Just signed up for 12 months phone and ADSL2+ 1000GB after having been with iinetfail for 2 years.
12 month contract
Free modem ($60 on month to month)
basic phone plan
$65 per month.
Also $80 cash back through cashrewards
My referral link (Referrer will receive $20 credit. Referee will receive $20 off 1st payment):
https://www.belong.com.au/iaf?promocode=IAFZIN2M9
Referral for Belong mobile only. Referrer will receive $20 credit. Referee will receive $20 off next (2nd) payment.
Referral for Belong Broadband only: Referrer will receive $20 credit. Referee will receive $20 off next (2nd) payment.
having been with tpg and iinet before I am not expecting much in the way of customer service.
hahahahaha.
I used to think that.
There is no support avenue except phone, they don't have any information on network status, or FAQs with any technical details.
The internet stops working and your only option is to call them and wait in a queue for 1hr+
The ping times to non-Telstra network Australian sites are dreadful, but the phone support can't do anything, and there is no escalation process, or even an email address that might one day be looked at by an engineer.
Evening speeds drop badly. The bundled modem cannot support more than one wifi connection without throttling back to 1 or 2 mbps.
I also assumed a basic level of competence, surely at least in the ballpark of other low bar cheap providers. I was dreadfully wrong.
Good luck.
Their TIO rep was fast and efficient, however.
These guys are by far the worst. A months free internet is not worth the trouble
Agreed with nijnat, they are terrible.
Sales team is quick to get on the phone, however, customer service side is non existent. Especially at night when you are actually free after coming home to make phone calls.
Additionally, I have had a significant amount of congestion issues with no help from Belong after multiple calls, will be going through TIO to cancel my contract as discussed in one of the other posts.
Wish I listen to this. After getting them it was 1.5 mbps and modem is absolute rubbish. Call them and you are on hold 100000 hours and then some idiots who work there are as useless as tits on a mule.
Do not get Belong. Avoid like the bubonic Plague.
I'm not with them but a lot of people in my complex in Brunswick East complain constantly about the crap speeds.
What was your main gripe with iinet?
congestion from 6pm weekdays. Worst customer service ever. Static on phone line required 3 service calls to remedy. If payment does not go through they cancel your internet right away (even if you been paying on time every time for 18 months). I can go on but do you have the time?
They don't cancel your service, they suspend your service. There is a difference between the two.
If you think your >6pm congestion issues with be gone with Belong, think again.
what was your experience with TPG ?
Been with TPG since dial up days. Current ADSL2+ has been reliable, had a couple of big drop outs but these turned out to be Telstra issues with moisture getting into the wiring at junction box on the street. Support has been OK for me the few times I have used it. Still not on NBN :-( but the rollout is getting closer.
@argonbay: Cheers seems promising. Was literally one second off signing up with iinet. Literally hung up the phone while she was doing my application, very pushy & clearly lied to me saying that if I called back in an hour the deal we were discussing may no longer be available. Nearly fell fall for it but hung up instead lol.. felt good. TPG have a better deal they are offering me ADSL2 for $60 a month unlimited plus line + home phone - Iinet offered me ADSL for 250gb $60 a month + some home message service. Anyway having problems with TPG as they are saying Telstra have no vacant lines in my street. I'll see how it goes.
I have had the opposite experience. TPG were shocking: we had less than 1Mbps permanently i.e. not affected by congestion (actually felt slower than 56k at times). They simply blamed our location being 3km (!) from the exchange…
I literally had to tell my family to get off the internet (tablet, phone, etc.) so I could make a Jetstar flight booking because the booking would time out before the page could even load properly wtf!
iiNet Cable 200Mbps down, 40Mbps up. $39.99/month for the first yr, then $79.99/month. Only dropped out once for under a minute during a storm (I have been with them for 14 months now). I haven't needed to contact iiNet customer service at all!
Have been on TPG ADSL2+ for about 3-4 years. Decent speeds, they don't cap upstream like on Optus DSLAMs (~850kbps), services has been reliable, no speed issues during evenings or anything. TPG have been rolling their own equipment into exchanges, so some exchanges may be better serviced than others.
I had congestion issues with Iinet. I then had congestion issues with Belong. I don't think it's an upgrade exactly, unless you actually believe that "Telstra Network" fairytale (which I initially did). Belong uses Telcoinabox (budget wholesaler).
