Belong Internet Selling 30mbps When Only 50 and 25 Exists

Jackson on 17/03/2021 - 14:29
Last edited 17/03/2021 - 21:15 by 1 other user

Hey all, it's probably a well known fact by the Ozbargain community that Belong internet sells a 30Mbps Starter Plan, but that the NBN has never supported 30, they only support 50 and 25.

Either way, I was the happy recipient of real speeds of about 46-48Mbps for the last better part of a year. Then after having some intermittent issues, e.g. click a link on OB, doesn't load and shows me a white page until I reload it over a minute later, then it loads instantly, I thought to check my speed. My speed now is almost always under 30Mbps. So does anyone know if Belong has found a way to throttle people, or if the NBN now supports more speeds?

Edit: I had a look at nbn co's current speed tiers and its completely different to when I signed up:

https://www.nbnco.com.au/learn/speed#home-standard-id8650575…

You can see there they now have:

12Mbit
15Mbit
30Mbit - this could be what I'm on now
60Mbit
150Mbit

Apart from these speeds being nothing like what we are used to (12/50/100) they use the wording: "During a typical busy period, download speeds should reach at least 30Mbps*". This makes me wonder if I am actually on the old tier speed or the new speed? Who ever thought their internet speed would be stuffed around mid contract?

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Hybroid on 17/03/2021 - 14:32

+2

ISPs can throttle speeds to resell whatever packages they want. If you signed up for up-to 30 mbit and now getting up-to 30 mbit then that's what it is.
- Jackson on 17/03/2021 - 14:43
  
  This wasn't the case when I signed up for at least the first 6 months, but interestingly often when I do tests it starts at 48 and then quickly comes down to 29 or so. Often though i get under 20 which is the real pain
  - Kail on 17/03/2021 - 14:54
    
    +1
    
    Under 20 is still reasonably fast though. Before NBN I only got about 2-3Mbps. Pages might take a bit to load but they would load on first attempt and in under a minute. What you are describing sounds like something else is going on with your connection.
    - deme on 17/03/2021 - 15:00
      
      +1
      
      Is your name Malcom Turnbull?
    - Jackson on 17/03/2021 - 15:02
      
      We pay for 30, IMO we should get 30
      - Hybroid on 17/03/2021 - 15:04
        
        @Jackson: You pay for UP TO 30. Major difference.
        
        A speed cap of 30Mbps applies at all times (Including 7pm-11pm)
        
        Jackson on 17/03/2021 - 15:07
        
        @Hybroid: I thought with the move to NBN we are now paying for guaranteed speeds within a few mbps. But to advertise 30 and get under some other companies lower tier of 20 (which I do get from time to time) is another thing
        
        Twix on 17/03/2021 - 17:44
        
        @Jackson: Swap to Launtel, Superloop or Aussie Broadband since they don't throttle. To get guaranteed speed 24/7 look at business plans. The NBN does support faster speeds. Do you have HFC, FTTC or FTTP?
        
        Jackson on 17/03/2021 - 17:53
        
        @Twix: FTTC
        
        Twix on 17/03/2021 - 17:54
        
        +1
        
        @Jackson: 100/40 is possible on FTTC. NBN are looking into increasing it even more.
        
        Twix on 17/03/2021 - 21:56
        
        @Hybroid: No idea why you got negged. Up to is 100% right.
      - Kail on 17/03/2021 - 15:50
        
        +1
        
        @Jackson: Yeah but I think you are too focused on speed and not focused enough on stability.
        
        You are complaining about your internet being 20Mbps but saying pages won't load.
        Your pages should load on internet as slow as 2Mbps so I don't think the speed is your main problem.
        It sounds like you may be losing packets or something like that.
        
        Your connection has a stability issue and you should ask Belong fix that specificly. Explain to them that pages will not load for you intermittently. Maybe there's something wrong with your line. Fixing it may not just resolve your intermittent issues but it may also give you your speed back.
        
        Jackson on 17/03/2021 - 17:55
        
        @Kail: I agree, and yes I have, and after performing all their troubleshooting it's still apparent. I will be hopefully performing a tracert soon (I haven't had to do one of those in a looooong time).
        
        My gut feeling was that the slow speed was also an effect of the packet loss, so a 30 second test might work fine for 20 seconds, but end up on average showing 20Mbit rather than 30-40. Occasionally I can't run the test if the drop coincides with my hitting start or loading the page
        
        Kail on 17/03/2021 - 21:26
        
        +1
        
        @Jackson: Whenever I've had line issues that cause drop outs, speed has dropped as well as part of the symptom.
        But you could be right that your ISP is throttling your speed in a janky way and causing the drop outs as a side effect.
        Either way it's totally unacceptable and they must fix it.
        Keep bothering them until they either fix it or release you from your contract so you can get a better ISP. Don't let them fob you off.
        
