So I'm deciding between Dodo and TPG. Both have unlimited ADSL2+ plans for $60p/m
DODO
Pros: special offer no connection fee
Cons: the worst Netflix ISP rating
TPG
Pros: The best Netflix ISP rating
Cons: $80 connection fee
I'm in Sydney metro area Maroubra 2035 (800m from exchange)
Thanks for any input
"Cons: the worst Netflix ISP rating"
What does this mean, if you have good download speed what's the difference, they would both be wholesaling the same line off Telstra?
Seriously lel? Are you actuallynder the impression that all ISPs offer the same speed rofl?
TPG has the best Netflix benchmark rating.
As far as I'm aware the information about Dodo being the worst is incorrect as it's actually Telstra that's the worst. Rather than provide a so called "neutral service" they in fact degrade their entire customer bases internet when using Netflix in an effort to cause them to stick with or purchase a subscription to Foxtel in which they have a 50% stake.
Well I presume if your wholesaling and your plan is a certain theoretical speed then unless you were directly with Telstra then anyone they wholesale to would be roughly the same speed relative to their distance from the exchange, line quality and plan. But then again maybe I just forget what it's like to be on ADSL since I've had 100MB Fiber that relies on NBN Co and therefore irrespective of the wholesaler everyone is getting the same speed as per their plan.
So thanks for the heads up cause I thought the above, if I ever need to go back to ADSL whos the best and the worst, you'll be answering OP's question as well with that one?
Well I presume if your wholesaling and your plan is a certain theoretical speed then unless you were directly with Telstra then anyone they wholesale to would be roughly the same speed relative to their distance from the exchange, line quality and plan.
You would expect this, but it has unfortunately not been my experience. I've been through plenty of ADSL providers and found they all have different pings and download/upload speeds. Most, I noticed, got worse the longer I was with them… curious that
Exetel weren't too bad, wouldn't go near Veetel ever again, Internode & Telstra both reliable but more expensive. I used Dodo for quite a while and would consider going back to them if Telstra's service drops. Unfortunately TPG & iiNet only offer 'off-net' services where I live which bump their prices up to around what Telstra charge, so i haven't tried them yet. I couldn't really pinpoint a 'best', but I'll keep searching.
TPG for my area, been good so far (> 3 years) cross fingers.
I would suggest you do more research on whirlpool or other site about TPG performance on your suburbs.
TPG
I think the Netflix ISP speed ratings need to be taken with a grain of salt.
Telstra sits at the bottom of the list too but you have to remember they service out to rural areas where other ISP's don't which inevitably brings their average down.
That being said, I recently signed to TPG and am quite happy with it.
The day after I was connected at my new home, I turned off the power since I hadn't moved in yet and they called me the next day asking if I was having issues because my connection was down.
Telstra sits at the bottom of the list too but you have to remember they service out to rural areas where other ISP's don't which inevitably brings their average down.
This! It gets a bad wrap for those ratings and most people don't think about that. I went from Dodo to Telstra and I have a MUCH better gaming connection. Dodo didn't have bad download speeds; I just wanted a lower ping which with Telstra I have now.
Telstra's internet is superb for most things. Just not Netflix.
In all honesty, I haven't had an issue; in fact, it's been miles better than when i was with Dodo.
Telstra sits at the bottom of the list too but you have to remember …
*… that they own a 50% interest in Foxtel and they do not want people experiencing cheaper on-demand content.
Are you seriously naive enough to believe that Australia's most profitable, largest ISP cannot deliver what tiny ISPs can as a matter of routine?
Don't be ridiculous, it's about takinhg as much money as possible from people and if they have to degrade their customers internet to do it then they're happily doing that.
TPG
TPG. Are you nuts?
Are you a masochist?! TPG or Dodo?!!
With TPG, just be aware that you may also have to pay a $20 TPG tax, aka. the non-refundable deposit.
My two bobs worth is iiNet.
Been with two years just got the Budii lite much improved performance than Bob.
I know TPG owns iiNet have had no trouble and good support.
k regards
This is not even a question worth considering.
TPG is better than no internet at all and no internet at all is better than the inevitable frustrations you will experience with Dodo.
This.
DO NOT GO WITH DODO…major conjestion, doesnt even work half the time !!
how much does TPG cost?
I think Telstra is best !!
Dont know why dodo has such a bad rep here, was with clubtelco (owned by dodo) for two years until early this year without issues (and speeds were constantly 18mbps, all day all night).
Now have upgraded to TPG fttb that was connected early this year and no issues either.
I'm in Sydney CBD though if that means I'm close to an exchange.
Maybe because it's because they do things like misconfiguring a border router which then breaks the internet for everyone.
I don't have a lot of faith that they know what they are doing.
Telstra was partially at fault too, for not having a mitigation plan in place.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-did-dodo-break-the-internet…
You also have to realise that Dodo now is not the same as dodo in early 2012, they were aquired by M2 Group in 2013, seeing as you linked an article that was published in early 2012.
Is email forwarding also a concern?
I'm with dodo, fairly happy with the speed and occasional dropouts on their ADSL service (in Perth WA), but I've had to migrate all my emails away from my dodo account to gmail.
Dodo have over-agressive antispam antivirus on their email system which was failing to forward numerous critical email messages to my work email account where I consolidate all my email - e.g. statements from credit card companies, car insurance policies that never came through, tax-deductible donation receipts that never came to me. Now that my addresses are gmail, everything comes through.
There isn't an option for turning the email filtering off in dodo - I think they were obliged to enforce it due to so much spam being churned through the dodo servers.
An OzBargainer should never use an ISP's email address anyway. It removes your flexibility to switch to a different internet if a better deal comes along. Gmail or Outlook.com are good mail alternatives.
