Belong Broadband, horrible, do not sign up, you'll regret it.
Unreliable connection, uncompetitive prices, no way to contact support, no way to call them at all.
I'm just going to get double charged for this month and move on, report them to the omburdsman, I think I'm going to say goodbye to $70 and good riddance.
I don't know who I'll move over to, someone with a support call service.
Thanks, I'll check them out (And call their support team first).
Aussie Broadband mate
Do not sign up to Kogan.I am one of the victim. When I moved to other property ,I emailed them twice to disconnect the service but they didn't. They deduced $69.99 every month for the next three months.I kept calling them wasting hours to get my money back and to get them to remove my direct debit details but they were just insisting that I didn't inform them.In short,their customer service is something you don't ever want to deal with.I lodged an ombudsman to get my own money back.Now I am with Tangerine so far so good
Aussie Broadband for best support - particularly if you have connection issues
Had a terrible experience with Aussie Broadband … guy also lied about a number of things like connection lead time with ABB were better and Telstra and Optus were not doing any connections.
Same. They were great until I moved. They had a ‘glitch’ in their system which made my internet constantly drop out for days. Spent hours of my time trying to fix it and in the end they were just like ‘whoops’ no apology, no explanation when I asked for a follow up. I let that slide but then something else happened to which I disputed adamantly and they did not budge. It was a $25 fee which was not a lot of money but it was the principal. They refused to budge and basically called me a liar so i said no worries I’ll pay the $25 and move on. I think they thought I was bluffing. The moment that month was over I moved to Launtel and haven’t looked back. Great support and service. They really have a person touch. AussieBB used to be good but I think they are getting too big for their own good and lost that touch. Good riddance.
Oh yeah.
Don't even think of getting Aussie to admit it was their mistake
I wouldn't suggest going into the whirlpool aussie compound either.
@iamhurtin: It’s a shame because their service, as in their internet is very good and their staff were mostly friendly and helpful. But the way they brushed off their mistake and then accused me of lying in such a rude manner over $25 is just ridiculous. Launtel all the way.
I get a SMS every few months from Aussie Broadband to up date my my credit details with them, and I have never had anything to do with them.
Sounds like a phishing scam, nothing to do with ABB
I thought so too.
All the links and the phone number to call checks out.
Unless they have the wrong mobile number linked to a particular account number and the person who owns the account never pays on time.
Whoever owns account 3130002, sort your crap out.
Yep, I can attest to this.
I'm in the process of getting connected right now with Aussie - but the order is on hold due to a lack of NBN infrastructure. Aussie have been very helpful throughout - constantly reaching out to NBN and keeping me updated. They even threw me some credit on my account to get an alternate service in the interim.
one person not happy he/she will tell 1000 others, 1000 people happy he/she will tell just total 20 others
It's hard to go above and beyond though. You pay for a product/service and you should get that without any hassle
It's easy to ruin someone's experience and muck them about.
Having said that I'll always recommend places if they've been good. Ie- appliances online.
Just had an interesting experience with Appliances Online, got a new new Fridge delivered and the drivers that were meant to take it away left the old one out in the street for 3 days. Super dangerous, if a kid had of climbed in it could of killed them. Was only picked up and removed after 2 calls to customer service.
I cannot picture a kid climbing into a fridge and killing themselves.
You do have a right to be a bit adamant about it being removed from your property, but it is no where near as bad as you make it sound.
@thriftysach: Mate sorry, but you're a total f'ing idiot if you don't think leaving an old fridge on a street isn't a danger to children.
@Sidog: It's a danger to children, amongst other things on the street, but I stand with my opinion that the chances of a kid potentially killing themselves due to an old fridge are much lower compared to other hazards on the street.
@thriftysach: Yeah except this is a safety hazard they created by leaving the fridge out on a suburban street and one that could have been easily nullified by them removing the fridge in a safe manner in the first place. I think saying leaving a fridge out on a street isn't a big deal because a kid is more likely to be hit by a car is a bit gross.
As an Aussie dad I take this stuff seriously, unfortunately there's a lot of dead shits in this country that just couldn't be bothered doing the right thing and are all a bit too quick to slack off.
If I had of known they were just going to dump it on the street (right next to the curb mind you) I would have said just put it in the garage till you come back.
@Sidog: Why didn't you move it somewhere safe until it could be picked up then? Seems like you know it is dangerous based on your statements above, but were unwilling to do anything about it.
@MrBear: I was willing to do something about hence why I followed up with Appliances Online for the next 2 days trying to get the fridge removed.
Removing the fridge by myself would have been dangerous as I would have either of had to carry a fridge down several flights of stairs (by myself mind you!) or shimmy pushed it about 40 metres down a footpath at a top of a hill that curves back around to where my garage is. It just wasn't plausible, hence why I requested the fridge to be taken away in the first place.
