often then the option should be there to buy more capacity.
If the NBN is completed and Telstra loses its wholesale business then it will no longer be able to rest on its past business practices to be a competitive ISP.
If the NBN comes out (and arrives in my area) Telstra would be my last choice if its pricing is the same as it stands today.
I only hope Telstra can adapt to the new digital age that is coming to Australia.
Because if it doesn’t it will soon be a distance memory within 10 years.
I agree with Heath. Most people don’t have the hard drive capacity at this stage to store that much data in total, let alone every month.
I am however all for choice, but I’d prefer data hungry users pay appropriately for their usage to ensure network investments can be made to support them – the rest of us shouldn’t have to suffer congestion as a result.
i find it very funny that someone is trying to tell us/users if we use too much or too less of the internet and 1TB just a “these plans are mostly about creating headlines”.
if there is no 100GB plan from TPG and IINET and other ISP, i dont think telstra will ever have 100GB plan or 200GB plan.
now we have 1TB plan i am sure others will follow. by posting, does that mean telstra will never have anything more then 200GB plan since “telstra think” we wont need it?
since it just for creating headlines how come i dont see telstra creating any headlines other then on Today Tonight for billing customer incorrectly/poor customer service?
why i dont see any home phone/ internet/ mobile “headlies”?
Isn’t that funny?
lets put it this way.
most of us, 99% of ppl who live in australia drive no more then 110Km/hr with their car.
does that stop manufacture making cars that go over that?
we see cars thats got 250+HP.
i dont see anyone that try to tell ppl, since you dont drive over 110km/hr with the car, we are only going to make cars that goes for 110km? and we will charge you double for it.
and dont worry about other brand, other manufacture just making “headlines”. even they are cheaper, and goes faster.
or
CPU processing power, same thing,
99% ppl who live in australia only need maybe 2Gh processing power.
there is no need for 2 core or more, i dont see any of them try to tell ppl, since you wont be using it lets not make them.
they make it coz its “BETTER”, its the FUTURE.
how about other then telling your customers what to do or what is right.
fix your systems first. have or create a system that will work.
not always have issue with place order, system that break down everytime there is a system update.
billing customer incorrectly, when calling 13 22 00, you cant go to the department that you want to go to.
other then more then 10~30 min or more for someone to tell you sorry you are in the wrong department and transfer to somewhere eals that is going to take more then 10 ~30min and may get the same answer again.
have agent that can understand what your customer want??!?!
understand how to trouble shoot, understand I.T.
not someone thats off the street. yes i guess telstra train thos ppl oversea.
but they dont know IT. if you ask any of your agent that is based oversea what is WEP key whats does it stand of, WPA key, what is ping i dont think 99% of your agent can answer that.
i use to be a customer, but not anymore.
why?!? coz telstra dont give me value for money, poor customer service*tech support too*, bill me incorrectly.
i place a order, had to wait for 2 weeks for L2 to fix it.
Try to learn from apple?!?!
customer first!! find out “what customer want”, what customer “need”, NOT what we will “give” to customer. what we will “tell” what customer should have.
think more about how to create a product that no one can offer, other then how to save money cutting by ur staff member and move it oversea. start from the basic!!!
yes telstra got the fastest network in australia maybe the world but there is no service behind it.
there is no good system to back the hardware up!!
then whats the point?
Hi Razer,
This wasn’t meant as a post saying anyone is using too much, or that people should only use a certain amount. l was simply highlighting that most users don’t appear to need 1TB and that _currently_ I would expect only a small number of users to consistently need that much data month in month out. It was based on my observation of average usage as derived from the ABS data.
Re: your comparison to CPUs. I think that’s a very interesting observation, but not for the reason you claim. I think what would be more interesting to explore here is the phenomenon of netbooks. Arguably, what we see here is people expressing their preference for (lower) processing power that more closely matches the power they actually demand, at a price they find delivers better value.
