We have tried a few over the years, tpg, iprimus, iinet, and few local ons but went to Telstra a few years back and although it is the highest cost amongst peers, it has been rock solid, reliable and fast with typical speeds as tested using OOKLA from mid teens to the mid 20ās mps. We use netflix and foxtel, often simultaneously as my wife and I enjoy different shows and it can usually keep up although sometimes when the network is busy as in the evenings we can only use one at a time.
But we also have a latest generation fast wireless modern AC1750 I think.
Telstra adsl2+ also gets my vote . Over the years it has been extremely reliable . I have good download speeds 17 - 22 mbps . They have always been great in the service department . Prompt and very efficient . Couple of years ago I needed to phone for medical assistance . Phone was dead , pre paid mobile recharge was broken . I got on my computer using my Telstra Mobile Cellnet Card a Netgear 320U , used voip to. explained the situation to them. They phoned an ambulance for me . A tech arrived within 10 minutes and repaired the phone line to get .Adsl 2+ working again .They recharged my mobile phone . I did not have to go to hospital . The tech was there with the paramedics . He asked me when a family member would be home . I said roughly 5 hours . Telstra phoned me every 1/2 hour or so to see that I was ok until a family member was with me . Long winded post but service like that deserves it .
Hiya TillySouth
I have been with 4 different NBN providers and found Telstra to be the best.
I did not choose Telstra initially as it is a tad more expensive than the others. I had multiple problems with Dodo, TPG, iinet and Optus.
I must state I was looking for a provider who could offer a Bundled Service, one that included my home telephone as well as the Internet, and wanted unlimited FREE (included) local and national phone calls to mobiles as well as hardlines, as I live just outside the metro area as far as telephone calls are measured.
Telstra is the ONLY provider that could offer the service and allow me to keep my CURRENT telephone number.
All of the others required me to change my home phone number, which has been used for the last 52 years.
If you can not decide, I suggest you get all of the information from all of the different companies and decide exactly what it is that you want and need from an ISP providerā¦
I hope this helps!
Good luck in your quest!
Cheers Natalie
Wow @gahroll this is such amazing advice, thank you so much for taking the time to write this up.
Iāve just looked it up and Iām only 700m from the exchange - hereās hoping for enough speed to watch Netflix without buffering (priorities!).
Iāll report back on how the sign up process goes, but right now Iāve narrowed it down to TPG, Belong and Spintel.
I used Spintel a few years back on my way through trying to find a good ISP,
needless to say I would never ever use them again.
Thanks @tndkemp.
Iāve taken the plunge and done the typical young person, single income thing and signed up for TPG.
Iāll be updating you all with my progress as hopefully it will be useful for others in the future! Hereās hoping itās an easy setupā¦
Weāre on Naked ADSL2+ with iinet. Weāve been with iinet for just over 10 years. Based on our experience, I make the following observations which would be relevant for whichever provider you choose.
It can be very useful to speak to other ADSL2+ subscribers located nearby to determine what sort of speeds you should expect. During the last 10 years, weāve only had a couple of occasions where our speeds have dropped very significantly and suddenly, eg downstream went from consistently stable 14Mb/s to very flaky 2-6Mb/s. The ISP (iinet in our case) wonāt immediately lodge a fault with Telstra to rectify problems with the copper infrastructure. Theyāll first engage VisionStream to investigate and confirm that there is a problem. Then the confirmed problem will be notified to Telstra.
Of course, I have no way to verify what VisionStream technicians have told me, but I note that different technicians have told me the same thing: for the speediest resolution, Telstra will swap out bad copper pairs from a customer that has complained, and give that pair to another customer (rather than repairing the faulty pair).
If you encounter a similar issue, the best course of action seems to be that you must be polite yet firm with the ISPās call centre staff. They will be obliged to follow a script which includes requests that include power-cycling your modem, performing an isolation test, trying a different modem, and so on. If you are certain that there is a copper fault, you must break out of that scripted cycle, or you can waste hours or even days of your time. I know now that with iinet, I just need to explain that Iām a long-term subscriber, know enough about what my modem is telling me in terms of fault diagnosis, refuse to follow their script, and firmly insist on speaking to a supervisor.
