This FAQ is historical and remains for customer reference only.

 

Updated Information from 29th June 2007

Two important updates have been applied to this information as of Friday 29th June 2007:

Extended timeframe for waiving the 'line speed change' fee

If you decide to change plans and move to a plan at a different line speed to your current plan, the usual $20 'line speed change' fee is being waived automatically if you make the change prior to 31st July 2007. Please note that this waiver has been extended from the original date of 2nd July 2007. The normal $20 line speed change fee will be reintroduced on 1st August 2007.

Introduction of 30 Gbyte plans

As of 29/06/07, Internode has added a new 30 GB plan tier to the Home and SOHO pricing tables. This is in response to customer requests for a monthly plan with included downloads between 20 GB and 40 GB per month, and is available at all bandwidths - 512/128k, 512/512k, 1500/256k, 8M/384k, and of course Extreme.

You can review our new plans by clicking here for HOME ADSL, or here for SOHO ADSL.

What has changed?

This FAQ describes the broadband plan changes notified by Internode on Monday 4th June 2007.

Internode is implementing a significant revision of our HOME & SOHO broadband plans, including ADSL and WirelessDSL plans, at this time. The revision includes the addition of some new plans and increases in price for many existing plans.

Who is affected, and when?

These changes are effective for all new signups from 4th June 2007.

If you are an existing HOME or SOHO broadband customer, a notification period applies before these changes take effect.

For existing customers, these changes do not become effective until the next invoice issued after 1st July 2007.

In addition, these changes do not affect existing customers signed up in regional areas under regional subsidy schemes (who are within a three year commitment period specified in those subsidy schemes), and they do not affect customers whose services are in a negotiated business services term agreement.

Please take the time to read through the following information and make any plan change(s) you require, prior to these plan changes becoming effective for your account.

To assist customers in making the appropriate decisions about these plan changes, we will write to every existing customer within a week of 4th June 2007, to explain the specific impacts (if any) for the specific service(s) associated with your client account.

This information will be delivered to the same destination and in the same manner as your normal Internode bills are delivered (whether email, printed letter, or fax, as appropriate).

Customers who are unsure of the exact impact of these changes on their specific service should simply wait for that information to arrive, before making any queries to Internode regarding their situation.

All customers will receive a letter - even those whose plans are not changing - to confirm the impacts (if any) for their services.

Why are some prices rising?

Internode regularly examines its plans to ensure that they offer reasonable and sustainable price points. When necessary, pricing is revised to reflect changes in the market place or in the underlying costs of providing these services to you.

Since Internode first began offering broadband services (over six years ago), our regular pricing revisions have occurred in a manner that has tended to improve value-for-money.

However, at this time, significant changes in market conditions have made it necessary (for the first time ever) to raise the prices of some of our HOME and SOHO broadband plans.

The need to make this adjustment is an exception for us - we do not expect this to become a habit.

As a part of this announcement, we're also introducing several new plans. The aim in doing so is to improve customer flexibility, in terms of the decisions that can be made by customers wishing to change plans in response to these pricing changes.

But prices have always gone down in the past - what is different this time?

In the last few years, the underlying cost of network capacity - especially international circuit capacity - has fallen substantially in real terms. This has allowed Internode to pass on cost savings to our customers, in response to that improvement in underlying network cost, and in anticipation that these improvements would continue to occur.

This year has also seen the widespread release and take-up of very high line speeds in the market, which have (in turn) raised the operational cost of providing Internet services, as key underlying costs for high performance Internet providers are influenced by peak network load requirements, in addition to also being related to average downloads over each billing period.

At the same time as these higher speed plans reached the market, the real cost of providing network capacity has ceased to follow the trend of the previous few years - in unit terms it has ceased to become cheaper over time. In many areas the effective per-user network cost has in fact risen in real terms in the last several months.

The combination of this rising network cost, and the increasing average network resource consumption driven by higher line-speed plans in our customer base has generated a 'double whammy' - especially in the very high end, high speed plans - that has made it necessary to revise our retail plan pricing to ensure that all of the plan tiers we offer can remain sustainable.