As for most of the Australians to have a Terabyte plan is a dream for me. I’d be very happy if one day Telstra removes me from a pair gain system so I could have broadband. But after one year of phone calls and bad customer service I gave up.
Using statistics of current usage to determine people’s DESIRED usage is misleading; as far as I can tell, the statistics include everyone who is already on a data-limited plan, perhaps due to cost or lack of provider choice, or who cannot download much, perhaps due to slow line speed.
So even if current average usage is only 10Gb there could still be a market for Tb plans and the only way to find out is to offer one and see who buys it!
Hi Gordon,
I’ll deal with the second part first.
“So even if current average usage is only 10Gb there could still be a market for Tb plans and the only way to find out is to offer one and see who buys it!”
Yes, thats the ‘special niche’ I was referring to in my original post. But what I was aiming to highlight with my original post is that people should look past the attention grabbing headline, look at how much they actually use, then pick the most appropriate plan for the needs…needs which may include more than just “lots of GBs” and could include things like unmetered content, benefits for bundling, 24×7 tech support etc.
Now, on to your other point:
“Using statistics of current usage to determine people’s DESIRED usage is misleading; as far as I can tell, the statistics include everyone who is already on a data-limited plan, perhaps due to cost or lack of provider choice, or who cannot download much, perhaps due to slow line speed.”
As far as I can tell, you’re right that this would include people on data-limited plans etc. The ABS usage data is based on data provided to the ABS by ISPs so would include a full mix of users… including those who have purchased larger plans (say 25 or 50GB) but who use less than the amount they have pre-purchased.
But – even taking these points on board… 1TB is a _LOT_ of data. Even freed from these constraints I suspect typical usage will still be a long way off a terabyte. Looking at some international data (http://gigaom.com/2009/10/20/cisco-data-shows-heavy-broadband-users-are-early-adopters-not-hogs/) shows that globally, the average broadband connection in 2009 generated about 12GB of usage.
Whats also interesting to consider (also at the above link) … Cisco’s research found that “10 percent of web users consume 60 percent of the bandwidth and 1 percent consume 20 percent of the bandwidth”.
Interesting blog, and I agree with most of your viewpoints, Heath. There are a few points I’d note, though:
1. The ABS data includes wireless connections. The majority of wireless connections are mobile, and it’s hard to use much data on the move. My (NextG) iPad has had 2 x 1GB recharges (currently no credit on it). We used 170MB of download. Further, there are only two carriers – two – on 3G networks who offer plans over 10GB (NextG offering 10GB). So we’ve got 36.5% of connections with a maximum available capacity at or below the median average use per connection. In fact, if we look at the data, it shows that wireless connections counted for 13.3PB of data, and fixed broadband connections counted for 141.9PB of data. So, wireless connections average 3.7GB of data, compared to fixed connections averaging 27GB of data.
2. 1+TB quotas are pointless on anything slower than a 3.3Mbps connection. In fact, they’re really pointless on anything less than 10Mbps, because you’d need to be downloading at maximum capacity too great a proportion of the month to get anywhere near the 1TB.
So, for the vast majority of people – those who have no access to DSL2+ – 1TB is of no interest. It’s a very clear and simple fact, as you have stated. In fact, given the network capacity to deliver DSL1 (which Senator Conroy claims Telstra has advised is about 50% – 85% coverage, but only 50% able to be hooked up at any time), it could be argued that increased access and speeds are a more pressing concern than plans that enable higher use of data. Because, for most, there isn’t the speed to consume the data. How can you stream HD IPTV on anything less than DSL2+..?
