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Aussie Broadband: Pay 6 Months, Get 1 Month Bonus Credit, Prepay 12 Months, Get 2 Mth Bonus Credits (For Existing Customers)

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Not sure if this is where this should go (maybe a forum post?), but some may be interested in it.

Got an email today from Aussie Broadband saying that they are going to be trialling a prepaid system for "long term users." I wouldn’t consider myself a long term user of their service, so it may or may not be open to anyone that has a current account. Possibly even targeted. (Confirmed as min 6 month with ABB is required to get this deal.)

From their email;

  • If you pay for 6 months upfront, you will receive 1 month of bonus credit on your account
  • If you pay for 12 months upfront, you will receive 2 months of bonus credit on your account

The bonus credit is equivalent to a 16% discount on the cost of your internet bill over the time period you've chosen.

Bonus credits are not transferable or redeemable for cash - you can use them to pay any part of your bill including phone call costs, plan upgrades or internet usage.

We still don't believe in lock-in contracts so if you've pre-paid but you wish to close your account with us, we will fully refund you the upfront amount remaining on your account (but not the bonus credit). If you want to change your plan for a lower cost one at any stage, your credit will simply last a little longer!

Example; (on how it might work. Got a rep who can confirm??)
$75 plan x 6 months = $450. 16% credit would be $72. Almost 1 month worth of credits (or $144 credit on the 12 month plan.)

The link above should take you the login page and then to the offer, or you can login and on the "Usage and Billing" tab, under "Billing" you will see "Loyalty Offer".

Edit: It seems to be confirmed now from a few people trying it. Seems you need a minimum of 6 months as a customer with ABB to be eligible.

Whirlpool post here also seems to confirm this (Thanks @kurusawa for the WP link)

This loyalty offer exists only for customers who have stayed with the provider for at least 6 months

Addendum by the Store rep: this is an invitation only offer and eligible customers received an email yesterday.

Referral Links

Referral: random (297)

$50 each for referrer & referee apply afterwards.

Related Stores

Aussie Broadband
Aussie Broadband

closed Comments

  • +12

    Goddammit. I wish the ****ing NBN would hurry up and switch on my suburb's HFC.
    I have my heart set on AussieBB.

    Thanks for the post OP.

    • +1

      Still waiting 2 months in a brand new apartment that is FTTP "ready". Turns out they forgot to install fibre in a few units and it's taking about 10 weeks+ to get it installed in mine and that's rushed and fast!

    • I hear you, I do have the NBN connection box on my outside wall for nearly 5 month now….

      • Same. Little beige box of bulls***

  • +2

    Hmmm. Considering how competitive NBN pricing / landscape is, I'd be quite relunctant to lock myself into a 12 month contract. 6mths is what I'd consider acceptable but you might consider that there might be better deals you'll stumble across in the next 12 mths.

    There's no advantage in going for 12 months (2 mths credit), might as well get the 6mths

    • +18

      It's not a 12 month contract and they don't lock you in.

      If you leave, they'll refund you the remaining credit (excluding the 1/2 bonus months worth of credit).

      • +1

        I see that part now. In that's case that's not bad then. I've bolded that part of the desc.

    • -1

      I rather ABB start dropping their prices to be more competitive with Telecube as an example than locking in customers so they don’t do the exodus to their competition

      • +16

        I rather ABB start dropping their prices to be more competitive with Telecube as an example than locking in customers so they don’t do the exodus to their competition.

        ABB aren't locking anyone in, you can leave as soon as you like. If Telecube is better pricing and the service quality is just as good or better, why not just go with them?

      • +5

        ABB is my new recommended provider as its practically skymesh with congestion mitigation, no fees, lockins, cheap (compared to others of lesser quality) etc.

      • +1

        Ive been with Aussie for a few years now and have tried Telecube in the past. International transit was horrible on Telecube.

