Broadband speed tests

[kwantfm]

I was that close to switching from my current ISP, Bigpond (please don't groan), to iinet. When I called to cancel Bigpond, the girl at the end of the line persuaded me to stick with them, upgraded me to ADSL 2+ and cut my bill by $25 per month. Only thing is I'm not that impressed with speed.

I've done a Google search for broadband speed tests and done a few with results that have a high degree of variability. I've recorded anywhere between 5 Mb/s and 0.7 Mb/s. My understanding is that this isn't considered too crash hot for ADSL 2+.

Could someone please advise as to the best online speed test and what numbers I should be expecting?

Thanks,
T

[3oneday]

Didn't miro just post a thread about this ?

[Jarro]

Yes he did

[3oneday]

Yes he didgood, oh helpful one. :p

:roll:

[shazza_rs]

http://www.ozgolf.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8256

check this thread out... its about speed and some other info as well

[markTHEblake]

When I called to cancel Bigpond, the girl at the end of the line persuaded me to stick with them, upgraded me to ADSL 2+ and cut my bill by $25 per month.

Please give very detailed information about this, ie what you were paying, what you are paying now. I am with bigpond and obviously in my interest to scam such a deal as well.

I have heard that they will do deals to keep the client from churning but i have not heard exactly what can be done.

BTW the site you wanna go to is www.ozspeedtest.com (http://www.ozspeedtest.com) and use the bigpond mirror. Its quite innafective to do a test on a remote server (on its own) much better to do one from your own ISP.

FWIW Bigpond is not the cheapest by far, but they are a bloody good service. Plus i have now realised that when i downgraded my plan from 8000/1500 to 1500/512 they didnt change the speed, just the download liimit. Obvioulsly they cant be bothered going to the expense of the physical site visit to change the speed.

[McCoy]

They say "up to 24 Mbps" for a reason, about 60% of users will get above 10. Assuming things are right at your end your issue may lay with how far you are to your exchange, the further away the slower you get. But that does seem real slow.
Anyone who signs up to Bigpond deserves derision. So they've cut your plan by $25, I'm guessing that still leaves you paying $25 a month more than someone on a comparable plan offered by another ISP. You're just shooting yourself in the foot signing up with Bigpond, why people do it continues to astound.

When you see Telstra claiming how great the internet is in Australia, well here's a US comparison - 12Mb down/1Mb Up for $57 per month. Apparently they soft enforce a 200Gb per month download limit :shock:
Thanks Telstra. I know there's some big differences between the US and Aus, but come on they're not that big.

[Iain]

I'm currently switching from Telstra to iinet, had enough of 10gb of download limit's before being slowed.

I did have cable, but have had to get a home phone now, so I can use ADSL2+.

[markTHEblake]

Anyone who signs up to Bigpond deserves derision.

I hope you dont work in IT, that sort of closed mind thinking is not appropriaate for this business.


why people do it continues to astound.

Commercially viable, cost effective, limitation of downtime - i can think of lots of reasons. thats why I did it.



When you see Telstra claiming how great the internet is in Australia


There are just as much data connections to USA from AU from other providers if not more than Telstra. Australian pricing for data has nothing at all to do with Telstra, but rather its what the USA charge AU.

[Walter Ego]

Could someone please advise as to the best online speed test and what numbers I should be expecting?

Thanks,
T

Best way to test your speed is to ignore those online speed testers and go to the iinet site and download a large file and see what speeds you get.

http://ftp.iinet.net.au/

[just]

I hope you dont work in IT, that sort of closed mind thinking is not appropriaate for this business.

But perfect for the military, the industry McCoy does work for.

[McCoy]

I hope you dont work in IT, that sort of closed mind thinking is not appropriate for this business.
That's laughable



Commercially viable, cost effective, limitation of downtime - i can think of lots of reasons. thats why I did it.
And you're welcome to your decision but I'm glad you don't spend my money. $150 per Gb I don't call cost effective. Your criteria to justify Bigpond makes no sense, you could apply it to any of the quality ISPs. "Limitation of downtime", compare Internode and iiNet to Bigpond and show me where the big "downtime" differences are. Bigpond does nothing different any other ISP, other than charge a lot more. Oh hang on, they also count your uploads - there's cost effectiveness for you.



There are just as much data connections to USA from AU from other providers if not more than Telstra. Australian pricing for data has nothing at all to do with Telstra, but rather its what the USA charge AU.


