Internet Providers in Canberra?

Holden Caulfield said :

I’ll start the Internode bandwagon. Who’s with me…

(Although not sure if they do prepaid.)

I also ride the node pony and highly recommend it.

Wanted cheap internet for my Dad, a sporadic user who had dialup. After investigation, found a “dongle” deal and it’s brilliant! One of its advantages is that it can be plugged in almost anywhere. However, beware of ones that use Telstra as the carrier, because they charge MEGA $$$$ if you go over the download limit. We chose to go with “3” as there was not much choice for the price at the time. The only time there was a problem was when it dropped out because we had changed credit cards and they couldn’t process the payments. Fixed it easily.

Another proud rider of the ‘Nodewagon here.

Pre-paid v post-paid isn’t that much of an issue any more, with most ISPs able to throttle your speeds once you go over your monthly quota rather than charging you some exorbitant per-MB rate thereafter.

Holden Caulfield said :

I’ll start the Internode bandwagon. Who’s with me…

(Although not sure if they do prepaid.)

Internode is the balls. And by balls, I mean awesome. We are with them and it’s perfect. Found out about them on Whirlpool forums.

STAY AWAY FROM TPG! If anything goes wrong you’ll be sent to their call center in Indonesia. Apparently the answer to every connection problem can be solved by “Please turn your router on and off.’

OP doesn’t have internet….

OP DOESN”T HAVE THE INTERNET!!!?!?!!111 WTF??

(and how the flapping hell did he post this?)

Tether from your 3G mobile phone OP? She has a wifi laptop doesn’t she?

Watson said :

Why doesn’t she just get a dongle? (Man, that sounds so wrong!)

LOL!

You can get 3G wireless for $30/mo. In fact, all the providers offer $150 for 10-12 gig with a year expiry on prepaid which will work for you if you keep usage under control. No guarantees that it’ll be fast. Telstra > Optus > Voda (typically.)

3G bargain of the moment is the Telstra Prepaid Mobile Wifi Router (MF30) for $50 from Officeworks or HN if you can find stock, comes with 5 gig/3 months. Works well, free to unlock (which never hurts.)

Also on the topic of Wireless, Netspeed Longreach fixed wireless seems to be something of a bargain if you’re in a coverage area. (Their online coverage map is down – call them.) $100-300 setup (and you can use your router) then as little as $18/mo. Similar speeds to ADSL.

Otherwise, ADSL2+ from the likes of Internode on iiNet. Will cost a little more than $30/mo but you’ll get much more reliable performance than 3G and bigger quotas.

She can buy a Telstra 3g access point for $49.50 from HN and Domayne this week as part of their 50% off sale. (Aldi have it too, but they’re charging $79)

It comes with 5GB and a 90 day expiry, which works out at $16.50 per month

Why doesn’t she just get a dongle? (Man, that sounds so wrong!)

As HC implied, Internode is the popular choice amongst those who put thought into such things (and with good cause). However a $30 prepaid deal might be a bit lower than where their offerings start.