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Your Broadband Plan. Are you happy with it? Will you Change it? Improvements !!!!!

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Mods i thought this appropriate but please move if needed ...

This thread isnt about your connection and how fast it is or how slow etc etc ....

This is primarily to find out about your broadband plans you are on, and to see the difference in the costings between different countries, see how the telco's have been ripping us off and now how the competition is so great, how a certain company is going to lure you to there plans next time ...

Im in Australia and the biggest Telco is Telstra and yes in believe they have a monopoly and have the ability to price however they want.
I had to go with them when i 1st got my MB because of location. They where the only carrier i could get ANY coverage what so ever and then i could only use wireless.
So for me they where charging for:
20100927-tdpqk4w6adp3bkjagxw27gxq2e.jpg


Yep in anyones language its a rip off and im getting a maximum of
20100927-xew24w8c36bgcjgpanp4gaq6f9.jpg


Now i know there is better plans out there and just moved into a new dwelling, i am finally getting BroadBand in the home and running a Wireless Router off it so i have have the portability of my MBP around the home.

Now over the last 6 months i have been eyeing off Companies and watching the prices and download caps.
iiNet is who im going with. Initially on there site they had 25gb + 25gb with now home number for 49.95 a month.
WOW perfect for me i thought and rang through to start the process. Now remember also i had done research and all review for iiNet where impressive.
Now the sales person said Sir we only offer 10+10, 100+100, 200+200, and GET THIS 500+500gb per month .....
That knocked me off my chair. So any way i took the 100gb+100gb for $49.95 a month. Naked DSL meaning without a Home number coming in as well.
20100927-cqegt963hmbqhsd239dn7y1mu8.jpg

10gb seemed a little to low for my use online and trust me i think ill really struggle to use 200gb. But i will be streaming through Boxee a lot now i have the fast BB. I find
What got me is for $50 dollars more i could have had a 1TB plan lol .. I just cant fathom someone using that much. I believe one add i read it said that 1TB is equivalent to streaming HD YouTube 24/7 for the whole month. ... WOW

So ATM im happy with the service, just takes a little while to get connected and ill post back the speed i get for the price ...

But for comparison
TELSTRA Just one of there rip offs ....
20100927-fck4ccfym6srbf95r4wyjqu474.jpg


OH well im sure ill be happy with 200GB lol
But we here in Australia have just voted in a Government with a $56 Billion NBN (National BroadBand Network) in the pipeline now so things could get even better for us ... 100+GB/s Downloads COOOL :Cool:

Anyways what do others think of theres..... Are you being ripped off because ONE company has a monopoly ??? Thoughts ??

Cheers
 

chscag

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Give you some idea here - what I'm paying and what I'm getting.

First, no limit on downloads or uploads. Using a FIOS connection with Verizon (FIOS = Fiber Optic System). It includes 300 channels of TV (HDTV, music, etc) and a broadband 15/5 connection for $89.99 /month. Without the TV, it would be $49.99 /month, unlimited data.

We have other carriers here in the Dallas Fort Worth area of Texas. I'm not sure what they charge but it's probably close to what Verizon is asking.
 
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Give you some idea here - what I'm paying and what I'm getting.


WOW that is impressive.

Its well know for countries in the developed world that Australia has one of the worst and slowest BroadBand net works going. This is why the government is implementing this NBN that will cost $56 000 000 000 ....

Cant wait for our Fibre Optics Network to come in. Competition is good ATM so we might start to get some of the benefits of our US brothers :)
 
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Where I live I'm stuck, I can't get Verizon fios here, I'm stuck with Brighthouse Networks (Ripoff) As far as I know we have unlimited data, I use a big portion of my data tethering my iPad through my phone.
 
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H, TattooedMac

I'm a fellow Aussie as you are. ANd when I checked out which ISP I wanted I checked them all out, Telstra, Optus, Vodaphone and all the little ISP's too. And I chose to go with TPG. They have these deals:

ADSL:

Screenshot2010-09-28at122408PM.jpg


ADSL 2:

Screenshot2010-09-28at122245PM.jpg


I'm with them on an old plan. But I'm going to update my plan to get the $50 ADSL plan. The same cost as the one I am on now but more bandwith and speed for me.

