Psssst!
If you are currently on or looking to upgrade to a 1.5Mbps plan I would suggest keeping an eye on the Westnet website mid to late next week (all things going well). Don’t expect any price changes but there are some small changes on the way for the 1.5Mbps plans. That is all I can say for now:)
Posted by Ryan Bunter
May 4th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I, for one, will be glad to see any positive change on the 1.5Mbs plans. I have been on one of these plans for a long time and have had to drop my download limit down from the 20GB plan to the 10GB plan to keep from having to spend any more per month. While I absolutely applaude the service Westnet offers, since the latest rounds of price increases around 6 months ago, I have been considering changing to another ISP. I know that I could save quite a lot of money by doing so. The only thing keeping me with Westnet is their service and a small amount of loyalty. I sincerely hope, as suggested by this blog, that there are some positive things about to happen so that I start to feel that I am once again getting value for my money.
May 4th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Loyalty is the reason I am currently staying with Westnet. They have been such a sound and thoroughly professional ISP for as long as I have been connected to the net, from 1998 to the present. I like many others have been tempted to move since the recent price hike and negative changes to existing plans, I sincerely hope there are some positives in these new changes proposed. Westnet have many loyal customers who do not wish to leave, we are just waiting for a reason not to. Maybe the loyalty is misguided, but I hope that in this age of economic rationalism loyalty can still survive, and that it could work both ways in spite of the bottom line.
May 5th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Westnet appreciates greatly the loyalty we receive from our members and we want to do everything we can to see it continue. We also want Westnet to be around for a long time to come providing excellent customer service and quality products. To achieve this we do need to maintain sustainable pricing structures though. We have said all along though that where and when we can increase the attractiveness of our plans (on paper) we would and we will continue to do that.
May 5th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I have been on 1.5 for a few months now (With westnet going on 3 years total), And have alwayz been happy with westnet but the off peak on peak download limits have had me thinking of looking else where, I was on 15 off 10 on and the hours and lengh of the off peak I do not like, 15 gig being the biggest part of my 25 gig from 2am to 10am “8 hours” so most of the month I really have only 10 gig to play with
I hope this is in the changers coming soon 
May 6th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Excellent comments Martin, you hit the nail on the head. That sums up what I was trying to get across. I am glad I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Ryan does point out why they have increased prices and I can understand where Westnet are coming from. Just so long as they keep in mind that if they want to be in business for the long term, they really do need to make people feel like they are truly getting value for their money and not to out-price themselves into extinction. Loyalty only lasts for so long. I am still wondering whether their expansion to the Eastern States was maybe a bigger bite of the cherry than they expected and therefore has increased their costs significantly. Is it a case of the West Aussie custom base financing the move to the east? Up until the significant expansion, Westnet seemed to maintain a competitive edge. Since then, things seemed to get more expensive. But like you, Martin, I am hanging in there hoping in the near future that things will balance out again.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Hi Kevin,
I 100% agree that we need to provide value for money. I also think that factors such as customer service and product quality contribute heavily to most members’ perception of value for money so we will continue to treat these two areas with a very high priority.
I can see where you are coming from with the comments about our expansion outside of WA. With hindsight our move to offer services nationally is probably one of the best moves we have made and realistically if we had have remained just servicing WA we would have struggled to obtain the scale required to compete with other larger national providers. I dare say if we had not made the leap to national provider so successfully we might not be around today.
Thanks for the comments guys. It is great to hear your thoughts on these topics.
May 8th, 2007 at 8:39 am
I think this is definately a well needed step in the right direction for Westnet. Finally some good news amongst the bad.
Looking forward to seeing the official notice.
James
May 8th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Well, The plan is announced… Looks like my plan goes back to the 20GB limit peak that it used to be!! I like the 40GB off peak limit, although I dont think I will ever be able to use it! This return back to the old plan limits does definitely alleviate the bitter taste I have been feeling lately! Well done guys.