        Twix on 18/03/2021 - 00:02
        
        +1
        
        @Jackson: What NBN are saying is that during 7pm to 11pm you should get at least 30Mbps down. Look at the ISPs typical busy period speed for more up to date details. All downloads (except Gigabit) now go over what the plan speed says. For example you can get 265Mbps down on the 250Mbps plan and 108Mbps down on the 100Mbps plan. Speeds on offer are…
        
        25/5
        25/10
        50/20
        75/20
        100/20
        100/40
        250/25 (FTTP & HFC)
        250/100 (FTTP)
        500/200 (FTTP)
        1000/50 (FTTP & HFC)
        1000/400 (FTTP)
Jackson on 17/03/2021 - 15:06
So far I've:

Test 2 modems

Tested a different network cable (yes I am wired)

Reset NBN box using paperclip

Connected cable directly to nbn box

Used WiFi (only slower)

Connected the network cable direct to the laptop, bypassing the dock

Tried a different browser

All of these things, and the intermittent issue still happens. It doesn't last long when it does, but twice an hour I probabaly have to wait a minute or two and come back. Some of the above, like resetting the nbn box, seemed to fix the issue mostly, but after a whhile it woudl come back again
- Kail on 17/03/2021 - 15:58
  
  +1
  
  Can you run a few traceroutes to common websites you use? Especially during the time your internet drops out, and when it seems fine for comparison. They might give you some interesting information that you can take back to your provider to show them that you have a problem that needs to be fixed.
DarthAntz on 17/03/2021 - 15:20

+1

50 + 20 ( / 2) = 30. That's how they got their number. Maths.
- hashtagbargain on 17/03/2021 - 15:35
  
  -1
  
  MaTh
smashman42 on 17/03/2021 - 15:39

I got pissed with their 30Mbps plan being flaky and having speeds fluctuate like that, so as I'm under contract still I just paid the extra to go to the official 50Mbps plan - it is still fluctuates, but getting minimums of around 35 is tolerable enough for my use case (multiple 1080p streams simultaneously that'd previously buffer or die if Windows decided it needed updates or something with the 30 plan's real world 20) that I CBFed trying to get out of the contract, but in a few months I'm gone and never coming back, they're super shit.

They also use that CGNAT shit so had to pay for a static IP, so in the end I'm saving only $10/M compared to the premium ISPs. Their mobile plans are worth it for me but not their NBN plan
- Jackson on 17/03/2021 - 15:43
  
  My gut feeling is that the fluctuations started when they throttled the 30Mbps accounts to 30Mbps. I have a feeling that if it's not NBN driven but software driven, it's just mucking around with throughput and giving people a bad experience. I was hoping someone on here would have more information or corroborate my theory.
  
  Up until the throttling I had no issues, might have just been because I was on a higher speed but this is more of an intermittent short lived drop out issue now
  - smashman42 on 17/03/2021 - 15:51
    
    +1
    
    Their throttling was weird for me where it wasn't there for the first two weeks, then it was, then occasionally it'd not be there for a few hours.
    
    The dropping lower issue would most likely be CVC related, where being a budget provider they just don't have enough bandwidth provided for the local pool of users, as for me is mostly got worse at peak times.
    - Jackson on 17/03/2021 - 16:58
      
      with meit can happen any time, even in the middle of a weekday which I'd assume would be low
outlander on 17/03/2021 - 18:04

+1

Guessing it's really 50mbps, but they throttle it down to 30 and oversell their allocated bandwidth. Cheap but comes at a cost. Still potentially workable if you don't have any on-demand applications that operate during peak times.
- Jackson on 17/03/2021 - 18:18
  
  Yes, with the knowledge of this relatively widespread (that is used to be 50Mbps for many months, even years maybe) I thought someone would have some inside info or have done some tests, but while I have plenty of excellent suggestions no one has really given an insiders view yet
jmytch on 23/03/2021 - 16:06

Another ISP - 25/5 vs 30/20 Belong

30 Mbps Down / 20 Mbps UP bigger number the better.

They are basically 50/20 plan but shaped down to 30/20 to beat the 25/5 plan. Find me a 25/5 plan that is cheaper than Belong? Belong is a no brainer in this price range as you get more upload, and 5 Mbps additional to the download speed.
- Jackson on 23/03/2021 - 17:06
  
  considering the first number is more important, and I used to get 46-48, yeah it's a step down
  - jmytch on 23/03/2021 - 20:31
    
    Yeh I noticed that earlier in the year back in Jan. Was disappointed and left them for another provider anyway. But this 30/20 would be good for a single or two person in household.

Belong Internet Selling 30mbps When Only 50 and 25 Exists

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