Naked DSL Buyer's Guide
Daniel Long
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Mar 14, 2008 4:56 PM
The best plans, the hidden costs, and is it really the best broadband deal on the market?
If you're wondering about the new naked DSL deals on the market, look no further. PCA online presents the ultimate buyers guide that covers 'nothing but the naked truth'.
What is naked DSL?
Whilst some people might think there is something slightly rude or perverse about the name, the 'naked' in naked DSL (NDSL) just means there is no phone service connected to the DSL (digital subscriber line). In plain English, you get broadband, but you don't have a phone service on the telephone line and don't pay a monthly rental fee. Of course you'll need to use your mobile or VOIP to make your telephone calls.
How is this possible? With naked DSL, a portion of cable from the switch to the splitter is removed, allowing the dial tone to be removed from the line. Interestingly naked DSL has been technically possible since 1999. It's only just turning up now after more than six years of regulatory disputes.
Can everybody go naked?
First off you'll need a phone line. But more important is your location, and what ISPs are operating in your area. Not every ISP in every location offers naked DSL. In technical terms, this is because naked DSL can only be offered by ISPs who install their own DSLAMs in Telstra exchanges. Internode have thrown a spanner in the works by launching their Naked DSL products using Optus DSLAMs instead.
As managing director of Internode, Simon Hackett explains: "….the answer is ISP and geographically specific, so you need to apply with your chosen ISP to find out. ISP's like Internode offer services on a 'no success, no fee' basis, so there is no downside to applying to see what happens."
Where can I get it?
In each state, the availability of Naked DSL will depend on what exchange you are located near. According to the latest data we found, the following providers support naked DSL at the moment. In brackets, we've listed what states they operate ADSL 2+ services in:
- iiNet (SA, WA, NSW, VIC, QLD, TAS, ACT, NT)
- Internode (SA, WA, NSW, VIC, QLD, TAS, ACT)
- Gotalk (SA, WA, NSW, VIC, QLD, TAS,)
- Exetel (SA, WA, NSW, VIC, QLD, ACT)
- Amnet (SA, WA)
Among the ISP's who are rumoured or planning to launch naked DSL:
- Engin
- TPG
- iPrimus
- Adam Internet
iiNet is the only national ADSL 2+ provider in Australia, so if you're living with a swag in the Northern Territory, this may be your only option.
Next Page: Plans and prices . . . click below
Best Value Naked DSL plans
To better understand the plan that's best for you, we grouped our buyers guide into plans for light, medium and heavy users.
*Please note: Some of the prices and plans may have changed since we ran this story in March. For the latest price changes, it's always advisable to check the ISPs webpage for further details.
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| Cost and setup fees - click to enlarge |
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| Download Quotas and Shaping - click to enlarge |
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| Modems and Extras - click to enlarge |
Next Page: Prices compared . . . click below
The Plans Compared
Most naked plans are all running at ADSL 2+ speeds (apart from some slower Amnet plans on 3Mbit - 6Mbit). Also keep in mind that because you're losing your telephone service by going naked, VOIP services might be much more important to you. We've covered VOIP in a special section later in this feature.
Additionally, most of the ISPs bundle a bunch of minor extras with most of their naked DSL products. These include webspace data, bonus dialup accounts (for away from home usage), multiple email accounts, and in particular - premium unmetered content that does not add towards your download quota. IiNet and Internode both compare favourably in that area, particularly on free use of gaming servers. However, we chose to concentrate more on the price and download specs of each provider to reach our conclusions.
For entry-level or light plans, pricing is fairly similar across the board, with most plans starting around the $49.95-$65 range. Gotalk has the best deal we could see, starting at $49.95 for a 3/6GB (on peak/off peak) quota. iiNet offers a slightly downgraded 2/2GB for the same price. Internode's cheapest option starts at $59.95 for 5GB, which seems a little on the expensive side.
Medium naked DSL plans range from $60 to around $85, and again, iiNet and Gotalk also stack up reasonably well in terms of value. Importantly they don't charge excess download fees or a line activation fee as some of the others do.
We think the best value for money medium user naked DSL plan on the market is the $69.95 Gotalk 'Great Escape 36' plan. Gotalk offers coverage in most states and the 'Great Escape 36' plan provides a reasonable 12/24 GB download quota, and thankfully no excess download fees. The downside is that shaping will cut your speed down to an annoying 56k (dial up speed) when you reach your quota. Gotalk also has good contract terms. You can go contract-free by paying $149 or pay for competitive 12 and 24 month contracts that compare favourably with iiNet. The real bonus of this plan is that it provides a free modem when taking the 24 month plan or a $65 fee when taking the 12 month plan which is reasonable compared to the marketplace. It was the only plan we found at review time that contained a free modem for users on longer connections.
