Melbourne Suburbs To Get Wireless Broadband Option

Communications Today, May 24, 2002

Alphalink (Australia) announced plans to begin rolling out wireless residential broadband service in the Melbourne area this summer based on a newly gained carrier license that it says makes it Australia's 100th telecommunications carrier.

The monthly rate for service will be a flat $27.50, but the company's proposed pricing plans get complicated after that. Two service options are based on theoretical top speeds of 11 Mbps or 56 Mbps. Then data is classified into three tariffs based on time of transmission, with separate monthly limits for each individual tariff. A fourth free and unmetered tariff applies mostly to local data sent among Alphalink customers. The company said it expects to attract online gaming users with the free local data.

Australia's broadband deployment has seen more than its share of difficulty, and Alphalink's complex time stratification for usage might not go over well in other markets where DSL or cable service are available. However it can only do the market good to get more service on the ground and to experiment with different service plans.

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