Finally Have nbn VIC Help/Recommendations?

Long time lurker. Really appreciate reading opinions and getting honest reviews on Ozbargain, so I thought I’d ask for some assistance.

So, we been informed that our address in Melbourne is now nbn ready. We’ve had Telstra Unlimited Cable with speed boost for 2+ years, and my understanding is that I HAVE to switch to nbn eventually? 🤨

What is OzBargain’s recommended provider?

According to address check we have Fibre to the Curb (FTTC). Need reliable fast speeds for work, streaming and gaming.

Thanks guys!

Comments

  • +2

    Finally Have nbn

    Checks calendar. Holy cr@p. Welcome to the new age.

    • I know! Goddamn took their time, didn’t they?

      • We’re only just on it as well. We are currently with Internode and got the “new customer” six month introduction offer for $60. We might look at Tangerine at some time as well.

  • +5

    "What is OzBargain’s recommended provider?" AussieBroadBand. surely you'd know that if you were a long time lurker hehe

    • That's very subjective now.

    • +1

      It's very expensive. $69 for 50mbps is too much.

    • +2

      +1 for AussieBroadband. It's not the cheapest, but I'm happy to pay a bit more to never have to deal with an offshore call centre given how important internet has become now WFH full time. The speed is also flawless, I get over 100Mb even at peak hour.

      • Give Launtel ago. you'll forget about ABB.

        • +1

          Much more limited coverage than Aussie Broadband though, I did look at them a while back, just checked again. Can't provide service to my area in Melbourne.

    • Lol yes, I am quite aware of AussieBB’s reputation on OzBargain haha. Just checking for options!

      • Do you prefer 100/20 or 100/40?

        This will narrow down your choices.

  • You can't go past superloop. And if your in vic they have a nice promo going for you and the member that refers you. I'm super happy with them. Very fast international links too.

    • +1

      I looked into them recently as they appear to offer 1Gb to my property when everyone else has a max of 250/25 on my HFC, so I was a bit skeptical. I was put off by the quick bit of research I did, which revealed poor customer service/extremely long hold times for support. Have you had any experience dealing with support after the connection was set-up? Keen to get some recent feedback as I wouldn't mind jumping on the 1Gb bandwagon.

      • Also keen to know experience with support/customer service!

      • -1

        If Superloop can offer you Gigabit so can the other ISPs.

      • +1

        Personally, I was with Superloop for their free month on FTTN. Pretty good tbh, ping times are somehow better than ABB(on their free month now) and they managed to get my maximum attainable line speed to increase while also decreasing dropouts? The support center is local and while you may need to wait a few minutes I don't really mind. Just have the phone waiting in the background while you do something else.

        • +1

          Additionally, CVC was amazing from my experience. No idea why they have so much but I never saw their CVC graph go above 10% of capacity.

  • +3

    December 1st nbn is dropping wholesale prices on gigabit and 100mbs plans. Be interested to see if Aussie passes on those savings.

    • Hmmmm, can I last on cable til then?

      • +1

        If NBN just became available to switch, you have 18m to cutover (i think) before you’re disconnected

        • I am reluctant to call Telstra to ask how long I have left.

          • +1

            @aintthatinnocent: Don't bother calling Telstra. You typically have 18 months to change except those on Optus cable who have a shorter time frame.

          • +2

            @aintthatinnocent: You won't need to call Telstra.. they'll bug you soon enough!

            They sent me an NBN modem before NBN (HFC) even was activated in my area. Turns out that screwed up my account so they never terminated my account properly and I had to chase them up for weeks to fix up billing. Their crappy 'Cody' bot in the app didn't help as well. Now that I'm off, they're still calling me about NBN offers.

            My suggestion is to move off Telstra ASAP and just pick a new NBN ISP. Most of them have month to month contract options these days I believe so you're not locked into a contract anyway. And churning is easy from what I hear, with very minimal downtime.

  • I have TPG NBN 100 for $89.99
    It provides consistent 100mbps all day
    They also have NBN 50 for $69.99
    I speed check almost everyday.

    Free modem aswell
    And it works fine

    Never had an issue

    I wouldnt pay $20 more for Aussie BB.
    You don't need to pay more for customer service if you are getting the service you paid for, which is the internet at the advertised speed.

    Yes perhaps choose ABB if you are having constant issues and poor communication with your current provider, otherwise give TPG a try

    • I’d rather have constant speeds/ less dropouts and value for money than ultra friendly customer service if I don’t have to contact them!

      • I'd have to plug Superloop again at this price point, $90 for 100/20.

  • +5

    I think they are Aussie Broadband/Superloop/Launtel/FutureBroadband

    Can speak for Aussie and Future. But they all have their good and bad points.

    Aussie is great but can get same speed for cheaper, same reliability - had 1 night drop out while with them 8 months~.
    A few people have moved from them to Future Broadband including me due to cost. They run on business grade networks. No drop outs so far (3 months)

    It isn't unlimited but unused data can be used in later months adding to your databank. Works out good if you don't use like heaps of data (over 1000GB)
    Having the databank means you can switch to cheaper plans saving money every month, on top of this you can pre-pay 6 months and save 8%.
    Get a referral code from someone and get extra in the data bank and $35 credit. One thing - Support is 10AM – 7PM for AEST.

