Another internet provider question - so confused

I have tried to find the thread about internet plans and carriers, but cannot find it. I'm in Coorparoo in Brisbane.

I have a $79 Fusion plan (cable internet plus unlimited calls on home phone) with Optus. My plan finishes 30 September and I want to see if I can get what I am getting with Optus for less. I'm happy with a VoIP or landline, but DO want a home phone, and not just rely on mobile.

I've read I can get much cheaper, but having called iinet and TPG, I'm told I cannot get TPG due to no ports available and they cannot even tell me if I can get internet without a home phone unless I have a Telstra phone.

So, I called iinet and it seems I can get ADSL plus a home phone for $49.95 (200GB) plus $9.95 VoIP plus $29.95 line rental, which is more than I am paying now. I would get a new number, cannot bring my number over.

Or they will do a Naked DSL for $69.96 (100GB) but need to buy a VoIP capable modem for $129 (no problem). That is still only $10 less than I'm paying now and I pay for the modem plus $150 installation on a "no plan" basis.

iinet chap told me that cable is faster than phone line speed unless my street has lots of people connecting at the same time.

This confusion of different costs, plans and basic messages about speed etc is why most people simply keep with the "devil they know".

I'm ready to go back to living in a cave.

I definitely want a home phone. I don't want to rely on a mobile for all my calls. I looked at getting internet only and having a separate home phone but that will cost me considerably more than my Fusion plan due to cost of calls.

I'm so confused. I'm guessing if I just wanted internet and was happy to use mobile for all my calls, this would be easier... But I don't want to use mobile exclusively.

I've checked Whirlpool to see if there is an easy way to work through the mire but there is so much information that my head it is spinning.
 
Hi Wylie

What do you need? Internet and a landline?

I've used both TPG and Spintel recently and both have been excellent - and both have pretty simple product/pricing options.

I just moved to Spintel because of a change of PPOR address (TPG was no longer available) and I think it's $79 for unlimitted ADSL 2 and landline. I've spoken with their technical team twice and they have been helpful on both occassions.

Don't get me started with Dodo - a very painful experience.

Telstra and Optus capitalise on their branding and jack up their prices.

Cheers

Jamie
 
I recommend Internode Naked DSL (if available in your area) ... depending on how much data you need, go for the $59.95 30GB plan ... no dial tone, no line rental, use NodePhone VoIP (no extra charge, includes $10 of call credit) ... or $69.95 for 60GB.

I work from home full time and push my link pretty hard (although I don't do torrents and such) and I typically use only 80-90GB per month, so don't over-estimate how much you'll need. You can always top-up or change to a higher plan if needed down the track.

The lack of line rental charges plus included call credit on VoIP (which goes a long way - I've never had to pay for calls on my home VoIP line), makes these plans very good value.

As a bonus, you should also be able to port your existing phone number to NodePhone VoIP too, but check with Internode first though, just to make sure!

I have two NodePhone phone numbers, one for personal, one for business - I rely on them 100% and find them extremely reliable and the call quality is superb.

I was even able to get my in-laws changed over to using Naked DSL + NodePhone ... it is seamless and they have never had a problem with it.

You will need a VoIP capable router, about $139 I think is the cheapest Internode sell - comes pre-configured for you! There is also a setup charge - depending on what options you choose.

http://www.internode.on.net/residential/adsl_broadband/easy_naked/

Internode Online Coverage Checker
 
What I want to know is can you take your email address with you?

I've had the same address for 10 years, everyone knows it for business and personal, it is connected to everything I have to log onto etc etc - but - I'm with unlimited bigpond and it's not cheap and the quality is pretty ordinary.

I also don't want a home phone, internet and mobile only, but don't really understand this naked stuff.
 
Optus gave me $10 discount at the end of my contract to stay with them.

I'll keep that in mind thanks.

Hi Wylie

What do you need? Internet and a landline? Yes. Both.