I second this. Setup gmail once in Thunderbird, etc. - move ISPs - same email address just works.
I was also going to recommend Jiva. It was another brand for Unlimited Internet plans that iiNet started, but it's been discontinued.
Not all Internet companies are created equal. Their backhaul and network configuration can make a difference. This is where Dodo fails. TPG and iiNet seem to manage this well. I'd never go with Telstra because they cost too much and you don't get anything extra for that cost. I cant believe so many people are recommenfing them. I thought this was OzBargain not OzRipoff.
The only thing that TPG has over iiNet is the Unlimited plan. The only thing iiNet have over TPG is customer service. However, I'd expect these differences to disappear over time given that TPG now owns iiNet. Given that little nugget of info, go with TPG. It's wonderful not having to worry about download quotas.
I'm with Clubtelco. Who resell Dodo. Have been for some years now. Some thoughts:
I don't use netflix. And I don't understand its attraction. I won't say how openly, because my post might be removed. But there are simple steps to get anything netflix has to offer (much more in fact) in minutes, from even a poor ISP. You open a website, type the show title, click one link, a program opens, you click OK - and minutes later, you have what you wanted.
Dodo might be bad in congested areas. But other ISPs can be too. I'm not in a congested area - and several km from the exchange too - and it's perfectly fine.
Clubtelco and Dodo can be as low as $40/m, depending on where you are.
If you rent, Clubtelco has free relocation if you move house - and - no contract. I think Dodo has a two year contract, and I'm pretty sure TPG was the same, or at least similar, last I looked.
Clubtelco is unlimited downloads.
Given the above, you could signup to Clubtelco to see what Dodo is like. Then if it was rubbish for you, because you're not constrained by a contract, THEN you could switch to another ISP. (Including Dodo itself, though I don't know why anyone then would.)
I've been with quite a few ISPs over the years - and ones known as 'bad' can turn out to be good for some people - and 'good' ones can turn out to be bad for others. Really, unless you're paying a premium, it's a lottery. To make it worse, most ISPs expect us to sign up on long contracts, before even knowing if their service does what we want it to.
My point is… I'd rather have no contract, and IF it turns out to be pathetic - who cares - I can leave immediately and THEN gamble that the ISP with the long contract is better.
Someone suggested checking your location to see if it's congested. If that kind of info is available, that would be my first step.
1 … Netflix is amazing if that's your thing. I personally love it, the OP offers no opinion on it so making sure it's covered in the responses is good. I'm not sure why you included the bit about IP masking. It's irrelevant to the op.
2 … if you're not using your connection to stream stuff then you are unlikely to notice congestion unless it is REALLY bad.
3 … i'm guessing the op specifically singled out Dodo and TPG for their unlimited plans.
4 … you can pay a bit more for the connection fee with TPG and get a six month contract instead of their 24 month one.
I didn't mean IP masking… What I meant was if I post a detailed explanation here, how to download stuff for free with a few clicks, my post may have been removed.
I included point 1 because I assume you have to pay for netflix. So if it is the deciding factor - and he decides/finds he doesn't need it after all… then that benefit/hinderance is removed.
Didn't know about the 6 month plan. I check from time to time if anything is better. So I'll have to compare again now I know that. Thanks.
(Clubtelco has a yearly membership fee - that gives you a discount card like those voucher books - but I never use it.)
Have to consider the free relocation on moving too.
Everyone's knocking Dodo. My experience: I was with TPG for a couple of years, paying $40 p/month for 250G/250G plan. Doing a lot of streaming with Netflix et al. Shopped around. Dodo had a deal for UNLIMITED for $29.90 per month (no contract). Decided to give it a shot. Apart from initial no connection when swapped over (may have been a Telstra exchange issue), rock solid ever since and same download speeds as with TPG. Customer service was excellent through said no connection period (3 days), as they kept me updated. I cannot fault them so far. Oh, I'm in Port Macquarie NSW so that may be a factor.
I've been with Dodo for over four years.
The connection has been ok - frequent drop outs, telephone calls knockout the Internet (tried several filters, and two different brands of modem), wildly varying speeds, but it was cheap and was fine for our modest Internet usage although Skype video calls could be almost impossible at some times.
Somehow we exceeded our data allowance this month and without any warning we got hit with an excess data charge for at 10c/MB. This was supposedly cut off at an agreed maximum monthly payment which is something that was news to us none-the-less it was double our original agreed monthly payment.
Our initial call to the Customer Service centre was a joke - the operative simply asked if we wanted to cancel our service! It seems they don't much care about retaining customers!
In our attempts to find a pricing plan for our service (we couldn't) we discovered that after 24 months our basic monthly payment had been increased by $15 per month! My wife had never noticed as she trusted Dodo and assumed it was an increase in phone usage.
Instead of rewarding our loyalty they are happy to rip us off and then effectively say, "If you don't like it, leave!"
In the interest of fairness, I should report that Dodo have eventually agreed to credit our account to the amount of the excess data charge.
I've been with TPG for quite a while (years) but always having connection & speed problems.
Just ran a speedtest as TPG reckon I used up my 10GB allowance (on ADSL offnet - they cannot provide ADSL2+) in a week! No way.
Test run on [18/10/2015] @ [11:52 AM])]
[(Mirror: [TPG]
Data: [32 KB]
Test Time: [14.73 secs])]
[(Your line speed is [18 kbps] (0.02 Mbps).
Your download speed is [2 KB/s] (0 MB/s). )]
One of the neighbours is with Dodo on ADSL2+, he just told me his download speed is 5MB ps and uses 80GB a month (but data is unlimited).
My vote is with TPG as I've been with them for many moons now.
TPG