29 November 2007

Transact... Too Expensive.

| Nickamc
Join the conversation
26

Ok, so we’ve finally gotten the ump of Transact and their ridiculous line rental and home phone fees. We’re jumping ship, but we’ll also need to jump ship on internet ISP’s, cause Grapevine is affiliated with Transact and apparently wont work with a new service (Is this true?) or our other option of not having a home phone at all.

So, any recommendations for new ISP’s? Currently playing 70 bucks a month for 40gb limit, with download speeds of around 110kbps, and upload speeds of around 12kbps. Would love to find something better (and potentially cheaper).

Join the conversation

26
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest
Holden Caulfield12:12 pm 06 Dec 07

Another vote for Internode here. I’ve been with them for about 3 years and they’re great.

ADSL2+ (inner North) @ $60p/m with 20GB in downloads

Hey not to mention their customer service. I was looking to get all my services connected a few months ago, got on the transact website and sent them an email to enquire about bundling. got the usual auto response, then got tired of waiting so called them up a day or two later to get connected to water,gas and phone. About 2 MONTHS later I got a call from a very young man from transact saying I sent them an email to get transact connected. I was pretty dumbfounded! I couldnt even remember sending them an email. I asked for what connection? (I needed a reminder)He couldnt tell me. I hadnt got the phone connected yet so I assumed that he wanted to sell me a phone connection – Wrong! He had no idea what he was trying to sell me he was just replying to my email. i give him the benefit of the doubt and tell him I still need a phone connection, hoping he would give me some options. Wrong again, he was completely lost for words. I had to remind him at this point that he called me, then I cut the conversation short, I was at work and had other things to do. What a waste of time! As vacuous as he was I can appreciate maybe he was a newbie, but come on Transact – you take 2 months to reply to an email and then offer nothing? Why offer a service if you cant cope. I am way against outsourcing but I have to say the service I have had from India poops all over some of the locals.

P.S. limited connections are shit for porn.

A long while ago I signed up with dodo ADSL – all you can eat 256k connection for $60/mo. Surprisingly they keep calling me to offer me a limited connection and think it’s a better offer !

At any rate, shop outside the square and you might find some gems is my advice. Canberra internet connectivity doesn’t start and stop at ACTEW/INTERACT offices and you may get deals with big providers wanting to get a foothold in Canberra.

Worth checking the iBurst services for unwired broadband.

I used their desktop modem very happily for two years in Turner.

No additional data charges, just shaping to dialup speeds on most plans too.

hi Toriness, I have been looking into 3’s plan myself as I have no need for a home phone whatsoever. It appears that they use their own network of which you need a password to use, they described it much like their phone network. Hence it is secure (my concerns were that of the usual wireless security guff) Also they have a map to check if this ‘mobile broadband’ service is available in your area. As I understand it though if you take the card outside the service area you can get charged $1.60 odd per Mb down/upload. Something to watch out for. You can also log into your account to keep an eye on your downloads and charges, which would be the go until you get used to using what you have paid for. For me its looking pretty good, Im a small time internet user, average 100Mb a month. I can pay for the modem straight up – about $400 and be on no contract just the $29 a month for 1Gb, if I add $10 I get a free modem on a 12 month contract, if I sign up for 24 months I get the free modem for $29 per month. When you think saving phone line rental of about $30 per month it makes sense. I agree with Jemmy tho, this is just the start, this service will be offered everywhere pretty soon. Im yet to check out whirlpool but im sure someone has posted about 3’s mobile broadband already. thumbs up from me…

toriness, naked ASDL is when you don’t have to buy a phone service just to get ADSL. Give it a couple of months and you’ll see it being offered around. I don’t know 3’s plans, but suspect copper wire broadband plans would be cheaper, so might be worth waiting if you can.

Vic Bitterman7:08 pm 29 Nov 07

We are with transact ADSL plus Velocity for ISP. Simply as our phone line is crap and telstra will not allow any broadband at all… luckily for us, transact rolled out their own DSLAM hardware to the Monash exchange, and we have 1Mb broadband… doubt we can get any faster via the copper cable.

Beats dialup I guess.

Looking at Netspeed’s Longreach wireless service, but so many varied reports on Whirlpool as to it’s stability I’m very wary.

I agree with the majority as it appears. Internode is fantastic

One thing I’ve never understood; If Transact (and associated ISPs) have this you-beaut fiberoptic cable system laid out all over the city, and dedicated digital connections to the home, how come they can’t offer services that are faster and/or cheaper than good old ADSL systems running over the copper phone network??

An important thing to remember about TransACT is that it is fibre to the node – not fibre to the home. Their “last mile” link, from the node (which lives on the power pole, usually) to the house is copper, and while that copper should support decent speeds, you have to remember that each node supports a number of houses, and each supernode supports a number of nodes…

… and yes, large chunks of the bandwidth are reserved for IP-based video.

Gungahlin Al12:39 pm 29 Nov 07

The problem with Transact cable is that it is NOT laid out all over the city.
In Harrison we get a daily laugh from the big sign at the had of Nullabor Ave that says “Latest technology”.

The reality is there is no cable in any of Harrison – one of the newest suburbs in the nation’s capital – showcase of the country.