Agreed. High access prices to the exchange has a lot to do with Telstra though, and that's reflected in your internet plan. Do people notice you can get ADSL2 cheaper than ADSL1? That's because provider's are using their own equipment and not needing to pay Telstra's access costs. Oh and Telstra had no intention of going to ADSL2 this early, competition forced it to. Telstra also held back ADSL1 unnecessarily, we could have had 8Mb down last century and not this year. They're still holding back on DSL1 upload speed too.
In South Korea you can get a 50Mb/4Mb plan for $55AU a month, no data limit.


Christ what a load of crap, to sum up - Telstra prevent decent internet access in this country.

[Jarro]

rant rant rant blah blah blah



Christ what a load of crap, to sum up - Telstra prevent decent internet access in this country.


Spot on :smt023

Since i ditched Telstra in favour of Internode as my my ISP, i've had ZERO problems/dropouts/hassles.

Makes me wonder why i didn't so it sooner :oops:

[Eag's]

Spot on :smt023

Since i ditched Telstra in favour of Internode as my my ISP, i've had ZERO problems/dropouts/hassles.

Makes me wonder why i didn't so it sooner :oops:

Yep Telstra are a bunch of Wankers, iinet & internode crap on them when it comes to service :smt023

[Courty]

As much as I like to bag Telstra, it isn't their fault that the costs are high in comparison to other countries. The simple fact is that the infrastructure required to furnish the entire nation with broadband (I'm talking higher speed than ADSL 1) costs an absolute fortune. Don't forget that we are near enough the same geographic area as the US, but with a tiny fraction of the population. It costs way more per person to roll-out these services, so unfortunately, the user pays.

All that said, IMO, Telstra are by far the worst value ISP in the land. Get Internode.

[Courty]

Makes me wonder why i didn't so it sooner :oops:

:roll:

[Jarro]

yeah yeah, i know :roll:



ffs

[kwantfm]

Consider me sufficiently chastened regarding my use of Bigpond.

MTB... I am on the 12 GB download plan (normally costs about $90 per month) and they have shaved that to $65. Initially the woman on the other end told me that she was limited to $20 off but managed to get it down by $25.

I don't think this is a totally unreasonable price... but if I can get better speed elsewhere I will churn.

I went to the cnet site suggested by Miro and I get 9883 kb/s so I'm not too unhappy.

T

[Pinglauncher]

T, I am with IINET and my router is currently showing 10.5 MB upstream and a little over 7 MB downstream.

I have been pretty happy with speed, reliability etc in the time I have been with them.

[kwantfm]

Thanks PL... iinet is my go to if I have any issues...

[markTHEblake]

Since i ditched Telstra in favour of Internode as my my ISP, i've had ZERO problems/dropouts/hassles.Makes me wonder why i didn't so it sooner :oops:

Was'nt it a contract that stopped you :-)

C'mon Jarro, you know as well as I do that Bigpond was the by far the best choice for you when you wanted to upgrade to broadband and it was exactly the same case for me. :lol:

[markTHEblake]

And you're welcome to your decision but I'm glad you don't spend my money. $150 per Gb I don't call cost effective.

Why are you assuming I (or anyone) pays $150 per GB.

I am paying $35pm for a 12gb cap at 8000/1024 speed. (uploads counted, so effectively 10gb) You wanna tell me where I can get cheaper?


Your criteria to justify Bigpond makes no sense

That is because you have failed to take into consideration the circumstances of the individual who is considering upgrading to Broadband, so its no wonder you do not understand. Instead you have made an uninformed global statement that "Anyone who signs up to Bigpond deserves derision". A decent IT consultant would never do that.

There are is at least one special circumstance that I know of where Bigpond is the best and smartest choice. To recommend otherwise 'deserves derision'


Your criteria to justify Bigpond makes no sense, you could apply it to any of the quality ISPs

I was responding to your astoundment why people sign up with Bigpond, and referred to the reasons regarding the changeover process, not the ongoing service.

As an IT consultant dont you agree that the migration process to Broadband is a major consideration regarding the choice of provider?

[McCoy]

Why are you assuming I (or anyone) pays $150 per GB.

From Telstra's terms and conditions: Additional usage charged at $0.15/MB, apart from members on the BigPond Liberty plans
Telstra need to ask TelstraClear where their data comes from because excess data in NZ only costs $2.95 per Gb. And for those claiming where we live is why data is expensive, can you explain to me why it is cheaper in NZ?


I am paying $35pm for a 12gb cap at 8000/1024 speed. (uploads counted, so effectively 10gb) You wanna tell me where I can get cheaper?

Dodo ADSL2, Exetel ADSL2 plus a few others. But just like Bigpond I wouldn't sign up to those plans. Can you provide the link to your Bigpond deal? Doesn't seem to appear on the Bigpond site, $59.95 for a "massive" 600Mb does though.