We do anticipate that future changes in the supply marketplace in the next 12-24 months will allow the underlying cost of network capacity (especially international capacity) to start improving again, as new capacity comes on-stream at more competitive price points. But in the meantime, the supply side market cost has plateaued - while customer resource demands have not.

Why are the price rises so much higher on large download plans than on smaller ones?

In the past, when typical line speeds were limited, in the main, to 1.5 megabits per second, the incremental costs of offering additional download quota at a given line speed remained fairly linear.

However, our measurements and monitoring in the last several months, and re-examining our actual costs and actual download demands, show that this is no longer the case.

Put simply - because the measured costs of providing services are indeed higher at these highest end plans, the price rises are, accordingly, concentrated toward those high end plans. This ensures that all plans are sustainable, without requiring unreasonable cross-subsidy between plan tiers.

How Are Customers Being Notified?

We are sending all customers an Internode Bulletin via email, advising them of the plan changes and directing them to this informational web page.

Additionally, as already indicated, all Internode customers with a HOME or SOHO broadband service will receive a letter - via their preferred billing contact method - outlining the changes that affect their specific services.

These changes will also be notified in other locations - such as the Internode home page, and in information provided directly on future bills for the next several months.

We are providing notice of these changes which is in excess of the minimum 21 days notice that we are required to provide under the terms of our Standard Form of Agreement.

Am I Affected?

Just over half of all Internode ADSL customers will be affected by these changes. Even if your plan is affected, for most customers the impacts are relatively small - the major price increases are at the very highest end of our plan tables.

You can check which Internode ADSL plan you currently have by clicking here, entering your Internode username & password, and viewing your account information. Alternatively, your plan name is described on your Internode bill.

It's worth noting at this point who isn't affected, so that these people don't have to read on! You are not affected if your service is :

• any Business ADSL plan
• any IBC plan
• any plan that was purchased as part of Broadband Connect or Broadband for Health schemes. However if you signed up under Broadband Connect and have subsequently changed to a non-Broadband Connect plan, you will be affected.
• HOME-512Sym-Starter plans
• HOME-512Sym-Value plans
• HOME-Extreme-Value plans
• SOHO-512Sym-Starter plans
• SOHO-512Sym-Standard plans
• SOHO-Extreme-Starter plans
• SOHO-Extreme-Standard plans
• any plan that is not on the currently available plan list (ie any 'grandfathered plan), including all Unwired services

If you have any of the above plans, you are not affected by these ADSL plan changes.

What Are the Changes?

There are two types of changes

• change in download quota; or
• change in price.

Change in Download Quota

Only one plan is affected by a change in download quota - the HOME-512-Starter. This plan does not change in price from $39.95, but the monthly download quota reduces from 8 Gbytes to 5 Gbytes per month. Please note that the majority of customers on this plan do not use 5 Gbytes per month, and so won't see any effect at all. If however you are on this plan and do need more download quota than 5 Gbytes per month, you may wish to consider upgrading to our new HOME-512-Explorer plan, which provides 10 Gbytes for $44.95 per month.

Change in Price

A number of current plans are affected by a change in price, with the most significant price rises limited to a small number of customers on high quota plans :

• A $5 per month increase for HOME-512-Value & HOME-1500-Power10; as well as SOHO-512-Starter, SOHO-512-Standard & SOHO-1500-Power10.
• A $10 per month increase for HOME-512Sym-Pro, HOME-1500-Power20, HOME-High-Power20 & HOME-Extreme-Pro; as well as SOHO-512Sym-Pro, SOHO-1500-Power20, SOHO-High-Power10, SOHO-High-Power20 & SOHO-Extreme-Pro.
• A $15 per month increase for HOME-512-Pro; as well as SOHO-512-Pro.
• A $20 per month increase for HOME-1500-Power40 & HOME-High-Power40; as well as SOHO-1500-Power40 & SOHO-High-Power40.
• A $30 per month increase for HOME-512Sym-Elite & Home-Extreme-Elite; as well as SOHO-512Sym-Elite & SOHO-Extreme-Elite.
• A $35 per month increase for HOME-512-Elite; as well as SOHO-512-Elite
• A $40 per month increase for HOME-1500-Power80 & HOME-High-Power80; as well as SOHO-1500-Power90 & SOHO-High-Power90.

