Sick of TPG, Who to Go to? - May 2016

Hey OzBargain,

As of late, our TPG connection has become worse and is no longer viable.
I'm considering moving to Telstra on our ADSL2+ connection.
We also have a second ISP with Telstra for Cable. This is used for gaming.
The TPG is currently used for streaming videos.

Who do you think I should jump ships to?
It is important that we have 2 separate connections.

Update:
Interestingly, TPG decided to contact me this time and ask about our credit card payments.
They had limited our internet speed due to one of the credit cards being locked (we thought we lost it, but found it and then re-activated it), and it failing to pay for the services. They had sent an email prior which I fixed up and said that the card is fine for payment. Anyhow, the payment was still blocked and we gave in a few credit card to use and they said our service will resume to normal speeds.

Tl,DR;
Payment issues. Speeds now returns to the standard TPG.

Poll Options expired

  • 10
    Telstra
  • 11
    Optus
  • 2
    Dodo (lol)
  • 4
    iiNet
  • 2
    Internode
  • 7
    Exetel
  • 2
    Belong
  • 4
    Don't change.

Comments

  • Are you sure the issue lies with TPG? ADSL2+ connection quality depends on various factors such as distance from exchange, quality of wiring etc. If the problem lies here then it isn't TPG's fault. That said, if TPG is giving you a hard time in identifying the problem, then you should consider moving to another ISP.

    • We've always had crap connection due to distance.
      But recently it's become so slow that it my 4G is literally 3x faster than the wireless.

      • +2

        Have you asked TPG to rectify the fault?

        • TPG's customer service… lol

        • @bich.light:

          Email their Whirlpool forum staff: [email protected]

          They've always replied promptly and have sent out two technicians (free of charge) after running me through some troubleshooting steps. The second time the technician came out, he worked out the problem was the internal wiring of one of my unused outlets which he disconnected and it solved the problem.

  • iiNet

    • +3

      IMO iiNet has gone to the dogs since TPG bought them out

  • After the basslink schmozzle I can no longer recommend internode, and as such neither iinet or tpg. Sorry I would probably say Optus or Telstra on that list. If skymesh did adsl I would say them in a heartbeat

  • +1

    Two ISPs? loL

    Just use Optus' unlimited cable with 100 Mbps download

  • CAN U GET THE NBN?

  • +2

    You should get a third ISP in case one of your two goes offline.

  • You could try Belong. They have month to month contracts if you want to pay up front for their lousy modem for about $60. Buying their modem is required but you don't have to use it. Just be prepared to put it on the line if you want to report problems. A 12 month contract gets you a modem for $1. That's nuts but I think they also use it as a card check before they proceed any further.

    Because Belong are part of Telstra, you may get a better attention if you report line troubles.

    I've just changed from Internode after using it for about 8 years. Their NBN plans were poor value for money when I first got NBN but I stayed with them. It used to be that Internode would automatically move you to a better plan (for the money) when they offered them but no more it seems. The billing system is weird also. I quit with them in April and now in May they still want more money. That is a work in progress.

    The Belong billing is simple, direct debit on first of the month. If it doesn't work they give you a grace period and retry, then they cut you if you still don't pay. Another nice thing about Belong is you (so far) talk to Aussies.

    • I asked some informations from Belong and after that I assume they are nothing new in the monopolised market.
      They belong to Telstra (I see no difference among Telstra and others) and that alone discouraged me.
      So basically they advertise a standard ADSL service NICE I thought then NO we don't offer this or that but only a BUNDLE!
      Typical misleading marketing practice to catch people's attention but it proved to be wrong as from now on I know what is Belong and will stay away of it.

  • Just curious as to exactly what is slow? Do you mean browsing in general?
    I'm a long time TPG customer and the only issue I've had in their latency when playing games online.
    In the past few weeks however, most YouTube videos I play buffer for between 1-3 mins before playing and even then don't 100% buffer. Very frustrating. Web browsing is fine, NetFlix never lags at 1080 streaming and consistent speedtests of 9Mbit which matches the distance from exchange. Have rebooted router and updated firmware. Also looking at other ISP options.
    Yes Belong are owned by Telstra. I suspect that due to the cheaper price, contention rates would be higher.

  • How old is the cabling in the house? Is it cat5? Upgrade it if it's not.
    How old is the modem? If it's more then 18months replace it with a good one.
    You need to make sure everything between the cable outside the hours and the modem is good.
    It doesn't matter which provider you switch to telstra own the cable from the exchange to Your house unless you have opus cabling or non.
    Talk to tpg via their forum they will help you trouble shoot the issues.

  • Also check that any device connected to your phone line that isn't the modem (fax/phone/foxtel) has a filter on it.

    Although I suspect it's probably water getting into the dodgy phone pit and shorting out the phone cables in their.

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