Mobile broadband is handy — but it’s also a handy way to quickly run up big bills. Telstra says it plans to introduce shaping for postpaid mobile customers later this year. That’s a handy potential improvement, but the details of how and when it will happen need clarification.Telstra will officially unveil the plans in a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce today, but was quick to send an outline of the proposal to media ahead of the event. What it hasn’t been quick with is details. This is essentially all it had to say:
[Customers]will be among the first in the world to have their data speeds slowed when they exceed their mobile data allowance and not be charged for excess domestic data usage. The changes are in development and will be launched by year’s end.
Unsurprisingly, the provisions will only apply to postpaid plans. Telstra also said it wants to make the costs associated with roaming data “clearer” via regular SMS alerts, but stopped short of promising to actually reduce those prices.
Shaping mobile broadband on dongles isn’t a new concept — Primus and Virgin had similar deals available as far back as 2008. Telstra has also shaping on its Next G plans, though that began when its plans were considerably pricier than they are now.
Would shaping make you more likely to use data on your phone? Tell us in the comments.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.