Amnet has launched a new "naked" option with its ADSL products to make them free of Telstra line rental.

Naked DSL is when an ISP provides ADSL2+ on a line without there being any phone service (not even a dial-tone).

The pricing is simple, as Amnet are using their existing plans with an additional $19.95 for line charges. Naked DSL still contains a line charge due to Telstra ULL costs, but Amnet says it is typically $7/month cheaper than full line rental. This is especially the case after Telstra stopped new ADSL2+ users from getting the cheapest line rental if they didn't sign up to BigPond.

Amnet has beaten some of its larger rivals to the punch, with trials currently under way by iiNet, Internode and TPG. Some smaller ISPs such as Spin/Comcen and Greentree Frog have been offering services via Optus DSLAMs for a while, however.

One downside is that Amnet customers will lose their phone number once they switch to naked DSL. Statements by iiNet indicate that they intend to swap the customer's phone number over to its VoIP service as part of the move. Amnet says that it has no plans to offer this due to "cost implications and complexity of porting numbers on such as small scale".

Links:

• Amnet announcement  (Amnet, 14 Nov 2007)