What ISP should I go with?

[Colin]

Looking to upgrade my lowly dialup to broadband, but I'm not sure who to go with. A mate of mine has given AAnet big props, and I'm looking at their 1.5mB plan for $50/month with 16gB downloads. Seems pretty good to me...

Anyone top that?

Col

[Jarro]

checkout whirlpool.net.

I'm very happy with our internode service, although i'm sure there are probably better deals around ;)

[BrisVegas]

i'm also with aanet. There doesn't seem to be much better value out there. No hitches in nearly 3 years with them and several friends and family are with them too.

[markd]

Netspace, been with them for 3 years and they have been good, negligible downtime & good plans. We use a different ISP at work ( I won't name publicly) and its a shocker comparatively.

[PeteyD]

All good recommendations. I have been on AANET for a long time now.

[AndyP]

Name names, markd.

Does anyone have their phone with AANet as well? I generally bundle the two together.

[Iain]

I've just changed to iinet, very happy so far. Phone and net bundled together.

[Courty]

I've been on Internode for a number of years after churning from Netspace. Whirlpool (http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/) will give you a breakdown of available plans. I don't think there's too much between the prices of the different providers these days, but Whirlpool has a 'pros & cons' section for each provider which is an excellent guide (For example (http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/isp.cfm/Internode/9.html))

[aussiemuggolfer]

Im with Netspace. You get a few outages which i spose is normal. 1.5 speed and 5G/5G for $59.00 p/m.Never used that much at all. But watch them when you want to contact em in person. Hopeless, service is crap !!!

[Deano]

No dramas here with Westnet.
Deano

[shavey]

Optus on ADSL 2+

Bundled with home phone, net access and 14(off) and 7(peak)G d/l per month and capped at 64k thereafter...

Only $50.00 per month for quick speeds! Home phone component I think is $59.00 per month

[wavemaker]

Check out AAPT. Give them a call and ask about bundling your phone and internet. I switched to them after 8 years with ozemail, now iinet. The service has been outstanding all round. High speed broadband at 15 gig a month= $59.95

[markd]

Can't wait for my exchange to be enabled for ADSL2. Living out of town sometimes has its disadvantages.

[Fishman Dan]

After 4 years with Pacific Internet it's time for a change. It's still week 1 of 2008 and I've blown my cap - for the first time ever. I could blame baby photo's, but it's all the additional downloading in my spare time ;)

So I'm currently paying $49 for 1500/256, 5 gb with Pacific Internet - it's amazing what you can get for the same price;

I'm lining up TPG Internet - ADSL2+ with 25 Gb of download (18/7 on/off peak). I can get ADSL @ 1500 with 18 Gb for the same price. No set up fee for an 18 month contract. Current modem should work fine, and they are a Churn partner with Pacific. For an extra $10 p/m you get a 50 gb cap. Both plans are shaped to 64k if you exceed.

The biggest problem I see is our personal e-mail and telling everyone, as well as our (few) subscriptions. Pain in the proverbial!

Any other deal I should be familiar with? I haven't checked AANet, and I believe WestNet is pretty good. Bare in mind I don't want to go on a pre-selection plan for home phone.

[Courty]

The prices sound pretty good. As far as changing the email addresses goes, just use Gmail.

[kristofor]

it really depends on what you can get in your area

e.g some areas you can only get telstra cable, which is highly expensive. However if I had the option I would probably go with one of TPG's big plans. Also iinet are ok. optus is also worth a look if none of the other companies are in the area.

[rocket]

I have had broadband with AAnet , aunix and now with aapt , i will change every year or two depending on who has the best deal, get onto whirlpool and do a comparison, my only advice is stay away from telstra and optus they both have contracts and are expensive, most of the smaller ISP's have no contracts and there plans are capped or the monthly usage allowances are must higher.

[Fishman Dan]

I've done some more investigation. iiNet doesn't really have competitive plans, Exetel and aaNet don't really have good ADSL2+ deals, or don't provide in my area (TPG do).

The only problem is that I lodged a sales enquiry with TPG last week, and was called by 'Susan' or something similar from a call centre from you-know-where.

InterNode can't supply ADSL 2+ either to my house at the moment.

