time for a new internet provider

[incognito]

i know most of u guys are computer whizz's so i figure u will be able to answer me best.

i have been paying 130 odd bucks a month for 10gig with telstras wireless service.

as im not travelling with work anymore, i really dont need it.

what i do need is unlimited downloads and a fast connection(not asking much am i?)

im having a home phone installed so a modem is no probs, ill only be using the net in my house.

im wit telstra for my mobs which im happy with.

can anyone recommend something for me?

im thinking of staying with telstra and getting a homeline and getting 50 gig a month for 75buks.

that way i get a discount due to having my homeline, mobs and net with them.

anyhoo keen to hear ur opinions.

[faustus]

you can do a search for broadband plans according to your own desired criteria

http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/bc/?action=search

but i'm with TPG.

for $50 you get 120 gigs (60GB during peak hours, 60 during offpeak)

[ThunderIdeal]

i'm not sure exactly what you mean by unlimited but, with tpg you can get shaped to 500/500, or even double that if you go for a hefty monthly download. most people couldn't begin to take advantage of that much downloading. point is you don't have to worry about using up your monthly downloads because you can still browse youtube and the like pretty happily after being shaped.

put your phone number here http://www.whirlpool.net.au/ and call one of the providers to check you can get adsl2 first. dunno where you live, first step is finding out if you'll be adsl or adsl2.

[MindExpansion]

Yeh find out if you get ADSL2 or cable, otherwise it'll likely just be adsl.

Consider naked dsl as it means you don't pay line rental and make your calls cheaper over Voice over IP (VoIP).

Unlimited downloads are pretty uncommon here, look at TPG for some good deals they had going a while ago with high DL limits.

Make sure you get a plan that shapes you when you go over the limit because the charge per MB types are rip offs.

Peace

[ballzac]

for $50 you get 120 gigs (60GB during peak hours, 60 during offpeak)

 

Or for $5 less than you were willing to pay Telstra, you can get 160GB (80/80). Don't fall for the bundles with Telstra. You're still getting less than a third of what you get with tpg but paying more money. I must say, however, that tpg are not the best at customer service. Nor are Telstra though. If you want to pay a little extra for better support, go with iinet. They're not much more expensive than tpg. But as ME said, it makes a big difference whether you have access to adsl2 or not. If it is in your area, but none is currently available, check back with the respective companies (say iinet and tpg) on a daily basis, and more will open up. If it's not in your area, then you'll have to go with standard adsl, which is slower and often more expensive.

[Evil Genius]

So you guys dont have unlimited download flatrates in Australia? I have one that costs about 50 Euro per month which is probably about 100 Australian Dollar. But i could be wrong about the dollar course though. It´s just an estimated number that came into my mind. And the one i have is rather expensive compared to the new super fast dsl flatrates. You can already get them including telephone flat for 30 euro per month. I try to change to that tariff too as soon as my old contract ran out. bye Eg

[atomar]

So you guys dont have unlimited download flatrates in Australia?

 

Unless you're prepared to pay a lot of money for an unlimited business account which is out of the question for residential users, there are no real unlimited download plans in Australia. Many of us don't even have access to broadband via DSL or cable and are only left with a wireless option.

There's hope Kevin Rudd's National Broadband Network may change that.

[Evil Genius]

Wow atomar, i wasnt aware of that. Thats heavy. Maybe i can take my flatrate with me when i move to Austrlia.

[atomar]

I built a house outside the inner city, about 20 minutes drive from the CBD and could not get ADSL or cable. Ended up setting up a small wireless ISP for the neighbourhood so I could get some decent Internet access and help out those around us in a similar situation. Got just over 60 'neighbours' getting Internet from me.

I'd say if you move to an established area and not into one of those new residential estates you should be fine getting ADSL and download quotas in excess of 100GB should really be enough for anyone. The situation isn't all that bad here. The site quoted earlier, www.whirlpool.net.au is a great resource and so is www.adsl2exchanges.com.au

[Chiral]

yeah comms here is ridiculous, the prices are prolly the most expensive in the world. Like mind says find out if you have cable or adsl. it's prolly gunna be adsl2 if you are outside of Sydney as hardly any country towns ever rolled out cable, I have cable and it's incredibly reliable and doesn't require a phone line of adsl filter.

Remember all these smaller companies actually either lease their lines off Telstra or Optus so in the end you are still using one of the 2 big guns.

shop around because you can get pretty cheap (in comparison to telstra or Optus) rates, look for plans that slow you down after your limit and not charge you extra for it...a friend got stung recently by vodaphone when they went over their 5gig limit on their prepaid usb modem wireless plan, and were charged $100 per 10megabytes....$690.00 it costher on top of her $40..ouch.

checking the usage is not easy to do nor is it accurate, companies like TPG seem reliable and have been around for many years and serve a lot of business needs so they know what they doing when it comes to stable networks.

