Telstra boosts text and data quotas

Telstra's new Text and Data plans

Australian ISP Telstra (ASX:TLS) has pumped up its prepaid text and data quotas following demand from customers, but has increased call connection fees and SMS costs.

The telco detailed the change in a blog post and noted its 1c Text+ service was being replaced with the new Text and Data service.

Under the change, the telco has removed of the daily limit of 100 1c texts per day and increased data quotas offering from between 500 Megabytes (MB) to 3 Gigabytes (GB). Bonus texts have also been increased (these are used before the customer can send 1c texts), with the $40 plan receiving double the amount previously, and the $50 and $60 plans being upgraded to “unlimited” text to Australian numbers.

“For existing customers on the 1c Text+ offer, the daily limit of 100 1c Text to Telstra mobiles will be removed from today, provided you have recharged $20 or more in the last 30 days,” the blog reads. “The new bonus text and bonus data will apply the next time you recharge $20 or more.”

The change has also altered a number of prices for prepaid customers with standard national voice call rates changing from 40c per 30 seconds to 78c per one minute. Call connection fees have increased from 35c to 39c per call and SMS messages sent to Australia recipients has jumped from 25c to 29c once bonus texts have been used.

The boost comes off the back of the release of Telstra’s new battery-powered Ultimate Mobile Wi-Fi device which it hopes will coax more Australian businesses into using its high-speed wireless Next G network.

The device offers users download speeds ranging from 1.1 Megabits per second (Mbps) to 20Mbps, including upload speeds of 550 Kilobits per second (Kbps) to 3Mbps in capital cities and 300kbps to 3Mbps in selected regional centres. However, actual upload speeds vary depending on a number of environmental factors within the area and the number of users accessing the device.

The telco has also made good on an announcement it made earlier this year enabling Telstra T-Box owners to subscribe to Foxtel pay TV from the end of the month without the need for a separate device.

From Sunday 26 June, T-Box customers will be able to access to up to 30 Foxtel channels, including some catch-up TV channels, including FOX8, Discovery and Movie One. The basic starter service, with 11 channels, costs $19.50 a month.

Follow Chloe Herrick on Twitter: @chloe_CW

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU

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