        Aussie is the only company that offers CVC graphs per poi https://www.aussiebroadband.com.au/network-centre/
        They've finished building to all 121 POIs https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2580062
        They monitor and adjust the network accordingly to minimise congestion
        They are 100% Aussie based and answers the phones quickly and are actually competent.

        It's in a different tier. Its like Telstra with added benefits

  • +2

    "The loyalty trial offer is not available at this time."

  • -7

    Just a note these guys will require min 1 month notice if u r moving to another provider or they will charge you for an extra month. So if you are gettting the 6 month one you will be charged 6 times

    • We still don't believe in lock-in contracts so if you've pre-paid but you wish to close your account with us, we will fully refund you the upfront amount remaining on your account (but not the bonus credit)

    • +1

      TPG have that clause also. It's dodgy AF. They can turn you off at any time, it doesn't cost them money to do so. They're just doing it as one final spite on your way out.

    • It's not enforced at all. Plenty of people have given way less notice than that and not been held to it.

    • +8

      I just cancelled with abb and gave them only 3 days notice. No problems.

    • +1

      I'm pretty sure when I cancelled with them last year during the free month trial, it was halfway through the month and there were no problems

      • Well, I maces away from ABB last month. I had 5 days before billing. May be I was unlucky or the rules have changed

        • Perhaps there was an exception for my case because it was a trial free month, or the simply just changed it since then, so you may still be right, because in the T&C right now it says:

          Cancellation of Service

          Cancellation of your service must be provided 30 days
          prior to the required date by calling us on 1300 880 905

    • When I emailed, they told me 30 days notice and must give verbal confirmation over the phone - but when I rang, the guy didn't seem to care - he said he'd just cancel it at my next billing cycle since I had already paid for the month, which was only 4 days away. So YMMV?

  • +35

    Maybe this doesn’t belong here but I have had such a great experience I wanted to share it somewhere. ABB may not offer the cheapest plans available, but their customer service is phenomenal. I’m in a situation where the maximum DL speed I can get on NBN is 23Mbps (thanks Malcolm) so I’m on the 25/5 speed tier and the data included is 500GB (I’m on a legacy plan). I keep getting shaped so called up on Sunday to see about getting more data. The rep I spoke to (Justin) said more data is available if I move to the next speed tier, but seeing as I can’t actually get that speed he said it would be unfair to charge for it just for the extra data. He has escalated the issue and both he and a manager have contacted me every day for the past three days to let me know they are working on it, and will find me a solution before my next billing cycle. They’ve also given me a 150GB data pack at no cost to last me until the end of my billing cycle until they can customise a plan for me. I’m absolutely blown away by the level of personal service and follow-up.

    • +5

      Agreed, true aussie service.

      Never had to call them personally because it's simply worked.

      When I moved house they kept two services active at both addresses so I would never be without internet.

    • +5

      Aussie customer service reminds me of the early days of Internode. Neither company wanted to the cheapest, they wanted to provide the best value and customer service.

      I still remember calling Internode over a decade ago trying to get PPP dialup working on my linux laptop before I went away. I was reading the config over the phone to young woman. She picked up the missing character. These days internode support is full of script readers.

      Aussie will do what is reasonable to keep the customer happy. Every interaction I've had with them has been excellent. It is great to see them building out their own backhaul network.

    • +1

      Just wanted to add my 2 cents for anyone considering signing up.

      So far I've dealt with 2 people, Tracey and Michelle. Both have answered my questions and followed up within extremely fast times, and got me any information I needed. I had also missed a referral reward because of either my fault or the person I referred, but Michelle saw I had indeed referred that person and had my credit applied within 24 hours.

      I was hesitant about connecting at first and kept my existing connection on, but after just a few days I ditched the old one and haven't regretted it for a second.

      Of course, not everybody joining will have great experiences, because after all this is the nbn, but for me I couldn't rate them higher.

  • -1

    This screams "cashflow issues". Are they still going to be around in 12 months? There'd be no refunds from companies under administration.