The sad part for me is Ipswich 5 minutes to the west of me can get ADSL2 and Brisbane to the east of em can get ASDL2. And me in the middle can not get ADSL2. Telstra will not upgrade my local telephone exchange to enable ADSL2. So I am stuck with ADSL. It's not bad mind you. Just annoying if I live 5-10 mins east or west of my current location I'd get ADSL2 for the same price as I am paying now for ADSL.

And TPG also have great customer service. I can phone them up and I always get someone to chat too. But they know nothing about OS X or how to connect to it. So I lie and tell them I have XP or W7 and get my support for that. And I just convert their help to OS X. Really doing a ping check or a traceroute or portscan I can do easily on my Mac. I'm sure the really new OS X users might not know this though. So it's something to consider. But It's not a major issue for me. I am happy with them.

So I'm going to get the $50 ADSL plan listed above. And my real issue is with Telstra and not upgrading my telephone exchange. The lazy animals they are. I just hope the National Broadband Plan our current government (which I don't like) will fix this issue.

And yeah I'd never use Telstra as my ISP for the reasons stated above. They are just trying to suck the public dry.

****************

[edit] My current plan with them is a 512k unlimited for $50. And I'm thinking of moving to the 1500K/256K with 25GBpeak/25GBoffpeak. Also costing $50. So I get 3x my internet speeds but I lose my unlimited bandwidth (at 512k). But I rarely if ever use more than 20GB a month So I think I'll upgrade.
 
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Mate your right, they do suck us dry. I have my fingers crossed as to ADSL2 or not as there has never been a line on in this place im in so the Tech is here tomorrow to connect the line and check if im ADSL2 compatible.
This through iiNet and its a telstra Tech doing the work lol Cracks me up.
So i now know iiNet use the Telsrta 3g network so im happy there.

Its just the 1st opportunity i have had to use another carrier. Where i was in Tassie i had to have a 4 mtr USB ext cable rigged to the top of the TV antennae with the Dongle at the end just to get 2 Bars reception ... Was dial up there or satellite .. Neither was a option. I was loosing $100 a month to there exuberant prices. I still go to the library to get my Combo Updates still to this day :( Soon i wont be anymore..
 
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On TPG's website - ADSL Internet Broadband ISP - ADSL2 ADSL2+ Naked DSL Mobile VoIP you can put in your phone number and in 2 seconds it'll tell you if you are ADSL2 compatible or not. That might be worth checking out before you get the tech over. Sure you don't have to sign up with TPG to see if you can get ADSL2 though. I think it's worth checking out.

And I hear you about Telstra bleeding us dry. It's borderline criminal.
 
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Yea its all good. I need something here, but the Owner is paying for it because its there responsibility to have a connection on in a occupied dwelling ....... Either way i will have the line on then i dont have to go through with the BB connection. If there is ill just have to have ADSL and be happy for now lol

20100928-jr1q7ka5buecumdmjj93cub2e4.jpg
 
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Yeah it's better then nothing I guess. We could be stuck with 56k dial up. Remember back in the old days. Yuck. Sure we all want the fastest net speeds possible. But if push came to shove ADSL would be enough for most people.
 
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I'm with TPG, and have been for yrs, and they've been great until recently, to the extent that I used to recommend them to anyone living in Oz if it's available where they live.
Over the last year or so, things have changed. The connections have become slower, and inconsistent. So much so, that after wasting hrs troubleshooting on my end, on the phone with them working up the chain with TPG support, tech support, engineers, getting my phone lines tested, and changing my modem/router, I have called it quits with them. At the end of my contract which is soon, I'm considering the big switch.....
Not sure where I will turn, but I hope that over the next few months something good without a long contract comes to light.
 
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Well down at the coast you must have it bad. Cause here in my neck of Ipwsich my TPG connection seems to be just fine. I rarely have any drop outs. And my net speed is fine with them. Mind you I don't look to maximise ever Kbps out of it though. Mind you their lack of OS X support is a bad thing. They don't even know what OS X is I'm pretty sure.

I just modified my plan with them cause I am happy there I guess.
But 6string if you change ISP's can you let us know who you go with. Cause you might find a better deal them some of us Aussies are on. :).
 
