4 March 2008

Broadband Help

| papadoc
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I’ve just moved into a place in Belconnen with no home phone or broadband set up. Telstra want to me $30 a month for the home phone and $90 a month for ADSL 2+ with a 25 Gig limit. Any ideas on anything cheaper? I’m really new to all this!

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Thanks for the replies. I got naked adsl in early January. There was some initial confusion over the account set up but I was only without a phone and internet link for a couple of days. They were pretty good about letting me know the tech progress and I got a mobile message when connected.

They were also quite tardy about sending the bill which surprised me!

I bought the wireless Belkin VOIP router because of the wireless capability. But my old D-Link (check the model) would have done the job with a VOIP box.

el ......TECortina 250 Deathtrap6:46 pm 05 Mar 08

Hugo: Assuming you’ve got a Belkin router, check out the following link:
http://whirlpool.net.au/index.cfm?a=wiki&tag=iiNetPhone_iinetBelkin

for details on how to properly set up your router to get better VOIP phone reception. Like you, I suffered from poor phone quality before making a few changes to the settings. The Belkin routers that iinet ship are configured to use the wrong audio codec for our conditions. Set up is reasonably easy, you just need to login to the router using a web browser.

CanberraResident5:50 pm 05 Mar 08

JD114 – I looked into VelocityNet a couple of years ago. I was put off by the fact that I had to print out the application form online, then snail mail it to their office. Unsure if they have improved their procedures, but I do hear good things about their reliability.

Surprised no-one has spruiked my ISP… Velocitynet through Transact (ADSL in my case). 5GB month for $19.95 plus about $54.95 phone and ADSL Transact charges. Might be cheaper options around but I’m more than happy with the combination.

Hugo, how long did it take for iinet to setup your naked account?
I’m very interested in this, however the news stories are holding me back at the moment.

I have naked dsl with iinet and am very satisfied. No phone rental and free local and National calls and cheap rates to mobiles. That said, we don’t use the phone much and the sound quality is not as good as a landline phone. Also you need to ask Sensis to list your phone number.

If there are any propeller heads out there who know how to tweak for better sound I would be interested.

Okay. I just have to coin it here: “Dodo Booner Boagan Bozo”.

That’s one of mine. No autographs, please.

Just don’t go SOUL. They have a really good deal, and much cheaper than Telstra, but I have had nothing but problems with them. You can speak to a sales person within seconds of ringing, but support you wait at least an hour and you’ve got a 50/50 chance of that person knowing how to help you. I’ve spent about 8 hours total on hold trying to get an upgrade. After they told me it would be $16.50 to upgrade during the sales call, but when i went to do it it was $120 and 10 days without any internet.

Have even spoke to Ombudsman about it and got the direct complaints line and am still waiting on calls back over the last 2 weeks. Just hopeless.

Anyway, you make your own experiences, but mine was absolute shite.

Now transferring to Transact only because we already have it at work and it seems like a reasonable price once you work out how they operate.

Shaped protects you from spending mega $$$ if you find you need more. So long as its cheap enough to switch up plans you’re well ahead.

CanberraResident10:28 pm 04 Mar 08

AVOID Bigpoop/Foolstra at all costs!

Just take one look at their dog’s breakfast, advertisement plagued, crappy, broken links website, then try calling one of their 5 million phone numbers, and you’ll get the drift.

I have Internode. Check out their website – google it. NO contract to sign up to!!!!

Fresh, well organised website, no bells and whistles, and they are experts in one thing – ADSL Broadband. Competitive prices, fantastic service, and NO outages for my service in 18 months. I’m on 1500/256, for $49.95 pm – FASTER speed then a neighbours 20,000 bigpoop connection. Trust me – 1500/256 with a 5GB or 10GB download is all you need if you are a new user.

AVOID Bigpoop/Foolstra at all costs. NIGHTMARE.

el ......TECortina 250 Deathtrap10:24 pm 04 Mar 08

bd84 – also worth considering with ADSL2 is how far away you are from the exchange. My speeds dropped *significantly* after moving house, from the area of 8-9MBps down to about 4Mbps.