    Why would you give your long term customers (who should be your most reliable payers) a discount for paying up front? You want up front payments from customers you think won't be able to pay.

    • +7

      Not necessarily cashflow issues. They want to 'lock' you in from leaving. It's not an actual contract, but like a term deposit, you're not going to terminate early, or you'll lose the bonus and what was the point of doing it to begin with?

      They were probably bleeding customers to other RSPs. This is different than giving you an up front 16% discount on your bill. They want to keep you in and stop you from churning away.

    • +2

      I reckon they're using the CVC discount to spend on securing savvy customers who are possibly looking elsewhere.

    • +7

      You're kidding right…. They are the only Australian ISP with their own hardware in EVERY POI… all 121 of them. They ain't going bust anytime soon.

      • +5

        That in itself does not prevent them from going bust. If anything it means they've now got a high debt level, which increases your risk of going bust, though obviously improves your product which increases customer uptake. It's like any other investment, it comes with risk. Its not some magical force that prevents a business from going under due to an infinite number of possible reasons.

        • +4

          Im planning to jump from Skymesh when its convenient to do so. Housemates dont understand speed is better than "unlimited" I would rather 100/40 1TB than 50/20 "unlimited" with trash performance for same price.

    • Would cashing-up and defacto-lock-in benefit them if owners intend to sell-up?

    • +4

      So why do they still turn away new customers that aren't on their POIs? If they were that strapped for cash, wouldn't they be signing up every person they can? Maybe they just want to reward existing clients that pay upfront. Imagine that..

      • +1

        want to reward clients …

        that’s not how business works.

        • +4

          This is not the first time I have seen a business offer a discount for paying a year upfront. So yeah it is how some businesses work.

        • +3

          They also gave people who signed up to the whirlpool free month offer double data for six months retrospectively to go with their current promotional offer.

          They really had no incentive to do that except reward their customers

        • @Twirtle2:

          They really had no incentive to do that except reward their customers

          yeah they did - if they have any business sense - their customers on not on lock-in contracts.

  • -1

    Paying up front for 12 months is a worse discount than paying up front for 6 months because you can have the other 6 months of payment sitting in the bank collecting interest and then paying for another 6 months up front when the time comes.

    • +8

      If they still offer the deal 6 months from now.

    • does your bank give you 16% interest?

      • -2

        Do your maths skills fail you often?

  • +6

    Thanks OP, have always been happy with the service from ABB, so I can definitely see myself staying with them for at least another six months.

  • There's also a whirlpool code which gives you 1 month free trial, no pre payment required.

  • +1

    This is only for customers that have been with them for 6+ months.
    Amend title please: targeted offer for existing customers.

  • +1

    This is targeted. I've only been with ABB for 3mths and I am not eligible.
    https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2714971

    • You’ll probably be eligible once you’ve been with them for 6 months.

  • +3

    ABB is true blue. No ball tampering here

    • +3

      I like having my balls tampered with

      • +2

        Get a sandpaper from Bunnings.

      • +1

        "I like having my balls tampered with"
        That is just not cricket :-)

    • +1

      Britt - dead-set legend. Top bloke.

  • Do they have ADSL2+ connection too? Looking to move away from TPG if the speed is better.

  • I think they may struggle to find too many people that have a spare $1000 up their sleeves…

    • -1

      Plenty of people are happy to blow that type of cash (and more) on a new phone.

  • How does one apply? Via telegram to the Postmaster General?

  • These offers are still valid for new customers.
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/360454

  • No way in hell I would do this to save a month or two. So many things can go wrong with the business or your own situation.

  • I'd rather seen them getting a backup network happening or fix the appalling grafton POI.

    • What's wrong with the PoI?

