iiNet to kill off AAPT 'leechers'

Unlimited plan users in ISP's crosshairs

IiNet will end AAPT's high-volume plan ending the heyday of bandwidth "leechers", some of whom boast of downloading more than 75 terabytes of data.

The west coast  ISP that bought AAPT in July for $60 million sent letters to about 2000 customers of the former Telecom NZ provider's unlimited 24x7 plans telling them it will end the service next month.

"AAPT Limited still owned the business up until handover to iiNet on Friday 1 Oct[ober]," an ISP representative wrote on Whirlpool's broadband forum.

"The first batch of letters to 24/7 unlimited customers were in the mail that afternoon."

iiNet chief executive officer Michael Malone made plain he would cut the plan even before it halted trading pending the acquisition.

"All you end up with on unlimited are the leeches," Malone said at the time.

iiNet representative Joe Selvaggi, posting to Whirlpool yesterday, pushed the ISP's 400GB Home 3 ADSL2+ plan as a replacement for those "with relatively modest needs".

"There's our ADSL2+ Home 3 plan with 200GB + 200GB with 256Kbps shaping for $69.95 plus $29.95 for Home Phone, which comes in at the same $99.95 price point as the Livenet 24/7 Unlimited package," Selvaggi said.

Another iiNet representative, 'Joseph C' reassured customers on other AAPT plans that the ISP would not shift them to its broadband products.

"The rest of the AAPT customer base isn't going to be affected - [they] can stay on their existing plans," he said.

"Only the 24/7 unlimited plans are being removed from use."