Truly Unlimited Broadband: Is It Possible?

Australia has long been behind the rest of the world in terms of internet connections, and in fact uses broadband far less commonly than the rest of the world. Truly unlimited broadband has yet to be offered in Australia, although many other nations have had unrestricted broadband internet for years. Most of the internet usage plans which are currently used in Australia today are either dial-up, or are broadband with varying degrees of limitations.

What Does "Unlimited Broadband" In Australia Include?

Plans which are advertised as "unlimited broadband" are generally making creative use of wording to disguise the fact that broadband internet plans in Australia are based on usage with penalties if limits are exceeded. When customers exceed their monthly limit, large excess usage fees can accumulate quickly, especially when downloading content rich media programmes. Additionally, the unlimited broadband has restrictions upon the hours it may be utilised.

What Types of Internet Plans Offer Unlimited Broadband?

Broadband plans can be unlimited, but only to a certain degree. A broadband internet customer must first purchase a basic monthly plan which will usually give them between twenty and sixty Gigabytes of usage, with further usage being billed at a much higher rate. Monthly rates begin at about $50.00, and can be as much as $100.00. Usage during most hours of the day will be taken out of the purchased amount of GB, while the "unlimited" usage will be allowed only during the middle of the night and early mornings.

The Restrictions On Unlimited Broadband Use In Australia

While the broadband internet providers do indeed give the unmetered broadband downloads they advertise, this happens only in the hours of the morning from two o'clock a.m. to eight o'clock a.m. This is a rather new development in the Australian broadband market, as unlimited downloads, at any time, were not even offered until quite recently.

The Penalties For Overuse of Unlimited Broadband

Should a broadband customer exceed their monthly allowance of downloads at any time, they will then be faced with another newer development. Once monthly download allowance is passed, the customer will find that their download speed is lowered for the remainder of the billing cycle. This will include downloads at any hour, so once again this does have an impact upon how unlimited the broadband truly is. The idea behind this was to prevent hugely inflated internet bills, but it has yet to be seen how effective this will be.

Is Truly Unlimited Broadband A Possibility For Australia?

Unlimited broadband is, at this time, not a reality for most Australian customers. While there has been some progress towards allowing customers more broadband internet usage, truly unrestricted broadband internet usage is still not available for Australian residents.