What Are The New Plans?

Thirteen new plans have been introduced, to provide you with greater flexibility in matching your broadband requirements to your budget.

• There are ten new ‘Super/Power60’ plans are being introduced; i.e. one at each bandwidth for HOME and SOHO. These provide 60 GB per month, a useful step between the current 40 GB and 80 GB plans.

• As of 29/06/07 there are also ten new 'Boost/Power30' plans are being introduced; i.e. one at each bandwidth for HOME and SOHO. These provide 30 GB per month, a useful step between the current 20 GB and 40 GB plans.

• A HOME-512-Explorer plan (10 GB) is introduced, to address the requirement for HOME-512-Value customers who need a little more download quota.

• A HOME-1500-Power5 (5 GB) plan is introduced, to retain the entry level price point at this popular bandwidth.

• A HOME-High-Power10 (10 GB) plan is introduced, to provide an entry-level at the 'High' (up to 8M/384k) bandwidth.

You can review our new plans by clicking here for HOME ADSL, or here for SOHO ADSL.

How Do I Check My Download Usage?

To select the right plan for your specific broadband requirements, it's important to know your average monthly download volumes. Existing Internode customers can simply click here to log in to our customer toolbox, which displays the history of your download usage per per month, or per day.

There is also a number of third party Broadband Usage Meters available here. These display various usage statistics, without needing to log into our website.

Other upcoming changes: On-demand download data blocks and changes to over-quota 'Shaping'

We're notifying you as part of these plan changes that we will also be making changes to the current quota management system in the near future.

These changes will be implemented in mid-late July 2007.

Please note that these changes will apply only to 'excess' traffic - i.e. the downloads beyond the monthly inclusion of your plan. Most Internode customers do not exceed their chosen download quota, so none of the upcoming changes noted below will affect them. The changes only have an impact for customers who regularly reach or exceed the download quota that is included with their plan.

Purchasing additional download quota blocks 'on demand'

A new system is being developed to allow customers to purchase additional 'blocks' of data, on demand (and billed in arrears).

So if you've used up your monthly quota, you can simply purchase a 'block' of data online and keep surfing without being 'Shaped' (or if you find yourself over quota and subject to Shaping controls, you can purchase additional quota, have Shaping removed, and return to normal speed).

This is intended to replace the current 'instant plan upgrades' approach, which offers far less flexibility and generates additional confusion in terms of the resulting transactions presented on customer bills. Accordingly, 'instant plan upgrades' will be retired when on-demand data blocks are released.

It's a very simple approach - the data blocks will be able to be purchased 'on demand'; and must be be consumed within the billing month (i.e. they do not roll over to the following month).

The purchased additional allowance is simply added to your monthly base quota. If you find that you do this often, it may be more cost-effective to schedule a plan change to a higher download quota plan.

Additional constraints on access after 3 Gbytes of Shaped downloads

If you exceed your monthly download allocation on an Internode HOME or SOHO broadband service, your service is subject to 'Shaping' (constraint on the available download rate).

Shaping is a customer-focussed alternative to potentially unexpected and potentially large 'excess download' fees.

The intention of applying Shaping to a service is that you should recognise this as a signal that you have exceeded your download quota, and that you should limit your usage for the remainder of the month to 'background' tasks like email and light web page surfing, which can be supported with the shaping system we provide.

Alternatively, using the upcoming data block purchase option, you can add quota to suit your needs for the current usage period and regain full speed access until the total of your base download quota and any additional data blocks is exceeded - when you will, again, be subject to shaping.

Again, shaping is intended to be a gentle alternative to excess download fees, for customers who inadvertently exceed their download quota. It is not intended to be used as an additional unpaid download allocation.

Unfortunately a small percentage of customers are exploiting the current shaped excess traffic scheme to download a very large additional quantity of data beyond the quota level in their selected plan.

