NBN has finally hit my area. Received a letter from Aussie broadband for the $79 plan reduced to $59 for the first 6 months with the code SAYNOMORE20.
$79 plan is unlimited data on NBN50 with no lock in contract.
Mod Edit: Applies to 50/20 & 100/40 Unlimited Plans Only.
NBN 50/20 Unlimited Plan: $79/Month ($59/Month for the first 6 months)
NBN 100/40 Unlimited Plan: $99/Month ($79/Month for the first 6 months)
$50 each for referrer & referee apply afterwards.
I wonder if this can be applied to existing customers?
Change provider for a month then come back before March 31?
Nope need to have been gone for over 6 months.
Any t&c?
@etan: They are similar to those for this previous bargain, except that they’re for March 2019. The full Promotions Terms & Conditions is linked to from this page on ABB's site.
Belong/Telstra is offering 50m plan for $65. How does ABB justify an effective 12 month 50m plan for $69 per month. Maybe I am biased but I think only Telstra can charge a premium…
Telstra charge $90
aussie fare better than telstra
Belong is a sub brand of telstra, only charging $65 each month…
Locked in for 12 months though unless you pay $70
My ADSL service with Belong had terrible congestion and their customer service was even worse.
Pretty sure belong have their own CVC ratios, likely to be far less than Telstras. You also more than likely have terrible offshore support.
Aussie have Australian support and never oversell POIs.
@brendanm: Aussie have terrible local support. From over selling their their services, but not getting competent staff to match the increase.
@brendanm: Have a read through my rant here.
I'd love to hear if this is good customer service.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/436356#comment-6923625
When things are going well, thrn of course people are happy. It's when they don't you find out about their customer service.
And when you want to leave, they try to insinuate that you need to give them over a billing cycle notice. But realistically you only have to make sure your bill is paid and give them a day or so's notice.
@[Deactivated]: The majority of people have no issue. I've had bad experiences at places where the overwhelming majority have had a good experience. Doesn't mean the place is rubbish, just that I was unlucky, and that nothing is perfect.
When I left they had no issue, and didn't talk about a billing cycle of notice, I simply finished my month while activating my service with telecube the day before my Aussie finished up.
@brendanm: I have mediocre experience (both line and customer service issue) with AussieBB (NBN FTTB) as well.
Their customer support cannot find the issue with my connection, despite multiple calls with different tech support. They always adamant that the connection from their end are fine.
And yes, their customer service also insinuate that I need to give them 1 billing cycle notice.
My previous connection with TPG are working excellent with zero issue, so it definitely not an issue on my end.
When I finally reconnect with TPG again (after disconnect from AussieBB), all working fine.
To be fair, TPG Customer service is also terrible, but at least the connection are excellent.
Belong is owned by Telstra but does not use the normal Telstra network. The services are provided by a company called Telcoinabox (Google it and look at their site). They provide everything from the basic connection through to billing and account management. Belong buy bugger all CVC and their service is terribly poor.
Only a single PoP in Australia, Melbourne from memory. That means if you're in Perth for example, all of your traffic is routed via Melbourne meaning stupidly high ping times to Perth hosted servers.
They are probably the worst ISP in Australia and I'd never recommend them to my worst enemy.
I've been hearing good things about Exetel, I spent my first 6 months on NBN with Mate Communicate who I was really happy with. They had $20 off for the first 6 months and when that ended last week I changed to the 100/40 plan with $20 off for the first 6 months with Aussie Broadband. So far I'm happy but it's early days.
Belong sucks big schlongs.
belong doesn't use telstra's CVC so they need to buy their own. they usually buy less so they can price their stuff cheaper. so its more prone to congestion.
I've been hearing good things about Exetel
That's interesting, I'm on ADSL with them and the congestion at night lately has been significant, enough that I was considering not using them for NBN. Anyone on Exetel NBN in Sydney that can comment,?
YMMV.
I've been with belong NBN fttp for over 12months now. On their cheapest basic plan which advertises 30mbps typical evening speeds BUT I consistently get 47-50mbps down and 20mbps up, all day any day.
