Best Budget NBN and Home Phone Bundle?

Hi all,

Long story short I've grown up without broadband or any form of internet at home. NBN will be installed in a month or so, so I'm searching for a budget NBN plan that I can convince my parents to get. Currently we pay ~$120 per quarter for home phone line rental from Telstra, so I'm researching NBN & Home Phone plans $40-50 per month. I'm looking for:

  • Reliable internet
  • Physical landline preferred over VOIP (in case of power outage)
  • 10+ GB per month is enough
  • Normal speeds (e.g. 12/1) are fine, no streaming/torrenting
  • Capped speeds rather than excess charges (e.g. $X per additional GB) definitely preferred

Plans I've looked at already:
Optus 24 months: $60 per month Unlimited
I've chatted to reps they said they only offer mobile phone bundle discounts with home broadband, not NBN plans. So, a bit pricey.

TPG 18 months: $30 per month 10GB / $50 per month 100GB / $60 per month Unlimited
While the lower tier plans are cheap, I've heard bad things about TPG reliability and it doesn't look like it covers a physical landline, just "digital voice service".

Dodo 24 months: $30 per month 10GB / $40 per month 50GB / $60 per month Unlimited
However, you only get to rent the modem (lol) and there are excess usage charges $2 per GB.

Spintel 12/24 months: $40 per month 40 GB / $50 per month 500GB / $55 per month 1000GB (says unlimited in the critical information summary)
Honestly never heard of this company before. Excess charges of $1 per GB ($40 plan) and $0.10 per GB ($50 plan).

If you have any thoughts on the plans I've listed or have a better suggestion please help a guy out! I'm getting quite sick of pre-downloading lectures at uni to watch at home haha

Comments

  • +6

    That's very little data. Hope you don't plan on watching YouTube or any sort of video with it with so low data.

    • I'm well aware, I've lived off much less in the past ;)

  • +1

    Check out MyRepublic

  • -1

    Forget the NBN. Just get an Unlimited Mobile Plan such as Kogan 12 month deal. You could get two for your budget. Put the oldies on the $11/1GB plan if they don't use data.

    Port home number to VOIP if you must. NBN needs battery backup anyway.

    • Close to what I have now but it's not as continent as wifi at home and tethering drains my phone battery so I always seem to leave home without enough charge. I also don't want to throw away the hours I've spent with Optus support haggling to match their latest deals for new customers without incurring a plan cancellation fee haha.

  • I imagine fixed wireless? then get TPG and avoid MyRepublic. Also TPG have great reputation and reliability.

    • +1

      Hmm, I guess this is one of those YMMV cases. Thanks for the tip about MyRepublic

  • You won't be able to have a physical line once the NBN is there.
    Why on earth did you have a phone line with Tel$tra?

    As Forskin suggested, MyRepublic is good. Flat $60 a month, unlimited 100/40Mbps. Great quality modem/router (AC1600, meaning a fast reliable connection for many devices), no connection fee, and a short 12 month contract.

  • +2

    My suggestion is to go with Optus, later down the stage if your consumption increases you can go up the Tier. We are on the lowest tier and we run a Android TV and Laptop without much trouble with speed, not to mention 3 phones running always( mainly Facebook, you tube and messengers).

    And I am quite sure their landline is VOIP not a stand alone phone, and I think most of the NBN works like that. Saying that NBN has a back up battery so it should not affect calls when power is out( at least till the battery lasts).

    Other providers you might want to compare.- Check the reviews before signing up
    1.Belong internet from telstra - $50 for 100GB
    Link
    https://www.belong.com.au/nbn
    Ozbargain reviews
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/forum/belong.com.au

    2.My republic-$60 for unlimited data
    Link
    https://myrepublic.net/au/
    Ozbargain reviews
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/forum/myrepublic.net

    3.Exetel- $39.99 for 100GB
    Link
    https://www.exetel.com.au/broadband/nbn
    Ozbargain reviews
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/forum/exetel.com.au

    4.Sky Mesh-$64.95-120GB
    Link
    https://www.skymesh.net.au/

    • Do not get Belong, it is terrible (Congestion at night makes it slower than Dial Up at times).

    • NBN has a back up battery

      Only on FTTP, as far as I know.

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