If you already have an ADSL 2+ capable modem, we might be swayed over to the iiNet 'Naked Home 4' plan at $79.95. That plan gets off to a good start by offering a healthy 15/30GB download quota, slightly better shaping at 64kpbs and no extra costs, line activation fees or other nasty miscellaneous things you didn't read about when you signed the fine print. Contract periods are both 12 and 24 months, or $150 to get out of the contract all together.
Speaking of bothersome contracts, Internode is the only ISP that doesn't make you sign a 12 or 24 month contract, though they still charge a $149 setup fee which compares favourably with the other ISPs. In the fine print, Internode mentions something about a $65 cancellation fee if you wish to bail out early in the first six months. For most customers, that's hardly a worry and still represents great value.
Despite the good contract terms, Internode still came up a little short in the medium usage category. We were hoping for lower pricing and a more simplified VOIP package (as mentioned later). Internode charge $74.95 and $84.95 for 20GB and 30GB respectively (no offpeak), which is not so competitive when you consider iiNet's 15/30GB for $74.95. Internode also cap users at a total of 3GB after shaping occurs. Fortunately, Internode allows customers the option to purchase 'data blocks' at full speed for $5/GB.
Heavy users are going to be looking for some serious download grunt and the iiNet 'Naked Home 6' plan offers a juicy 60/60GB download quota. At $119.95 it's not the most expensive Naked DSL product we found, but it did have the biggest download limit with acceptable contract terms and no setup fees under a contract. In comparison, Internode customers would have to fork out $164.95 for 80GB under their Home-Naked 80 plan.
Exetel's Plan A* is also worth a mention, giving you 48/8GB for only $50. The only problem that we can see with this plan is the compulsory $88 line activation fee and the excess download charges that come for each gigabyte downloaded past your quota. If you're addicted to power downloading on a regular basis you might want to avoid these styles of plans. At $3 an extra gigabyte, it could be an expensive wakeup call when the bill comes in the mail at the end of the month.
If you can handle the extra download costs, the Exetel 48/48GB offering is also enticing at $105. Amnet goes one step further by offering a likable 60/120 GB ADSL2+ deal for $125, however there is the extra $19.95 charge Amnet applies to its naked plans each month. With the Amnet deal, you'll have to check that the exchange provides it in your area (it's only available in selected parts of SA and WA). If you go 24 months with any Amnet plan, the contract setup fees are free.
Next Page: Naked DSL vs Regular DSL . . . click below
Naked DSL vs regular DSL
Getting rid of your monthly line rental is great, but as we've shown, naked plans are usually more expensive than entry level DSL plans. Is it worth going naked DSL at all?
The short answer is yes, especially for entry level plans. For example, take a look at our comparisons between AAPT's standard ADSL 2+ (bundled price with a home phone) and iiNet's naked DSL plans. We also need to mention that iinet count uploads which can make up as much as half your usable data quota. Customers should be aware that certain web applications (and P2P sites) use considerably more uploads than downloads.
In the light user range, iiNet's cheapest NDSL plan starts at $49.95, for a paltry 2/2GB. If you're not prepared to signup for a 24 month contract you'll also pay a $150 setup fee. AAPT offer 5GB at $39.95, which is good value for a 'no term' contract. But factor in $29.95 monthly line rental, and you're paying $69.90.
In the medium user range it's a much closer race. AAPT offers a decent value 10GB plan for $49.95, which added to line rental equates to $79.90 per month. To get anywhere near 10GB at iiNet, you fork out $69.95 for their Naked Home 3 plan. The naked option is about $10 cheaper, though factor in the potential savings from VOIP calls and iiNet has the edge.
Heavy users will have to suffice with 20GB for $59.95 at AAPT, which adds up to $89.90 when you include line rental. By comparison, iiNet cater for big downloaders with their Naked Home 6 plan at 65/65GB for $119.95. Again, the advantage of naked DSL compared with standard DSL is not so conclusive here.
Still, if you factor in extra costs of standard DSL, such as line rental and more expensive phone charges, naked DSL still presents the better value for customers overall. VOIP bundled into the NDSL plans offer customers a range of free calls and reduced phone costs that regular DSL over standard phone lines simply can't compete with.
