[glen]

Hi everyone,

I was just wondering on your views as to which is the best broad band provider in melbourne. I am currently with Optus Cable and they are pretty good but I am paying about $55 per month (for a 12gb daytime and 24 gb nightime plan) and was wondering whether there was any other better offerings around.

Cheers, Glen

[ww-chat.com]

What speeds are you getting glen? Adsl 1 or 2?

I'm currently on the AANET 25gb, 1.5mb speeds.
I'm paying $60/month (unbundled) bundled price is $55.

I suggest checking out AANET, they are popular with alot of people. You should also try searching on whirlpool forums, they have an ISP search which lets you fill in the details you want (speed;quota;adsl 1/2;location;ect)
And it narrows down a list of isps which fit the criteria you search.

[glen]

I have cable at the moment. The good thing about it on my current plan is that uploads are not counted. But I believe the more recent optus cable plans count both uploads and downloads.

Thanks for reminding me about whirlpool. I will go have a look.

Cheers, Glen

ps. please go easy on the signatures and self promotion.

[PeterJMelb]

Hello Glen.
I use TPG.
They have some good offers at the moment.
And they are reliable.
If you go to TPG you can see whether they offer ADSL2+ at your exchange.
They have many exchanges enabled and more are coming on line as we speak.
Best wishes.
Peter J.

[glen]

Yeah TPG sounds pretty good. They are on my short list! The 50gb plans sounds good.

[PeterJMelb]

So Glen.
What have you decided?
Peter J.

[glen]

I am still undecided. I started investigating mobile internet as well. Apparently Virgin Mobile Post Paid is a good start. Though I actually don't have a laptop and there isn't much point having mobile internet without a laptop! It is good to see the prices of those things are coming down too

[PeterJMelb]

Hello Glen.
Still think about mobile internet!
You don't need a laptop always.
You can take the modem with you to a mates place.
You can move your main home PC around the house no probs!
Speeds are improving all the time.
Telstra still has the best coverage. Although they are probably the dearest!
Best wishes.
Peter J.

[glen]

Yeah I hear the NextG network is good but I still remember how telstra (many many years ago) used to cheat us on the phone bill so I am reluctant to go back to them.

We took up optus as soon as was physically possible just to escape from telstra. It was such a relief at the time!!! No offence to any telstra workers who are reading this. I am sure it was not your fault!

[cpical]

Hello,

New in Melbourne and here. We (family of 3) are heavy Internet users, arrived here in Melbourne last saturday from Switzerland. In Switzerland we had an unlimited internet connection for the equivalent of approx AUS70/month. Does that exist here?

[glen]

I would start with TPG. They have some big download plans

www.tpg.com.au/

[PeterJMelb]

Hello Cpical.

Yes Glen is correct.
TPG gives:
For $70 you get 65GB peak and 85GB off peak.
The downside is that off peak is only 3AM to 8AM.
This is for ADSL2+.
How good is it?
It depends on how far from the local exchange you live.
Expect really good up to 500 or 600 metres then ......

[cpical]

Thanks for your replies.
But I still am not sure how it works here. Back "home" i could just surf, download...as much as I wanted for this fixed montlhy rate. Is this not possible in Australia? Then how do you know when you have reached your monthly "limit"? Confused...

[PeterJMelb]

Hello Cipical.

Hel* man you can do an awful lot of surfing with 80GB or so!
I'm with TPG and when you approach the limit they send a warning.
I don't remember but I think it is at about 10% away from the limit.
Or you can check your download traffic yourself.
That is TPG list the amount of download you consume on a daily basis.
My guess is that all ISPs will do the same.

[glen]

I think any person would struggle to use that much bandwidth! You could probably watch streamed tv all day long and still be ok i think

[PeterJMelb]

Hi Glen.

Are you with Optus?
What do you get for your buck?
Or are you on one of those complex "phone - cable TV - Internet" bundles?

[glen]

I think i get 12gb daytime and 24 gb night time limit per month. That costs me about $55 per month. I am with optus cable. I am fairly happy with it. I barely ever get service interuptions. Maybe it drops out once a year!

[PeterJMelb]

Hello Glen.

$55 a month!
Is that all you get? Just the 12GB?
No phone or TV or anything?
Anyway you should be hoping that Telstra bump up the connect speed on their cable network.
That will put pressure on Optus to match them.
Hopefully for not a big increase in costs!

[glen]

Yeah there might be better plans but they are very reliable so i factor that into the cost

[PeterJMelb]

Hello Glen.

I should inform you that Optus is not the only reliable ISP going around!
At one stage there, they (Optus) were suppling modems that only allowed ONE PC to operate from it!
Anyway I'm sure that there are many reliable ISPs. (And cheaper).
I have had lots of use from only two, TPG and Netspace, both give excellent continuity of service.
In both cases it is very easy to talk to a real person. Can you say that about Optus?
I know it is very difficult to talk to a person at Telstra.
I found the best way is to talk gibberish to their auto answer thingo!