I've used both TPG and Spintel recently and both have been excellent - and both have pretty simple product/pricing options. TPG have no "port" for me for home phone, and cannot tell me if they can offer me just internet because I am with Optus and need to have a Telstra phone connection for them to check :confused:. So TPG is a "no show" for me.

I just moved to Spintel because of a change of PPOR address (TPG was no longer available) and I think it's $79 for unlimitted ADSL 2 and landline. I've spoken with their technical team twice and they have been helpful on both occassions. I checked out Spintel and the deal seems similar to TPG and iinet and Internode. I haven't called Spintel because I'm sick of this for the day, but did call Internode.

Don't get me started with Dodo - a very painful experience. Years ago I changed over to Dodo and left within one month. It was hopeless and is one reason why I'm reluctant to give up the "devil I know" because I might get something worse.

Telstra and Optus capitalise on their branding and jack up their prices.

Cheers

Jamie

I recommend Internode Naked DSL (if available in your area) ... depending on how much data you need, go for the $59.95 30GB plan ... no dial tone, no line rental, use NodePhone VoIP (no extra charge, includes $10 of call credit) ... or $69.95 for 60GB.

I work from home full time and push my link pretty hard (although I don't do torrents and such) and I typically use only 80-90GB per month, so don't over-estimate how much you'll need. You can always top-up or change to a higher plan if needed down the track.

The lack of line rental charges plus included call credit on VoIP (which goes a long way - I've never had to pay for calls on my home VoIP line), makes these plans very good value.

As a bonus, you should also be able to port your existing phone number to NodePhone VoIP too, but check with Internode first though, just to make sure!

I have two NodePhone phone numbers, one for personal, one for business - I rely on them 100% and find them extremely reliable and the call quality is superb.

I was even able to get my in-laws changed over to using Naked DSL + NodePhone ... it is seamless and they have never had a problem with it.

You will need a VoIP capable router, about $139 I think is the cheapest Internode sell - comes pre-configured for you! There is also a setup charge - depending on what options you choose.

Thanks Sim. I called Internode, spoke to someone with very good English (for the first time today) who was extremely helpful. For the past three months we have used June 55GB, July 73GB and Aug 52GB. In the nine days so far this month we have used 60GB but middle son is downloading a LOT of unusual stuff for his uni work and youngest son has watched a couple of movies. So higher than usual usage this month.

The thing is that for $79 Fusion plan with Optus, we get unlimited local and calls to Optus mobiles whereas all the plans I have looked at will charge me per call, local and mobile and/or cost about the same when I add up the costs. The other tricky bit is our back to base alarm which calls in once a day to test itself, but the bigger issue is that we will have to get the alarm company out to reconfigure the control box and panel. This would not stop me changing if I was saving money, but each plan seems to be very similar to what I am paying for Optus now.


What I want to know is can you take your email address with you? Not sure, but this is more important to me than keeping our home number.

I've had the same address for 10 years, everyone knows it for business and personal, it is connected to everything I have to log onto etc etc - but - I'm with unlimited bigpond and it's not cheap and the quality is pretty ordinary.

I also don't want a home phone, internet and mobile only, but don't really understand this naked stuff.

Internode explained that naked DSL is internet only down a phone line, with no home phone. (That is what I understood anyway.)

One of the bigger issues is that the tech that came out on Thursday as a result of us having issues connecting for the past week or so told me that Optus had connected us with one cable coming to the downstairs area and then being split, one cable to the Optus TV and the other to the internet. Our TV signal was negative 10 and he was surprised we don't have trouble with our TV. He said the signal (or strength??) driving the internet coming from the street was half the strength it should be.

He wanted to arrange a further visit to run the cable without it being split, but his supervisor instead got him to "boost" whatever was coming in from the power pole in the street to rectify the problem. He said our neighbours would also benefit from better speeds and/or reception. We upgraded to an extra $20 per month to get up to five times the speed of our internet (depending on our equipment) which I can remove any time, back to what we are used to for $79 per month. Son has not seen any faster loading, and I cannot even get a signal in my upstairs office since the tech was here. Tech replaced the modem and wireless router with a combined modem/router but I can get no signal upstairs now.