Next Page: VOIP compared . . . click below
VOIP plans among naked DSL providers
Given that you won't have a "regular" telephone service on a naked plan, you might consider using VOIP. There are some differences between providers - most importantly, who offers free calls.
iiNet
Uses the iitalk-phone service to make calls. The benefit of iiNet's VOIP bundling is that all VOIP freebies like free untimed local call are applied to each naked DSL option at no extra cost to the customer. Highlights include:
- Free untimed local calls per month
- Free national untimed calls Australia-wide
- Free iiNet to iiNet VOIP calls
- 29c per minute Australian mobile calls
gotalk
Gotalk's regular VOIP package (free with the regular Naked DSL Great Escape plans) includes no free calls, and discount call prices are already applied. These include:
- 9.9c per minute untimed local calls
- 19.9c per minute Australian mobile calls.
Gotalk also offer separate VOIP packages (interestingly they are one of the few ISPs we reviewed to offer a specialist VOIP packages without also purchasing Internet access). Their main VOIP deal costs $14.95 per month and is known as the 'Aussie Pack'. This includes:
- up to 300 free local calls per month
- up to 300 free national calls per month
- up to 100 free calls to Australian mobiles (or 500 minutes) per month
- Plus free calls to over 30 listed countries on their website
Also keep in mind that gotalk does offer the ability to keep your existing telephone number when switching to VOIP (though it costs extra).
Amnet
Amnet are a SA/WA based ISP, and their customers can receive some free calls as part the deal. Their VOIP product includes:
- Free voicemail
- 10c untimed local and national calls
- 50 Free local and national calls per month
Exetel
While Exetel offer some terrific downloading quotas on their naked DSL broadband options, their VOIP product is weak in comparison with other products on the market. They do not offer any free calls, like some of the other ISP's mentioned here. This includes:
- 10c (untimed) for local/national calls
- 22c per minute mobile calls in Australia.
Internode
Internode offer a slightly confusing set of VOIP products, known as NodePhone1 and NodePhone2. In basic terms, Nodephone1 allows customers to call out, but only receive calls from other NodePhone users. This would probably be most attractive to people who mainly use their mobiles and don't want a home phone number.
Nodephone2 costs an extra $10 a month and allows outgoing calls plus allows you to receive incoming calls from NodePhone users as well as any other telephone user. You get $10 credit and a new home number:
- 18c per untimed local calls
- 30c per minute mobile calls
- Free voicemail (saved as a .WAV file and delivered to your email)
Also keep in mind that Internode doesn't offer the ability to keep your existing home phone number when switching to VOIP.
Conclusion: The two standout offerings are iiNet and Gotalk. However, to take advantage of the 'Aussie Pack' at Gotalk, you could either purchase Gotalk's 'Escape with the Lot' plan that incorporates this feature for $77.50 a month, or buy the Great Escape 9 plan (3GB/6GB) and add the Aussie Pack separately for an extra $14.95.
However, to break it down further: if you wanted to go on a Gotalk plan such as the 'Great Escape 36' or '60 plan', you would find that you would not actually receive any of the free call benefits of the Aussie pack, unless you pay an extra $14.95 per month on top of plan prices, which might seem a little deceptive to customers.
iiNet were the best VOIP bundle on the market for people who do not make too many mobile or overseas calls (iiNet offers no discounts on either of these). Their free local and nation wide calls represent excellent value.
Gotalk customers who will be making regular overseas calls to the 30 countries listed on their website will make a substantial saving on their phone bill if they take the $14.95 option as an added extra. In addition to this, gotalk offer 500 free minutes to mobiles, which would cost approximately $145 for the same amount of minutes at iiNet (0.29 cents per minute), who currently don't offer free mobile calls and charge the highest mobile rate per minute out of the five NDSL providers we reviewed.
Finally, we were a little disappointed by the Internode offerings. You need to spend $10 each month on top of any chosen naked service to get access to the Nodephone2 service which is the plan we think most naked DSL users will find more useful as a replacement for their old telephone line. Even though you receive $10 credit for this, the 18c per minute local calls and 30c per minute mobile calls are among the highest rates out of the VOIP products we reviewed.
Considering how often we call mobile phones today, it is hard to look past adding the Gotalk 'Aussie pack' as a very valuable extra to your naked DSL and standard VOIP plan. And for this, gotalk are our favourite naked dsl provider when it comes to voip.
Next Page: Naked DSL vs Wireless . . . click below
Naked DSL vs wireless
Wireless is the other big alternative if you're wanting to avoid monthly line rental, but how does it stack up compared to naked DSL?
Virgin
Has recently come to market with 3G mobile broadband on the back of the Optus HSDPA network. Although the promise of ‘free wireless broadband’ is attractive, you’ll have to read the fine print. By purchasing a rather expensive mobile cap plan ($80 - $175), customers are given free internet with a couple of strings attached. The problem is, you’ll only receive a paltry 1GB download quota at 512k speeds, which is nothing to get excited about when compared to the 20GB capacities and bigger download quotas of the ADSL 2+ naked products. Buried in the fine print, Virgin also slows all peer to peer traffic on the network to 64kbp. This service might prove useful for email and the occasional web browsing, but little else.
