iiNet buying Internode’s 190k customers for $105M ahead of NBN
Posted Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 4:08 pm by Jason Cartwright
iiNet are buying Internode. iiNet has spent years scouring the country to buy up any smaller ISP they could to expand it’s subscriber base. For years the company didn’t even advertise. This strategy for growth, proved to be a winning formula, growing rapidly to be the 2nd largest ISP in Australia.
Today iiNet have announced they are acquiring Internode’s 190,000 customers. Internode customers are some of the most passionate out there and have been quick to raise their concerns. Known for their high levels of customer service, gaming servers and unmetered content deals and leading the way in IPv6, Internode customers are clearly concerned the good days are coming to an end.
The acquisition of Internode will cost iiNet $105 Million and contain more than 450 employees. It’s interesting timing for the purchase given the impending transition of customers from ADSL to NBN over the next few years. The deal is scheduled for completion by February 29th, 2012.
With a high profile acquisition like this, there is bound to be some anxiety, iiNet CEO Michael Malone attempted to address this in the press release by saying Internode would continue to operate independently. Unfortunately the facts are often skipped over in people’s rush to predict the move a failure and bad for customers. He also said the two companies had similar backgrounds, similar values and similar service ethics.
In reality, the acquisition is likely to benefit both iiNet and Internode customers as the joint infrastructure can now be shared and optimised, hardware offerings like Fetch TV and Bob along with content partnerships should now spread to both sets of customers. There is yet to be clarification around any staff redundancies that may arise as an overlap of skills across the companies.
As a previous customer of both companies, I believe there is real parallels between the two and potential for them to compete with Telstra’s Bigpond for the top spot. Competition ultimately benefits consumers with prices being driven down and features up, but reducing the number by one is unlikely to have major impacts on local competition.
Finally a geek gets the NBN, turns out its awesome
Posted Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 10:35 pm by Jason Cartwright
While that National Broadband Network has begun its rollout in small pockets of Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, it has now reached South Australia and we finally get a detailed write-up from a user. This week Internode switched on their first customer in Willunga, 1 hour south of Adelaide.
Mr Raaj Menon is not just any customer. After early release sites were announced at the start of this year, Mr Menon convinced his family to up and move to Willunga just to be one of the first connected to the NBN. Spouses have to put up with a lot when it comes to their partner’s geeky habits, but this has to be up there with the best.
Mr Menon is the CEO of PCRange and has published his experience with the NBN in a blog post, providing a first-hand breakdown. Unsurprisingly Menon whipped out Speedtest.net got a workout to show off the new 100Mbps FTTP connection. The results speak for themselves.. impressive.
“The connection for the trial I have is 100Mbit downstream and 40Mbit Upstream. I was also given 200Gb data for the month which should be ample at least for now.” says Menon.
A ping to the closest server was returned in just 3 milliseconds. Hard core gamers would kill for a ping that low. By comparison a speedtest on my ADSL2+ connection landed a 35ms ping, decent, but every bit counts when it comes to twitchy FPS. The download speed was 95.12Mbps – only a 5% degradation from the theoretical maximum. The upload speeds were equally impressive, 35.99Mbps. While not symmetrical, this is around 35x ADSL2 upload speeds.
Image credit: The Digital Dreamer
Stats are fun, like specs on a cpu, but its real life applications that will impact our lives. Menon goes on to say “I can download a 1.3 Gigabyte file in under 2 minutes at 9 megabytes per second”…”I can upload a file just over 400MB in under 2 minutes.”
To put this in perspective, each episode of the techAU podcast is around 800Mb, the uploading process currently takes hours, using the NBN this would be done in 4 minutes.
Menon says he will continue to update us as the months roll by, so be sure to subscribe to his blog, Twitter or Facebook.
Internode launch MiFi
Posted Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 9:02 am by Jason Cartwright
MiFi is a device that takes a 3G sim card (like out of your phone) and creates a Wi-Fi hotspot that allows you to connect up to 5 computers or devices to. The Wi-Fi is 802.11b/g and gets around a 10 metre range. The device is powered by a Lithium Ion Batter that recharges via a wall outlet or USB.
A very neat idea, this convenience comes at a cost. A launch special of A$349, but normally A$399 without contract (BYO sim card). When bundled with NodeMobile Data Service for 24 months, the price only drops to A$299.
The Mifi comes in both black and white colours to suit your personal preference.
The Internode Mifi is essentially the Australian version of the US-based Verizon MiFi.
More @ Internode
New Internode Plans on new link, disappointing
Posted Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 6:47 am by Jason Cartwright
Internode have updated their broadband plans, in preparation for the new international connection finally coming online. The new plans will be active from this Thursday 8/10/09.
From October 6th 2009 a range of new broadband plans has been launched by Internode. We’re passing on to customers the benefits of the PIPE PPC-1 fibre-optic link, which goes live this Thursday.
PPC-1, an undersea cable that links Sydney with the western Pacific island of Guam, delivers a significant increase in Australia’s international data interconnection, thereby reducing data transfer costs. From Guam, Internode uses other cable systems to link through to the USA and beyond.
The new cable was supposed to dramatically reduce broadband costs and increase download quotas. Unfortunately the reality is a fairly incremental change in plans. The biggest (read:highest promoted) change is the Easy Broadband Plan which updates from 30GB to 50GB download quota.
Personally I’ve been on the ADSL TwoPlus 40GB plan. Apparently that’s no longer available in the new plans. The new options are 25GB for $89.95 or 50GB for $115.95.
Most current customers can stay on their existing plans, however that’s not really the point here is it. The new cable was supposed to bring lower prices and higher downloads, for my situation, this hasn’t been the case.
I understand TwoPlus plans have a piggyback on Telstra’s equipment, attracting a much higher cost than Internode’s normal ADSL2+ plans. So is Telstra to blame here ?
Overall the plan changes aren’t as dramatic as expected, which leaves a lot of people feeling disappointed. Head over to the Whirlpool forums or watch twitter to keep track of public opinion. Also leave your thoughts in the comments.
More @ Internode