    Launtel can be good because you can pause or change plans daily.

    • I’m assuming speeds are pretty much the same for Aussie vs Future? We tend to use just under 1000GB a month. Cheers for the feedback, it really helps!

      • +1

        Speeds are very similar.. as is the stability as in few dropouts or downtime for maintenance etc.

      • +1

        Yeah it's the same, one other thing - the once off configuration of your router is different with them to providers like Aussie. If you go with them make sure your router can configure the VLAN setting. Most routers can, but check!

  • First try something like TPG. They generally have speeds on par or better than the more expensive providers (ABB/Telstra/Optus) and less dropouts.

    If you do experience issues, some NBN customers do, you can move to ABB or other within a day and use their customer service (and pay the premium).

    Most people will find paying $10-20/month bucks less with TPG wont make any difference in their NBN experience.

    • Cool. Thanks for that. Glad to know I can switch out to a different company fairly quickly if I’m unhappy. I think I’d give the cheaper options a go first if speeds/dropouts are comparatively the same everywhere.

      • +2

        Read the fine print for early termination ISP modem pricing.

  • +3

    I'm with Future Broadband and they have a very reliable stable network. Aussie based support. They have data banking plans where you can save up excess data and then move to a cheaper plan and use your banked data if you go over your quota. Great for anyone looking for ways to save a few dollars on their internet.
    They also provide a routed static IP address which is great for running a server, some game consoles or security cameras. Pay in advance discounts also for existing customers can give you a discount and does their referral program.. They also still have the nbn100/40 plan for those looking for the better upload. (some ISP's only have the 100/20).

    I will also say that Launtel, Superloop and Aussie Broadband are also highly regarded and should be on anyone's shortlist of high quality ISP's.

    Telstra has, I think, a great network but I would not trust them around support… hard to get a hold of. Optus can be hit and miss with speeds.

    Anyway, congrats with the new NBN connection and enjoy the upgrade.

    • +3

      Cheers man! Future sounds like good value.

      I’d also rather avoid Telstra heh.

    • +1

      Another vote for Future. It's so good, it's boring.

      They have excellent routing for all the work apps you use .. Dynamics, Salesforce, Oracle cloud apps etc - it;s literally like night and day in terms of performance for all my work apps (compared to Telstra who I used to use).

      I'm also surprised at how little data WFH actually uses - a few of us WFH 8-10 hours a day is lucky to be 10GB a day extra over and above what we did before unless one of us is on an all day "business review" Zoom call or something which bumps the data transfer up a bit. The responsiveness for work apps that Future give is what makes the difference.

  • I have gigabit with Aussie and it's great. Reminds me of AARNET at university.

  • I'm with Superloop 100/20 and definitely happy with them. No slowdown issues any time of the day or night, better pings for gaming than before (was on Optus Cable) and reasonably priced with the $10 off per month for the first six months.

    You can check the CVC utilisation on your local exchange at https://www.superloop.com/consumer/home-broadband/cvc-graphs… - for mine it looks like it never peaks above 40% or so.

  • Assuming you are paying about $90 a month to Telstra with the speed boost? If you want to stay with Telstra, call them and tell them you will stay with Telstra only if they give you NBN100 plan for the price of the NBN50 plan (ie with free speed boost). They might need to talk to their manager for approval but don’t take no for an answer. I know a few people who have done this successfully as have I.

    NBN50 is normally $90 a month, but currently discounted to $80 for 12 months.

    Hope this helps.

    • It helps. Thank you. TBH I’d rather just stay on cable until they kick me off.

  • +1

    Dear OP
    The only provider is NBN
    There is absolutely no choice in this.

    Speeds between the retailers differs only minimally
    For exampe for NB 50 fastest = 46 Slowest = 42 Hence different is negligible and this is at PEAK EVENING periods.
    So faster during the day. probably almost no difference

    Go with who gives you the best service and the best deal

    If you want to keep home phone (you didnt say) the field narrows considerably

    my recommendation is
    No phone - go with Belong
    With home phone - go with Spintel

    Good luck

    • NBN 50 fastest = around 55Mbps.

    • +1

      Speeds aren't all there is to this. Premium providers have better routing to apps you use for WFH .. which means those apps perform better. Eg click to open a record and it's open immediately, rather than 3-5 seconds.
      I don't think you can go wrong with the couple of premium providers mentioned a few times here - Aussie/Superloop/Future/Launtel

      Future suits my WFH needs perfectly - in fact, my work apps feel 'snappier' at home on Future than they do in the office!

  • +2

    Just with wanting to keep the home phone (landline) I always recommend people not use their ISP but use a third party provider for that. If the ISP is a dud it is a lot easier to transfer to a new provider if you don't have to worry about transferring the phone as well. The same advice goes for email as well.

  • Being notified your address is "ready" does not mean you have to connect. This is a targeted marketing ploy by Telstra. Yon have many options available when it comes to choosing the right courier for your particular needs.
    Don't be sucked into this option…. they know 5G is going to kill this antiquated faulty cable mode and are simply desperate to sign up as many suckers as possibly so. Your City has 5G now…. much much faster speeds… enquire into 5G

    • Wonder what the cost vs value 5G is compared to nbn. We do live fairly close to the city.

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