Telstra and Aussie Broadband fight on the internet

Australian Telecoms aren’t usually next to each other, but this week we’ve noticed that Australian Broadband and Telstra have a bit of a headline for the like.

Earlier in the week, Telstra posted a page that compared its service directly to Australian broadband, the fourth most popular NBN provider in terms of market share and the largest small provider (which we may have grandfathered in when talking about Australian broadband). could).

On the page, Telstra tries to stand out as the best option by directly listing the areas of comparison. Noting that Telstra ranks #1 for average download speed, according to the ACCC (which is as of August’s report). However, some of Telstra’s equations are a bit trivial.

For example, when comparing “customer support is available in-store, in-store, by phone and online”, Telstra notes that it offers walk-in stores, while Australian does not.

When comparing the modems included in the plan, Telstra also mentions that the modem is included if you signed up for 24 months, while you’ll need to pay $149 for an Australian modem. If you want to stay signed into a Telstra subscription for that long, great! However, if you leave early, you’ll have to pay for a Telstra modem – a whopping $216, or $9 for every month you’re not a Telstra customer moving forward 24 months.

The drawback to Telstra’s modem comparison is that you can’t bring your own modem – you have to get Telstra’s modem, while Aussie gives you the option.

What was the reaction of the Australian team to all this? Well, Philip Britt, director of Australian broadband, wrote in a LinkedIn post that he was, in fact, knocking on Telstra’s digs.

“You know you’ve made it when the 400-pound Telstra Gorilla feels the need to make a comparison page,” Phillip said in his post.

“Too bad some of their data isn’t correct,” he added, directly tagging Telstra CEO Andrew Penn. “You may want to get your team to use current Netflix stats and as they update, maybe add your product’s rating of 1.7 stars versus our 4.5!”

Drama aside, it looks like Telstra is now taking Australian broadband seriously as a competitor.

While both telcos are quite expensive, Australian gives you a bit more flexibility, while Telstra focuses more on being a bundled provider, so you have all your internet, phone, entertainment and gaming services at home on one bill.