    • +3

      Sorry mate, but I'm calling bullshit. Aussie now release their CVC graphs and there is simply no congestion anywhere to be seen on the usage on that POI… https://cvcs.aussiebroadband.com.au/grafton.png

      • A lot of the times in a local issue. There have been many times where an OP on whirlpool has made a thread on the Aussie sub and it has either been due to the fibre technology, problems in a pit or issues with the users wiring/network devices.

  • -1

    This is targeted to existing customers of more than 6 months only. In my opinion its pretty lacklustre reward for basically going on a contract (even though its technically not a contract). If it was 3 months or 6 months free then it would be a decent deal. Or even double data for 6 months would be better.

  • Reminds me of a local gourmet pizza shop that sold “20 pizzas for $100” vouchers. Used 10 or so before they went bust.

    • (profanity) L'Artista. They owe me 25 pizzas or pastas 😂

      Did get a few nice dates out of it tho

      • I suddenly feel a connection. Asl?

  • If they were going to go bust and just looking for cash, why is this only targeted for customers on their service for 6months?

  • +1

    Argh, gambling bait.

    I love to support them. They’ve been great. But this gives me all the wrong signals. I have experienced ALL Australian internet, my friends.

    I’m on a great legacy plan, a reward they’ve allowed loyal users…I’m not going anywhere. So why give me even more?!

  • Well I guess that’s one way for them to retain customers. Another would be reducing their prices. The premium they charge isn’t worth it IMO.

  • +1

    I prepaid 12 months for my account.

    I accept that prepaying 12 months is a risk if the company goes bust. I certainly wouldn’t be at the front of the creditor line. I perceive the following threats to ABB’s viability:

    1. Disruption to core business model as disruptor telco. This could be regulatory and wholesale pricing change from the NBN Co end, increased competition from quality rivals, technological constraints on NBN network impeding customer uptake.

    2. Excessive overhead costs. ABB are using pretty sophisticated technology to reduce overheads in onboardubg new customers (often existing NBN customers). A failure to control internal pressures, however, will squeeze the business model of offering above industry standard service.

    3. 5G. This tech will be a game changer. The jury is still out as to whether the tech can replace the NBN copper and fibre. It’ll be fast but what volume of data can one transfer?

    • It'll service just 10% of Australians due to its very low range. 5G is the most over-hyped bit of tech at present. It will only reliably service people in CBD's.

    • +13

      5G. This tech will be a game changer. The jury is still out

      No, the jury is only out with journalists who don't understand the theory, and with telcos who want to sell you expensive data.

      I'm not having a go at you, but I see this claim too often, so I want to correct it. I am an engineer, and I have been taught communications theory.

      The amount of data that a communications channel can handle is limited by the Shannon-Hartley theorem. This theorem has been around for about 70 years, and nobody has been able to disprove it. There have been a LOT of famous mathematicians and physicists in that time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon%E2%80%93Hartley_theore…

      I'll give you a worked example to demonstrate that 5G won't be enough. Let's assume that 5G has all frequencies from DC to 5GHz - all of them, no other radio transmitters are allowed: no wifi, no emergency services, no FM radio, no TV, nothing else. Let's be generous and say we have 30dB signal-to-noise ratio. Let's also forget about two-way transmission and the nightmares it will cause, we'll just assume that uploads are through some other medium like telephone lines.

      From the Shannon-Hartley theorem, that gives us a maximum data output from the tower of 5000000000x(log(1+10^3)/log(2)) = 50 Gigabits per second per tower.

      Now how many people does that serve? Well, my nearest mobile phone tower is about 1km away. A circle with 1km radius has an area of 3.1 square kilometers, and a quick look on the internet says the average density of greater Sydney (including national park areas) is 407 people per square kilometer, so the tower serves about 1200 people. 50Gbps/1200 = 42Mbps per person. Average household in Sydney is just under two people, so that gives ~84Mbps per household. That's not even as good as NBN FTTP, using the current 2.4-GPON system.