But the stats do show that your 10GB figure is low, as you yourself expected, Heath. 27GB is a lot more than 10GB. And the 3.7GB for wireless users? I myself wonder how much more that would be if networks offered higher capacity plans. I remember not that long ago, 1GB of NextG data was $115/month! Then it was 3GB at that price, now you can buy 10GB ($100/month). I believe that, if there were more capacity at reasonable prices (i.e. closer to DSL costs), usage on 3G networks would skyrocket. The problem, of course, is that no one – not even Telstra (which has the best network) – has anywhere near enough capacity for that. But when you consider that it’s at least $80/month for 10GB of 3G data, whereas Bigpond’s charging $80 (unbundled) for 50GB on DSL, it’s clear that economics, network capacity and plan availability are constraining those on wireless connections who might use more capacity. Such as those unable to get a wired service. Having been one of those people myself (currently connected to an AM35, but thankfully with a port! You learn the most when you make mistakes – like buying a house without a port…), I understand the constraints… I currently use about 25GB/month. On my previous (non-3G, originally ABG-funded) wireless connection, I was around 12-15GB/month (on a 20GB plan). Given the improvements in pricing all year, I almost signed with Telstra too – only selected another provider because I preferred their unmetered content over Bigpond’s unmetered content (wrong oval ball codes for me).
Hi ‘Who?’
My calculation was based on fixed only. Note (d) to the ABS usage data states that the usage figure is for a 3 month figure, so dividing your 27GB by 3 brings you out at about the same as my estimate.
Hi Heath Gibson, it is good that you have the decency to respond in this mutual feedback site.
It really astonishes me that Telstra can remain talking about their big data plans, and your lower end plan 50Gb for $49.95, whilst Gw and most wireless users are robbed with a top data Oliver Twist plan, 12GB and at a premium price!*# and a stone age dial up shaping speed, whilst some the lucky ADSL customers will recieve 252 kbps broadband shaping, I am looking forward to hearing from you, and what you can do for us.
Hi Mark,
If you look around (at least in Australia) I think you will find that wireless plans generally have smaller usage allowances than fixed broadband. This is not something that is unique to Telstra.
I am only on a 10G plan and own a push bike, keep fit, don’t sit, have a life..
Hi Mark,
If you look around (at least in Australia) I think you will find that wireless plans generally have smaller usage allowances than fixed broadband. This is not something that is unique to Telstra.
Thank you for replying Heath,You are not telling us discriminated wireless users something that we do not already know! I am a Telstra customer, and so I will deal with Telstra, but because other providers give a crap wireless service, does not prevent Telstra from doing the right thing, and at least taking up the data value for families who through having to settle for less than the majority get, suffer discrimination in terms of Telstras boasting advertising,GW and others with families come begging cap in hand like Oliver Twist for a lousy 20/25GB allowance, and we all all seeth with disgust and anger when we see 50GB for $49.95 and 200GB plans I have 3 products with Telstra what the hell does anyone have to do through your desired feedback sites to get a smidgin of fairness and decency.
A writer stated on Whirlpool.
[Well based on the comments on here I have deferred my decision to purchase bigpond.]
The news has come that presumably hard-nosed bargaining between Internode and Telstra Wholesale has eventually secured an outcome, which in this case means national broadband provider, Internode, can boost data quotas and cut prices over its range of ADSL Fast broadband plans.
The headline price cut is a 50GB download plan that is $30 cheaper than the older one, while avoiding uploads being counted as part of the download limit as Telstra still does, despite all of its rhetoric about improving customer service.
Internode says that the plans it delivers via Telstra Wholesale ports are ADSL2+ enabled at 1300 telephone exchanges around Australia, with “high speed” ADSL1 available at other exchanges. ( amazing considering I could not get a port with Telstra@!#*) and wireless broadband only has a 12GB top data plan at an exorbitant price tag.
Monthly ‘Anytime’ Quota
- download counted only
Monthly Price
if unbundled
Monthly Price
- as part of a
NodeLine Bundle
Home Fast2 25
25 Gigabytes
$69.95
$59.95
Home Fast2 50
50 Gigabytes
$79.95
$69.95
Home Fast2 150
150 Gigabytes
$139.95
$129.95
Home Fast2 25 – Reach
25 Gigabytes
$79.95
$69.95
Home Fast2 50 – Reach
50 Gigabytes
$89.95
$79.95
Home Fast2 150 – Reach
150 Gigabytes
$149.95
$139.95
And with regards to Bigpond shaping,
“We’ve addressed this and later this month, customers on higher usage fixed Elite and Ultimate broadband plans who go over their usage will be shaped to 256kbps, four times faster than before”.
