Two years ago, I stupidly signed a 24 months contract with a Telstra telemarketer for a very low value Bigpond plan that only offers ADSL1 at a download speed of 1500Kbps and monthly data allowance of 12GB. I was excited when this plan expired in June this year. Learning from this unhappy experience, I vow to be wiser this time, do more research and become very wary of plans that tie you for a long duration of time.
I am a heavy internet user so I was searching for the best value unlimited broadband plan on the market. TGP often advertises its $29.99 ADSL2+ Unlimited Plan in the MX newspapers. However, this plan is not offered for the Altona area. It does offer a ADSL1 Off-Net 8Mbps Unlimited Plan for $69.99 a month. Dodo also offers an unlimited ADSL2+ Plan for $39.90 a month. However, this is too unavailable for Altona. I finally settled on Clubtelco which offers an unlimited ADSL2+ Plan for $50 a month. A great attraction of this plan is that it is on a month to month commitment so you can leave the ISP at any time. When bundled with its home phone, you get a 5% discount off the total bill. I had switched over to Clubtelco for about a week and I am so far happy with the service. I was delighted that it only took about 3-4 days for my landline and broadband to be ported and churned over to Clubtelco.
When I compiled the table below, I realized that you may also consider Optus Home Phone & Broadband bundle, which costs $64.94 and includes $30 of value for its home phone. However, this plan does not offer unlimited data and is on a 24 months contract. I guess 120 GB is sufficient for most people. What I have read is that Cable broadband is more reliable in speed than ADSL2+, which depends on the distance between your place and the exchange.
You can check your internet speed by using this site1 or site2. I have obtained vastly different speeds from the 2 sites and I do not know which gives a more reliable result.
I find the home phone rental silly as you are paying around $30 a month even if you do not use the home phone much. You could save this cost by opting for what is called the Naked DSL, in which you can have a standalone ADSL broadband without a landline service. However, I believe that Naked DSL is not being offered in Altona.
| Bigpond | Optus | TGP | Dodo | Clubtelco | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan | Elite 200GB Liberty | Home Phone & Broadband $64.94 Plan | ADSL Off-Net 8M Unlimited |
|
Club Unlimited | ||
| Type | ADSL2+/Cable | Not written on website. Cable? | ADSL | ADSL2+ | ADSL2+ | ||
| Speed | 20/1Mbps (ADSL2) 30/1Mbps (Cable) |
Not written | 8Mbps/384Kbps | ADSL2+ | ADLS2+ or ADLS1Max | ||
| Data | 200GB (no peak or off-peak) | 120GB (50GB peak + 70GB off-peak) | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||
| Shaping | Slow to 256kbps | Slow to 128kbps | No | No | No | ||
| Contract | 24 months | Month to Month (Standalone) 24 months (Bundled with Home Phone) |
6 months | Month to Month (+$99) 12 months (+$69) 24 months (no setup fee) |
Month to Month | ||
| Monthly Price (Standalone) | $99.95 (12 months contract) | $89.94 | $69.99 | $69.90 | $50/month + $50 annual fee | ||
| Monthly Price (Bundled with Home Phone) | $99 (includes home phone rental) | $64.94 (includes home phone rental) | Not available | $59.90 | 5% discount on total bills | ||
| Inclusion | T-Box | Modem + Handset | – | Modem | – | ||
| Phone Monthly Rental | HomeLine Budget Plan | $14.95 Home Phone Plan with $30 of included value | Not available | $30 | $30 | ||
| Total monthly cost (broadband+phone rental) | $99 | $64.94 | $69.99 + Home phone rental | $89.90 | $80.20 |
I too sign up for clubtelco 2 weeks ago near you at sanctuary lakes. No WOW about speed or services offered yet. But still early days as I have a backup modem installed and wifi broadcast not strong. Will move in permanently soon. Any recommendation for a strong wifi signal modem?
I learnt that the speed depends on several factors such as distance from exchange, ports available, modem, etc. You can check or post a thread on Whirlpool forum.