So I am happy.
I thought basic was 12mbs?
@Jonski: Nope basic is 30mbps typical evening speeds. They have 30/40/80 Mbps plans but I can only assume that I am getting the 40mbps plan (based on consistentspeed tests) for $55
https://www.belong.com.au/content/dam/belong/downloads/keyfa…
I also have Belong fttp (fibre into the bedroom cupboard) at 50 / 20 and I get almost those speeds at any time. Been like it for 4 years and no failures (yet). I did a calc, Aussie BB with the special comes out $12 cheaper over 12 months than Belong at $70 pm.
I like the certainty of billing with Belong. If connected on the first day of the month you pay. I had Internode (for 10 years ending 4 years back) and the service was OK but the billing was like a dog's breakfast after the Perth mob took over. All over the shop and you never knew where you were.
I was with belong before, non existent technical support and worse than adsl speed. Avoid.
By being a better provider.
https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/belong
https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/aussie-broadband-p…
This should answer some questions…
Tried Belong, I found it far too congested. You get what you pay for!
I use Exetel for $59.95/m and their service has been fantastic
$ date; speedtest-cli
Thu 28 Feb 19:55:36 AWST 2019
Retrieving speedtest.net configuration…
Testing from Exetel (115.70.xxx.xxx)…
Retrieving speedtest.net server list…
Selecting best server based on ping…
Hosted by Telstra (Perth) [1.38 km]: 7.919 ms
Testing download speed……………………………………………………………………..
Download: 44.88 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed…………………………………………………………………………………………
Upload: 17.54 Mbit/s
x2
I have used them for 10 years and recently with NBN. 500GB 50/20 for $55 per month. The support maybe is not as good as other but then only needed support a few times over the last 10 years at most. Why pay more
How does ABB compare with exetel?
Depends on what you are looking for.
If you just require YouTube/Netflix/web browsing, Exetel is good enough.
No experience with ABB but I advise avoiding Exetel.
I had services with both.
Exetel is good if you don't need customer services or bittorenting.
ABB is OK. Sometimes their customer service is rude. Doesn't worth the premium you pay.
Rude? Had called many times due to an nbn line issue and they were excellent every time.
Likewise accounts/sales.
@scuderiarmani: I do data analytics for a recruitment company and do a couple of big call centres. They're the same people cycling through all of them, all the applicants have some experience at <insert big company here> but until they're on the phone for a month you can't really tell if they're actually good. Then a whole lot leave because they don't like their manager, or can get an extra dollar an hour somewhere else.
Plus sometimes people have crap days. And if you're listening to someone from Ozbargain whine about how they want a $10 discount for the 50th time today you're going to just be over it at some point (I had the rudest telstra dude ever because I wanted an offer the online sales team told me existed but I had to call in for, but he claimed didn't exist).
Most companies are fully aware that the call centre is basically their only customer facing section these days though and try to get the best people possible in. But it's high turnover, you'll always get a few duds.
try to get the best people in.
But without paying best people money. No wonder there is so much churn in call centres.
@freefall101: I have no idea about their quality but…
Considering the ABB call centre is in Morwell (regional Victoria), I doubt you are getting the same people that are usually "cycling through" and they aren't going to be moving somewhere else for an extra dollar on account of lack of other nearby opportunities.
Haven't had ABB
Torrent all the time with Exetel and probably once every 18 months need to contact customer service, and it's resolved promptly.
Love them - great price, no complaints…
The thing I love about Exetel is they don't seem to care what you download. I know iinet and some others send copyright letters and all that…
Sydney metro area here so I don't know if connections vary with them depending where you are.
You don’t use a VPN?? You do know the telcos are required to keep your metadata since 2015 right?
Nah I have no idea
and what are they going to do this with metadata if you've been downloading any torrents since then ..