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Nice deal TM!
I have Virgin's 50MB service here.
Unlimited downloads, though they do choke at times, and only 1.64MB/s upload, so no 50/50 (grrrr!), plus phone line and free calls to landlines, and a basic cable TV service in the bedroom for £49 a month.
The only way to get 50/50 or 100/100 here is to buy business broadband, which is at least £100 a month, just for broadband.
Overall I am happy with them though, it's very fast for downloads and streaming is nice!
They are trialing 100Mb too.
 
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Give you some idea here - what I'm paying and what I'm getting.

First, no limit on downloads or uploads. Using a FIOS connection with Verizon (FIOS = Fiber Optic System). It includes 300 channels of TV (HDTV, music, etc) and a broadband 15/5 connection for $89.99 /month. Without the TV, it would be $49.99 /month, unlimited data.

We have other carriers here in the Dallas Fort Worth area of Texas. I'm not sure what they charge but it's probably close to what Verizon is asking.

I HATE it when people bring up FIOS!!!!! I want FIOS SOOOOOO badly, because AT&T internet SUXXXXXXX!! My neighbor, who lives behind my house on the next street, has FIOS, but I can't get it because they don't service my street. Makes my blood boil every time!!!!! I'm wasting money over here with att and cox cable because they are the only ones who can bring service here...and they both are TERRIBLEEEE!!!
 
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Australia seems to have rather slow speeds, and even worse bandwidth caps.
You should atleast get 250GB with every plan, here it's usually unlimited, and if you live in the right neighborhood you could get 100Mbit connections.
 
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Australia seems to have rather slow speeds, and even worse bandwidth caps.
You should atleast get 250GB with every plan, here it's usually unlimited, and if you live in the right neighborhood you could get 100Mbit connections.

That's the understatement of the week. Yes we should get many things. But we do not. The funny thing though is most of us here would have trouble using up 20GB each month. So 250GB would be useless for us. I think it's like the old days of the Mac. We think 20GB is flashy cause we came from 1-5GB. And we know no better. But yes I agree our internet infrastructure here is at a 3rd or 4th world standard. And really needs to be fixed.

And I just checked the National Broadband Network site. And there is no mention on my town. Ipswich. One of the biggest in all of Queensland. And no mention there. Seems my little area is like a tornado. Everywhere around me in all directions will get the faster net but me in the eye of the storm gets nothing. Mind you the 1500/256 I am getting next week is 3x/2x faster than what I have now. So I can't complain. Most people would cry at getting 1500/256 cause they have better. But it's an improvement for me :).
 
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couldn't agree more.... I use approx 8GB on average of my 200GB. I don't have access to all the tv etc that US has, nor is it an option as part of a bundle.
I'd get Apple TV if Netflix was an option, but then again, would I if we had the viewing option available here that should be!
The cost here of mobile phone + slow internet + only half descent TV really takes it's toll every billing cycle, but in saying that, living in Oz, regardless of many issues, we are really lucky :D
 
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Agreed. But I disagree with the TV. I think Australia has the best free-to-air TV in the world. So good infact that it almost makes paying for the Pay-TV not worth it.
 
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Back to my old 2.2GHz C2D MB after selling my MBP and wondering what my next Mac will be :)
best free to air but worst subscription :p
 
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I'm paying for 10MB down (I don't remember what the upload was) but I got a modem on my own instead of getting one through the cable company, so I can pull in anywhere between 35Mbps to 60Mbps with around 5-6Mbps uploads. I wish I had a meter to see how much data I consume, because it must be a lot seeing as how I'm continuously downloading!
 
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I'm on a college network so I can say that it sucks, though its getting better.
We have wireless, with routers that were made in the 90s, so they were terrible when they were new, how bad is it? heres the results
.76 mb down, .79 up. seriously, faster upload is just sad...

But to put it in the right perspective, I wanted to watch a 10min youtube video. I started loading the video from my dorm, got bored, went to the cafeteria, got dinner, went to the computer labs and watched the video, then went to my dorm, it was almost done..

Oh, and the large internet plans get used up quickly for me, I run my own little "business" here on campus, I have a 3tb server (run on a 1998 compaq) and basically I give everyone like 30gb of storage space for 10 bucks a year, they can access these files at anytime over the internet and so I have people frequently using it, uploading and downloading, hit 2tb on the 15th of sept, and only have about 50 people signed up. the internet for us sucks but the connection to the schools network is amazing.
.... I swore I had a point with this, but I lost it along the way, oh well.
 

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