[Slybacon]

Naked ADSL 2 from Exetel.com.au is the best i have found.

[naja naja]

Westnet has always served me well. Fought to get me ADSL when I was told onlyu dialup was available from Telstra. Went above and beyond their call of duty.

[ballzac]

Naked ADSL 2 from Exetel.com.au is the best i have found.

 

Best in what way? The prices look pretty poor (EDIT: okay, maybe not poor, but not the BEST). I personally would avoid plans that charge extra instead of shape the speed if you go over your limit, but that is personal preference.

Also, be careful of naked ADSL as a lot of plans include uploads in the download limit.

Edited February 1, 2010 by ballzac

[Slybacon]

Best in what way? The prices look pretty poor. I personally would avoid plans that charge extra instead of shape the speed if you go over your limit, but that is personal preference.

Also, be careful of naked ADSL as a lot of plans include uploads in the download limit.

 

I have mine shaped, it is an option.

I dont pay line rental.

I get an awsome VOIP deal

I can call over seas for sometimes as low as 50c and talk for 24hours!

I pay $60 per month/ included 100 free calls to any landline for as long as i want.

I get 20G peak 100G off peak

I get to pick my offpeak on peak hours currently 2 untill 2.

My IT friends also use alot of the other features. Like hooking your mobile up through your internet plan so if in range of your wirless or another wireless you have access to u can use your mobile to make a landline call.

Fringe or something like that.

Exetal is very good

[ballzac]

Ah, okay. Doesn't sound too bad. How do you cope with only 20GB peak? If you've got 120 all up then I guess you manage to use a fair bit. I'd find it hard not to go over 20 peak.

[Slybacon]

Ah, okay. Doesn't sound too bad. How do you cope with only 20GB peak? If you've got 120 all up then I guess you manage to use a fair bit. I'd find it hard not to go over 20 peak.

 

Yeah i have bit torrent set up to only download in offpeak. The fact i have from 2am until 2 PM means that i am awake to monitor most of my downloads. Maybe i have more peak downloads i cant remember, need to check with my GF, she knows all the passwords to look at our usage.....

[ballzac]

12 hrs of offpeak is pretty good too. iinet has that. I think I used to have 12-12 on iinet. tpg has offpeak from 3AM to 9AM, which is not ideal, but for me it was worth it to get the extra Gigage. The onpeak quota is plenty to use for general surfing, youtube etc, and the offpeak quota can easily be used up downloading stuff in that time frame. I can generally get 10GB in that 6hr window.

[Listo]

I haven't looked into prices on this for about 6 months now, but it's likely that Telstra would be one of the most expensive options, even with bundling other services.

Exetel is good, but if you're not confident about setting up the router and your software you aren't going to get much (or any really) help from them.

Westnet aren't great price wise but they really will help you out with problems.

[Chiral]

How fucked up is it when the largest comms company with the most money and own the largest share of the business networks etc ...and they are the most expensive by a country mile...

they don't even try to be cheap or competetive...oh lets just be really expensive and ...lease all our lines to other smaller companies...damn shareholders paradise, capitalistic pigs they are Telstra.

[Slybacon]

Exetel is good, but if you're not confident about setting up the router and your software you aren't going to get much (or any really) help from them.

 

Thats True. No number to call for help, but its pretty easy once you've looked into it. Hopefully I'll have a mobile soon that can run through my exetel setup and combine my network even more.....

Was checking out the call costs for my voip, India is 0.03 cents per minute..... hahahaha cheaper to call my friend mash then to call for a pizza at 9cents local

[ballzac]

Have you made a decision on this yet Jono?

[alkatrope]

Internode is the best ISP in my experience. Solid quality & customer service and it ain't too expensive.

For $140 you can get ADSL2+ 100gb no peak bullshit no metered uploads no contract no landline. Includes $10 free VOIP credit each month. Free unmetered access to a large range of radio streams and file servers.

[ballzac]

Well, with tpg you get all that (except the $10 call credit and the good customer service) for $100. If you really need the technical support, then perhaps it is worth paying $30 a month for it, but as long as you have some way to access the internet (you get an emergency dialup account) while you're setting up, internet forums are as good a way as any to figure out how to set it all up. And once you're set up, you'll probably never need support again.

[Legba]

Im with dodo who i believe won the "ISP with the most appropriate name" Award over the weekend due to a national speed issue. 200 gigs a month for $80. 4 kids +2 go thru 160ish per month. The whirlpool forum faustus posted about is well worth adding to favorites. Saved me many calls to tek support

HERE is the thread for the weekend problem. I my experience the dodo service is adequate and best bang for buck from where I live.

[blip]

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Edited April 5, 2010 by lsdreamz