@prankster: Probably nothing but if some Hollywood company ends up investing the money and time into people breaking copyright laws then the records can be used to track you for legal action
@SlappersOnly: That can't happen in Australia since they drew up the plan to counter piracy in Australia which shifted the responsibility for downloading unauthorised content to the service providers.
Periodically the Film studios and other content providers like Foxtel tender a list of torrent/file websites url's to the court and they rule that Internet providers block their subscribers from accessing said pirate web sites.
The onus in Australia unlike in most countries is with ISP and not the end user.
When was the last time you heard of a member of the public be prosecuted? I do recall five or so years ago before the law change on piracy shifting the responsibility to ISP's some people receiving letters from their ISP's prompted by Paramount and Sony, I seem to recall, but even they went nowhere.
If you allow uploads of material you don't have authorisation to distribute, then watch out!
Not sure about ABB but i have been with exetel since 2004 and they
are ok. Switched to their nbn plan last year and works quite well. I am paying $59 for 50/20
Wow loyal customer ever… thats 15 years man
How is 50/20 being charged at $75? TPG has it at $59 for 12months.
69.99
My bad, then it is not far off.
And much better.
TPG 'can' be as good, for some users.
How can they afford to run these plans at a loss yet maintain the network and pay for Aussie based support?
Presume they'll back themselves to keep you. I know I'm not leaving. Ever.
This. Have been with Aussie, telecube and mungi. Left mungi and telecube when they began their downward slide. The low prices can't be sustained, so you end up with a degrading service, and for people that hung around, no service. Would much rather know I have fast stable internet 24/7, with great support if I need it (they were very patient with me when I was getting terrible speeds, turned out to be my router).
Ask tpg.. they did it with adsl for years! I’d still be with them if they didn’t force you to get that dumb voip phone with nbn plans
NBN themselves are running promotions to get give RSPs breaks and incentives to upgrade people to higher teir plans. These are short term incentives that RSPs are passing to their consumers. This is not some race to the bottom.
Looking at getting NBN for the first time.
Don't want to get their one as I might change up ISP after 6 months if there's another better and cheaper option.
Any suggestions for which modem/router would be a good one buy for NBN?
Is there anything I need to look for in particular when getting an NBN modem/router?
Happy to spend $150+ if the modem/router is good and recommended.
You can always sign up to their 24 month contract, get their modem for free (+postage) and if you break contract you can buy their modem for $149 anyway. Reviews suggest it's decent so if you're looking for an easy option?
Do you know which NBN technology you're getting?
(You need a modem+router for FttN)
normal home user, the modem router came with ips are just fine.
but any poweruser should build their own router with dedicated routerOS(pfsense, openwrt, LEDE).
for the same 300$, you can go buy a name-brand router (like Asus XXX), or 200$router+100$ap which is always going to out perform any branded router at similar price range or even much higher priced one.
i am planning to build one with j1900 intel in it, (usually can get it down under 150$).
i am not a power user by any mean, however, the benefit of having my own routerOS is quite tempting. I can block ads for all my device, i can have much better DNS firewall/security side of things, also much much faster LAN speed. and it is future proof easily capable of handling 300M+ netspeed if that is ever gonna happen to us. also, much better QoS system so no more lag in gaming AT ALL. it is just way more powerful chip than the one in any consumer graded router.
I have an Asus rt68, it's great as you say.
My NBN will be hfc. So are you saying that if I get a router from my ISP to have VoIP in order to keep my existing landline number, and hook my Asus into it to provide is excellent wifi coverage, that the ISP for will be a bottlrneck? Or is the bottleneck you're referring to the poor wifi of the ISP router, which I wouldn't be using?
I want to keep my landline numbers, but not if it means my throughout is affected.
I signed up for AussieBB and they told me I had to wait a month or two before they could connect me. No dramas I was happy to wait. They emailed me saying they will give me one month free because I had to wait. Seemed nice of them. I got connected after a couple of months. I’ve been with them for around 6 months now, I ask them about the free month but now they don’t want to give it to me. They told me because I got the plan for $69, they won’t give me the free month. But I don’t understand, they emailed me saying the free month was for the inconvenience. Probably just lies so that I would wait for them to connect me.