Also once they've taken possession of the fridge it's their legal liability and I wasn't going to get involved in instituting any half measures and making myself liable. I called them several times and made them aware of the situation, they were well informed and had every opportunity to rectify the situation.
Not sure why you think it's ok for Appliances Online to simply leave a fridge out on a street and are defending them.
@Sidog: modern fridges are not dangerous except to someone that cannot push open a door OR if they climbed in and the fridge fell over onto the door
Old fridges had latches, hence why the door could be shut and not opened from the inside. Modern fridges dont have latches, you only need to be strong enough to break the magnetic seal
The actual danger from a fridge is kids swinging on the door and causing it to fall over
Btw, the simple solution - take the door off. In most fridges that takes maybe 60 seconds. If that.
@dtc: I was thinking modern fridges are probably a lot safer but wasn't sure.
I legit think I'm still traumatised by that episode of Punky Brewster I watched as a kid were her friend suffocates in an old fridge when they're playing Hide and Seek. Luckily Punky Brewster had learnt CPR at school, so was able to revive her friend.
for the next 2 days trying to get the fridge removed
So you weren't really worried about the kids then…
Removing the fridge by myself
Or ask someone to help…
it's their legal liability and I wasn't going to get involved
Sure, but kids might get killed, so you don't really care about them.
Not sure why you think it's ok for Appliances Online to simply leave a fridge out on a street and are defending them.
I don't think it is okay and I'm not defending them. I'm talking about YOUR issue that kids may be killed, yet are unwilling to do anything about it other than pick up the phone. So you don't really care about the kids, you just want to use it as part of an argument.
@MrBear: I'm actually the hero that took on a large national white goods company and had an imminent danger removed from my community.
If the world was full of simps like you we wouldn't be able to walk down the street without tripping over an abandoned fridge.
@Sidog: I see that you just don't understand. I won't put pressure on your brain further. Also, wrong use of the word "simp", but nice try on the insult.
@MrBear: Wow what a sick burn! Don't understand! Brain pressure! Wrong use of a word!
Simp have mercy on me!
@MrBear: Another sick simp burn! Mercy simp! Yes me weakling, you strong! You're the strongest simp on Ozbargain! King of the Simps if you will!
I actually hold the record in my house for most grocery bags bought in from the car at the same time, so as you can imagine I'm pretty buff.
How else was indy supposed to survive a nuclear test blast if there wasn't a fridge
It's almost like you've come from another planet - or the 1950's. How many people do you think will read this thread? How many people do you think will read the poor review that the OP may write on a number of other sites? There are literally millions of people who actively seek out reviews and consider the opinions and experiences of others.
Have a friend who has been on Belong for about 6 months, they've had little to no issues (HFC). What type of NBN connection do you have?
Hey there, also HFC. To be honest, connection was fine at NBN25 before the rest of the neighbourhood moved over, then everyone got on the bandwagon, moved up to NBN50, then moved from another provider to Belong.
Connection drops out randomly quite often, has been for a few months, not a COVID/WFH issue, seems to be something else, might not even be Belong's problem.
What I can't abide by, is the lack of phone support. Sure, if you have live chat support (that's competent), that's a step up on phone support, however, they have a web form which no doubt sends an email, so I join a queue and I'll be addressed when they can be bothered.
That's my issue. I rang Kogan, guess what? They answered and seem to be competitive price wise. Good enough, let's see how they go, signed up.
Fair enough, I guess everyone has different experiences.
Amazing that they still haven't brought back phone support, or even a live chat. My experience with them as I mentioned earlier sounds very similar to yours and this was back around March! Took multiple messages repeating myself through their website and also FB Messenger to finally have someone connect my service. So yeah, customer support was pretty much non-existent.
At least they're still getting lots of 1-star reviews coming in on Product Review also slamming their support, which hopefully turns many people away.
I've got 3 drop-outs since June. Max time was an hour or so of downtime
How long was yours down for?
And did you get straight through, or were they - "experiencing an unusually high number of calls" at that time?
Should be Belong, period.
Had an awful experience with them after covid hit trying to connect a new mobile plan, was still without service close to a month after the sim card arrived.
I had belong broadband for about a year and a half. Never had any issues with them. This was about 5 years ago however.
Had Belong in a couple of addresses.
Never had a problem. Response via Email is prompt, like usually next day.
Aussie Broaband, Superloop or Launtel are the providers to go with. They have Australian call centres.
Yes, but that doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to get a hold of someone. We had great difficulty getting through to Superloop (via email and phone) to have someone look at our issue with dropouts and ended up having to go to the Ombudsman before getting a response. Wouldn't recommend them at all either.
