Internode is calling on Telstra rejects to trial its new “Naked DSL” broadband service which frees customers from the need to pay line rental by offering ADSL2+ broadband and a broadband phone service over a standard copper line.

While Internode will initially be looking for participants in Adelaide, the trial will eventually be rolled out nationally. The ISP is also in the midst of finalising an access wholesale deal with Optus which will further its reach even more.

Trial participants who have been rejected by Telstra will be of special interest to the broadband ISP, said managing director, Simon Hackett.

“They are of special interest to us,” he said. “One reason people can't get ADSL today is when Telstra reports 'Transmission Loss Too High',” he said. “And that’s only because Telstra won’t take the dial tone out of DSL because their religion forbids it. It creates an incredible opportunity because there will always be a segment of the DSL segment that Telstra refuses to service, but the rest of us will.”

Internode is hoping that the trial will prove that Naked DSL is capable of bypassing Telstra’s distance limitation, which is imposed on all 'line sharing' based ADSL2+ services.

“About a quarter of the people that apply to Internode do so because they have been rejected by Telstra. So now with Naked DSL, we can go back to these people and say, ‘Hey, we have a solution for you,’” Hackett said.

Internode is also on the lookout for trial participants who have been rejected due to 'obtuse' problems such as being on exchanges with multiple MDFs (Main Distribution Frames).

“In principle, Naked ADSL2+, using the Unbundled Local Loop Service access method, fixes this problem. While it may not be possible in practice, we hope to get some trial participants in that circumstance so we can give it our best shot,” Hackett said.

He added that Internode would supply this service to trial participants on a ‘no success, no fee’ basis. Once the trial is complete, Internode aims to launch a commercial Naked DSL service, dubbed Internode Ultra in the first quarter of 2008. Pricing has not yet been announced.

TPG is also trialling the technology at the moment, while iiNet has almost completed its Naked DSL trials and with a suspected launch date set for the end of November.

Sign me up

Trial participants will be chosen to cover various connection modes that range from putting in a new line from scratch to using Naked DSL to replace a standard phone service or an ISDN service.

They will be asked to pay a nominal $40 per month during the trial period and will be responsible for any costs incurred by disconnecting from current service providers. They also need a compatible broadband router which, for the trial, is a Billion 740x series ADSL2+ router that includes NodePhone2 compatible voice hardware.

People can apply for the trial by sending an email to ulltriala@internode.com.au with their name and contact details.

Note that places during the trial phase are limited.