Virgin also have a 4GB option, but you'll have to stay on a 24 month contract to achieve this, plus pay an extra $10 a month on top of the bundled mobile price. This may suit people on the go who just want to check email, and surf a few websites, but we couldn't imagine it being a total replacement for NDSL.
Unwired
Offering both prepaid and postpaid (contract) wireless broadband. You'll need to purchase an Unwired brand modem at $129 with entry plans starting at $29.95 for 3GB. This is cheaper than entry naked plans, but the big downside is slower speeds of 256Kbps, and you'll need to be living in the right reception zone. On the plus side, the prepaid offer is useful for those who can't stand contracts and prices are much cheaper than some of the other wireless options available at market.
Optus
Hot on the tails of Telstra and offer the second biggest 3G network in the country with a much wider coverage zone than Unwired. Optus only offer three 'yes' wireless plans, with 2GB costing $44.95, or $34.99 bundled with an Optus mobile plan. The downside is you'll need to go on a 24 month contract, pay some very large upfront costs, buy their special modem and be aware of the hefty excess download fees of 15 cents per MB. At those prices, you might want to consider a second mortgage if you zoom past your download quota. Again, not a rival to naked dsl in terms of sheer value.
Telstra
Finally, Telstra's Next G network is the one to beat right now in terms of coverage alone. The biggest downside to Telstra's plans are the huge plan costs and tiny download quotas. Prices start at $34.95, but that gives you only 10hours access at 256Kbps. Or you could pay $54.95 for 200MB.
Telstra offers 'G fast' speeds from 3Mbps to 'Super G fast' speeds at 6Mbps. However, like Optus, excess MB's are charged at 15cents, which could break the bank for undisciplined downloaders, plus the $299 modem available from retailers isn't particularly cheap. Overall, it's no naked DSL-beater and just another reason to suggest that the 3G products are really only suitable for those people who travel frequently and need reliable net access on the move.
Conclusion: For better cost and speed, naked DSL is still the option we prefer. If you wanted to be able to move around the home and backyard using a wireless, you could setup a stand alone wireless network based on your NDSL modem, which would give you the best of both worlds.
Next Page: Extra costs/issues . . . click below
The extra costs of going naked
All the usual extra costs associated with regular broadband apply to naked DSL, such as contracts fees, excess download fees, modem prices and possible line activation fees. As mentioned, Gotalk provides a free modem on some of their plans, whilst it could cost you close to $200 to buy a modem from some of the other ISP's.
In addition, Amnet charge an extra $19.95 a month on top of their ADSL 2+ prices, and Exetel charge excess download fees and a line activation fee that may have you questioning the overall cost saving of having no phone line in the first place.
Also keep in mind that even though you won't be paying line rental, you'll still need a working telephone connection. As gotalk points out: “If you have never had a working telephone line, you will need to pay for a new connection in addition to the fees above before we can provide you with Naked DSL.”
Other issues affecting Naked DSL
In recent months, the single biggest reported issue affecting naked DSL has been problems with connections. Some users posting to the Whirlpool forums have reported connections taking up to 2 months to complete.
We spoke to iiNet chief technology officer, Greg Bader and Internode managing director, Simon Hackett about the issue and they addressed a few of our concerns.
Mr Bader first explained that the take up of the NDSL product has eclipsed their initial forecast projections. iiNet projected 500 customers a month in the take-up rate of its naked product. Currently, iiNet are dealing with over 8000 customers a month. Mr Bader explained that "we can only control 20% of the process. 80% of the process is out of our hands". Mr Bader said that that for iiNet, "96% of customers take up to 20 days and 4% take longer".
Mr Hackett added that connections to the naked service are "based on a seven-year-old process designed for voice services that Telstra has failed to update since. Sadly there is little incentive for Telstra to update it". Noting the potential delay, Mr Hackett gingerly described how "Telstra can miss their promised appointment, and propose a new date, and then charge your ISP a penalty fee when that revised date isn't suitable to the customer. And all of this can take time and generate considerable inconvenience".
Mr Hackett concluded that one approach to migration with no downtime "is to order a new Naked DSL service and then cancel the old 'shared' service later."
But the forecast for connecting NDSL is not all doom and gloom, as some news pundits would have you believe. A quick scan of the Whirlpool forums shows a growing chorus of naked dsl customers who regularly praise their naked DSL connections.