Exploring NBN deals and came across this. Not sure how their customer service would be since seems they are pretty new in the industry but offering 40Mbps upload speed @ $79.99 beats the offer of mate 20Mbps upload @79.99.
Share your experience if you are with them.
Oof. TLDR: Avoid epic broadband.
Clearly those upvoting have not read this thread.
Upvoting means NOTHING on deals. There's dozens of deals that are just Aliexpress junk that is 3 x normal price sold via Amazon, reduced to just 2 x and it'll have 17 positive votes. A 10 seconds google would show the same items on Ebay for way less.
I hope you always link them or post the better deal 😉
Ozbargain punishes downvoting so no one does it.
All upvotes mean here is it caught people's attention.
How does ozbargain punishes people for downvoting?
How can this deal have so many upvotes when Whirlpool has ousted them as a poor operation?
It's a case of caveat emptor. It's a new operation and I wouldn't downvote it if they are trying to carve out the market. It's good for us all.
whirlpoolians tend to hold tel-providers to a very high standard. It is good to keep in mind that bias.
I wouldn't call it a bias. Telecomms has become a vital requirement for a household and it needs to be a solid platform; there's been a multi decade experience of garbage service by various operators and it's simply not acceptable.
They’ve literally been caught out lying about the extent of their network and peering arrangements. If expecting honesty out of an ISP is a very high standard then the standard is not high enough.
For me the customer service team is slow and rude,
the call was blocked after i changed number they picked up
lmao
They must've blocked you for a reason…
They reason being they're shit.
Why don't you control yourself like an adult, and cease raging at people who may not be the cause or solution to your issues?
As someone who in a previous life worked in a number of call centres, it always puzzled me when people would call up and be rude when they want your help to fix something. Something I used to take great pleasure in telling the customer before terminating the call.
@Troymdon: totally understand that, but all i did is checking for the new development fees and asked them if theres any hidden fees for my new apartment. so I reckon they dont consider me as potential customer anymore. then blocked me
Username checks out
You called?
Spintel only offer 100/20 for $75
Spintel have garbage service, took them 3 months to set up my NBN and then it took a week from set up for them to fix the phone which kept stopping after every second day.
Not ‘all’. Have you tried Aussie Broadband?
@hardya: All ish— meant to add all cheap isps. Aussie broadband is 20% more costly. So get what I pay for
You have no idea what you are talking about.
@Flyerone: Can’t compare Aussie broadband cos they cost 20% more than cheap isp. U pay for local support. Well done
How sure were you that providers are off sure ? Shorely you checked this ?
Same experience with Spintel and ADSL. AVOID.
Im with spintel on a 100/40 plan for $89 a month. I regularly actually get close to 100 down and 40 up too. Havent had any issues with them in the 3 months since swapping over and speeds are much better and more consistent than my previous Vodafone and Exetel services.
EDIT: Im on HFC
Caveat Emptor - not all RSPs operate equally, which is a common misconception when it comes to NBN retailers. One enormous issue for me is the choice of undersea cable and the bandwidth the telco has purchased to Europe, as I utilise a lot of traffic in that direction (which differs from the majority of consumers who are relatively USA centric, and that's how most of the Australian mirrors are configured, too). ABB significantly improved that connection for their network about a year ago, making it difficult (for my use) to move elsewhere, as it would significantly impact my day to day operations. Since the price rises I now pay a fair premium over what's available from competitors, but in many ways I can no longer compare plans with other RSPs because the way they operate is so fundamentally different, I'm no longer comparing like-for-like.
The vast majority of us that aren't lucky enough to have FttP are all in the same boat when it comes to NBN problems, but the choice of RSP can be the difference between a usable service and even a great one. It doesn't always pay to save a bit of coin.
Thanks. So ABB are the best?
Paying $109 on business 100/40 with ABB, was hoping to switch to get a better deal.
NBN should have rolled out FTTP for major cities.
I'm with ABB at home, which I work from and need internet access to 24/7 for some services I run from my home server. I only have experience with Telstra (omg, how is this company still running?) and TPG(bad on ADSL, relatively OK on FTTP). I can say for most purposes you would be fine with any other provider unless you actually need what they advertise.
For example - do you need all the bandwidth they actually promise? Are you ok with a drop in uptime and calling customer service for resolution? Are you ok with being forced to use their device?
