Australian internet provider TPG has declared "the world of internet has moved on" and suspended sales of its dial-up internet plans.
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The telco ceased selling access to its dial-up service this week, signalling the end of an era to internet speeds of up to 56 kilobits per second – 428 times slower than ADSL2+.
Despite this, there were still some 182,000 accessing the internet via dial-up as of June last year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. (There are 12.4 million Australian internet subscribers in total)
"We have stopped selling dial-up as the world of internet has moved on," a TPG spokesman told Fairfax Media on Friday after a reader noticed TPG had taken down its dial-up sales page.
"This does not mean that our existing dial customers will lose service – we will continue to support customers with dial-up accounts.
"Our decision to remove dial-up was also because we wish to simplify our ever-growing product range."
Asked for how much longer it would support existing customers, TPG offered no comment.
A spokesman for iiNet Group said it would not be abandoning its dial-up offering anytime soon.
"Dial up remains the most affordable option for a small number of customers who only use the internet occasionally and the only option for some that still find themselves in broadband blackspots," the spokesman said.
"iiNet has no plans to end this important service for either new or existing customers."
The spokesman said iiNet Group currently had more than 20,000 active dial-up services on its network.
While it was still offering dial-up, TPG had three plans – the Unlimited Pack, Wild Pack and Easy Pack. The Unlimited Pack was $16.99 a month and had no download limit, while the other two plans charged either per hour or per megabyte.
Using the unlimited plan, TPG customers would've theoretically been able to download a maximum of 18 gigabytes per month.
Many Australian telcos, including Telstra's Bigpond, iiNet Group and Dodo, still offer dial-up. Dodo offers it for the bargain price of $1 per month.
News of dial-up's demise on TPG comes after 10,000 vulnerable Australians were left without phone and internet services after OneTelecom – which offered dial-up and broadband – went into administration last year.
The telecommunications company specialised in the over 55s market and was one of three companies that went into administration following a court battle in April.
 