The fact that the ACT Government’s development arm can’t sort simple crap like that out with the part ACT-owned telecom is absurd.

Meanwhile the Crace exchange is out of ports and one Wells Station resident in a fully-wired ex-display home has been stuck with dial-up for months and will be until February.

Absurd.

I’ll add my vote to Internode – good pricing, good service and they seem to know what they are talking about.

“One thing I’ve never understood; If Transact (and associated ISPs) have this you-beaut fiberoptic cable system laid out all over the city, and dedicated digital connections to the home, how come they can’t offer services that are faster and/or cheaper than good old ADSL systems running over the copper phone network??”

From what I’ve read on the whirlpool.net forums, the official technical reason is because, while the cable is capable of 30mbps+ per person (better than ADSL2+), a lot of that is reserved for the TV service (even if you don’t get it)…

Virgin Wireless Broadband user here, love it, but the plan for new customers went craptacular on Monday…

> but the deals I’ve seen offer less speed than ADSL2, for more money.

I’m guessing TransACT just haven’t kept up with the times in regards to their pricing structure. I used to have TransACT back when it was first available & at the time it was MUCH more cost effective than ADSL (which was around $90 for a very basic service). ADSL prices have dropped considerably, which I’m guessing has made it more difficult for TransACT to remain competitive.

i am about to get the internet put on at home and i am considering mobile broadband with 3. anyone got any feedback or comments about mobile broadband or 3? the real attractiveness for me is that i don’t have to get the landline rental – which i would purely only be getting to get the internet. not interested in downloading a million tv shows, movies or music either – so with taking that into account… comments/advice please! i am so ignorant about the whole setting up internet at home thing.

One thing I’ve never understood; If Transact (and associated ISPs) have this you-beaut fiberoptic cable system laid out all over the city, and dedicated digital connections to the home, how come they can’t offer services that are faster and/or cheaper than good old ADSL systems running over the copper phone network??

I’ve currently got an ADSL2 service with Exetel which I’ve had no complaints with – also use them for my mobile. I can’t get Transact in our apartment anyway, but the deals I’ve seen offer less speed than ADSL2, for more money.

I don’t get it.

I use netspace. $49.95 a month 512/128kb 30gb a month download. 15gb on peak 15gb off peak (0000-0700hrs) shaped to dial up speeds when exceeded.

https://www.netspace.net.au/broadband/plans.php

Other TransACT isp’s are worth a look – particularly cbit (www.cbit.net.au). Their “Left Lane 2000” plan is $50p/m, with 20gb peak, unlimited off-peak, shaped – but you are never shaped off-peak, so even if you hit your 20gb for the month, you can download unlimited data at full speed from midnight-7am.

I average about 170Kb/s down and 25Kb/s up when torrenting. (1.5Mb transact plan).

Internode is eerily good. I was with TPG for a long time and they were adequate, but any time anything goes wrong their responses are woeful: they just don’t tell their tech support slaves enough, so you never learn what’s going on and have to guess. The last straw came when the TPG connection to the Melba exchange died on a Thursday afternoon and they didn’t even acknowledge the problem until the following Monday night.

Now, Internode, Internode… what can I say? Where TPG said I couldn’t have ADSL2+ because I was 3km from the exchange, Internode went ahead and gave it to me and I went from 1.5 kilowhatsies to 6.6 instantly. Any time I had trouble, their techies spoke fluent English and had my previous history at their fingertips as they solved every problem. And the voice of their on-hold recording is Robbie “Adult Themes” Macgregor, aka King Wally Otto In The Soundproof Booth, who makes even waiting on hold an illicit pleasure.

If you check the Whirlpool forums link, you’ll find very few complaints about Internode, and for good reason. Check them out.

(This has been an unpaid advertisement on behalf of a happy customer with no fiscal inducement. Your mileage may vary. Contents may settle in transit. Keep left.)

Internode. I get 500 KBps down and 100 KBps up and I’m 4.5 km from the exchange. iiNet are pretty good and I was with them for years, but lately they’ve got a bit too corporate for my taste. Internode is a bit like the iiNet of old, sort of like a family business but with genuine hard-core techies running it.

On a side note, great to see naked DSL is finally here. iiNet already offer it, Internode are runnning trials at the moment. It will be with real satisfaction I tell those gougers at Telstra to kiss off out of my life for ever.

http://www.internode.on.net

I’m sticking with TransACT because Velocity are the best ISP I have ever used, but if I was forced to move to an area that doens’t have Phase1 TrasnACT cable, I’d go Internode immediately.

el ......VNBerlinaV89:51 am 29 Nov 07

I’m still reasonably happy with iinet (ADSL2), but their level of support recently seems to have dropped.

They now offer ‘naked’ ADSL2 plans without line rental (BUT count both received and sent traffic in your usage quota).

noW iinet i meant to say

i’ve shopped around a few ISPs, bigpond (absolutely terrible), TPG (average), no iinet.

iinet are easily the happiest i’ve been, competitive prices, good speeds, good customer service.

Jonathon Reynolds9:42 am 29 Nov 07

Also it is worth checking whether ADSL is available in your area before jumping ship.

http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/

Enter how much you wish to spend etc at the above site and get a list of what is available.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.