Monday, August 9th, 2010 by Simon Hackett
This is a guide to how the current Internode ADSL plans are named and structured. We hope it will help provide guidance on how to select an Internode ADSL plan that best suits your needs. Please note that these plan families are revised from time to time by Internode – this information is current as at the time of writing. Most Internode ADSL plans are named using three parts separated by dashes, like this: PLANTYPE-PLANFAMILY-PLANQUOTA For instance: HOME-Extreme-60 SOHO-Fast-50 BUSINESS-NakedExtreme-240 To explain how Internode plans work, lets look at each of these parts in turn. PLAN TYPEThere are three main plan types: HOME, SOHO and BUSINESS. HOME plans are intended for residential use. They deliver a single, dynamically allocated Internet address. They are our most cost effective plans. SOHO plans offer additional features compared to HOME plans, specifically an available static Internet address (for running servers), higher over-quota ‘shaped’ speeds, and access to a high-speed upstream mode (when using our Extreme services) called ‘Annex M’. BUSINESS plans are our high end services, offering static IP addresses, no shaping (instead, these plans offer pay-as-you-go per download charges if you download data beyond your chosen monthly quota), enhanced levels of support, and an available Service Level Agreement (SLA). PLAN FAMILYThere are two ways an ADSL service can be provided on a copper line. The first way is through a conventional ‘Shared Line’ service (where ADSL shares the line with a traditional analog telephone service that is either purchased separately or in a ‘bundle’ with the ADSL service). These require that a line filter or splitter is present in your premises, to separate the two different uses of the copper line and properly connect them to your ADSL router and your analog phone. The second way is called Naked DSL. In this case, there is no dial tone voice service sharing the ADSL service. No ADSL line filters or splitters are required, and no separate dial-tone voice service is purchased. For each of these types of ADSL service, our plans are delivered using one of three possible providers of the physical ADSL hardware that is installed at the far end of your copper line. Given these choices, our plan families can be represented in a table that lists these two ways to provide ADSL services and the three possible ADSL port types, like this:
More about each sort of portLets take a look at some more details about the plans provided on each of these port types. Internode-direct (also known as Agile ports)These ADSL2+ ports use exchange equipment installed and run directly by Internode. They are our highest performance and most flexible services. These ports support “Annex M” (high speed upstream) services, offering upload speeds of up to 2.5 megabits per second They support IP Multicast (required to offer the full featured version of our upcoming IPTV offering) They also support online-user-selectable DSLAM profiles, allowing customers to find the optimal balance of speed vs stability on their line on a self-service basis. The dial-tone voice service can be provided by Internode (when it is called NodeLine) or it can supplied by a third party. Buying both services on the same line from Internode results in a ‘bundling benefit’ that reduces the monthly cost of the ADSL plan. Naked DSL services (with no dial tone) are also available on these ports. OptusThese ADSL2+ ports use exchange equipment installed by Optus Wholesale and then linked into the Internode national network. Where these plans are chosen as a Shared Line service (with a dial-tone voice service), this is called an UltraBundle. On these ports, its not possible to have the dial-tone voice provided by a third party. Naked DSL services (with no dial tone) are also available on these ports. TelstraThese ports (with a choice of line speeds) use exchange equipment installed by Telstra Wholesale and then linked into the Internode national network. The available speeds on Telstra ports are:
(Note that in cases where ADSL2+ is not physically present in your geographic area, a FAST plan is implemented using the fastest speed that is possible, usually a full-rate ADSL1 with a maximum possible speed of 8000/384) The dial-tone voice service can be provided by Internode (called NodeLine) or it can be supplied by a third party. If you elect to use NodeLine, you obtain a ‘bundling benefit’ that saves money on the ADSL service (on all plans except for the 512-starter plan, whcih costs the same regardless of your choice of voice provider). Naked DSL services are not available using Telstra ports because Telstra haven’t yet ‘invented’ Naked DSL yet. While these ports have the highest geographic availability, they are also the most expensive plans we offer, because the underlying access pricing from Telstra Wholesale is far higher than the access pricing for all of our other plan families. Accordingly, other plan types should be used in preference to our Telstra port based plans, where those alternatives are available to you. Non Specific (We Choose)These plans are designed to provide an easy starting place when new customers select Internode. For these plans, the choice of port type is left up to Internode – and we select the best port type appropriate to the plan concerned, based on your location and on what is available to us to supply. The intention with these plans is to simplify the decision making process, by letting you focus on the sort of connection you want (Shared Line or Naked) and letting us do the work of deciding the best port available to suit your needs. Other special features of these plans (Easy and Easy Naked) are that these plans are offered with just one monthly quota choice, and the monthly quota is assessed as the total of upload and download data (all other Internode plan families assess usage in the download direction only). From time to time, Internode revises the list of port types that is available with Easy and Easy Naked plans for new customers, and Internode may automatically migrate customers on Easy or Naked Easy plans to another port type, from time to time. PLAN QUOTAThis is simply a number, where that number is the monthly quota for your plan, in gigabytes. Determining the plans you can obtain, where you live or workIf you simply type your phone number into the Internode coverage checker, it will tell you which Internode plan families are available in your area. Please note that even if a given set of plan families is available in your area in general, they are not necessarily all available for your specific address in particular. To find out for sure, just apply online for your preferred plan, and we will process your order to find out for sure. Because Internode (unlike some other providers) offers ADSL services on a ‘no success, no fee’ basis, you have no financial risk if we are not able to provision your chosen plan. And if it happens that we can’t, just contact Internode and we’ll discuss your needs and then re-submit your order for another plan family (if appropriate) and try again. |
Posted in Broadband by Simon Hackett
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