GrandpaGrumble Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 (edited) We're just about to hook our new (rented) home up to the internet, but can't decide which provider to go with. All the ones I've looked up have had absolutely terrible reviews! Of course these reviews could be self-selecting, or misleading, or even put up by rival companies (though I didn't get that impression). So, can anybody recommend a good provider? In terms of ease and speed of getting connected, customer service, connection speeds etc.? And price of course, though I guess you sometimes get what you pay for. We're in NSW, and we're told the property is connected to the nbn (whatever that is). Won't be needing extras like mobile phones (already sorted) or pay TV (don't want it). Since we're renting initially, we just want to pay for the service from month to month, don't want to tie in to long contracts or anything. Oh and I also prefer to avoid direct debits if possible, having had bad experiences with them in the past ... especially with telecom companies. Edited October 21, 2016 by GrandpaGrumble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I'd put your location - not all providers are available in all locations - and a few other parameters in the following to whittle down the possibilities, then ask about any you are interested in. https://www.whistleout.com.au/Broadband NBN is National Broadband Network and is usually a fibre connection (or satellite in some regional/remote areas). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveysing Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I went with optus and I get unlimited broadband usage, Telstra were the closest to that but due them being so unreliable I'd stay clear.80 a month direct debit.seems that you need to go DD if you want a decent and reliable service unfortunately and it's a 24 month contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 (edited) .seems that you need to go DD if you want a decent and reliable service unfortunately and it's a 24 month contract. I've been with Telstra broadband for about 10 years and pay monthly by credit card....no problems with that payment method. Edited October 21, 2016 by Skani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evets Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I have used iinet and TPG. TPG was good and cheap at the time but customer support a little dire, so when I moved home I switched back to iinet. iinet good customer support but now owned by TPG. Both offer nbn, and after reading the new reports over the last few months it has turned into a bit of an expensive farce. I have had very few issues with both of them, one long outage with iinet though, which boiled down to a problem at a switch box and a cable touching one of my neighbours. Any other issues with iinet, they have been very good and offer callback instead of hanging on a phone line waiting for your place to get to the top. Both do contracts but you do get hit with a high connection/startup fee for this luxury. As Skani mentioned, I also pay monthly using my CC. Seems to be a popular choice here. Not sure if it is due to the way salary payments are made, some people bi monthly others monthly, which for me is around the middle of the month. So the day I get paid can vary by 1,2 or 3 days. Consider what your usage was in the UK, do you really need unlimited?? As usually always comes with a fair usage policy. iinet will allow you to start on the lowest plan and if you need to can upgrade. Downgrading of course incurs a fee. If you are not heavily reliant on the internet, I am as I work from home and having access to customer support essential, then TPG would be a decent choice. $50/month with unlimited internet if you are not going to be using the landline much, which is pay as you go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandpaGrumble Posted October 23, 2016 Author Share Posted October 23, 2016 Thanks for the input, everybody, though it's not sounding very promising! Looks like most providers are active in my area, which is reasonably urban. I'll read up about why nbn has become farcical, but in any case I guess that you don't have the option to go back to ADSL if nbn is already in your area. No, I wouldn't need unlimited as we don't plan to do any streaming or whatever. 100Gb a month would probably be plenty. Most providers seem to just revert to an extremely slow connection if you go over the limit anyway (rather than cutting you off altogether, or charging the earth). Though a decent line speed would be good - most providers seem to default to 12 Mbps which seems a little slow especially given that nbn is a fibre network, as I understand it. Price is one factor for me, but not the only factor. I'd rather pay a bit more in exchange for a good service, good customer service, and the ability to keep a degree of control over what goes out of my bank account. I don't know how reliable it is, for the reasons given in my first post, but I've found this review site: http://www.productreview.com.au/c/internet-service-providers.html Based on that, I'm thinking about going with either Boom (which has the highest rating) or Internode (which has the highest rating of any company with more than a couple hundred reviews - in fact, of those companies it's the only one for which the Excellent/Good/OK reviews outnumber the Bad/Terrible ones - for most of the other ones, the negative reviews are vastly more numerous). They both have no-contract options. Internode let you pay by debit card as well as credit card (and charge a smaller fee for doing so), which is good as I don't have an Australian credit card. [Touch wood, apart from houses I've never had to borrow money in order to buy anything.] I haven't checked that detail with Boom yet. Potential drawbacks are that Boom is a small company based in Melbourne, which is not where I live, and