Internode's new Shaped plans offer a dramatic price-performance improvement relative to our previous plans, and offer industry-leading value with no excess download fees

Internode's award-winning FlatRate plans have had a dramatic boost in value at no extra cost

Internode's new entry-level 'Starter' personal broadband plan, offers a great new 'entry level' option for customers moving from dialup to broadband for the first time:

1. Internode offers a 300 megabyte download limit for $29.95 - 50 per cent higher than the 200 MB level offered by BigPond. In addition BigPond charges for uploads and downloads, but Internode only counts downloads.
2. Internode demands no long-term contract from its customer, whereas the BigPond plan is for a minimum contracted period of 12 months.
3. Internode has set its maximum excess data charges at $30 per month, whereas BigPond has an unlimited potential for charging excess fees at 15 cents per megabyte.

Internode managing director Simon Hackett said the company had redesigned its broadband plans to make them even more customer-friendly. " We're not using tricky contracts or demanding lock-in to preselect a long-distance voice carrier," he said.

"The BigPond entry-level offer looks attractive on the surface, but as soon as you delve deeper, it is fraught with risks for the consumer. For example, at BigPond, exceeding your download limit by 800 MB - which is easy to do with broadband - could cost you an additional $120 in excess charges. Download more and it costs more."

"Internode has capped excess charges at $30 a month. That means the customer does not receive any nasty surprises. We also don't have any contract lock-in period, so our customers are free to change their broadband plans if they find another plan suits them better."

"Internode's new plans make the Internet more accessible than its has ever been, both in terms of speed and cost, without the risks posed by other companies' broadband traps."

Mr. Hackett said Internode had launched completely new plans, and existing customers could choose which plan best suited them, or remain on their existing plan if they wished. "Our new plan structure has changed so substantially that we've left it up to our customers to decide what suits them the best - its entirely their call", he said.