I want to upgrade to a naked ADSL2 plan too, but apparently users are experiencing outages of up to 20 days during the transition.

I have never had problems using bigpond asdl as someone said they’re all the same at that level, except being rediculously overpriced. Been looking for adsl2+ because it’s cheaper with every other isp than the slow asdl1 connection i’m running now.. only catch there is you can’t change to another isp’s adsl2+ plan without disconnecting my current connection for a week or so and waiting for the new isp to set up! the government should hurry up and shoot telstra for being anti-competitive.

Well I did have to wait over a year after ordering broadband with Netspace … but that was because Telstra was screwing around and taking their time opening more lines at the exchange.

Sorry, should clarify: I meant *hosting* your own website.

Watch out for iinet’s Naked plans – they count both uploads and downloads in the quota.
That’s only likely to affect you adversely if you are pirating an excessive amount of TV shows and movies, or running your own (moderately popular) website. Otherwise you won’t notice it.

Watch out for iinet’s Naked plans – they count both uploads and downloads in the quota.

For heavens sake…Do not choose Telstra!!! Overpriced & overrated!!! My vague, little outcry will save you heartache in the long run should you heed it.

As said by everyone above. Telstra overcharge for their shitty sub-par service. The only reason they have customers is the fact that people (such as the elderly) think that anything involving a phone line requires some sort of Telstra service to enable it.

Sammy intetesting comment. You do know that with ADSL that in most cases Telstra is still the company that is providing the service? Well from your home through the Telstra network to the ISP.

Only with ADSL2 do the ISP’s install their own equipment in the exchange and you are free from the Telstra broadband network. All you need then is the Telstra copper.

ADSL in Aust is bloody expensive and in most cases it is because of Telstra. I currently live in the UK I pay 5 pounds per month (about $12AUD) for 8mb/s download with no traffic limits.

Sorry – I stuffed up the link.

Try this one instead – IInet naked DSL – News story

The IInet naked dsl looks like a good option.
Just be ready to wait a while… they’ve been in the news lately in regards to long setup waits. See story below.
IInet naked DSL – News story

Dodo internet here, ADSL unshaped connection for $60/m

Thats 24/7 internet with no d/l limits, for those in the know. Unfortunately they dont offer it at the moment, that boat has long since sailed.

People foolishly believe that with Telstra they are getting a technologically superior broadband service, when in reality this is almost completely false.

Go with a company that knows, and focusses on, delivering superior broadband, like Internode.

I am connected to TPG off the Belconnen exchange
$49.95 a month for 18gb peak and 7gb off peak (1am to 7am) @ adsl2+ speeds – I synch at around 8.5mbit down and 1mbit up and real world downloads top out at about 800KB/s.

If I didn’t already have a current phone setup I would sign up for iinet’s naked DSL in a heartbeat – $69.95 a month for 10gb peak + 20gb off peak (2am to 12noon) at adsl2+ speeds with unlimited free local and national calls (not counting 1300 and 13 numbers or mobile) – and no telstra line rental to pay.

I’m with Exetel, on a $85/month plan – which includes line rental (and relatively cheap call costs) 24Gb peak limit, additional 48Gb off-peak limit, and only $3/Gb excess.

I third the comment that Telstra suck balls and should be avoided like the plague.

Holden Caulfield2:28 pm 04 Mar 08

Internode, iiNet, TPG, Westnet (if in ACT yet) will all most likely offer better deals for ADSL2+

If you don’t need a landline for phone calls I’m not too sure what can be done. But the Whirlpool forum posted above by Spectra will have all the answers and more.

FWIW, I have Internode ADSL2+ at home for $60/month, with 20GB download limits. The service has been very reliable in the 4 years I’ve been with them. We prefer to keep a landline in any case, and that’s with Telstra, for some reason(!).

Naked DSL is iiNet (no $30/month phone rental)

almost anyone and everyone is better value than Telstra

Almost everyone is cheaper/better in some way than Telstra. Check out broadband choice for a relatively comprehensive, searchable database of providers and plans.

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