Yournet is a new player in the ISP market, with the sole purpose of giving Australians an option to access international content without using a VPN or DNS workaround. They offer one service, and one service only: $129.95 per month, unlimited ADSL2+, HD streaming. The future, mates. It’s now.
The aim is more content, faster. They’re offering access to Australian and international content simultaneously, while promising that fewer people sharing the network link means faster and higher quality streaming. RIP godawful buffering.
“It won’t access your internet connection whatsoever,” Bhuva told CRN. “VPN routes your traffic to the other side of the world – we’re not doing that.”
Basically: no more Netflix buffering, and no more adding / deleting your DNS every time you want to switch libraries. Actually, this option, with it’s emphasis on simplicity, is sounding pretty cosy for anyone who’s told their parents how to get BBC iPlayer 400 times and counting.
When Netflix launched in Australia, everyone lost their collective shit – over a million people signed up in the first six weeks. Stan and Presto timed their launches respectively, Foxtel dropped their prices, and Quickflix shat itself. We ended up with an overly saturated market with thinly spread content, forcing consumers to either fork out for several different subscriptions, or continue merrily on with their torrenting ways.
It also kicked the government into action – they passed the controversial Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 last month, to allow content rights holders the ability to get foreign piracy related websites blocked by the Federal Court. It applies to the Pirate Bay and co, but also to VPN service providers, which are used to protect privacy online just as much as they are to access Netflix’s US library.
“Yournet is anti-piracy,” their website says. “We believe everyone should pay for the content they consume.” Founder Raj Bhuva told Fairfax that “at the moment the only options are either paying excessive prices or illegally downloading something.”
We’re a bit stumped here – is Yournet calling itself excessively priced (which, at $129.95 a month, is arguably so)? Or is it referring to the combined prices of Foxtel, Netflix, Stan, Presto and a VPN plus oversees subscriptions to access all content? Bear in mind that Yournet doesn’t come with the subscriptions, just the fast access and geo-dodging.