TIO.
But your first couple of months were free /s
Email them back and explain that there are two different issues.
Yes they like to keep the customer happy by telling you what you want to hear.
Then they just don't deliver it.
But hey you get to sit in the queue for 30mins listening to how diverse they are and how naughty people claim their racists because of their name Aussie (yeah right). Over and over and over am6d over again.
and over again.
It uses to do my head in.
At least with music, you can put it on speaker and go about your work and wait for a voice. But ABB you can't tune out because they're droning on and on and on and if you tune out you miss the real person.
Is TPG the best value NBN at the moment at $70 a month for 50/20? I get connected to NBN soon and was wondering who to go with.
These guys. Nbn is one of those things it's not necessarily better paying less. The hassle would far outweigh the negligible price differences.
i was hesitant to go with TPG for NBN after having terrible years of service on ADSL but NBN has been great so far. Although it depends on how far your nbn plate is from to your house, mine is in-front of my house, so i get the promised speeds.
I've been on TPG since I was forced to cancel my ADSL2 (kept it as long as possible as I live 400m from an exchange), and I get near on 50MBit/s constantly, but I have FTTP.
I have never had a single issue in nearly 2 years. Had 1 issue in 3 years with ADSL and that was because a Telstra muppet forget to re-connect something on site after some maintenance.
I'll probable swap for 6 months and save $60 though.
Can this code be applied to a Preorder?
I did in November for an upcoming new connection
Yep, just called up and they have applied the coupon to my preorder. Now we continue waiting for nbn.
I just did a pre-order the other day and used a code for the same 6 month discount that ended the day before this one started. You should be fine
Yes, but limited to a future connection date of about three months.
Good deal unless your like me when I signed up with them a couple of weeks ago, where they put me on a stop sell.
What's a stop sell?
That is where an RSP stops selling to customers connecting in a particular one of the 144 POI until contracts for more bandwith are completed. There is no problem going month to month with another provider.
Note not all providers do this, as their back end arrangements are with a third party, or they are willing to over subscribe their own limits.
And that's why ABB are rare in their offerings. They buy additional backhaul and THEN sell it… they don't make existing customers suffer through slow downs and service outages because they are trying to push the limits all the time patching crap service.
I love these guys! They are the Internode of old. (Internode used to be the bees knees of ISP's that techies used late 90's early 2000's, but now they are crapola once bought by iiNet/TPG).
ABB won't keep selling to people just to money grab, and instead will only sell when their infrastructure can handle it without a drop in service to existing subscribers. That alone should make people flock to them, but the Australian customer support is great too. And that's not a racist opinion, its just plain old simple English… and being able to understand simple instructions without either a strong accent- or massive delay in the conversation. They'll remotely take over your pc while you watch, and fix your settings for you (in the case of a problem I was having with VOIP).
If they didn't have limited selling on new customers, I'd keep my trap shut and definitely not be recommending them here that's for sure!
But since it won't ever affect my services, go nuts guys- sign up to them with my blessing :).
Low pings, rock solid connection that never drops or slows down in peak times, and Aussie customer support with call back.
*Disclaimer, I'm on NBN in ACT… so can't speak of other services they offer, but they are consistently better than even Internode was- and cheaper.
I convinced my family to switch from TPG to ABB for when we get NBN. I just want a stable connection. Hopefully I get the same experience because they do cost more than most.
Damn right. Signed up Nov 2017 and yet to notice any slow down in peak times!
ABB won't keep selling to people just to money grab,
Oh really? That's why wait time dramatically increased late Nov after their sales drives. It takes a bloody long time to get through to anyone.
They're just like everyone else. Only they have a very good network.
ahahahaha…. "They're just like everyone else. Only they have a very good network".
Come on mate.
They're just chasing money like everyone else ;-)
ABB are running scared of the new boys.
@[Deactivated]: But as the new guys get busy, their service drops. It's like a revolving door. New guys come into the market, people flock to them, service drops, people churn to the next new guy.