Can vouch for Aussie, they're even open on a saturday. Spoke to them on a Saturday Morning with no wait times/queues. If you're busy during the week they can assist on a weekend, can't get much better than that.
Source: Personal Experience
I've had no issues with Belong. This is the second time that I've signed with them.
Belong is good. Have been with them for years.
I've been with them for two years, but when I needed tech support recently, I realised they don't have a phone number any more and they reply to a ticket in 10+ hours. It took me about a dozen of emails to make them finally investigate and tell me there was NBN augmentation in my area that caused drop outs temporarily.
Since then it works ok again. But the lack of customer support is appalling.
Second that, have had 2 recent outages and no customer service is a bummer. When WFH you want support ASAP and not a follow up phone call and email a day later.
Are they thieves and liars as well?
Thiefs*
thieves is correct..
Belong are fine as long as you do not need support. If you do…….
Second this. That's a general principle for cheap options, e.g. all kogan things.
Ditto.
Like with most of these providers they are fine when they are working, but when you have issues you need quick communication with tech support or CS. It very well could be an NBN problem not provider issue. We have HFC with ABB. That NBN service is a joke. There are constant maintenance emails forwarded to us for work by NBN. That has to say something about the system that was set up. ABB CS A1. But you do pay for that. Which I am happy to just to reduce the angst with situations like OP.
OP has a point just google belong reviews .
https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/belong
He is trying to save someone .
There is nothing worse than lack of customer support,
In other words you signed up for something without knowing all the fine print. It’s a big give away of what support is like when they don’t publish a telephone number on the website.
And btw I was with belong for adsl for 5 years before moving to Aussie broadband for nbn.
So your saying you moved to ABB because of the fine print in Belongs T & C or website.
I preferred ABB nbn offer at the time. Either way I knew what I was signing up to with belong. Do your due diligence beforehand, but then again we would be missing out on entertaining threads like this.
It's starting to become the norm everywhere and it's driving me insane.
Just half a year ago they did have working phone numbers
Okay in USA?
I highly recommend Mate Communicate. Aussie company with good prices, great service wirh a locally based friendly and competent support team.
This. I've changed over to Mate a few months back and couldn't be happier.
I had to call their support once. The wait time was just a few minutes and it was great to talk to an Aussie instead of the horrible chat support of Optus with whom I was with previously.
Same. Had optus previously and they were unwilling to do anything but take my money.
I've been with Mate Communicate for a few years now and their service has not deteriorated at all throughout the whole time I've been with them. Tech support is fantastic for people who aren't tech savvy.
I'm thinking of joining Mate.
Do they have a phone number?
I checked the website, the only contact details I could find is email, online enquiry or live chat (between 8.30am to 7.00pm monday - saturday).
I know there was a number for support (sorry, don't know it off the top of my head because it's been a while since I've had to contact them) but try sending them an email. That's what I usually do and they get back to me usually within an hour. You can also do a live chat and ask them to call you.
@BrgnGirl: Thankfully, we have mobile data.
Before the days of mobile data, can't send an email without internet. And if your internet wasn't working…..
Very true. Their service had been fantastic when I was with them. I also got mobile alerts when internet is down. I actually appreciate the notification.
I switched to dodo only because it was cheaper from the electricity, gas, NBN bundle
Otherwise would totally stick to Mate Communicate
Also I loved how when you call up (local) support, there is such a big emphasis in their call script to say the word "mate" :)
Try it and you'll know what I mean.
How's international?
Sorry, can't comment on that because I don't use that service.
Perhaps others who have it can answer your question (?)
I have been with Belong for ages and am very happy with them.
I've been with Belong for more than 5 years and the service has been very reliable. However, several months back my CC was scammed and the bank cancelled the card. That left me in the situation where Belong payment day was coming up and no card. I managed to eventually do email and chat to support but it wasn't easy. They are all working from home while the virus problem is on. The bank and AusPost came good with new cards in 3.5 days (can you believe it?) so all was good.
I dont think it matters who charges you, they are just billing companies. Its the NBN that's providing your service, HFC is short for Hybrid Fibre Coaxial, and is typically used to connect properties to the NBN where an existing pay TV (Foxtel), so you are using the old infrastructure that is in place. Its not as good as other technologies that the NBN are using to provide their service but that's all you have in your street so they will stick with it.
If you're underlying infrastructure is good, it won't really matter who you go with. Some companies may suit you more but you can decide.
If it's all a mess, the ISP you're with is basically just a message bank for the nbn
I usually suggest people go with one of the better expensive companies for a few months, if things are good, switch to a different, cheaper company and see if your experience is any different, like latency in online games and stuff
I went from Aussie to Superloop to belong and the speed is exactly the same, since august 18 to sep 20
This
How goods common sense.