So, although consumers will still be punished for going over their usage limits, something that’s not unusual, at least surfing speeds will be baseline bearable,
as opposed to the effectively completely unusable previous 64kbps
so on a wireless plan you pay top doll for a hell of a lot less , then cop 64MBPS Dial up shaping speed.
Hi Heath Gibson,
Hope you are well, seems like Telstra reps are hiding under the Telstra carpet again, or are selective in their responses, I was promise a case manager, after trying to get through to the CEO David Thodey, as I have stated and acknowledged Telstra have significantly made some really good improvements under Davids direction, but we will not rest untill a decent and fair wireless family data allowance becomes available at least a usable 20/25 GB and a decent usable shaping speed that is a real broadband and not dial up shaping speed.
This is not asking to much considering the growth of wireless, and most expensive broadband with Bigpond in this customer usage
Please do not quote other ISPs wireless plans please, we are your customers, and would like to remain as such, especially given the cost of buying out our contracts, please at least tell us that you are now looking to implement a viable Data allowance for family usage.
can I look forward to a reply? Regards Mark
Hi Mark,
Apologies – but as there didn’t appear to be any new posts I hadn’t come back to this thread until today. it’s been a pretty busy month in terms of competitor activity so I’ve been kept pretty busy.
Do you have a specific issue that is outstanding or where you just looking to provide some more feedback around plans and pricing.
if you have a specific issue or fault that needs addressing I would suggest you try Telstra’s twitter or Facebook teams or look for the right contact area from here http://www.telstra.com.au/help/contact/index.html
General feedback on plans/pricing from this thread I am currently analysing and will be sharing with our social media team.
Hi Heath, you stated.
Do you have a specific issue that is outstanding or where you just looking to provide some more feedback around plans and pricing.
Heath I cannot put my statements any clearer, You at Telstra just do not get it! and if you do you deliberately fob wireless users off with every conceivable excuse, you put in place these feedback sites, and so far I give you at least credit for corresponding back, the 12GB wireless plan that requires two products, to make it affordable, plus a 24 month contract, is a gross insult and injustice to fixed wireless users with family usage, then a primitive dial up 64KBPS shaping speed.
These point has been made hundreds of times through Telstra feed back sites, and have been mainly ignored,a family with wireless through no fault of their own, needs the usefull amount data that we would have had, had Telstra provided us with a port, etc etc!! we need at least from 20 to 30 Gb per month, 12 is appalling, please dont requote Optus etc etc etc, I chose Telstra, and signed a 24 month contract in good faith, whilst I use 7GB and am happier with this over my previous 3GB, I know that GW and many others have appealed to you and deaf ears, for meeting their family needs, we noted that a mobile plan will provide 12Gb for a base $69.95, GW and others are paying through the nose $89.95 for this miserable 12GB, if you could brin g his cost down to the same 12GB for $69.95 no bundles, he could then afford to take out another 7GB plan giving 19GBper month, does he not also deserve to be rewarded.
I know that once again this reply will be a waste of time. Regards Mark.
Hi Heith,
I know there are a lot of people here just trying to vent and so forth and I guess everyone is entitled to an opinion. I realise the average is 10 or 12gb per user according the statistics. Well everyone’s house is different is the way I see it and that’s why there are different plans to suit everyones needs. However, if everyone isn’t catered for, you potentially lose customers to other companies who can provide for their needs. It may only be a small market share according to statistics, but it’s only going to get bigger….