Personally, I run a custom setup at home without having to use some shitty provided modem/router - this itself eliminates one part of the chain of failure. I don't really need the extra marginal bandwidth (though I appreciate it when installing games or syncing files) but I absolutely need the uptime. And if there is any fault which I think is caused by ABB, I can log in the ABB app and run tests and kick the connection if needed. The fact that this simple step can be done via an app probably reduces their call rates (and my stress) significantly.
edit: I forgot to mention consistency of bandwidth, which is great when you have more than one person having to do a video call for example
So Aussie BB are pretty good
@Willco88: Aussie are amazing. The service of the product and customer service is just amazing. They may not be the cheapest, but all support is Onshore. There are other providers at same price point or more. And the customer service and product suck. So I'll pay the premium. Australian staff are not cheap.
@Topdog: Onshore/offshore- at the end of the day for the cheapskates all that counts is that the service is good, and the offshore teams are not built around quality, so vendors that use them do not have customer experience or interests at heart.
ABB started the right way, and so far, is still doing it properly. How it goes in future is what you have to keep looking out for. So from that POV, it's probably best not to use Superloop or any of the cheaper providers if you want to support locals or be assured of good service delivery, be strong against over-provisioning, and not to mention get coherent support when something goes wrong.
A bigger problem with offshore teams (and management) is that access to your private data traverses the boundaries and gets shared around in all their call centres/associates. That alone should be reason enough to entice people from the poorer providers, but it never is…
@Topdog: is the support worth the premium you pay? How often do you actually need to utilize the support? I rather the premium be spent on higher bandwidth capacity.
@sangohan: I get what your saying, from the provider I was coming from it is 100% worth the premium. So I guess what I get from ABB is quite new to me.
You forgot to mention something else important, and is the reason I’m with ABB: they don’t over-provision their services. If the node in your area fills up they put a block on it until they can procure more capacity. Most of the others out there will quite happily keep selling services beyond what they can comfortably service, in the hope that not everyone will be competing for bandwidth at the same time…except that time when you really need it, and the rest of your neighbourhood does, too. Thus, your own slice of the Internet becomes vanishingly smaller every time they sell another connection in your area. With ABB you get what they promise (and pay for) all the time.
I pay about $105 for 100/40 on Optus, seems to be pretty quick most of the time, even in peak..
In my experience Optus can become annoyingly slow during peak hours, esp. during school holidays, but yes, most of the time Optus is OK.
I find ABB and Superloop to have very similar products in respect to bandwidth and latency to overseas destinations.
Future Broadband are pretty good. $100 for 2400gb 100/40. Uses AAPT network which is solid. Static IP included.
Superloop is quite good to Europe as well
As good as ABB?
I've been with both. And very difficult to tell them apart. ABB have better support or so I've heard as I never had the need to call them.
I haven't tried ABB in ages so wouldn't be able to comment but Superloop is decent to Europe
Been with both and had to solve some tech and non-tech things with both of their customer support over last few years.
Both have high standards when it comes to customer support staff and work they do IMO (I work closely with one in my job albeit not in telco), and I'd be happy to vouch for both.
Recently recommended a ABB to a friend moving over from Spintel as he's not familiar with internet/technology and he had only glowing things to say about how good they were to deal with.
At the end of the day, reliable internet (and customer support) is vital so I can work from home and I'm not ready to fork out for business grade internet - so I would choose to be either of these guys over cheaper alternatives.
Just switched to Superloop, pretty good so far.
Conventional ISPs have better deal for this if that's what you after. TPG owns PPC-1 that goes to Japan if you frequently access asian websites for example.
Superloop also have direct Japan-Sydney and Hong Kong - Sydney routes
Future BB has excellent connections to the EU servers I use
Does anyone have a code to waive the $50 sign up with Future? I think I read the referral discounts it
Good deal. Is this only for the first 6 months though.
Nope.It's all time deal i guess. Doesn't mention anywhere it's 6 months deal.
No contract means it is very likely to increase in price at some point in the near future imo.
agreed, they prob will increase the prices in the future. Don't know why people are downvoting you.
Also there’s superloop for $75 100/20 mbps. First 6 months only.
Mixed review, I’ll stick with mate as 100/20 is fine for a family of 4 (including gaming teens and one adult working a fair amount from home)
Mate!??
Maaaaaaattttteeeeee!
I am also with MATE. Fast speed ALL THE TIME. Very happy with the service and decent pricing. $79 per month,and first month money satisfaction guarantee.