As an IT consultant dont you agree that the migration process to Broadband is a major consideration regarding the choice of provider?

I'm not an IT consultant but I do agree.

[Grunt]

I am with Bigpond but am on a QANTAS Corporate plan. 12Gb Limit $55 per month

[Jarro]

C'mon Jarro, you know as well as I do that Bigpond was the by far the best choice for you when you wanted to upgrade to broadband and it was exactly the same case for me. :lol:

Well no Blake they weren't actually.

Telstra told me i couldn't get ADSL at my place at the time, because i was too far away from the exchange .... it was only after i contacted Internode about getting ADSL with them that i found out i could indeed get the service all along, Telstra just wanted me to keep forking out 90 clams a month for ISDN :evil:

[markTHEblake]

From Telstra's terms and conditions: Additional usage charged at $0.15/MB, apart from members on the BigPond Liberty plans

apart from members on the Bigpond Liberty Plan :roll:


Dodo ADSL2, Exetel ADSL2 plus a few others.

I dont get ADSL2, cant get it, so I cant compare to those.


Can you provide the link to your Bigpond deal?

$70pm @ half price for the 1500/256plan, with the benefit of being on the 8000/1024 plan because Bigpond dont downgrade the line speed when you change plan. Nice benefit that one,. Most other providers charge you to change speeds as well.

[poidda]

When changing plans, it's a no-brainer to Bundle your internet and phone. If you pay for you line rental through your ISP instead of telstra, your ISP will give you shyte loads more download.

And while at it, pay and extra tenner a month for VOIP. It will save you huge on phone calls.

Speaking of VOIP and Bigpond, why don't they offer VOIP? Surely they aren't holding back on offering this as they make kazillions on phone calls? :roll:

[markTHEblake]

Well no Blake they weren't actually.

Have you forgotten already? We discussed this I am sure, that is why you chose to go to Bigpond.

ISDN to ADSL conversion is a nightmare for anyone contemplating an ISP other than Bigpond.

No ISP can do a ADSL line qualification on an ISDN line. So to get from ISDN to AnyISP you would have to

1. Pay for ISDN to PSTN conversion $100 about a 1 week wait.
2. After telstra convert it, order ADSL through AnyISP
3. wait about 2 weeks to get ADSL so you have to go back to dialup in the meantime
4. and if you then fail to get ADSL which can be due to line issues or port unavailability then you crawl back to Telstra and pay $400 to convert back to ISDN.

Its a big risk to take and a major disruption if interent is essential to you. One should be derided for recommending someone go down this path.

The alternative is to arrange with Bigpond.

1. Pay for ISDN to PSTN conversion $100 about a 1 week wait.
2. Technician arrives onsite converts line, activates ADSL immediately and if for any reason its not available, converts back to ISDN no cost at all.

1 hour downtime at the most, seamless conversion, no risk of cost blowout, and half price for a year. What idiot wouldnt choose Bigpond in this situation. !

[markTHEblake]

And while at it, pay and extra tenner a month for VOIP. It will save you huge on phone calls.

why pay a tenner. isnt Zero better.

this is the schizzle
https://www.mynetfone.com.au/offers/whirlpool

I just signed up to them on the $0 plan. Free Adaptor as well.

[poidda]

When changing plans, it's a no-brainer to Bundle your internet and phone. If you pay for you line rental through your ISP instead of telstra, your ISP will give you shyte loads more download.

Here's an example of iiNets ADSL2+ plans.

Not Bundled
home 1 - $29.95 Not Available
home 2 - $39.95 1GB + 1GB
home 3 - $49.95 2GB + 2GB
home 4 - $59.95 5GB + 5GB
home 5 - $69.95 10GB + 10GB
home 6 - $99.95 20GB + 10GB
home 7 - $129.95 40GB + 20GB

Bundled

home 1 - $29.95 500MB + 1GB
home 2 - $39.95 2GB + 4GB
home 3 - $49.95 7GB + 14GB
home 4 - $59.95 10GB + 20GB
home 5 - $69.95 20GB + 40GB
home 6 - $99.95 40GB + 40GB
home 7 - $129.95 60GB + 60GB

[poidda]

why pay a tenner. isnt Zero better.

this is the schizzle
https://www.mynetfone.com.au/offers/whirlpool

I just signed up to them on the $0 plan. Free Adaptor as well.

Sweet. Will have to check that out.

[BrisVegas]

we're on the mynetfone deal too. no complaints.

[kwantfm]

I went with pennytel which has been quite good...

[Courty]

Broadband speed rankings (http://www.cnet.com.au/broadband/0,239036008,339283467,00.htm)