      NBN FTTP can have its speed increased by just changing the modems to support 10-GPON, or even higher. NG-PON2 supports 40Gbps, sixteen times faster than the 2.4-GPON the NBN currently uses. 5G cannot go faster than the Shannon-Hartley theorem. At the moment 4G achieves about 95% of the limit specified by the Shannon-Hartley theorem. 5G can get at most 5% faster than 4G, using the same bandwidth.

      So why is 4G much faster than 3G was? Because 3G had artificial limitations on how much data it could send to a single user, and because the Telco networks bought extra frequency bands for 4G. And because at the start, few people could even use the 4G network as 4G-capable modems were scarce.

      But the reality is that Telcos don't even have 1GHz of radio bandwidth, even if you combine all telcos and all of their frequency bands together. And you won't get 30dB of signal-to-noise ratio if everyone is transmitting back. Yes, you can put more towers in each suburb, but then they interfere with each other, reducing the signal-to-noise ratio even further, so it still doesn't get any better.

      5G will probably be faster than 4G, but only because the Telcos will buy more frequency bands just for 5G. But even there, they are running into competition from all the other users of the radio spectrum. Think the TV and radio stations will give up their frequencies? And the military, the police, the ambulances, fire brigade, and all aircraft communications too? Will everyone give up WiFi, bluetooth, remote-control garage-door openers?

      4G and 5G will only be fast when less than 10% of the population is using it. The Shannon-Hartley theorem demonstrates this. Some people claim that the Shannon-Hartley theorem will eventually be broken, well, it's been rock-solid for 70 years. And there's an almost-certain Nobel prize (or equivalent for mathematics) for whoever cracks it, so it's not like people aren't trying.

      • Just to point out, but 5G as well as supposedly having more towers locally (at lower power, so SNR isn't so simple) using the fixed fibre network as backhaul) is also supposed to have beamforming to create angular segments. Which means your maths is more than a bit too simple.

        Take it to the extreme - imagine one 5G tower per house. What would the theoretical bandwidth be?

        Worth bearing in mind that the people dreaming this up aren't idiots.

        • +2

          Taking your first point, that is correct. 5G is also supposed to use much higher frequencies than I have stated, where more bandwidth is available. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5G

          Quoting from the Wiki page, "The millimeter wave systems are designed for 20 gigabit peak downloads.[10] Their estimated median bandwidth is 3.5 gigabits." That's substantially lower than the 50Gbps in my example above. Even if you use beamforming, and assume they manage ten beams from each tower, that's a peak of 200Gbps, and a median of 35Gbps. More than ten beams is unlikely, it's hard to make narrow beams, and reflections from objects like buildings make narrower beams impractical.

          Note also that using millimeter-band systems (26GHz and above, according to the wiki page) have a number of problems. At the moment, 5GHz WiFi has difficulties penetrating through a couple of walls. As frequency goes up, this becomes even more of a problem. In-building reception will be all but impossible, you'll need an external antenna, most likely a dish. So it's not going to be a mobile system, it's quite different to what 3G and 4G are. Also the Friis transmission equation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friis_transmission_equation) shows that as you go up in frequency, more signal is lost between the transmitter and the receiver, so the received signal will be lower and signal-to-noise ratio will suffer. At 25 GHz, the loss is 25 times greater than at 5GHz.

          To sum up, if you are thinking 5G is going to replace 4G with a markedly better system, it's not. The current 4G system can be improved by 5G, but only a little bit, unless you are willing to change from a mobile system to a fixed system. Even there, with 200Gbps per tower maximum, it will achieve a maximum ~336Mbps per household, median ~68Mbps per household.

          Compare this to:
          100Mbps per household with the current NBN FTTP
          400Mbps per household with 10-GPON (currently in use in several countries), which is a cheap upgrade path from NBN FTTP
          2.5Gbps per household with NG-PON2 (future standard, but 5G is also a future standard)

          For your second point, "imagine one 5G tower per house", why that sounds exactly like FTTP NBN with a WiFi access point. So in that case, 5G would be identical to what we have now (or will have, assuming the FTTN and HFC parts of the NBN eventually get upgraded to FTTP).