I spent 80 minutes today trying to get past the Optus operator, who did very well not to hang up on me, nor me hang up on him. I was livid at being blocked until finally he passed me to his supervisor, who said he could see we "had problems" and promised to call me back in about an hour (still waiting 8 hours later). I have no signal in my office but have just moved my computer to the dining room which is directly above the modem/router and have full signal. My office is 15 feet from where I'm sitting now. Maybe the old one had better signal strength to get through the floorboards.

If I can get signal back in my office, I will probably stay with Optus because nothing else is cheaper unless I drop down in GB, and a biggie is that phone calls are unlimited with Optus whereas the plans I checked today all charge per call. And we need 60GB going on our past three months' usage, and that level of GB is roughly what I am paying now.

I have a Cisco modem/router and I have the phone number and pin number to see if I can get the signal back to the room I was getting a signal from the old modem and router. (I cannot make that call until Wednesday.)

Thank you so much for the helpful links and information. I am working tomorrow but will check this out further on Wednesday. However, from what I have found out today, I will not be saving anything over what I am paying now.
 
Hi Wylie

What do you need? Internet and a landline?

I've used both TPG and Spintel recently and both have been excellent - and both have pretty simple product/pricing options.

I just moved to Spintel because of a change of PPOR address (TPG was no longer available) and I think it's $79 for unlimitted ADSL 2 and landline. I've spoken with their technical team twice and they have been helpful on both occassions.

Don't get me started with Dodo - a very painful experience.

Telstra and Optus capitalise on their branding and jack up their prices.

Cheers

Jamie

im on telstra adsl2+ $88/m inc line rental 200gb dl
id like to get less download and cheaper but they only do 5gb or 200gb!! and i dont even have a phone connected
i cant get naked dsl and no other providers have adsl2 ports but comparing to other adsl2+ plans telstra is a pretty good deal price wise and really good speeds, if i could get naked then it would change obviously

dodo - cheap and nasty but if you can fix everything yourself it may be worth it if theres semi decent speeds and your fine with problems, i once ran there dialup 24/7 7 days a week with no problems even though they can kick you off after 4 hrs

What I want to know is can you take your email address with you?

I've had the same address for 10 years, everyone knows it for business and personal, it is connected to everything I have to log onto etc etc - but - I'm with unlimited bigpond and it's not cheap and the quality is pretty ordinary.

I also don't want a home phone, internet and mobile only, but don't really understand this naked stuff.

no you cant take it with you but you may be able to pay so much per month to keep it, dont know how long it stays before then discontinue it, i just use gmail least im not locked into one provider, best bet is see if you can still use your old email or even change it now and forward all email from your old address to your new one and slowly get people to change over

naked just means you dont need to pay phone line rental as it connects differently than normal adsl, thus making it cheaper,
nakeds good for if you dont want a landline to make calls to/from or if you want to use voip
if you want a land line then best to stick with a bundle
 
One of the bigger issues is

We upgraded to an extra $20 per month to get up to five times the speed of our internet (depending on our equipment) which I can remove any time, back to what we are used to for $79 per month. Son has not seen any faster loading, and I cannot even get a signal in my upstairs office since the tech was here. Tech replaced the modem and wireless router with a combined modem/router but I can get no signal upstairs now.

ok first problem i see here
the faster speeds you get the less stable it gets i see you have been put on a faster plan and now having more trouble?
whats were your speeds and what are they now?

telstra has a few options in there adsl plan (i know its not cable but works on the same principle, even 3g is affected by this) its the SNR = signal to noise Ratio (see attached)

downgrade back to your plan., first it will save you $20 and should make your connection better, and see if they can change the noise filter to make it more stable

also some modems/routers are more stable than others is there a chance you can plug your old modem and router back in and test it?

the other thing with changing is if it cost you $400 up front or even more it may take 2 or so years to recoup the costs.. is it worth it if everything is working fine?
 