I had a shocking experience with belong nbn too! After 6 weeks they did not manage to move me over (I was porting from Telstra). After that I went to Mate, the best customer support and very cheap ($79 for 100/20, which in reality is 100/40 https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/4103959792)
I have zero issues with belong. Very happy. Good value for money.
What else do you expect from budget Telstra? Telstra customer service is shitty and useless, try and make it cheaper than that, it's gonna be horrific.
Belong support is miles better than telstra.
Nothing is worse than telstra
Belong is Telstra. It's Telstra's low cost brand.
Doesn't mean they use the same call centre and have the same instructions
I had to deal with belong over an nbn transfer
And telstra over an unlocking of their phone - for which I paid $25
Only one made me want to abandon ship
I had to deal with telstra for my schizophrenic neighbour after they had taken advantage of him - the only pleasant telstra experience I had was when I was at his house and the scam telstra called whilst I was waiting for the real deal.
I've worked multiple call centre jobs, worked at tpg noc
Sorry to the down voters, but if I say one is better than the other, you can take it as fact
Bitches
I've had 0 issues. Installed at my parent's house (3rd year now) and now my new house (using my own promo code haha) which did not have existing nbn. When I was at my parents house, rarely had any downtime. Came from Telstra nbn before.
With my new house, they were able to get me connected during COVID wave 1 and the restrictions that came with it in Melbourne. When there were issues from NBN side with getting the box installed, Belong promptly rescheduled for the advanced technician to come and fix it and ensured me I wouldn't be charged with the first month complimentary. All in all I would recommend: Good value and service so far…
I think that Belong have one of the best value NBN plans out right now ($55/month for 40/20 unlimited). The connection was great - better than Excetel, another value ISP I switched from.
I do agree that their support is shocking, and it's the sacrifice you pay for when you use these cheaper ISP's. They accidentally cancelled my broadband a month early and support had no way of re enabling it/didn't find it worth doing. In concession, I did have an early cancellation fee of $80 waived.
I have been with belong for over 4years now and have no issue whatsoever. They have good customer service I have always been able to get through if I needed to talk to anyone. Their price is the cheapest you will come across ($55 for unlimited NBN).
Go with Launtel. One of the best in my view. I thought about Belong but the fact it was Telstra's budget service put me off.
It's funny with posts like this, the person never states where they are.
The connection is normally highly dependant on the users location, you have a crappy line, doesn't matter what provider you are with as it's all running through the same exchange.
Another service provider isn't going to improve things such as: the wiring in your house, the connection from the kerb.
Hey!
Thank you.
I don't have to write it.
People won't care.
Probably voted for liberals in 2013 as well
whats the best out there price/performance?
i'm belong too and performance is not good.
14 down/ 15.1 up
signed up for the $55 starter package and got this some time ago but haven't acted on it yet.
Your NBN Speeds
We’ve been monitoring the speed of your nbn broadband service to make sure you get value from the speed plan you’ve chosen.
We’ve identified that there may be an nbn co infrastructure issue at your address impacting the speed you might experience on your service.
The maximum possible broadband speed that can be delivered into your address is 41.85 Mbps download and 19.03 Mbps upload.
As a result, we are offering you a choice:
Option 1 – Remain on your current contract or month to month plan
You can choose to remain on your current contract. We will not provide you with any refund and your contract will continue. Based on the maximum possible download and upload speeds at your address, you should consider whether the typical evening download speeds of 30Mbps on the Starter plan are still suitable for you.
Option 2 – Costless Exit (including month to month plans)
You can choose to exit Belong without cost.
Important things to note
What is my maximum speed?
Your maximum speed is a limit on what speeds you can receive, not a measurement of what you are actually receiving at all times. Your actual speeds will vary due to a range of factors including the speed plan you purchase, the length and quality of the copper wire from your home to the nearest node, network capacity during busy periods and the performance of your modem’s Wi-Fi network at a given time.
What speeds can I get from another provider?
Your maximum speed may not change if you choose to exit Belong and purchase an NBN internet plan from another provider. If you choose to exit Belong and purchase an NBN internet plan from another provider, we recommend you inform the other provider of your maximum attainable download and upload speed, and ask about what speeds you will receive during busy times.
Please email us within 90 days of the date of this email at [email protected] to advise us of your preferred option or if you have any questions
You can also find out more information about nbn speeds in our nbn speeds explained brochure.
Thanks
The Belong team
You should consider what exactly they are trying to tell you.
There is something physically wrong with the line at your location, it's that bad, we can't fix it for you.
Changing to another provider, you will have the same issue.
Unless you are in some really remote location, I would consider contacting NBN Co to see if they can send a technician to checkout the line.
Stop being all smart and logical. This post is for outrage and ombudsmans (ombudsmen?)
Good call, hope you signed up to Kogan :)