Accordingly, we are notifying our customers, as part of this plan change, that additional access constraints may be applied to the services of customers who download more than 3GB of data above the quota available to their current plan.

It is important to appreciate that this will have no impact at all to for the overwhelming majority of customers who don't exceed their download quota or who moderate their downloading activities once they do reach the download quota applying to their plan.

As a special note: While NodePhone traffic is metered, it is not subject to being shaped. In other words, NodePhone services will not be impacted regardless of the download total on an Internode broadband service.

As an existing customer, what are my options now?

Once you have received and read your specific letter, explaining the impact of these changs for your specific plan(s), and after you have reviewed the information on this page, you may wish to either accept the changes being made (by taking no explicit action), or change to an alternative plan that may better meet your budget, bandwidth and download requirements.

These changes are being introduced to ensure a more equitable and sustainable service for all Internode customers - to meet your expectations of high performance Internet and great service at a fair price for you, and a sustainable one for us - without very high end plans being unreasonably subsidised by those with more moderate downloading requirements.

However if you're not satisfied with these changes, and if you wish to terminate your Internode plan before these changes become effective, we will (of course) respect that decision.

But I only just signed up, what does this mean to me?

All standard HOME and SOHO plans are offered with no fixed contract term. You are not locked in to any term contract beyond the length of your billing cycle (monthly or quarterly) - your commitment to us (and our commitment to you) re-starts on each monthly or quarterly bill.

Normally, if you cancel an Internode broadband service within six months of signing up, a $65 'early termination' fee applies. This doesn't mean you are locked in for six months - again your service is a 'no fixed term', monthly or quarterly service.

After these pricing changes, we feel that Internode services continue to offer excellent value for money.

However, if you have signed up in the last six months, and if these pricing changes have made you reconsider your decision, and if as a result of these changes you do decide that you wish to cancel your account directly (or churn to another provider), it would be unreasonable for Internode to impose any form of exit fee on your decision to do so.

If you submit a cancellation request (or churn to another provider rather than directly canceling) before the new plans become effective for you (from the next invoice sent to you after 1st July 2007), any applicable 'early termination fees' for services active less than six months will be automatically waived.

Also, if you decide to change plans and move to a plan at a different line speed to your current plan, the usual $20 'line speed change' fee is being waived automatically if you make the change prior to 31st July 2007 (please note that this has been extended from the original date of 2nd July 2007). The normal $20 line speed change fee will be reintroduced on 1st August 2007.

If you wish to churn to another provider, do not cancel with Internode first (as this will invalidate your ability to fast-churn). Instead, you should use the churn process provided by your next ISP.

How can I change or cancel my Internode ADSL plan?

If you wish to change to a different plan, or you wish to cancel your existing plan completely, please do so online.

To make these changes online, please start at this web page:

https://secure.internode.on.net/myinternode/

(or you can go directly to the online cancellation page by clicking here: http://www.internode.on.net/cancel/ (Home/Residential customers only)

Please note, Online Cancellation is only available to Home and Residential customers. All other customers should contact accounts@internode.on.net to cancel Internode services.

It is important to note that if you wish to 'churn' to another provider, the churn process only works if you do not cancel with Internode first. Once a cross-provider churn is complete, Internode are notified of your departure by Telstra, and we will close down your Internode account automatically.

Note that while Internode fully participates in all industry schemes to allow for cost efficient and smooth transfer of services between providers, including 'fast churn' and 'single service transfer', some other providers are not similarly cooperative.

As a result, it is not necessarily possible to churn or transfer in one step to another provider - and in such cases, your only alternative if you wish to change providers is to cancel your Internode service and then sign up from scratch (rather than churning) to the other provider concerned.

If you need further assistance, or if you can not make the necessary changes online for some reason, please contact us during business hours or email planchanges@internode.com.au.

Please note that because these are significant changes, we may become a little busy responding to queries in the first instance, and accordingly our response may be a little delayed - but remember nothing will change for existing customers any earlier than 2/7/2007; there is plenty of time to address your specific concerns.