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ok first problem i see here
the faster speeds you get the less stable it gets i see you have been put on a faster plan and now having more trouble?

downgrade back to your plan., first it will save you $20 and should make your connection better

also some modems/routers are more stable than others is there a chance you can plug your old modem and router back in and test it?

I will give that a try on Wednesday (have to work tomorrow). I have the old modem and old router. I thought about doing that tonight, but I was ready to bang my head against the nearest wall and just needed to give it away for the day. How on earth do people do this stuff when they have to go to work? It has taken me all day, on and off, trying to make them listen to me.

I also believe the "upgrade" to faster speed didn't take effect for a day or so, and from the day the tech came out the internet was crap, so I'm not sure that it is the higher speed, but I'm happy to cancel that "extra" and see if it works as it was.

If I cannot get signal in the office with the new modem, or the old modem and router, I plan on trying to get them to come out and run the cable correctly instead of having it split twice, where I think we could be having issues and maybe losing signal. Perhaps we could have had faster internet for years if they had cabled it properly :rolleyes:.
 
Thanks BMan. I'll see what happens when I try a couple of these things tomorrow. If I can boost the signal so I can use it in the room I was using it in last week, I'll be happy, and stay with the "devil I know".

I just cannot see I will be saving any money with most of the plans I have looked at, and the pain involved in changing over would need to be worth it financially, and it just doesn't seem to be justified at all.

If I had been treated with more regard by the staffer at Optus today and not treated like some idiot who had no clue what had happened in my own house (and I clearly was able to speak with confidence about the call between the tech and his supervisor and I knew enough of the issues at our house to be taken seriously) then this would have gone more smoothly. And I wouldn't feel like I am pushing $@#^ uphill.

No wonder "older people" cannot be bothered to keep up with technology.
 
Internode explained that naked DSL is internet only down a phone line, with no home phone. (That is what I understood anyway.)

Yes. A standard phone service (you plug a phone in and get a dial tone) can be used for DSL on the same line, so you get a traditional phone line + internet. For this you pay your standard line rental + phone calls to your normal phone provider and also pay internet charges to your ISP.

A naked connection removes the dial tone from the phone line and saves you your monthly line rental fee. There is still a fee to be paid for the copper line, but that is paid at wholesale rates by your ISP and so the cost of naked DSL is only slightly higher than regular DSL (but much cheaper overall than paying retail rates for line rental). Of course, you can no longer make phone calls using a traditional phone - but you could use VoIP instead (or just rely on mobiles).

I called Internode, spoke to someone with very good English (for the first time today) who was extremely helpful

Their main call centre is in Adelaide. Their service generally is excellent.

The thing is that for $79 Fusion plan with Optus, we get unlimited local and calls to Optus mobiles whereas all the plans I have looked at will charge me per call, local and mobile and/or cost about the same when I add up the costs.

True. NodePhone charges $0 to other NodePhone numbers, 18c to any landline in Australia, and 29c per minute to mobile phones.

If you use a mobile phone a lot and are already using Optus for your mobile - you should also look at the new Internode NodeMobile offering - it's a SIM card replacement for your phone which still uses the Optus network, but gets billed by Internode instead at much lower call rates.

This probably only makes sense if you are going to move away from your existing Optus bundle to something else, though.

The other tricky bit is our back to base alarm which calls in once a day to test itself

I assume this uses a landline? Is it the same landline that you use for phone calls now? If so, you probably can't use that for naked DSL anyway because of the alarm, or alternatively you would need to use a second copper line instead and I assume you would still be paying line rental on the line used by the alarm, which kind of defeats the cost savings somewhat.

Have you looked at the NBN 3 year rollout map? If you are scheduled to get the NBN within the next few years, it might be worth just waiting until that gets connected rather than futzing around now.
 
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