that Internode has been taken over by iiNet, which has terrible reviews - though evets has had a decent experience with them. One reason for asking on the forum in the first place is to get that kind of anecdote or alternative opinion. Of course I might be being naive in giving any credence to the productreview website, but what can you do? Many of the negative reviews, and some of the positive ones, sound genuine to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 ....or Internode (which has the highest rating of any company with more than a couple hundred reviews - in fact, of those companies it's the only one for which the Excellent/Good/OK reviews outnumber the Bad/Terrible ones - for most of the other ones, the negative reviews are vastly more numerous)...... .....and that Internode has been taken over by iiNet, which has terrible reviews - though evets has had a decent experience with them. One reason for asking on the forum in the first place is to get that kind of anecdote or alternative opinion. Of course I might be being naive in giving any credence to the productreview website, but what can you do? Many of the negative reviews, and some of the positive ones, sound genuine to me. Internode and iinet used to have very high consumer satisfaction ratings amongst ISP users...but iinet has been taken over by TPG (which had less customer satisfaction) and, if as you say, Internode is effectively in the same position, then I expect their ratings from now on will be lower. The Australian Consumers' Association do a regular survey of ISP customer satisfaction and the last I can recall (about 12 months ago) rated Westnet first, then Internode and iinet. But that survey would have been done just before the takeover by TPG. I always check out that product review website before purchasing anything big: it's certainly useful in making decisions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evets Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 Been with iinet for the last 3 years, and previously on and off for 3 years, apart from one major outage all good, even though they have been bought out by TPG. Not in a NBN zone, so cannot comment. Less competition here in Oz, so higher prices. I have Telstra for mobile, work provided and the customer service sucks. For some reason I am in a black zone and cannot get 4G even though I am only 10km from the CBD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandpaGrumble Posted October 23, 2016 Author Share Posted October 23, 2016 Thanks again. Good to know that other people trust/use the productreview site ... which, incidentally, reports that the customer service at Westnet has gone down the pan since they were taken over by TPG ... a pattern seems to be emerging here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 Thanks again. Good to know that other people trust/use the productreview site ... which, incidentally, reports that the customer service at Westnet has gone down the pan since they were taken over by TPG ... a pattern seems to be emerging here. Oh no!!!! Didn't realise that Westnet had gone that way too. :rolleyes: Have you had a look at this company - if they are in your area? They specialise in "regional" Australia (not sure exactly where you are). Anecdotally very good service. They would be my first choice - for me - but they don't offer fixed wireless which is the only connection I can access at the moment. http://www.southernphone.com.au/broadband/nbn-broadband Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandpaGrumble Posted October 23, 2016 Author Share Posted October 23, 2016 Oh no!!!! Didn't realise that Westnet had gone that way too. :rolleyes: Have you had a look at this company - if they are in your area? They specialise in "regional" Australia (not sure exactly where you are). Anecdotally very good service. They would be my first choice - for me - but they don't offer fixed wireless which is the only connection I can access at the moment. http://www.southernphone.com.au/broadband/nbn-broadband Cheers for that, though they do have a bad rep on productreview, despite not being owned by either Telstra or TPG. [As far as I can tell, it's still owned by the local government consortium that set it up in the first place.] http://www.productreview.com.au/p/southern-phone.html But, as I say, anecdotal evidence is one reason for asking on the forum. Also, people I trust have actually recommended Telstra to me, for mobile phones at least, despite the terrible reputation that they have. But most telecom companies have terrible reputations. I guess it's the same here as in the UK, in the end you just have to take pot luck and hope for the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 Telstra are the best. If you want the best get Telstra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 Also, people I trust have actually recommended Telstra to me, for mobile phones at least, despite the terrible reputation that they have. I have Telstra for both mobile phone - because it's the most reliable coverage in the difficult terrain we have here - and for broadband - because it's the only one here offering fixed wireless (my only option) - and I have to say the main problems I have had has been with their overseas call centres (mainly because their English is very difficult to understand). I've had very good experiences with staff in the local shop front here and mostly good experiences with Australian based call centres. My preferred option, if I have a query, is to use their interactive typing based conversation - both sides can explain clearly and you can keep a record of the conversation if anything goes pear shaped. I hadn't seen the poor Southern Phone reviews: obviously those happy customers I know (friends of mine) have been lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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