Which broadband service in Brisbane?

[bubbe2005]

Which broadband service in Brisbane is good for downloading movies (torrent), youtubing, facebooking, the usual.

 

Looking for one with NO CAP and no cancellation fees.

[Tickled Pink]

We're with Telstra, there is a cap but it is so huge we've not been able to touch it! We stream UK TV all the time, watched loads of the Olympics, then the Tour de France before that for example. I was watching complete Tour stages! Use FB, email, we're both academics so having fast internet was essential for us. I work at home as a rule more than in the office so am using the internet all day.

 

I know people will tell you all the places you can get cheaper/better deals cost wise than Telstra, but we wanted to be certain it was fast etc. Telstra has delivered on that front.

[bubbe2005]

We're with Telstra, there is a cap but it is so huge we've not been able to touch it! We stream UK TV all the time, watched loads of the Olympics, then the Tour de France before that for example. I was watching complete Tour stages! Use FB, email, we're both academics so having fast internet was essential for us. I work at home as a rule more than in the office so am using the internet all day.

 

I know people will tell you all the places you can get cheaper/better deals cost wise than Telstra, but we wanted to be certain it was fast etc. Telstra has delivered on that front.

 

But is Telstra suited for new migrants with no Australia credit history - or something similar of that nature?

[Tickled Pink]

We got it with no problems at all within 4 months of being here. We didn't have any Australian credit history as we even rented privately at that point - the internet was for our new home that we were about to move in to. We are both employed by a University, maybe having a job helped.

[Guest GeorgeD]

TPG will give you unlimited downloads, however this isn't available everywhere...they have limited ports at Telstra Exchanges so can't always provision. You won't find out untitl they actually come to install three weeks after they take your money. Their survey tool (my employers amongst other things are a reseller of their services!) is basically the same as the one online, it will tell you distance from Exchanges and likelihood of getting a service, but you won't know the exchange is full until install time. This happened to our last rental. I got a call the night before they were due to install (3 weeks after taking our cash) and was told they couldnt' provide any service in my area (Rochedale South) as the Exchange was full...I thin it was the Eight Mile Plains Exchange. If you can get it, they are pretty good.

 

We went with Optus twice. Optus cable uses their own backbone, not Telstra wholesale, so we wouldn't have any provisioning problems due to lack of ports. Their 500Gb cable service means fulls speeds up to that amount per month, and no excess charges if you go beyond but you are shaped down to 256Kb once over the limit. Still fine for web browsing. We thrash our connection and never go about 200Gb per month.

 

Optus also offer a non contract service, so you can cancel at any time. Install and monthly costs are more, but only 30 days notice required. We did this for our rental and then went on contract when we bought a house.

[Xenon4017]

>>But is Telstra suited for new migrants with no Australia credit history - or something similar of that nature?

 

I think there's no difference. We got Telstra after 2 weeks here. Just phoned them up and told them the address and it was switched on. Telstras not the cheapeast, but we've also had no problems. I work from home too and we've never had an outage or hit the cap. Speed seems OK too, and the wireless router they supplied can reach down the bottom of the garden.

 

Sometimes I wonder about switching to a cheaper alternative, but what am I going to save? 5 bucks a week, maybe. Until reliability suffers I'll probably stay put.

 

It's interesting that the capacity of your local exchange might mean that you can't get adsl. We live in an old house in an old area, and we got adsl without problem. I was talking to someone in North Lakes the other day (which is a new built/area) and they're on a waiting list.

[Guest GeorgeD]

Telstra wholesale have a limited number of ports at exchanges. Telstra retail use different ports, so the third party guys using the Telstra backhaul may have no capacity but Telstra Retail do. Optus use Telstra for ADSL I think, but their cable infrastructure is their own. Investment in new DSL ports isn't really happening as everyone is waiting on the NBN to come along. Allegedly.

 

There are other backhaul providers like AAPT, etc, but most consumer ISPs use a Telstra Wholesale backbone. It's Like BT in the UK, most ADSL is on BT lines, but cable providers like Virgin have their own infrastructure.