Is There a Worse NBN Provider than Belong?

LOffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 19:16
Last edited 17/12/2019 - 20:40

I've posted this elsewhere but want to make sure no other poor buggers go through what I am going through with Belong for NBN. I made the stupid mistake of leaving Aussie Broadband for them for a period of 5 days after seeing people posting about great deals on here. It's not worth it! Read below if you have the time. If not, just be clear, DO NOT SIGN UP WITH BELONG!

I cant get over the incompetence of this so called ISP. I stupidly joined up with them after reading about them on Ozbargain and obtaining a referral code from here. They pushed the fact that they were a telstra service but did things “differently”. By differently I now realise they mean even worse. At the time they suckered me in saying that reps on their social media team work from home and understand how important a good connection is and they have had customer's very happy with them etc. Which I stupidly believed. Note for people not with Belong that the chat function on their website defaults to their Facebook chat basically meaning Facebook chat is an official channel for Belong.

2 days in I started getting horrible congestion I’d never seen in years on my 50/20 connection with my previous provider. I contacted Belong who came back with gems like changing my wifi channel when I was using ethernet and factory resetting the modem none of which worked. I told them it was clear this was congestion but they ignored me. On Sunday night it got so bad that these were my results:

www.speedtest.net/result/8856016935
www.speedtest.net/result/8856059525

I tried contacting them on chat and got a message they were closed. I then tried calling them and got a message to call back Monday. I literally could not perform even basic work from home with this, so I called up my previous provider Aussie Broadband who understood and they churned me over in half an hour. Funny how much my speeds improved when Belong was adamant it wasn’t congestion. This was less than a hour after my Belong speedtests on Aussie Broadband:

www.speedtest.net/result/8856164328

I contacted Belong the next day to make sure they cancelled me on their end and got abused by a man who appeared to be in an Indian call centre telling me my Aussie Broadband speed test was actually a Belong one and Aussie could not provision me over as it would have taken a few days. I couldn’t believe the way he yelled over me and I ended the call. Not only does the speedtest show Aussie Broadband as the ISP, but I had an Aussie Broadband IP address assigned and also had setup my Aussie VOIP service. This bloke was adamant that my great speeds were actually Belong disguised as Aussie Broadband and as such I would have an early termination fee if I left due to Belong providing me with great speeds and Belong's Facebook team providing me troubleshooting was not me contacting an official support team of Belong's.

I reached back out to the Facebook team and they told me to churn back to them so they could run tests and threatened me with early termination fees unless I left Aussie Broadband and returned to them. I sent them all the evidence of the speed tests and they have the previous troubleshooting history which I had done with them but even still now wont help me. They reply nicely when I post publicly on Facebook and then privately do nothing. Note that all the evidence shows that the source of my slow speeds was simply congestion on Belong's end.

In the end I lodged an ombudsman complaint with all the evidence and that's where we are now. Belong just isn't worth the hassle.

Internet Broadband nbn

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Comments

  • PLA74 on 17/12/2019 - 19:23
    +1

    Which DNS are you using? I have never used theirs, instead used other free ones such as Google, Cloudflare etc.
    Have you contacted the TIO regarding this problem?

    • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 20:05
      +1

      I tried the default DNS but changed to Google 8.8.8.8 to see if it helped. Sadly it didn't. I have now contacted the TIO with all the evidence. Was initially hoping after doing troubleshooting with Belong and showing them I now have a great connection with Aussie Broadband that they would admit the problem was severe congestion on their end and not charge me to leave them. Unfortunately they are giving me the runaround and making wild claims like Aussie Broadband pretending Belong IP Addresses are actually their own and that I am still with Belong and they have magically now fixed my service which is frustrating.

      • yvesmpicard on 18/12/2019 - 12:45
        +1

        DO NOT SIGN UP WITH BELONG!
        💩💩💩 BELONG 💩💩💩 services
        200% with you ….. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

  • WoodYouLikeSomeCash on 17/12/2019 - 19:25
    +4

    TL;DR:

    OP Has a problem with internet being slow 2 days in, OP Signed up to belong via online messaging and was assured speeds would be ok for him, however OP is not happy with his speeds being around 18mbps 2 days after signing up. (Basically OP Came here to complain…).

    • brendanm on 17/12/2019 - 19:30

      Thanks for that. Silly op for leaving a known good provider for a known dodgy one, when he needs internet.

      • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 20:11
        +1

        This forum was where I got the recommendation from and referral code I used which is why I came back here to post about it. I'm a longtime poster on Whirlpool but thought considering some here recommend Belong it was worth sharing the experience.

        It did feel good venting, but that wasn't the overall point. If that was my only point I would have left this only on Whirlpool where I've been posting forever.

        P.S. Aussie Broadband are great but they have come off a string of outages which did affect me, and my family is down to one income after a complicated pregnancy so yes I did look to save some money, but I guess I was nieve in believing what Belong reps told me online about reselling a Telstra service which they use when working from home without issue. I have learned the hard way and don't want others to suffer. All the ISP's bar a few like Aussie Broadband, Tangerine and Mate have pretty bad reviews everywhere so it's hard to differentiate between actual rubbish and people just complaining about big telco's.

