Internet Broadband advice

bluedufflecoat on 07/07/2011 - 14:40

Hi guys,
Appreciate your advice on this.

We're moving house in September. Currently on a contract with iiNet, which ends in December. Contract break fees are $75. If we extend our contract with them it will cost $80 but we will stay on the current plan ($60/mth for 50GB/50GB). New plans are apparently $70/mth for the same quota.

Alternative is to start a new contract with TPG for $40/mth, 30GB/30GB, 18 month contract with no connection fee. We don't use a whole lot of data each month, so this plan is probably sufficient for us. My only concern is whether or not they are

a. reliable - any known outages or if they are frequent?
b. have good customer service

Does anyone have any experience?

Thanks.
Amelyn

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Comments

  • issh on 07/07/2011 - 14:45
    +1

    Whirlpool is your answer

    http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/90

    Sign up and you could ask questions that their reps will answer

    I'm not with them but they seem to be reliable and have great customer service

    i.e. of Great Customer Service

    Ask a TPG REP
    TPG Appreciation Thread

  • ESEMCE on 07/07/2011 - 15:11
    +1

    TPG are reliable, but their customer service is likely to be a bit below that of iiNet (their call centre is overseas).
    You'll need to check whether TPG service is available at your new house.. (ie that they have DSLAM's in the exchange for the new house) and that they have spare ports…
    (similarly you'll need to do that for iiNet.
    As issh says, check out Whirlpool and use their Broadband Choice tool (from the left sidebar) to see what ISP's your new house can connect to.

  • bluedufflecoat on 07/07/2011 - 15:30

    Thanks issh & scubacoles for your comments. Might go with TPG then - but if anyone else has anything to add, I would really like to hear your thoughts.

    • ESEMCE on 07/07/2011 - 15:40
      +1

      hopefully your new place isn't in a new estate that has a "technology blocker" as Telstra call it.. means you can't get ADSL2+ at all or can only buy it from Telstra or Telstra resellers at inflated prices.
      You can check (most scenarios) using http://adsl2exchanges.com.au

      If it has Foxtel cable running past, consider getting a Cable internet service too! Pricing wont be quite as good, but the speed will be amazing!

      • TScott on 07/07/2011 - 23:26

        Hmm I know a person who lives in Caroline Springs VIC and can ONLY get internet via Telstra.

        • hfhf on 08/07/2011 - 01:33

          I live in Churchill VIC, Gippsland and i can ONLY get internet via Telstra :*(

  • finance on 07/07/2011 - 16:08

    tpg usually have connection fee even for 18 months!

    • TScott on 07/07/2011 - 23:27

      No it doesn't I got mine connected on a 18 month plan and it costed $0 to connect.

      • mangew on 08/07/2011 - 07:45

        You must be referring to ADSL2+ only for $0 setup on 18months
        I am on Naked ADSL2+ Voip and I got charged a setup of $79.95 and am on 18month contract. I think that was even discounted too.

        • TScott on 10/07/2011 - 22:07

          I'm on the standalone ADSL2+ plan. So I still have my normal line rental with Telstra. =)

  • mangew on 07/07/2011 - 17:26

    my opinion avoid tpg, i experienced poor customer service from day 1. I am regretting leaving iinet. Cannot wait till my contract ends!

  • bluedufflecoat on 08/07/2011 - 08:42

    I have a silly question.

    If the TPG ADSL2+ plan that I'm looking at is offered as a "standalone" service (without the phone line), do I still need a phone line service?

    Thanks.

    • ESEMCE on 08/07/2011 - 09:23

      1) You need a physical phone line to the house (ie. if it's a new house, you'll have to pay Telstra ~$300 to install the line and I think it has to be active for 3 months..)
      2) If there is an existing line and it is still connected to the network (Telstra can remove lines from the network at the exchange if they are disused for more than 6 months - in that case, you're looking at "up to $300" to reinstall, this happened to me), then you can get a "naked" internet service that doesn't have an active telephone service, the advantage being you don't pay a line rental fee to Telstra (or other telco).

      • bluedufflecoat on 08/07/2011 - 09:36

        How do I find out if it is still connected to the network? I don't even know what the phone number is! The iinet guy said he could see that they could see 2 phone lines connected to the property in 2009. I'm not sure which ones are still active. My impression is the guy who lived there never used the landline at all.

        • ESEMCE on 08/07/2011 - 09:45

          plug in a phone and see if there's a dial tone or if there is a recorded announcement by Telstra.
          call 127 22 123 to find out your number
          or 127 23 12 if it's an Optus line.

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