Your ISP should have a good record of your connection stability and speeds over time, so if it suddenly goes bad, get them to look at that data. Also note whether the issue has coincided with a major weather event, such as heavy rains. Those Telstra cable pits out in the street can be poorly maintained in some cases, and your copper may end up getting wet or worse. ( One visiting VisionStream technician took the time to show me several pits on our street and explain the types of issues that crop up ).
Good luck and happy streaming !
TPG has maps showing your distance from their DSLAM, and speeds to their customers. Every ISP should be required to publish these.
Click on a specific location on the map and it will show local speeds.
@ScottOKeefe thanks for this - this is the problem weāre having at my current address. We think itās the copper but the ISP consistently tries to throw us off. I reckon itās been months of back and forth, including replacing the modem and it not improving. Iāll pass this on to my brother and let him know!
A very good guide that Iāve used over there years is ADSL2 Exchanges
WIth NBN slowly rolling out, it will become less useful unfortunately. I havenāt yet seen anything similar for NBN.
Personal experience, Iāve been most happy with Internode. That said, Iām on the far end of the geek scale with some very, very specific networking needs that the main players wonāt touch (FWIW, Internode got bought by Iinet, which then got bought by TPG).
TPG have had a very bad reputation for network quality in the past, though slowly getting better. If youāre not particularly technical, Telstra is usually the way to go (Thatās what both my parents use) - particularly if youāre in regional areas.
If youāre having cable problems, get them to check if youāre in an area with Pair Gain enabled. Quite a lot of older suburbs have this, and itās not very nice.
Last thing to add on the advice: Keep a spare old telephone around that you can plug into the wall. It will help with checking on line issues, even if you never normally use the phone number on the attached DSL (because, like many of us, weāre forced to pay for a product we donāt want).
Quick update for everyone, signed up to TPG yesterday. Received a confirmation email, all very clear. Today I received a text to say theyād be by next week to set it up - which is really good considering I had been given an estimate of 2-3 weeks. Theyāve let me know I donāt need to be home for the install too which is great.
I also received an email with tracking for my modem which is on its way in the mail too.
But most importantlyā¦ once I get it set up Iāll run a speed test and let you know how fast it is!
Hi jcouch
You can ditch the phone component part and ask for Naked ADSL. You will still pay a price for the phone line that is built into the Naked cost but you should receive a speed boost to your internet as Naked will use the full bandwidth available on your line rather than having some set aside for the phone.
NakedDSL is only available when your ISP runs their own DSLAMs in the local exchange, and in some cases as resellers of Optus access. Anywhere that a provider is running as a reseller of Telstra access, you wonāt have the option to purchase Naked DSL. Unfortunately, that is most of Australia outside the small core around the big city centres. All this information about the exchange configuration can be found on the ADLS2 exchanges link I posted earlier.
I have to slightly disagree with your post. Internode, iiNet, TPG are some of the providers of Naked plans, from the iiNet site FAQ on Naked (https://www.iinet.net.au/internet-products/broadband/naked-dsl/faq#toc_2) comes this:
"What are the requirements for Naked DSL?
Your physical phone line must be owned by Telstra, or a Telstra reseller.*" (my highlighting)
Thanks to everyone who kindly replied to my question. I have decided to go with Teleron. They are fairly new and have terrific reviews on Whirlpool etc. I decided on 200GB at 50mbps which should hopefully do me fine. I decided to drop back on speed as I am luck to get fantastic speed where I live. I also got my current provider to give me stats my monthly download sizes and found I am always under 200GB so dropped that back as well.
The cost, including home phone with unlimited calls to land and mobile phones in Australia is $84 per month so the price is very reasonable. I spoke to Teleron and asks lots of questions. The switch over is still to take place but fingers crossed all will go well. If I find the lower speed to slow I can up it to 100mbps for an extra $10 per month.
Again, thank you to everyone who took the time to provide me with answers.
Cheers
Ruth
I strongly recommend Exetel. They have excellent customer service.
I see you have made your choice but have to say Telstra is my recommendation.I have no complaints and speed is very good
Iām connected! As promised Iāve done a speed test. All in all it seems very quick for what I need (1 person, not too many devices connected. The upload speed seems low, and Iām not quite sure how that will affect me (maybe some tech whizzes can tell me!).
TPG set up very quickly and I didnāt need to be home for the install, which was even more handy. I canāt believe I only have good things to say so far! Iāll have to come back for a whinge when I have a problem
That is why the A is ASDL stands for asymmetric, as the bandwidth is skewed to downloading which is what most of us average punters do.