For anyone that's wondering what an NBN-era Telstra will have to offer, this week's announcement of NBN plans by the carrier is interesting news.
Telstra this week took the lid off new plans that will apply to ADSL, cable and NBN. Prices start at $49.95 per month for 50GB of data only, or $80 for 5GB of data and phone. The prices start today.
With Telstra though, you can't get an NBN plan without also buying a Telstra home phone service (either as part of a bundle, or as a separate charge). And as this Sydney Morning Herald story points out, it might be via copper too.
Often buried in the fineprint, phone charges are one of the things we always look for when figuring out the true cost of Internet plans. It's been common in the past for ISPs to leave line rental out of the equation (or bury it in fine print) when advertising a monthly cost.
On NBN fibre, one might expect that these compulsory extra phone charges might be a thing of the past. But looking at the $49.95 BigPond Elite Liberty plan: to get that price on the NBN, you must already have a Telstra home phone service. That's a separate charge which brings the total to $81.90 a month.
Choose an $80 Telstra bundle, and you get the Telstra phone service and unlimited local calls included, but only 5GB of data. That jumps to 200GB if you pay $90.
Telstra bundled NBN prices. (Source: Telstra)
Telstra NBN prices (for customers with separate Telstra phone service). (Source: Telstra)
As we've detailed in various features, Telstra users have the option of the T-Box and unmetered BigPond Movie downloads in their favour. But it's hard to see how the ISP will be attractive to anyone who relies on their mobile and doesn't want a home phone (not that there aren't plenty of people willing to pay. Last time we checked there were more than 10 million fixed-line telephone services in Australia).
And at $80 minimum a month, the price of entry to the NBN with Telstra doesn't exactly seem cheap.
Also read:
Why do we still pay for home phones?
Opinion: 5 ways ISPs will tempt you in the NBN era
Is your home getting the NBN this year? More towns added to rollout plan...
Prices revealed: iiNet will charge $49.95 for entry to NBN