Belong "deals" belong in the trash. Check Whirlpool threads to get an idea of how bad they are.
Worst customer service and technical staff. BUYER BEWARE!
I've been with Belong for a year and their service has been 90% good. I do agree they have crap customer service, but so far, my 100mbps plan works like a charm. And when it doesn't I call them up and they're helpful enough to try and help me fix it.
I do want to move to a different provider, but I haven't seen any good ones that offer the same Speed (1oompbs) without forcing me to get a phone line. Can anyone recommend bargain ones in Inner West Sydney?
MyRepublic are cheaper. It includes a free phone service, but you could just not connect it up.
I heard they're just as bad as Belong. Seems like they take forever to connect some people
Aussie Broadband has the first month free using the code on the whirlpool forums, with no contract. No congestion from my experience, Aussie sales and tech support.
Thanks for that. My contract with Belong just ended and I was going to sign up with MyRepublic, but their website said my address didn't have NBN and they couldn't indicate when that error would be fixed. I've heard their just as bad as Belong too, so I'm happy to try Aussie Broadband. The website said I would have to wait until June 10 for them to be connected to my POI, but then I got a few emails over the next couple of hours and I've already been changed over :)
Belong are the worst of the worst. I am in the ACT and 2-3 times throughout the year they seem to restrict internet access for roughly a week. During this time, I go through periods where roughly 50% of the internet won't load either at all or takes 1-2 minutes to load. Of course, popular sites like facebook and youtube work fine, but university web sites, for example, do not. I try to contact them over the phone, facebook and twitter and (along with many other customers) are ignored. Then a week later, during the night, the problem is magically fixed and later that day I receive responses to all my messages asking if they can help fix the problem. Unbelievable. As soon as I receive the refund I was promised by the TIO I will be changing providers.
Ive used many isp's over the years and belong have been pretty good only downside having to call up to change internet profile and being put on a stable profile as default.
When first connected was connected within 3 days and modem was delivered in 2.
Although some congestion at peak times most isp's suffer from this.
Thanks OP, but - good luck.
My review of Belong on Productview:
http://www.productreview.com.au/r/belong/1095643.html
Honestly, the ADSL2+ speed is okay (2M/s download speed) if they open the ADSL 2+ ports for you.
But the problem is their bad customer service.
Like I mentioned in the review, try Belong if you want to experience the worst customer service in Australia. Always no one answered the phone when I called them. I tried to hold the line and put phone on the table and went for lunch, after 1 hour I came back still no one answered. Every time I ended up sending message to their customer service on Facebook which I found is the most effective way to contact them. At least they may reply my FB message on the next day.
BTW if they said you need to wait 48 hours for the changes that you requested, it means that you may have to wait 2 or 3 weeks.
was with belong for about 4-5 months
had $30 off the first month, $80 cash back reward AND another free month of service because of the poor performance and i STILL left after the 4-5 months and wouldn't recommend them.
Not saying this will be the experience for everyone, but definitely was my experience. Also expect 1-2 hour wait times if you want to call technical support
BELONG belong to Telstra, bet they use overseas call centers and their are MUCH better deals out there. Take Internode, based in Adelaide so you ALWAYS get someone from there. Now before someone jumps in, Internode was bought out by iiNet which was then bought out by TPG. After 15 years with them, have nothing negative to say as they are always helpful and even though their are better deals am enjoying dealing with the locals : ) It's not a great deal in signing up for 12/24 months as you are stuck. NO, have never been on a contract with Internode, NEVER.
Last time I spoke with a Belong REP, it was an Australian. An Australian who had NO CLUE about their own product, and fed me misinformation ("it's the same network as Telstra, just cheaper").
I'll take a knowledgeable overseas call centre rep anytime.
Thanks for the comments.. I was about to pull the trigger on this one purely based on the good pricing and the fact they have to use the telstra network where i am.. I am guessing there is additional throttling on this one over other ISPs? hmmm sounds a bit scummy. They do say advertise that you can watch HD streaming to your hearts content…. so that implies a fast enough connection.
Has anyone been able to get a Telstra line and get the $20 off a month? How to get an existing phone line on the Telstra network?
Save $20 per month with our Broadband only option. To get our Broadband plan you need to have an existing phone line connected on the Telstra network.
The Belong ADSL2+ Broadband plan is only available on the Telstra network. To get it, you need to have an existing phone line connected on the Telstra network.
They have the worst customer service I have ever encountered.