[markTHEblake]

The biggest problem I see is our personal e-mail and telling everyone, as well as our (few) subscriptions. Pain in the proverbial!

It's the 21st century mate, get with the times.

[markTHEblake]

my clubs are newer than yours! not really a comparison anyway, neither of us us a golf pro.

Fishman is a geek, to still be using ISP's email address is comparatively the same as a golf pro using PGF Mk V's

[Fishman Dan]

Fishman is a geek, to still be using ISP's email address is comparatively the same as a golf pro using PGF Mk V's

That's a good point Mark, but a) I can't be arsed, and b) settling on a domain name is the hard part. My Pacific Internet account is also a dynamic address, the TPG connection (for instance) will be static.

So either way, the e-mail address will have to change.

[markTHEblake]

fishmandan.net is available, Google Apps hosting is free, registration <$10pa

10mins to setup.

[Fishman Dan]

Do I really want all of my friends call me such a silly name?!

Do I need the static IP address now, or can that be done later?

[markTHEblake]

Do I really want all of my friends call me such a silly name?!

you are right, it does need to be something you can pass on to your kids, and preferably less than 10 characters :-) (i got lucky with mine)


Do I need the static IP address now, or can that be done later?

a system admin is asking if he needs a static ip address ? I dont even know why you would want one :-)

[wavemaker]

Fishman check out aapt mate.They have been unbeatable for us, but there may not be as many options on Scarybugger as in the big smoke.

[Fishman Dan]

a system admin is asking if he needs a static ip address ? I dont even know why you would want one :-)

Jamie - I hadn't heard of them and was surprised to see that numerous OzGolfers are using them. Unfortunately they don't supply ADSL2+ in my area, which for the same price is beyond comparison (speed and cap-wise).

It's more in reference to the shonky domain registration company you're referring to ;)

[Fishman Dan]

MS Office Service Pack 3 - 117mb downloaded in about a minute, peaking at a little over 2 mb per second.

Highly sexual!! Giggigity!

I'm about 250m from the phone exchange with ADSL2.

[BrisVegas]

Dan, you're embarrassing.

[Fishman Dan]

Who cares, I can download new friends quicker than ever now ;)

[wavemaker]

Oh Danny boy, leave the effin Jamie out!

[markTHEblake]

MS Office Service Pack 3 - 117mb downloaded in about a minute, peaking at a little over 2 mb per second.

you forgot to include the time it took to get the ADSL connected.

[Fishman Dan]

That didn't take long (under a week, churned from a friendly ISP) - it took seemingly longer for Telstra to repair the line once they left us with no home phone for 3 days. There was a period where we got super-fast internet, over a phone line that didn't work. :roll:

[Jo.]

Heres a question for you boys, I know very little about this subject.I know all the golf and porn sites but not much else.
I'm currently with bigpond paying $70 p/m and another $22 p/m for a phone line.I only have the phone line for the broadband.Don't even know what my home number is.
Can I piss the phone line off and still get Broadband.I'm moving soon and don't want to have the phone connected so what are my options?

It just pisses me off that i'm paying $22 a month for a phone that I've never used.

Thanks....

[Fishman Dan]

Jo - it comes down to a few things;

1. BigPond is most people's first choice. They are reliable, but costly for what you get compared to the market.
2. You don't need to change your home phone situation to go with another carrier, but you might get further discounts if you do. I use my home phone for a lot of regional calls, so I'm still with Telstra for line rental.
3. For $70 p/m you could get some of the biggest download caps on the internet.
4. If you're in a built-up area, you might find that some ISP's can offer you ADSL2. This is huge, because you pay pretty much the same rate as a standard ADSL service, but you get far greater speed, and much better download capacities.

Note that with ADSL2 plans you don't need to pay for a nominated speed, it's dictated by your proximity to your local phone exchange. As I said about, I'm 250m from my exchange as the crow flies, so I'm getting pretty much the max speed available.

If I were you, I'd go to some of the larger ISP's such as Ozemail, TPG, iiNet etc and enter your phone number on their homepage. They will tell you pretty quickly if you can get ADSL2. Even if you can't, other ISP's offer ADSL much cheaper than Telstra.

