On the Whirlpool Site there's has been a huge thread regarding the rumoured increase/change of pricing plans over at Optus@Home. One such Rumour is one of the Pricing Plan will be $240 for 10gb!

The new pricing structure has been confirmed and approved - although I don't have any more details such as prices or download limits at this time. However the bad news is that my guestimation was way off - expect the public announcement within 1-3 months.

I guess we will have to wait and see if these rumours are ture or not.

Read the thread Here On Whirlpool.

its doubtful, but not unbelieveable

I think if they do this i am gonna sell up and move to the USA.

that is truly a pathetic thing to say

I don't see any reason whu O@H wouldn't implement a similar price scheme to Telstra. I mean they will get away with it because where else are people going to go ??

I am certain that it will happen.

I think it might happen, but I still have no doubts that Optus will remain better... ie maybe cutting back to 5-10 GB a month uncapped no changes in rates...? Still be miles ahead...

Im going to be happy come march the first. Unthrottled BPA :) I can live with a 3 gig cap, and I can certainly live with unlimited speeds!

I dont see the logic behind "unlimited speed" when you have "limited downloads". it would be like being given a drag car, and have no one on the road, but only have 3 Liter tank of petrol...

Those sort of threads on Whirlpool are usually posted by people on Telstra to try to bait o@h users.

Ignore it. It's bs.

trying to drag everyone down :)

Optus ran a full page advertisement in the papers the day Telstra announced the 3gig thing. They stated they would NEVER follow down the same volume based billing system, as they beleived it was not the future as far as the internet was concerned.

I think it would be foolish for Optus to do a backflip on their trusting customer base, of which only 4% thereof are unhappy with the service. Optus products are great and well priced - their help desk is one phone call away - unlike Telstra menu of s***e recorded voices.

Who knows if we can beleive the words of that advertisement though. As much as I like Optus, I still have trouble trusting capitalist companies operating in this environment.

haha yeah

I called the tech support thingy the other night. After getting the gay recorded voice message for "press 1 for..." s***, I got put in a queue.

EVERY MINUTE for about 30 minutes this recording would interrupt the f***** music they have playing saying "We apologise for the delay, your call is still in a queue, and will be answered shortly".

They really emphasised the still, which made me laugh :D

Pharcyde: I'm not sure but I think that queue thing where they say: "You're still in the queue" etc. gets repeated whenever you move up in the queue.

thats a big f***ing queue then :D

good thing i've never needed an underpayed bitch to ask me if my PC is plugged in..

:)

Actually - Optus has HORRIBLE wait times on their cable sometimes :\, I've waited up to 45mins in non-peak times. Plus they f***ed up my O@H installation order :\

Theres a trick with these phone systems guys

It used to work with BPA before they made it a new number

at the FIRST PROMPT

press 0 and then 0 again
you'll get transferred to the receiptionist and then say 'TEch support' or whatever departemnt please

first in the queue

f*** waiting

err, yea i'm sure that works

I press * several times and it kind of defaults to a real live person :)

its doubtful, but not unbelieveable

my thoughts too :(

aslong as o@h dont put a speed cap ill be fine, i can control myself and not go over a download limit if i have to but i cant stand slow internet

tref is right, i believe optus' announcement is binding and if they implement a cap it would be in violation of consumer laws

just a thought

optus isn't going to cap, if they do, they're in the s***

Einstein, do you really think Telstra adheres to consumer laws either? No they don't so what makes you think Optus will.

I read Optus was losing s***loads of money. Not sure if it was their internet branch or something else. If it's the net side they'll have no choice but to bring in a new pricing plan. Either way it sucks and it's all Tel$tra's fault.

rukh is right ... this is bs.

some reasons I can think offhand:

Consumer & Multimedia (ie optus@home) is experiencing double digit growth currently. (sourced from annual report 2001) It is their flagship service and I'm sure they're pinning alot of their future plans on the success of the optus@home service. awesome customer satisfaction levels. fantastic reputation as a residental broadband service.

consumer & multimedia's bottom line is in the black for the first time.

Most importantly I feel that they aren't in the competitive position to do it. T$ own the last mile & optus dont have economic access to it. I don't doubt that if optus had a greater market share & better consumer awareness of their service, they'd bring on the quota and excess data charges, and engage into a tasty duopoly embargo, like T$ & optus do with mobiles. Like how awesome is optus@home! -but most people don't know this. I think it would be suicide for optus if they handicapped the optus@home service to levels that of T$.

I think it would be suicide for optus if they handicapped the optus@home service to levels that of T$.

No not really. If Optus and Telstra formed a duopoly on the market then they would both benefit greatly. Want to know why? Here's why: cablers are addicted to 24/7 connectivity and speed. The vast majority of cablers will pay quite a bit to keep their service, which is strikingly similiar to a crack addict paying ridiculous prices for their fix.

I think O@H can afford to implement a cap... say around 6-8gb... still twice as much as telstra and s***loads faster.

I really wouldn't have a problem in the world if telstra gave us say a 6gb cap instead of a 3gb... it wouldn't bother me in the slightest

f*** hunter the world IS NOT OUT TO GET YOU.
although if u keep it out i think they may stop consipring and just plain hurt you.

If Optus and Telstra formed a duopoly on the market

grow up

I don't care if they place a cap or someother s*** the package that is being installed is Optus Mobo, Phone, Vision & Net.

I am just sick and tired of the way in which telstra treats people.

That would be so crap. Maybe they see telstra getting away with it and so they automatically think that they will be able to get away with it. I wish I could get optus. :(

whoever has the particular paper with the optus add in it keep it and scan it / take a pic of it and save it to hdd / put it in this thread etc so if they ever do decide to change there pricing scheme to volume base all of ausgamers has a valid reason to go see mr ACCC / AFT

f*** hunter the world IS NOT OUT TO GET YOU.
although if u keep it out i think they may stop consipring and just plain hurt you.


