Introduction
Currently based in Sydney, Australia, with over eighty five thousand customers and earning an estimated fifty million dollars in the ’07-’08 period, Exetel is an Australian ISP that provides web hosting, voice over IP and broadband internet coverage to all Australian states but Tasmania.
Internet Services
For standard ADSL broadband with speeds of 512 up and 128 down, Exetel will charge $40 a month for 6 GB pre-paid and 60 GB off-peak, and $45 a month for 12 GB pre-paid and 60 GB off-peak. For the fastest speed of 8192/384, Exetel charges $75 a month for 12 GB pre-paid and 60 GB off-peak, and $85 a month for 30 GB pre-paid and 60 GB off-peak. These levels of off-peak download limits are far more than what most internet service providers offer in Australia. If you have large amounts of downloads that you can make during off-peak periods (from midnight to midday in the case of Exetel) one of these services may be the right choice for you.
It’s essential to remember that once you have reached the download limit for either the pre-paid or off-peak period, Exetel will begin to charge three dollars per gigabyte that you download.
Exetel do not count uploads towards the download limit. While this sounds like an obvious statement, a few Australian internet companies currently do count uploads and downloads towards the monthly data exchange limit.
Despite not taking part in the Governments recent trial of internet filtering, Exetel began in April of 2009 the implementation of an internet filtering regime. While ideally such a filter is designed to block websites with illegal content, the legitimacy of some of the websites being on the list has been called into question, and such a filtering system calls matters of personal freedom into question. Along with ethical issues, imposing such a filter also has the chance of affecting download speeds for all users, and in cases overseas such filtering software has caused wider problems with the ISP’s services. Exetel have informed customers with complaints about the policy to contact the Australian Government.
Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- The largest off-peak download limits of any Australian ISP
- Low prices and high speeds for off-peak times
Cons
- Price dramatically increases and peak download limit goes up
- Implementation of internet filter
- Large fees for breaching download limit
Conclusion
There are, of course, plenty of options to choose from when looking for a broadband provider, and it’s important to make sure your internet service suits your lifestyle. If you happen to use the internet most often during the off-peak period, using Exetel as your internet provider is a choice well worth considering.