For example - I've gone from paying $49 p/m (discounted rate) for Pacific Internet 1500/256 - 5 Gb cap, to paying the same amount at TPG for ADSL, getting 24000/1000 with 25 gb cap. If I pay $10 p/m more, I get 50 gb, and for $69 p/m they offer 150 Gb downloads. Note - these plans are all ADSL2.

ISP's (TPG for instance) can also offer VoIP phone services that might get you out of that $22 p/m.

[Jo.]

Thanks Dan,
Might have to check out the adsl2.

Is there anyway though to access the internet without a home phone line?

[goughy]

I don't know who my FIL is with, but he's just gone voip and gotten rid of his landline.

[AndyP]

You could go wireless. Virgin offer a package for this.

[Jo.]

Is there much of a difference in price and speed of wireless compared to normal????

[AndyP]

I've never looked into it. But Virgin hasn't attracted me, because they don't seem to offer enough bandwidth (4GB).

[Fishman Dan]

Thanks Dan,
Might have to check out the adsl2.

Is there anyway though to access the internet without a home phone line?

Jo - some ISP's offer 'nude' packages, but I'm not sure who. I think ExeTel had some deals like that but you'll have to look into that. Whirlpool forums might be a good starting point to look out for any info regarding this.

AP - Wireless is useful only if you're running around. Virgin can't offer full 3G, so therefore you can't get the speeds you can with the Telstra NextG network. Speeds are fast but still nowhere near ADSL2, and you won't find a deal with a significant d/l cap.

When I was offline between ISP changes and Telstra killing my home phone, I resorted to using my work-paid NextG card. Very fast - getting 1500+ speeds, but only in short bursts.

[Jo.]

Thanks for your help guys.I'll ring around on Monday and see what I can come up with.i'm gonna be moving aroud a bit in the next 12 - 18 months so don't really wanna go through the hassle of connecting then disconnecting the phone line.
I think wireless will suit me,just hope the speed and downloads are not too limited.

[markTHEblake]

Jo - some ISP's offer 'nude' packages, but I'm not sure who.

They call it Naked DSL and i think its just IInet and Exetel offering it at this stage, though more will come soon, its still a new thing.

If you want this, it will cost you $10pm more. (even though Telstra is only charging the ISP $4 per month for using the line)

[oz]

We don't have ADSL2 available at home, yet.

We recently chruned from TPG (after 7 years) to AAPT. BIG MISTAKE!! AAPT experience was horrendous! They seem to have nice staff, but crap systems. Billing errors, account duplications, disconnections in error (with a week to re-connect).... Hours and hours (literally) on hold..... the list goes on.

After a couple of months of saying "It's probably just teething problems... it'll get better", I have had it. When they re-connected us again (after another 1 week wait), after yet another stuff-up, we churned to WestNet.

WestNet came recommended from a mate, and they have been fantastic (so far). Great cusotmer service (less than 30 seconds to speak to a human), and competitive pricing.

AAPT appeared great, on the surface, but the reality was the worst ISP experience I have ever had (work or home).

[Fishman Dan]

I had an issue with my non-TPG supported modem (Netgear) getting online initially, but the guy I spoke to (I think their support is based in Malaysia) said "TPG does not support this particular modem, however I have had significant experience with that model and...." - within a minute I was connected.

If you buy a modem from TPG when you connect, it will come pre-configured for their IPTV service, so you can get straight online and start watching Al Jezeera.

[oz]

We had a very good run with TPG for many years. Just wanted to go to a bundled service with home phones.

[Grunt]

I have heard I am available for ADSL2+ but the problem is I am miles from the exchange. How far is it to be too far to get any benefit from ADSL2+ over normal ADSL.

[Fishman Dan]

Grunt - the number that springs to mind (you might want to Google it) is about 6 km's. Anything inside 1 km you should get pretty much full speed, then it degrades the further you are away.

Go to any ISP and enter you phone number, if you are eligible then it will also tell you what exchange you are connected to. Whirlpool has some threads that pinpoints the street address of that Exchange... then you can do the guesswork using something like Google Earth. Might be worth checking, it's not always as straighforward as it looks.

I moved from Gladesville to Gladesville, but both places were on the Hunters Hill exchange. I had to do a drive-by to locate the HH exchange to double-check, it's in a suburban, leafy residential street. You'd never know it was there otherwise!!

