Looking for reliable ISP

L

LucasK

After IPrimus failed to send me the bill, logged me out countless numbers of times, disconnected for some strange reason I could never work out....

I'm now looking for a new ISP. Reliability is important to me, although I'm too poor (not to mention in the wrong location) for a cable to be installed.

Any recommendations? I heard Telestra was ok, although their prices do seem steep.
 
I used telstra many years ago for dial up (before ADSL) and they were ok then I switched to OzEmail who were very reliable. Now that I have ADSL I still keep a spare dial up account for when I'm travelling interstate (or if ADSL goes down, which thankfully hasnt happened for ages).

I am on a plan with TPG that is $9.99 a month with a max limit of $14.99. I never use over the $9.99 (80Megs per month). I think TPG have one of the better dial up deals out there although I haven't looked for a while. My brother went on their unlimited dial up plan for a while until he moved and could get cable. He seemed to have no problems either.

TPG dialup plans:
http://www.tpg.com.au/products_services/dialup_pricing.php
 
I used Telstra for a few years because that was what work was willing to pay for (they did a deal with Telstra). It was shockingly unreliable.

I suggest you look at my preferred ISP - Internode. They have excellent dialup plans including nation-wide local call access (which I use regularly when travelling). They also have some of the best broadband plans when you choose to upgrade to a real internet connection :p

Internode's customer service is regarded as some of the best out of any Australian ISP .

Check out the Internode Dialup Plans

Oh, and Internode are going to be reselling the new Unwired service (wireless broadband) too - which will be useful for getting higher speeds without needing any cables - ideal for studends, renters, and people who have to work from multiple locations and want to take their broadband with them !
 
I used SENet for a few years and recently switched to Primus because of their Primus One plan (no charge for local calls, unlimited dial up and cheap interstate and overseas calls). SENet had always been very reliable with very few problems and I only changed to be able to get a cheaper overall package. I am not sure if SENet is available in Victoria.

The Primus network works well for me here in Adelaide, so there may be problems with your local exchange which would not be fixed regardless of which dialup ISP you use, so ADSL etc. may be better options.

Maybe try and find out if the problem is with Primus or is a localised issue.

Cheers,
Chris.
 
When I was on dial-up I found Austar very good. Could not fault them.

Our first ADSL was Internode and while the company tried there were regional problems (prob Telstra) so now with Netspace. I'm happy with them and unlikely to change.

T
 
I used AAPT for dialup for a while - good, cheap plans, and I especially liked their selections of POPs around Australia - but I did have a few problems with their network.

I also used iPrimus for a while too - but ditched them when they proved to be uncompetitive and their network was shocking.

SENet are now owned by OzEmail I think - I believe the only reason they didn't rename the company was that SENet had a really good name in Adelaide, while OzEmail's name was mud - and still largely is !
 
I was with IPrimus for a year or so and it nearly drove me crazy, disconnected every five minutes, my phone bill was through the roof, so I had Optus cable for a while which was very good. Now that I dont use the net so often I have a diall -up with Dodo and I have no problems with them at all. no dropouts either,
 
I had horrible experiences with Ozemail ADSL. It wasn't the techical bit= it was their questionable business ethics which I found objectionable. ("You've signed the contract, so bad luck" attitude).

Optusnet I've found good for dialup- but, if you've got any chance of travelling, make sure your ISP has local dialup access from anywhere in Australia.
 
Lucas
It depends on your Internet usage.
If you are on a $25 dial up plan which can be $40 or more with phonecalls
then I recommend you switch to ASDL.
A friend of mine was paying $70-$80 per month on phone calls
due to the kids dialing up all the time. Now he pays less than $30/month :)

A good ADSL plan would cost $40 You will always be connected to the web
you will be able to use your phone at the same time, you will have a fast
connection and you won't be paying for phone calls.
www.iinet.net.au
For $40 on ADSL you get 12Gig of downloads (6Gb peak 6Gb offpeak)

I joined iinet about 6 months ago and haven't looked back.
They are very competitive and very reliable.

You will need to signup with them for ISD phone calls to get the $10/month
discount but you don't have to make any calls with them and their ISD calls
are very competitive anyway.

Note: If you are referred by someone who is already
with iinet you get a $30 voucher and he gets $30 as well

cheers
 
Thanks for the advice all, and thanks 'specially for the link to the forums.

I'm generally looking for unlimited hours, so lately I've been considering ADSL. Download speed isn't too important to me, as I rarely download any large files or graphics. Is there any major noticable improvement in speed when using ADSL, compared with dialup?
 
Lucas - do your research!!!!!

It's not hard to go to a Telstra, Optus, Ozemail, Netspace, etc, etc ISP site and see the difference between dialup & ADSL.

Aceyducey
 
I was using Ozemail dial up and had those high phone bills too until I recently switched over to Ozemail's Boardband. Started off with the $29.95 p/m 18 mth plan (to get the ADSL modem for free). But the daughters (and their bloody music downloads) blew that plan out in no time, so quickly switched over to the unlimited $49.95 per mth plan (no charge for switchover).

Have been with Ozemail since 2001 and never had any problems with them (i.e. very reliable). Only needed their help when connecting up the boardband, they are open 24 hrs. One daughter has her own laptop and we installed a router so she also can use the same internet connection at the same time.

And yes, noticable improvement with a 256k broadband compared to dial up.
 
Sim said:
Just remember that it is possible to get a broadband provider that doesn't tie you to a contract - contracts are evil.
Click to expand...
Ozemail no longer has a contract period - $99 ADSL signup instead. I've been v. happy with Ozemail dial-up & broadband for the last 5+ years - no outages. And there is a v. noticeable difference between 56K dialup and 256K ADSL. Iincidentally, my router tells me the download speed is 1500K - although I only pay for 256K - I assume it's throttled somewhere else.

The other huge benefit of ADSL is no local call fees which easily add up to more than the costs of ADSL. And I've ditched my 2nd line so thats $33pm less to pay to telstra. So the benefits of ADSL are -

  • no 2nd line costs @$33pm
  • no local call changes ~$20pm
  • at least 4 times as fast
  • always connected
  • unlimited downloads
For me it's a no-brainer.
 
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