Telephone & Internet Bundle

Lpetey on 24/01/2012 - 12:18

Hi people,

I was just wondering who the cheapest home phone and decent speed internet package (or seperate if I save money). I'm currently with bigpond and feel like I'm getting shafted as I'm paying close to $100/month which includes line rental and 100gb ADSL2+ internet and on average my family makes about $20 of local calls a month (no mobiles or long distance).

I was really thinking should I go cable internet or is there another company out there with decent ADSL2+. I was with TPG internet prior and I used to experience at least once a month down time which meant I couldn't access the internet for about 6 hours. It was no big deal but I was still annoyed. So far I have no complaints with Bigpond but as for higher speeds they promised, it's crap, it's as fast as TPG was, no different.

I do have foxtel which I can cancel at anytime (as my contract is up) or bundle into a plan which I'm paying $110 a month approx for platinum IQ2 package. I really wanted another box but I didn't want to pay foxtel any extra because it feels like I pay too much for it as it is. Somebody told me I couldn't have more than one IQ2 box in the house, which is crap because we have 3HD tv's so what's the point of IQ1?

I guess times are hard and I'm reaching out for your two cents. So please tell me if you're happy with your service and who you'd recommend and why.

Thank you in advance,
Petey

Find Me A Bargain

Comments

ms_caz on 24/01/2012 - 12:38

Can't help sorry Petey but I'm with you with a similar deal with BigPong (not the foxtel part though). I also feel like we are paying a lot of money for a service we don't really use. However, we will be moving in the next 6 months or so and don't want to lock into a contract before then, but would be interested in any feedback that others might suggest.

cheers, caz
harthagan on 24/01/2012 - 12:50

I've got home phone + mobile + unlimited ADSL2+ all with TPG for under $80 a month and the download speeds I get is 2 megabytes per second which is plenty fast enough for me. Can't beat it for value.
- troyww on 24/01/2012 - 19:59
  
  Also have TPG here . $60 a month for line and unlimited ADSL . I get over 5mbs which is exactly the same I got with Amnet . Also have the mobiles bundled for $15 a month with $550 worth of calls , 1.5Gb of data and free TPG to Tpg mobile and home . We were without ADSL for 3.5 weeks while our line was changed over but I was made well aware of that when I signed up so I timed it so the minute our ADSL went down I activated our mobile sims and used the 1.5Gb of data on our mobiles via tethering .
  I am very happy with the Optus mobile network (previously 3 which was becoming woeful ) and the ADSL is fast and reliable . YMMV .
  I looked around a lot 3months ago and TPG's deal was just too good to say no to .
  As an aside I've used Telstra phone support helping a few people set up their internet and couldn't believe how crap it was considering what they are paying . TPG support IMHO is far superior .
issh on 24/01/2012 - 13:00

I'm on Optus Fusion $115 per month(1000GB per month + Home Phone)
Download Speeds can reach up to 100megabits/sec(approx 12.5megabytes/sec), it's Cable

Others can be found here
https://www.optus.com.au/shop/broadband/fusion

Harthagan's plan seems great value!
- orange123 on 24/01/2012 - 16:21
  
  Get the premium speed pack. Best $20 ever spent. Using rpnet im doing at least 6 MB/s and sometimes even reaching 10 MB/s.
  - issh on 24/01/2012 - 18:57
    
    haha yeah that's what i have as well
    Essentiall my deal is
    
    1Tb Fusion ($129 for $99 offer)
    +
    Speedpack ($15 as i am existing customer)
    
    SO $99 + $15 = $114 per month, it's a great deal!
petey on 24/01/2012 - 13:41

@Harthagan Thank you for your feedback. TPG does seem like a really competitive deal phone and internet wise. I haven't been with them in some time, do you experience outages every month or have they improved? I'm probably not ready to switch over my mobile as I don't believe TPG have a plan to suit my needs which is cheap enough. They don't throw in a mobile which means I would have to fork out an extra $600 for the mobile I change every year. Tpg run through the optus network and I'm not really a huge fan of optus with troubles in the past and them overcharging for data rates.

-Food for Thought-
I'm not sure if you peeps know this but if you have more than one plan with a phone company (I'm currently with vodafone) you seem to get better deals and you're eligable for 12month contracts usually at the same price. I find this a good deal because I pay about $60 for my infinity plan with 2gb data and I can change my galaxy 2 after 12 months. The problem I find with 24month mobile plans is the phones only seem to last me 12 months.

I'm not sure what your situation is but if you're married/ in a long term relationship/ have a business/ your parents/ or even your kids mobile you should look at putting all plans under one customer name you'll find the phone companies bring better deals to the table. Just my two cents you might possibly try to save you some money in the future. It saved me money as vodafone apply a discount to all my plans, and if the plans weren't together we'd have to pay more for less.

@issh Thanks for your feedback but $115 a month is probably over my budget, as I'm not even liking paying $100 a month. My family doesn't use 1TB of internet usage a month. I had a look @ the $79 cap but I have to agree with you so far TPG has the best rates going. Your speeds seem to be a lot better than I've experienced on ADSL.
Realsteel on 24/01/2012 - 15:41

Hi

I have TPG- $60 home phone and unlimited internet. Had it for 6-7 months- just a few minor hiccups but overall no complaints. Minor hiccups- after 2 months- internet stopped working and it took them 2 weeks to rectify it but since then no problems have been noted.

I havent encountered major drop out problems- just a few times..I play PS3 online and at times, I get logged out when I play online as internet drops out- just for a few seconds.

I couldnt find anything cheaper so for $60 bucks with home phone- i think it is decent.
- orange123 on 24/01/2012 - 16:19
  
  +2
  
  Omg no internet for 2 weeks. That's not a hiccup that's a calamity.
  - Realsteel on 25/01/2012 - 08:57
    
    Lol. Yes I agree! It can't be classified as a minor hiccup!
StewBalls on 24/01/2012 - 18:12

If you're on a budget & you're reasonably technologically minded (basic stuff only) then I'd consider Exetel. You can choose from a range of plans, but if you're a heavy user you can get a 500gb+500gb plan from $39.50/m + $20 line rental: http://www.exetel.com.au/a_plan_pricing_adsl2_new.php

I've been with them for years, I've probably been offline 3-4x in that time, maybe the sum total of a few hours (some of which were due to flooding or idiots digging up phone cables in the street) and completely unrelated to the ISP. I've rarely had any hiccups at all, and the support staff have always been courteous & competent IMHO.

Yeah, you'll hear a couple of horror stories from a few that have been asked to leave, but when you read the abusive letters they're written you can understand why you'd dump them as customers. John Linton (CEO) doesn't take kindly to customers abusing his staff, so he fires back in kind…yep, he's a bit of a loose cannon but there's two sides to every story.

The upshot is that if you don't need your hand held, can be a little patient with troubleshooting, and don't threaten to run to the TIO everytime something goes wrong, then it can be a very worthwhile endeavour! :)
harthagan on 24/01/2012 - 18:51

I've had no issues with TPG in terms of the internet dropping out. Although I do hate the fact they are on the optus network for the mobile plans as most of the rooms in the house have poor reception. It can be frustrating but for $15 a month I have decided to put up with it.

Telephone & Internet Bundle

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