Telstra dumps excess fees on some broadband plans

The telco has increased the limit of its 3 GB, $89.95 per month to 5 GB, and will also shape the speed of the connection to 64 kbps if users breach the monthly limit.

Speed shaping will also apply to the larger 10 GB plan, which still costs $129.95 per month. Both the 5 GB and 10 GB plans are called ‘BigPond Liberty’.

However, users of the lower 1 GB limit, $59.95 per month plan will still be subject to excess usage fees charged at $0.25 per MB.

In addition, the telco has introduced a new base-level plan, providing just 200 MB of data for $29.95 per month. This plan is also still subject to excess usage fees.

“For customers wanting to sample BigPond Wireless Broadband, or only use it occasionally, there is a new, entry-level plan,” said Telstra spokesperson Peter Taylor.

“For heavy users, we've increased the 3 GB plan to 5 GB for the same price. And, if customers hit 5 GB, we've removed excess usage fees and instead will shape the service to 64kbps.

“We've also removed the excess usage charges for our 10 GB plans so our high-usage customers have greater control over how much they spend each month,” Taylor said.

Existing customers can change to these new plans by visiting BigPond.com and clicking on the My BigPond section, Taylor added.