19 March 2014

Curtin ACT internet with iiNET

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So we are looking to change to iiNET for internet in Curtin. Has anyone used the ADSL 2+ broadband service from iiNET in the suburb of Curtin and able to give an indication of reliability and speed?

We are seeking change as our current provider isn’t reaching the speeds required, but are concerned entering a new 24 month contract without knowing the services capabilities first.

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I have VDSL with Transact and since it’s become iiNet my data usage appears to have magically doubled and I’m having to upgrade my service. It appears that once your hooked into VDSL with transact the options to move become very limited until NBN rolls out.

VDSL2 with TransACT (who are now owned by iiNet) is the way to go. It’s a path I’ve recently gone down, after having ADSL2+ with Internode.

Let me say though, it almost certainly won’t be a smooth transition. Following the upgrade of their network from VDSL to VDSL2 (which is essentially the same as the Fibre to the Node model the new Government is proposing – but using copper that’s not ancient) TransACT have been hammered with orders. Visionstream, who are the contractors they use to do installations, haven’t been able to keep up. Hopefully things are getting better, but expect a wait.

As far as entering into a new 24 month contract is concerned, if you go the TransACT route, decline any and all bundling offers. Each bundle you take up has its own $50 early termination fee. TransACT’s early termination fee is $200, which isn’t too extreme. If you’ve got 4 bundled products though…

I had many of the same concerns as you. l have to say iiNet support is terrible, but I still have a working connection, that is around 10 times faster than what I had previously over Telstra’s copper. I figured that it was going to be at least 24 months until the coalition government had anything available in my area of Belconnen (which previously had been in a 1yr FttP window), so the contract aspect didn’t worry me too much – especially seeing as that contract was only for the line. My contract for data with iiNet is contract free.

Long story short, I can download a game through Steam at 5MB/sec (yep, that’s supposed to be 5 Megabytes) and have it complete within 30 minutes. Unless you live in a FttP area of Canberra, TransACT’s VDSL2 is the next best option.

house_husband2:38 pm 19 Mar 14

Most of Curtin appears to have VDSL2 with TransACT:

http://www.transact.com.au/~/media/Files/gis/strat_reg/accc_reporting/accc_pdf/suburb/vdsl2_curtin.pd

This would be the fastest option and unless you are a long distance from one of their supernodes you should get close to 60mbps down/15 mbps up. And even worst case on their VDSL2 is still faster than best case ADSL2+.

Check with iinet / TransACT.
Without knowing your exact address, (and don’t post it here), If you’re in the TransACT service area then you’ll find that
A/ the infrastructure, (cable to your house) will be different as TransACT has their own cable network, and
B/ you’ll be on VDSL2, which is much faster.
I can’t advise you on the cost comparisons but until the NBN arrives, (assuming they don’t eventually settle on the same technology), you wont get faster speeds anywhere.

ADSL internet speeds are largely dependent on the length and quality of the telephone line between your house and the exchange.

If you’re in Curtin, you’ll be connected to the exchange in Deakin, which means you can probably expect download speeds of around 4-8 megabits per second. You’re unlikely to get much more than that over ADSL no matter who your provider is.

If you require greater speeds than that, then really your only option is Transact’s cable network (although i’m not sure if it is available in Curtin).

At a guess, I’d say that Curtin is on the Deakin exchange ( not sure), But changing carriers may not make a huge difference because of the distance from the exchange.

https://crowdsupport.telstra.com.au/t5/Home-Broadband/The-impact-of-distance-from-exchange-on-the-ADLS2-speed/td-p/164080

I’m with iinet and they seem to be ok, however if the infrastructure to your house is not up to scratch you may not notice any difference.

Well it’s all distance from the exchange and line quality, isn’t it? I have ADSL2+ with iinet, in Belconnen area, and have never been happy with the speed.

All enquiries just lead to a shrug of the shoulders – yep, poor line quality – and you’re a long way from the exchange..

What speed is not reaching what you require? If your line sync is below expectations, changing provider is unlikely to help since it will be the quality of the copper line determining the sync speed, not the ISP.

There is some discussion on the Whirlpool forums about the difference between two leading ADSL chipsets: Broadcom is the preferred chipset for long ADSL tails. There is an article on Whirlpool about attenuation and maximum throughput.

If your problem is congestion (i.e.: your throughput reliably drops in the evening through to early morning) the ISP might be the problem, and switching to iiNet will help.

Just be sure that you know what the problem is before you go committing to a 24 month contract only to find that you’ve got a crappy line.

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