Yes! And you can also get 8gb unlimited sim for $10 or 18gb for $15 a month (and also unlimited international for this one). Currently I don’t need the mobile but seriously thinking about getting a sim at that price
No problems with mate so far. $99 month 100/40 with 28gb mobile plan combined.
I have had Aussie broadband in the past. I lived in a 4 share house so the payment was split. They are very very good.
@Evostar Which one is better and whats the major difference, could you pls explain briefly? I am considering both and mate is my first preference due to price. I work from home whole week. So uptime and stable speed are my top most priority
I definitely rate let's be mates
Service is awesome. Pricing is decent.
Fantastic Notifications for service interruptions. Sometimes they even send a notification regarding disruptions even when I was unaffected. They've really thought about the customer experience side of things.
I moved to dodo and they are bloody awful. Dodo is damn cheap after the bundling discounts with electricity and gas.
When internet is down and you know about it in advance you can plan, but if they just pull the plug on you, then it doesn't give you a chance to factor in contingencies. Even the dodo service interruptions page is damn useless, you get more info from third party pages than you do there.
I will move back to let's be mates after my contract ends with dodo.
Also when you call up the customer service operators for let's be mates, check out their call script, the word "mate" is really well embedded in there
I seem to have a very different experience with mate than the others here.
The service for me borders mostly on meh, with slow during peak times.
I am on the 79$ 100/20 service and don't really notice the difference in speed from when I was with Internode 50mbs plan. No notifications from them about any downtime or anything either. I haven't moved on because i hold out hope I might get the promised speeds.
I would chat to them if I were you
Yeah definitely. I had to deal with Mate few years back and while their infrastructure is not as good as ABB or Superloop, their customer support was very good in my experience. I would reach out to them as you should be realistically getting 75+ at peak hours
while their infrastructure is not as good as ABB or Superloop
You appear to have no understanding of the subject you are talking about.
No ISP in Australia owns NBN infrastructure. Every ISP is a pointless middle man lowering productivity and raising prices.
You are rambling on about a fantasy you learnt by watching advertising.
looks good on paper. worth researching.
thanks OP.
Research by reading the Whirlpool thread in the first comment.
Is there a modern I can get that doesn't cost so much from the ISP
It's best to invest on a decent modem than an ISP provided one
I paid over $200 for the ASUS ac68u 6years ago and its still going strong
Oh okay my connection is FTTN/B
@bobkin: It works with any NBN technology although I would buy something else if you don't have FTTN as this includes a modem that you wouldn't use
@bobkin: If I was purchasing a TP-Link router for HFC it would be a Archer AX20, AX50 or Deco series.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/597460 https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/602497 https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/600130
Can I use ASUS for FTTN
Yes, does both FTTN and FTTP
@Damonator84: Very good just want something reliable but also good long signal for all my devices/TVs/phones/Xbox/PS4 lol to connect wifi and not drop off going through walls and doors etc
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that basically any modern router would work. If it's got a WAN port on it, then you're good.
It should defs be:
- Dual band 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz
- Gigabit ethernet
- Not super obscure (so you can get help easily if you run into issues)
Some additional considerations for nice features and future proofing would be.
- Wifi6 (The latest wifi standard)
- Wifi Mesh (if you have wifi issues around your house and don't have a bunch of Ethernet cables to put in access points)
For the average person that doesn't want to mess with the wifi stuff (port forwarding for servers or DNS etc) you really don't need anything fancy, it's just that the ISP provided ones literally lock you out from being able to us certain features.
For most moderate sized homes that might have a weak or deadspot I'd honestly recommend the Tenda Nova mw6, it's a mesh system so helps with coverage around the house. One of them acts as the main router and the others just boost the signal and your devices will smoothly transition between them so that you've always got the best connection.
@Willco88: I have 3x Mercusys Halo S12 wifi mesh points (talk about obscure routers haha). Got it on a deal for like $80. They're essentially a knock off/competitors of the Tenda Nova mw3's. I'd get the MW6's if I could purchase them again because I don't even use 3 of em and they didn't have gigabit ethernet which was fine at the time but not ideal for me anymore.
Wifi mesh is seriously so good though. It's super convenient and easy to set up and negligible affect to my speeds/ping. Tenda Nova mw3 seem pretty popular on OzBargain too. I'd get the mw6 because of the gigabit ethernet tho.
@Twix: Yeah but their support is super crappy, maybe TP-Links is as well ahah. There's a lot of bugs with the Halo S12 that they just won't fix. "We've told the engineering team".
Epic broadband experiences