        • brendanm on 17/12/2019 - 20:21
          +3

          Buying capacity costs money. The cheap providers don't buy enough, hence congestion, which leads to you having a bad time.

          I tried a couple of others in the past, have always ended back with Aussie, and how can't be bothered trying any others as they are all simply a let down.

          • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 20:32
            +2

            @brendanm: You would think with the Focus on 50 campaign by NBN and them providing more CVC per user which has seemingly lifted the bar and allowed providers like Aussie to now offer uncongested unlimited plans along with the ACCC monitoring this that it would have brought everyone into line.

            Belong claim whenever asked that they resell a Telstra product and Telstra monitors their CVC.

            I guess I've learned a hard lesson here.

            • brendanm on 17/12/2019 - 20:34

              @OffGreenFX: Lots of people claim lots of things. ACCC is useless, they claim fuel companies aren't colluding to fix prices, they just all magically go up on the same day.

              • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 21:02
                +1

                @brendanm: I get what you're saying. I hope you can see how people get confused though when the ACCC says Optus and TPG are currently the fastest providers in Australia and are well in front of Aussie Broadband on their testing, yet have terrible reviews on productreview for example with people complaining about poor speeds.

                Is Aussie Broadband really the only provider out of dozens on NBN that is reliable and trustworthy? How is a regular person expected to get through all the rubbish? The ACCC is meant to be helping us.

                • brendanm on 17/12/2019 - 21:09
                  +1

                  @OffGreenFX: The ACCC doesn't really do much. The one thing whirlpool is good for is internet provider reviews. For good speeds and good service, Aussie is the go. I'm sure Telstra has good speed as well, but lacking in the service department from my experience.

            • yvesmpicard on 18/12/2019 - 12:50
              +1

              @OffGreenFX: BELONG are a bunch of LIARS 🤥🤥🤥 and THIEVES
              Either in Internet suppliers and/or Mobile services …

  • Hithere on 17/12/2019 - 19:29
    +2

    TL;DR

    So OP joined ozbargain just to have a rant.

    There should be a waiting period before posting by new members is allowed maybe.

    Post this on Whirlpool OP and they'll rip you a new one.

    • [Deactivated] on 17/12/2019 - 19:38
      +3

      So what they have to start somewhere, lol whirlpool is for losers and full of wingers, overly moderated rubbish forum.

      • tomclancy on 17/12/2019 - 20:18
        +2

        lol whirlpool is for losers and full of wingers

        Then immediately following comment by OP:

        This is already on Whirlpool (Where I've been a member for a long time)

        🤣

        • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 20:21
          +1

          The poster is right in that Whirlpool can be overly moderated (Although still serves a good purpose). If it makes me a winger for being a member on Whirlpool and posting this here then so be it.

          Once again though, the idea to go with Belong and referral code I used was from this site. Hence the reason I brought this here both to vent and also let others lurking around like I was not to bother.

    • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 20:04
      +2

      This is already on Whirlpool (Where I've been a member for a long time). I'm new to this site but considering I got the idea to sign up to Belong from this site and used a referral code from this site on signup I thought it was worth joining here to post.

  • spiff on 17/12/2019 - 19:41
    +2

    I had a similar experience with congestion and lack of troubleshooting success when on ADSL with Belong. They're hopeless. The modem they provide you with is as bad as their service. One complaint to the TIO and they agreed to let me off without fees (had 2 months left on contract).

    • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 20:23
      +1

      The modem was awful. Constantly did not connect to certain devices on ethernet. I ended up using an Orbi as a router and the Belong unit as a dumb modem at one stage due to this which worked well.

  • jelko on 17/12/2019 - 19:42
    -1

    OP is too tight and wants to save a few bucks a month when he needs reliable internet access for his business. No sympathy from me.

    • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 20:02
      +2

      Thought I could save a few bucks due to the above and Belong telling me in writing they supported my situation and resold a Telstra product. I learned the hard way and came here to vent and also make sure no others make the same mistake.

      P.S Don't have a business either. My employer has everyone work from home, so I'm a residential user just like the hundreds of other employees who work for the same company from home. My family is down to one income due to having a child and my wife had a complicated pregnancy. I hope you have a really nice evening.

    • lette on 19/12/2019 - 00:12
      +3

      What does too tight mean here? He's just trying to pay less for a basic utility.. Maybe he's using the internet to make money and just had a life catastrophe and is trying to stretch every penny. Or maybe he just gets his jollys off by saving a couple of bucks. Either way it's no different from going to Woolies instead of Coles to save 50c on homebrand milk only to find the cheaper one is terrible.
      His only crime is..maaaaybe just maybe not doing enough research and trusting a chatbox.

  • mini2 on 17/12/2019 - 19:52
    +1

    There is - Vocus/Fibremax. I was with Belong, got tempted by the freebie and can't wait to get rid of them by the end of the month.

    I suppose the saving grace is it's free.

    • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 20:18
      +1

      See that was another provider gaining traction on here for a while for 3 months free. How the hell is anyone meant to differentiate the good residential providers from the bad when you have new providers popping up everywhere and different experiences depending on ADSL/FTTN/FTTP/FTTC/HFC/Fixed Wireless etc. The whole market is a dogs breakfast.

      • mini2 on 17/12/2019 - 20:34
        +1

        Some kid from Fibremax called me up the other day asking about my experience, he was struggling to string a sentence together and their helpdesk seemed ever useless. So I've unleashed my fury at this poor guy, Belong was fine and everything went downhill when I swapped to them.

  • holdenmg on 17/12/2019 - 20:01

    Southern Phone is worse.
    /thread

    Used to be MyNetFone and soon to become AGLNBN

    • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 20:16
      +1

      Southern Phone have their call centre in Australia don't they? Meaning the person/people who answer the phone actually surely have used the NBN?

      Surely that counts for something over Belong reps who don't even think it's possible to transfer back to Aussie Broadband the same day and argue that Aussie Broadband IP's are actually secret Belong ones which Aussie Broadband is pretending are their own?

  • samcro on 17/12/2019 - 20:10
    +1

    Well, I have nothing but praise for Belong so far. I was connected within a couple of days and have had nothing but excellent speeds since. I also received $80 mobile credit which will last me 8 months on their $10 plan. Maybe I've just been lucky.

    • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 20:12

      The actual connection for me which is where I was expecting the problems to happen was actually good, it was done same day.

      The problems happened after the connection with congestion. If you are not experiencing severe (8mbps on a 50mbps speeds plan) then I envy you, as it truly is a great price.

    • yvesmpicard on 18/12/2019 - 13:12
      +1

      Hey Samcro …. Good on you HOPE it last for you 💩💩💩
      Keep us posted on your Honeymoon 🍯…
      To me Belong is SHiiiiiite 💩💩💩

      • samcro on 19/12/2019 - 13:58

        Well, honeymoons are normally a couple of weeks, so far I've had 3 solid months. Anyway we'll see. Sorry about your poor experience.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/12/2019 - 20:37
    -1

    Pay peanuts get monkeys. End/thread

    • spiff on 17/12/2019 - 21:04
      +3

      Shouldn't be the case. I've been with Tangerine NBN who are a budget internet provider for more than a year and haven't had any issues with them so far.

      • OffGreenFX on 17/12/2019 - 21:21
        +4

        Thankyou!! This whole site is dedicated to helping people find bargains. I don't understand the hostility from a couple of users here over someone just trying to get a good deal, and recommending other value seekers to go elsewhere.

        • spiff on 17/12/2019 - 23:17
          +3

          Yeh fwiw I don't care that you created a new account to post this, it's clear you're not an idiot and you've actually tried to solve your problem instead of just asking dumb questions or making baseless comments. I reckon just pursue the TIO to get yourself released without penalty asap.

        • GangGang on 18/12/2019 - 09:30
          +1

          You can't beat the internet.

          Even if you're right, you're wrong.

  • bobwokeup on 18/12/2019 - 19:47
    +2

    Obviously the OP has issues in your area. I’ve been with Belong since we were able to get NBN and they’ve exceeded my expectations. Don’t taint Belong as a terrible provider just because of your experience. If you want a bargain price you need to accept that things probably won’t be perfect.

    • OffGreenFX on 18/12/2019 - 21:02
      +1

      I would have been happy with things not perfect, but 8mbps on a 50/20 starter plus plan with advertised 40mbps peak speeds? Seriously?

      My line syncs at 76/29 and I am getting full 47/18 on the 50/20 plan with Aussie BB at all times of day.

      Belong's unwillingness to admit they underprovision bandwith (Go on whirlpool and product review and look at all the stories)

      I am truly happy for you that you get what you pay for as it seems many don't and there is no way I would be paying extra now with Aussie BB if Belong gave me anything near a usable service.

  • Bystander on 19/12/2019 - 05:32
    +2

    Thanks OP for a very helpful post.

    This is exactly what OzB is for, finding good value deals and saving a few bucks. There has been countless times that posts here have saved me money on quality goods and services.

    • OffGreenFX on 19/12/2019 - 09:27
      +2

      Thank you 🙏.

      The good thing is after the first wave of negativity from a few people, everyone else seems to be realising this is the point of ozbargain.

  • OffGreenFX on 20/12/2019 - 21:04
    +1

    I'll just post one last update here which should be the end of this.

    A Belong rep called me and apologised profusely for the poor service and waved all early exit fees. It took more tweeting at Telstra and Belong and an ombudsman complaint to get there, but it was a good result.

    Only fair for me to acknowledge that Belong did end up doing the right thing at the end of all this, even though I wish it was sooner without all the running around.

    • Jason88 on 30/01/2020 - 20:46

      Its still sad that it takes an ombudsman complaint to just get decent and reasonable customer service.

      I will be steering clear from Belong, thanks for the post.

      Right now Aussie seems like a good call.

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