People Telecom has become the first ISP to sell ADSL2+ via Telstra Wholesale, but the pricing is unlikely to excite anyone in metro areas.

The telco announced its deal with Telstra earlier this month, but no pricing was available — perhaps for a reason.

The plans start at 10GB peak and 10GB off-peak for a whopping $84.95/month, and go up to a 60GB "any time" plan for $119.95/month. To make matters worse, People Telecom is counting both uploads and downloads towards this usage.

Some rudimentary comparison with People Telecom's non-Telstra competitors show that these prices are on average 30% more expensive, and if you factor in the counted uploads, the pricing is even worse.

The plans seem to only compare favourably to Telstra's own BigPond plans, where 25GB sets you back $109.95/month and 60GB costs $159.95/month. Even then, Telstra customers rarely pay full price due to bundling discounts.

It could be argued that the pricing isn't that surprising, given the expensive nature of existing Telstra Wholesale based 8Mbit ADSL1 plans. This may concern those involved with discussions on a new national broadband network, however, as this is an example of Telstra deciding prices without regulatory concern.

Interested customers are likely to be those in regional areas, or on sub-exchanges/RIMs, where no non-Telstra ADSL2+ providers are available. But People Telecom won't be the last ISP to offer ADSL2+ via Telstra Wholesale, and it might be worth waiting to see what else becomes available over the next few months.

Links:

• PT ADSL2+ pricing