          Worth bearing in mind that the people dreaming this up aren't idiots

          That is correct, but they aren't the ones you see in mainstream media. 5G is taking a long time to arrive, because all the easy changes have already been done, and got us to where we currently are, with 4G. As the Wiki 5G page shows, if you want to increase on the performance of 4G, they are going to have to do something totally different, and they are. They are using extremely high frequencies, with all their limitations, and it will be a huge change from what we have now. Arguably 5G should be considered a totally different type of network, not an improvement on 4G.

  • Would love to switch to Aussie BB but they can't support ADSL in my area. There are only 2-3 small providers that will so I'm stuck paying $90 p/m for a 0.5mb connection, to a shitty provider who have all their contacts offshore, only contactable during business hours so have to take time off anytime we have issues.

  • This is not a good sign. Is Aussie Broadband struggling for cash flow?

  • -1

    I spoke to them yesterday about price matching Telecube's latest offer, and they said that:
    1. They don't price match
    2. New pricing is coming out early April and hinted they would be better prices

    So buyer beware if you go ahead and purchase 12m of internet at your current rate only for them to drop their current prices

    • +2

      I don’t think that’s how it works. You are essentially buying ‘store credit’. You can upgrade or downgrade or move across to a different plan and still keep the bonus credit. You can even close your account and get a refund. The store credit will simply last longer (in the event a plan is cheaper), be used more quickly or stay the same.

    • +2

      So buyer beware if you go ahead and purchase 12m of internet at your current rate only for them to drop their current prices

      Not even remotely close - http://whrl.pl/Re7BfV

  • +4

    This is an invitation only offer and eligible customers will have received an email yesterday.

    • +1

      Are you able to provide the official reasoning behind this offer as there appears to be quite a few armchair business experts on here who are adamant it's a sign of dire circumstances such as financial difficulties, loss of customers, etc.

  • Long term customer with ABB and moving to Telecube
    On HFC 25 and ABB have been excellent.
    However it's relatively expensive ($65 versus $50/month)
    I suspect they're haemorrhaging customers?

  • I could think of better ways to say thank you to long term customers…expected more from Aussie, clearly an advanced cash grab.
    I would like to see an actual thank you instead of this rubbish

  • +1

    I put my parents on Aussie broadband.
    They've been annoying lately, with "scheduled maintenance" for a few hours every week.
    It's nice to get the email about it, but really annoying, TPG ADSL had several months of uptime at a time.

    • Yes I would say this is really an annoying aspect of the network. Granted, I haven't been having these often but when they do schedule a maintenance (and at 12am might I add) within a few days of each one it gets unpleasant to say the least

      • I'm pretty tempted to put them on the 200gb 4g with an iPhone X plan with Optus, data-share and run a 4g modem instead

        • Whatever works for you.

          Unfortunately, 200 is too little for my use case.

          I think Telstra is doing good in this regard. They have the fallback feature on their modems that switches to the cellular network if the fibre link ever goes down.

          I would probably change to them if Aussie keeps messing with the network or if they fail to build their redundant paths. Probably wouldn't consider another isp as international traffic is very important to me and streaming can be either great or complete poop depending on the provider

        • @Hahuh: wouldn't be enough for me either.
          Parents just use iview, YouTube and email so it'd be enough for them.

  • ABB is a great organisation. I was with them back when I had NBN. Now NBN is about to be RFS at my new place and I'll be returning.

    In fact, I've already placed my order.

  • Just a warning- this is exactly what netcube offered just before they went bust- many people got scammed by their "pay 3 months upfront and get 1 month free" offer and then they disappeared.

    https://www.crn.com.au/news/victorian-isp-netcube-goes-under…

    http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2351011

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