If Optus and Telstra formed a duopoly on the market


grow up

You are so naive it isn't funny. Seriously you have no idea of what goes on behind closed doors matey. Want a recent example? Here's one: A few years back (2 or 3, I can't remember exactly) a cartel of concrete supply companies were taken to court over alleged collusion (click the link if your simpleton mind doesn't know what it means). Turns out they DID have a nice little price fixing operation in Brisbane and were subsequently fined a lot of money. If you don't think things like this occur on a regular basis, you truly are naive and don't deserve the right to vote.

i know they occur and your atemted insults went by unnoticed. simply the two biggest telcos forming a duopoly on the market, when they are in constant competition and always coming under fire from the ACCC and other government bodies (one alot more so than the other) i seriously cant see a way where they could even attempt to form such a fraud.

think about what your saying, the concrete and telecommunitations industries are a tad different ffs.

Hunter just get on with your f***ing life.

Watch out hunter, Squarky may be one of.....them
*runs and hides from mans in black*

u better believe it!

haha "mans" in black
fruity!

Men In Black II is out soon.

*squarky and scuzzy come crashing into a dark, secluded warehouse filled with old computers and netgear* - "give it up hunter, you'll never win"
*hunter shrieks*
squarky: "what's that scuzzy?"
scuzzy: "what's what?"
squarky: "that thing in you're hand"
scuzzy: "oh, that...it's a deneuralizer"
*hunter shrieks, wets his pants, then faints...scene fades out*

to be CONTINUED!

id prefer capped speeds say 50 k/s but unlimited downloads.. then i can run morpheus all night long..

"i seriously cant see a way where they could even attempt to form such a fraud. "

Squarky, what you are referring to already happens on a regular basis in the suburb you live in. Take the service stations for example - notice the dramatic price rise on pay day? Banks are another classic - do you see anyone dramatically beating each other's interest rates or charges down? They work together to make sure your have no other options.

Motor vehicle insurance is another gem - ring around and ask 6 companies for a quote on insuring your vehicle - you will find the prices are almost identical - coincidence? er no. Also, before Virgin Blue arrived, did you see the 2 major airlines beating each others prices down? No way! Price fixing is blatantly real - if you are not to acknowledge this you are living in oblivion.

its a fact of life, you want to make as much money as possible. if the market is evenly spread, you cant be bothered lowering your price in the hope you will get more customers, so you keep it at the norm, which moves up or down (theres 'unwritten codes' that push petrol prices up on pay day, its just common sense)

optus need to make more money, it seems they are getting raped download wise, and if i were optus id put in limits, still make it more appealing than telstra of course, but bascially get more money back for the money im putting in.

Yeah I have to agree with Tref and *spits* Hunter. SquarkyD youi need to do some reading on Telstra and Optus' history.

Yes, they are in competition, no that doesnt mean that they will slit their own throats if they don't have to. They don't have to do anything as overt as have the rival ceos leave msgs on each others answering machine saying "raise your mobile rates by 20c this friday", they just tandem off each other.

It's not as obvious with broadband because telstra is so ass-f***edly hopeless that optus are quite happy to sit back and watch them implode (although I wonder how optus much longer can afford to offer such a premier service at the current price in Australia and remain a profitable setup), but pay close attention to telephony services and pay tv.

It's not a conspiracy theory, it's just commonsense and business awareenss.

Just coz the prices are similar doesnt mean they are price fixing, it might just mean that they've reached the point where they don't want to have a price war but still make a good profit. It hurts them all profit-wise to have big price wars so larger companies tend not to do it.

About the only company not involved in this price fixing and sharing of market would have to be Microsoft.

heh, another rumour in that thread on whirlpool is that they'll lower the max netstats limit to 6. Thats going to f*** so many people over if they download linux isos to keep up to date, or if they download game demos :)

haha that's not just gay, it's ultra gay.

6 is such a clichéd number

/me stands vindicated.

Hmmm, a mate is gonna scream if they cut the netstats to 6...
Not that i care. No O@H for me, living in a telecommunications black hole...

Heh, yeah, I love those 'linux ISOs'. Wheneevr there is a bandwidth debate going on, someone always asks 'what do you need 10gb a month download for?' Mr. Juarez Monkey's reply is invariably 'linux ISOs'. Its always funny, there arent enough linux ISOs on earth to justify some of the downloads these guys are posting :)

No not really. If Optus and Telstra formed a duopoly on the market then they would both benefit greatly. Want to know why? Here's why: cablers are addicted to 24/7 connectivity and speed. The vast majority of cablers will pay quite a bit to keep their service, which is strikingly similiar to a crack addict paying ridiculous prices for their fix.

which means optus would have to compete on price and they can't be drawn into that seeing their competitor is a ruthless monolithic 4+ billion annual profit making machine.

Not necessarily, Telstra is making it abundantly clear that its after business and email checkers for its broadband clientele. I'm sure if optus wanted the consumerbase telstra would let them have it - remember your dealing with a company here who cant see more than 2 years down the track AT BEST, so they simply don't realise that the vast majority of their customerbase is there because of either (a) ignorance of the alternatives or (b) the LACK of an alternative.

I mean, based on my dealings with optus for my phones, I definitely would remain 'loyal' to them, as long as they remained reasonably within target of the competition; now if you take broadband as an example, it's pretty hard to see too many users extolling bpa and swearing loyalty to THAT service, no?

I just hope that optus' broadband internet business in Australia doesn't go out of business before the financial and infrastructural climate improves.

That would be right... as soon as i get Optus they start to change prices... hmmmn i hope my 12 month contract holds out