Internode have announced their new ADSL plan changes, which probably marks a new era in managing high speed Australian broadband internet. Heavy Users have been hardest hit with increases of up to $40/month, as the new pricing/plan structure typically increases the download quota expenditure by 50c per gigabyte.

The unlocking of ADSL1 speeds to their full 8Mbit potential has seen the download habits of users increase with P2P, Usenet and VOD services becoming the norm, thus placing higher demands on a limited bandwidth resource. This coupled with a small percentage of users downloading considerable amounts more than their quotas allow, whilst being shaped, has prompted a review of the sustainability of having a lower priced structure based on the premise that not everyone will use their quotas.

Their has been a backlash of disdain by disgruntled consumers who were on 40 to 80 gigabyte download quotas, who now are footed with potentially an extra 40 dollars a month. Consumers were already reeling over the recent decommissioning of the premium Usenet service and are seemingly further disillusioned by the extra cost or decreased caps of download quotas.

The Home – High Power 20 plan I am on has increased by $10 and although I’m not particularly pleased to be paying extra, I’m not so miffed that I want to immediately churn, however I did entertain the idea. If I wanted to remain on the same price I will lose 10 gigs of quota and ever since being acquainted with Usenet, 20 gigs a month has been an ideal limit and one which I am now unprepared to decrease. Coming in the next couple of months will see an introduction of pay per gigabyte blocks which will come in handy on months that heavier downloads are pursued.