10 Years ago we were on dialup with a 10GB plan I believe. 5 years ago we got ADSL1 with 40GB data (moved to 100GB 3 years ago). 1 year ago we got Telstra Cable with 200GB plan. I’m sure you can see the trend here….
In our house for example, we have 4 PC’s, 2 laptops, T-Box, T-Hub, PS3, Xbox 360 and probably more. So we have quite a few devices that all connect to the one service. Watching HD videos, You-Tube, updating PC’s (especially after a crash requiring a reformat), Steam (downloading games), Movies, TV-Shows (ABC iview, channel 7 etc), Music and the list goes on. Our family is very connected. We do struggle some months to keep under the 200GB plan and will constantly remind everyone to back off if I notice the usage creep past the allocated daily amount (which on a 200GB plan roughly equates to 6.7GB per day).
6.7GB per day sounds like an awful huge amount when we compare to the 10-12GB a month usage of the average Australian. GTA4 from steam ways in between 12-16gb (can’t remember off the top of my head) and that’s just one game. One HD music video on You-Tube can weigh in at 120MB. That’s a 3-5min video. ABC iView, and average 30min show can blow 250-500MB. This is available on the PS3 as well as all the computers. If the family was to watch an hour of ABC iView or one of the other online Catchup websites, over 4 computers could mean 4-8GB just for TV online. You can see how easy it is for a connected family to blow the 200GB limit and that doesn’t even take into account uploads.
I think what the 1TB plans offer is peace of mind of not necessarily having to check how the usage is going. So instead of offering an Unlimited plan with T&C’s that are cryptic, we are seeing plans that cater for connected familys across Australia.
1TB Plans mean movement for the current and future generations that demand BluRay quality video when they watch things over the internet. The NBN will cater for that with the speed but plans need to catch up to utilise the speed. Just wanted to show the other side of families that need more bandwidth to cater for their technological lives.
Regards
Jonathan
Heith,
I guess in the end, you have to accommodate “every” user, be it a 100Meg wireless user or a 1TB Cable user (As many are wanting), and price accordingly, don’t make it out as that it is not “needed”, it will always be needed.
The question here is, will Telstra still look after it’s customer, regardless of what it thinks is enough quota?
Ya know, get with the times, think in 5 years what type of quota will we have then, 200GB?
I don’t think so.
Extreame
Heath, you said the following:
“A quick calculation using the latest ABS statistics (June 2010) shows fixed-line broadband users average under ten gigabytes a month. A one terabyte plan is therefore about a hundred times bigger than what a typical fixed-line user currently consumes. Even for users who need three or four times this “average” usage, there’s a fairly wide selection of plans being offered already, including BigPond’s 50GB plan.”
Since you have said that statistic, why not make your best plan unlimited download? Since your stating that there is an average of less then 10 gigs downloaded per month by users, then YOU should not have a problem in releasing a unlimited plan, because the average of 10 gigs per month should remain the same.
If a user is given 100mb/s Internet, then using 200gb is nothing. Even a child/pensioner could do it watching HD videos on youtube.
“The analyst in me is questioning just how many people currently need, or could even use, a terabyte of data each and every month.”
Giving out a TB plan/ unlimited download plan, wouldn’t be a problem for you if no-one needs or can even use it. It’s not like you will lose money if people use the same quota they are given, however you will lose money when you notice that people can easily use the quota given at 100mb internet.
I’m currently with optus, and have been with them since my plan was 3 gigabytes per month over 10 years ago. And in all those 10 years, i have always used the quota given, even last year when i was on the 20/40 grandfathered plan. And even 6 months ago when the plans changed to the 85gb/85gb and 75gb/75gb. Now they have upgraded the 85gb/85gb to 250gb/250gb plan, i am now satisfied as it is pretty much unlimited downloads whenever i’m on due to my 20mb speed.
Hell, since i’m not on a contract, if i saw bigpond giving out unlimited quota plans with 100mb/s internet speed, at a good price (e.g. less than $100 including homephone), i would probably join them (Although i would be cautious with signing up to bigpond because of their customer service.).
And if you say $100 for what i just said in the previous paragraph is rubbish, then look at Optus $129 Fusion plan for $99, which includes 1TB of bandwith, unlimited phone calls to Australian landlines, unlimited calls to Optus GSM mobile phones. And with +$15 you can get the speedpack, which equals $114 total. Then with the 10% loyalty discount equals $102.60.
Now you may be thinking why i am posting this when i’m with Optus, but it would be good for Telstra to have plans that BETTER than Optus, one reason would be Foxtel.
I want and would use a 1TB plan. Statistical anomaly maybe but good priced high speed large quota plans are sorely missing in Australia.
I’d say it’s more likely that the average <10GB per month usage of Australian citizens relates to the rubbish offering that is termed "broadband" in this country.
Can hardly expect the masses to get excited about those fancy overseas "washing machines" when all you can buy here are rocks to bang your clothes on eh?
Telstra definitely need to add a 1TB plan. If not for the <10GB users then for those that actually WANT to buy them?
Some of us host gaming servers. 200GB a month simply isn’t enough. I am a bigpond cable customer. I would love to be able to have a faster upload and 1TB plans.
I currently use all my 200GB and would be quite happy on 1TB. There are 6 heavy users in my house which share my connection and at least 3 of them are gaming maybe 30 hours a week – each.
Then there’s everyone else! We quite often go over 200GB – it just isn’t enough.
Honestly, when’s Telstra going to get their act together with this whole TB issue. If Optus wasn’t struggling with what it was, they would be the sure deal for anyone who wants cable, not to mention everything else that Optus is throwing into the mix, for a price that’s extremely cheap compared to Telstra.
I hope Telstra gets their act together before Optus does, or this’s one customer leaving to go to Optus.
I could use 1TB a month on my own easy if we had better upload speeds in AUS. My current plan is 20,000kbps/1,000kbps with 60g bandwidth. My current usage this month is 150g and i still have over 100g of legal downloads to go. I will be using almost 250g this month before i even start doing anything and i haven’t even added game play, game maps, game mods, torrents, movies, remote assist or even any you tube usage yet.
These plans are acceptable for few users like me provided we have a decent Internet speed. Bigger (bandwidth) is better but only when faster speeds can handle it/manage it better. (MORE UPLOAD SPEED PLEASE!)
forgot to add in that i would also be doing server hosting after all that so usage goes through the roof when u run a few servers that also upload mods, maps, models, music ect.
To be perfectly accurate 10 gig is the average right now and what happens to a network when you offer 1Tb data plans is you destroy it for the average user. The ISP needs to load balance and aggregate its users onto finite bandwidth. With the internet being shared networking across a wide area, meshed network Telstra is playing a smart game by encouraging the few that want 1tb plans to go and cripple another isp other than bigpond. Of course Telstra also does that with their mobile network. This of us on Telstra’s network pay more for less because we get a nice consistent throughput without nasty peaks and troughs that you get on a network that’s is being stripped bare by a few data vultures and thus over subscribed. I would never buy internet on just price and cheap offers with unusually massive data allowances. That is precisely the type of ISP to avoid as they will be full of the most gluttonous customers that are busy with multiple servers and torrents draining the networks ability to provide burst data to the many. I am very happy on a 50 gig plan and hanging off that is a couple of htc sensations when they are home, a Tivo, PS3, Foxtel HD (I understand its unmetered), a laptop, netbook, a xoom tablet, a desktop. I don’t bother watching movies twice and it comes sstraight in off fibre onto the foxtel and I don’t need a 100gig and if I do its just a phone call away. I have no wish for Telstra to offer 1tb plans for anything less than about $700 as at that price it would still be a lot less per meg than I pay and would enable the ISP to spend enough on the backbone to carry that kind of freak user. Of course these type of users want to scoff that amount of data but want is for less than $200 a month.