I'm for rewarding good service and not churning (unless service starts to deteriorate).
I was loyal to Internode until they sold out, then the service dropped and I jumped ship.
I hope ABB is different. It seems to be the case so far, but proof is in the pudding.
Actually refusing to sign up a new customer until there's enough bandwidth is pretty rare. I like that. A lot.
@UFO: I always say their network is great.
I just got f'd off when things didn't go right. People bang on about their great customer service, but my experiences (and there were many) is the reason jumped.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/436356#comment-6923625
I blame their greed for increasing customer numbers and not coinciding that with growing competent customer service people.
Their "over worked" complaints person finally.got back to me to say all the calls that I had difficulties with, there were a lack of detailed notes about the conversation (after he eventually listened to the conversation) and it sounds like most of the conversations and what was discussed and agreed weren't even noted.
@[Deactivated]: Hmm…. that sounds bad. I've only used their tech support once, and it was great. Maybe I was just lucky? Or maybe I was just used to Internode's crap call centre which was absolutely abysmal… and that's ignoring the wait time, that's just the actual talking part, so that when I finally got good customer service it was surprising!
How often did you have to call them? That's an issue as well if you're always on the phone with them!
Because even with awesome customer service, if you have to call them repeatedly that's no good either.
I'd rather average customer service, and NEVER having to call them :).
I believe they took on an existing data base of customers off another isp about then and they are well aware of the call congestion/wait times and are attempting to correct it or so they told me when i put a written complaint in about a particular issue one of the sites i look after had.
that had not impacted the speeds on a connections just the wait time to speak to someone that has fluent english and is in Australia.
I would not recommend for FTTN in Willetton (Perth) area.
I transferred over to ABB when Mungi went into liquidation. Never had any problems with NBN until now. Mungi had always been smooth sailing, but now ABB gives me constant disconnections. I'm not sure if it is congestion or not, but I am really beginning to give up hope and consider alternative options/providers.
ABB's customer service when speaking over the phone has always been amiable, but their hold times are ridiculous, and you have to keep listening to all the bs messages repeating over and over about the culture of their company. No call back function and have been told (by ABB) that online forms take even longer so they recommend calling.
Each time I call, they have to do tests. The tests take 15-20 minutes in total and that is ONTOP of the time you have just spent waiting to speak to a representative (approx 30 mins wait depending on time of day you call). The first time I called, they did tests, found that the line was not stable, and told me to wait 24 hours before I could be passed on to NBN to come out to fix my line, I called them back after 24 hours as I had numerous disconnects during that period, ABB booked an appointment with NBN, I got a confirmation SMS and NBN didn't even show up on the day that was confirmed. Apparently they "fixed" the issue remotely but there was no discernible differences, my line was still frequently disconnecting.
I called again a few days later, got another appointment booked, NBN actually came out this time, and did some stuff (I wasn't sure what because I wasn't there and it was my partner who was home), fine for a day or two and then disconnects began again.
Now I've raised the issue a third time, the ABB lady on the phone said she booked an appointment with NBN but that was days ago and I haven't received a confirmation SMS so I'm going to have to chase them up again. That's another 30 minutes of wait time + 15 mins on the phone. Seriously not happy.
And no compensation offered at all either.
Come off it. They are nothing like the Internode of old. Internode were niche and were at the cutting edge of innovation..
I think someone like Future Broadband, a WA startup are more like the old Internode. They have managed to package AAPT's corporate network and sell it at prices that home users can afford. Combined with the owner happy to interact with customers on social media and innovative aspects to its portal.
Now that is not to say that Aussie are not doing most everything correctly… I equate them to the IInet of old, before it listed on the share market. Bold, strong customer focus, good support and a desire to grow. A presence including the owner on social media or at least forums like Whirlpool. I will say however that the transparency such as its CVC graphs are more in the Internode vane.
Can businesses sign up to this or just residential?
This is better than first month off if you’re getting the $79 NBN50 tier for at least 5 months.
Talking this https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/441112