[Grunt]

I am in hte Miller Exchange, it is at least 5 km away.

[markTHEblake]

Grant, and its not as the crow flies either. You can work out a logical route for how you think the cable might travel, but even then you could be way out.
Save yourself some time and make a call. Most providers can do a prequal test over the phone

[Courty]

FWIW, what matters is the distance of the cable between your place and the exchange. Unless you live on a main road, they usually don't follow the most direct route.

One of the ISPs up here had a feature on their website which would plot out the cable length to your nearest exchange.

[goughy]

The middle ridge exchange has apparently been enabled for adsl2 up here. One of my mates wanted adsl or 2, but he can't get it there. Why? Because he's in a new estate in that suburb, and while not far from the exchange they had no free ports? or something. So he's on the drayton exchange clear across town, maybe 10 or 15km. I don't think he can even get adsl there.

[Grunt]

Yeah Goughy that is what I have, we had Dial up for ages as Telstra never built an exchange for the new estate we are in. The miller exchange is about 5km as the crow flies from here. Eventually we got ADSL but they also don't allow churning either. So we will have to disconnect and then reconnect to change providors.

[markTHEblake]

Telstra doesnt build exchanges anymore, as they cost way too much. They just run a fibre out from an existing exchange to the new estates and install a RIM. (a green box on the side of the road. about the same size as a box trailer on its side, and numbers and letters on it, starts with CA or DA).

Telstra has been upgrading the RIMS to support ADSL over the last 2-3 years, even then there is limited capacity (compared to an exchange)

You cannot get ADSL2 through a RIM, and I have not heard of any plans or technical ability to provide it. I expect that wont change until the next generation of broadband is rolled out.

[Grunt]

Yep that is that for us MTB, will have to wait for the next type of broadband. Telstra keep telling me to go to sattelite

[markTHEblake]

Huh? you have Broadband already, why would you want to go to satellite? slower and more expensive

[Grunt]

Who said Telstra were knowledgeable on anything. I only have them because they were the only adsl originally in the area. Another thing is not many of the alternate providors have adsl, only adsl2+ at the Miller Exchange.

[Fishman Dan]

Grunt - if you can get ADSL with Telstra, you can get it with anyone. It's only ADSL2 that's reliant on each company installing their own DSLAM's in a particular exchange.

Of course, if you made enquiries with Telstra in the first place, they may have said something different.

[Grunt]

No Dan just gone off the Whirlpool site. Some ADSL plans on there are ADSL2+ only for Miller Exchange. TPG does not allow ADSL connections if the exchange is ADSL2+ capable.

[Fishman Dan]

No Dan just gone off the Whirlpool site. Some ADSL plans on there are ADSL2+ only for Miller Exchange. TPG does not allow ADSL connections if the exchange is ADSL2+ capable.

I think their point is - why bother? Same price, faster download and larger cap. ADSL2 has a greater range than standard ADSL. If TPG can supply ADSL2, albeit a greater distance, you will still get faster than 1500/256.

Besides, if you can't churn, OzGolf will survive a week without you ;)

[Grunt]

What service does everyone have here in Sydney?
Going to give bigpond the flick. Want something with ADSL2+ (if I can get it), 12-15Gb download limit and good service. Am currently on 1500/256 Liberty Unlimited plan.

[Grunt]

What is Naked ADSL? Have seen it several times in plans coming from some providors.

[markTHEblake]

Grant, there is not much point 'shopping around' for ADSL2. You can only go with a provider that has installed ADSL2 equipment in your exchange.

Naked DSL means ADSL2 without an active telstra telephone service. Cost will be $10pm above normal plans.

[Fishman Dan]

Forget about good service. Go with a company that doesn't need service. For instance, I don't want to make a habit of calling TPG for support, but I'm confident enough their service won't warrant it. From another post here, you'd give AAPT a swerve.

TPG's ADSL2 deals have to be the best around if it's available to you. I also checked iiNet and a couple of others, nothing else weighed up.

[markTHEblake]

. From another post here, you'd give AAPT a swerve.

I can personally guarantee their lack of skills. The trainer at AAPT support on the gold coast was a protege of mine, he recently told me he teaches them everything i taught him. :shock: