A question about ISP rates- should I switch?

Hi,

Right now I am with TPG for my internet. I get the Ultimate 1500 II/50GB plan. And that entails:

Broadband Type: ADSL
Bundle Details: Broadband only
Contract Length: 6 months
Download: 1500kbps
Upload : 512kbps (I think)
Data Limit: 50 GB
Data Limit Peak: 25 GB
Data Limit Off Peak: 25 GB
Off Peak Times: 4am - 10am
Excess Data: Shaped 64kbps
Monthly Cost: $ 49.99

But my ISP TPG has a new plan "TPG ADSL2+ Off-Net"
Broadband News - TPG releases new broadband

That is a link about it. But I'll summarise the article in short too.

It would seem TPG has made a deal with Telstra so it can offer ADSL connections ‘Off-Net’, or ‘Off the TPG network’. This means if TPG cannot provide you with a broadband connection using its own equipment at a telephone exchange, now customers also have the option of using TPG-rented Telstra ports.

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The deal I can get with this TPG off net via Telstra is:

ADSL2+ Off-Net 50GB
Broadband Type: ADSL 2+
Bundle Details: Broadband only
Contract Length: 6 months
Download: Up to 20Mbps
Upload: Up to 1Mbps
Data Limit: 50GB
Data Limit Peak: 10GB
Data Limit Off Peak: 40GB
Off Peak Times: 2am - 8am
Excess Data: Shaped 256K/128K
Monthly Cost: $ 49.99

Note well:

The actual speeds may vary due to many factors such as your distance from your local telephone exchange, the quality of your copper phone line and broadband equipment. Acceptable connection speed rate for ADSL2+ Off-Net plans is minimum 900kbps/150kbps (down/up stream).

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These are all stand-alone broadband plans that need to be combined with a Telstra phone line, or at least a landline whose provider uses the Telstra telephone infrastructure.

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IP Address:
All Broadband Off-Net plans come with a Static IP address.

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But for $59.99 I can get the same as the above but upgraded to:
Data Limit: 200GB
Data Limit Peak: 100GB
Data Limit Off Peak: 100GB

I am loathe to spend the extra $10 a month though.

But what to you think. Is this a good idea?

I have 2 main questions about this.

1. Is it worth it so swap over to the new plan? I'm not so knowledgable in off-net so that'a why I'm asking here .

2. If I did upgrade my internet to the new service I am talking about here, how much of the 20Mbps would I see? I live 3km roughly from my telephone/internet exchange. So what real world speeds would I roughly be seeing?

Thank you for your time.

The speed increase alone is quite impressive and worth the upgrade..as far as the caps go, figure out how much your usage it and see what fits..

I have a decent enough pipe through my ISP but the most important fact that it's "unlimited"..

Regards

Thanks so much for the response.

And how would I check my monthly bandwith usage? Cause my ISP only gives daily bandwith amounts and not a summarised monthly total? With this info I'd know if the 10GB/40GB is enough for me or not.

the8thark said:

Thanks so much for the response.

And how would I check my monthly bandwith usage? Cause my ISP only gives daily bandwith amounts and not a summarised monthly total? With this info I'd know if the 10GB/40GB is enough for me or not.

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You could check daily over the course of 5 typical days, add that total and multiply by 6 to estimate a month's usage. If it were me I would then double that for a safety factor in determining what my monthly usage was.

Ooof - thanks for reminding me how spoiled (spoilt??) I've become. Although I can certainly remember 64k modems - I can't imagine living with that little bandwidth these days - much less having caps on usage. If it were me - the additional speed would absolutely be worth it - although I'd be finding out just what the real speed you'll be paying for will be since, as I'm sure you know - DSL speeds will definitely diminish the further you are from the exchange (DSLAM).

You can use something like Net Monitor to monitor your weekly usage.

I kind of feel sorry for you, considering how restrictive these plans are compared with the UK.
I would say a lot depends on what you use it for really. How much music or how many movies do you download? Do you use your connection for streaming?
Those are the things I would look at to weigh up whether it's worth the $$ or not. If you just use the net for browsing, forum posting and the like, then I don't see the need for the extra bandwidth to be honest. If you stream to an ATV for example then it may be worth it.

You could check daily over the course of 5 typical days, add that total and multiply by 6 to estimate a month's usage. If it were me I would then double that for a safety factor in determining what my monthly usage was.

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I did this and I got roughly for the month:
6GB peak roughly x2 = 12GB peak.

I added up each day's peak downloads for last month to get a more exact figure and rounded to nearest MB it is 7131MB peak. This includes a 2GB+ download one day in that month when I purchased ilife 09. The month before is 3617MB peak.

I know 10GB/40GB is a kick in the goonies. Only 10GB for the times you will most use the net. But for the last 2 months I did not go over the 10GB limit.

To Kevriano - I only use my internet for web browsing, youtube, music downloading, World of Warcraft and the occasional big purchased app download.

I think I will contact the ISP to see what real world download speeds I might just get. Cause of my distance from the exchange. The increase in speed looks to be really good but more speed needs the bandwidth too.

I'm not 100% sure if I'll change over yet. But I have enough information now to seriously think about it. Thank you all so much. And when I have made up my mind I'll be sure to let you all know.

And yes this what us people with 3rd world internet services have to struggle with on a daily basis. .

3 miles from the exchange should give you very near to max I would think. I live 2 miles from mine and get speeds faster than I'm supposed to (I have 50 mb connection and very often see 62-65).

the8thark said:

Hi,

Right now I am with TPG for my internet. I get the Ultimate 1500 II/50GB plan. And that entails:

Broadband Type: ADSL
Bundle Details: Broadband only
Contract Length: 6 months
Download: 1500kbps
Upload : 512kbps (I think)
Data Limit: 50 GB
Data Limit Peak: 25 GB
Data Limit Off Peak: 25 GB
Off Peak Times: 4am - 10am
Excess Data: Shaped 64kbps
Monthly Cost: $ 49.99

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I'm not sure if your main goal is internet download speed or to minimize monthly cost.

But since you did your calculations & determined that you didn't go over 10 gig for the last two months...and your current plan has a 50 gig data limit...is there a lower cost plan your current ISP has available? Of course with a smaller data plan (if available) if that plan also means a slower connection...maybe that's not desirable.

Just a thought in case you were looking to minimize cost (or at least not buying more than you need).

- Nick

Thank you for your reply. And I see where you are getting at.


I am happy with the price I am paying now. And the $50 plan is the cheapest ADSL 2+ off-net this ISP has. The only one plan cheaper for off-net (with this ISP) is worse then I have now. It's $40 but only 512k/128k. So paying the $50 is not really an issue. But moving up to the $60 my issue is not really the cost. More the "am I getting value for my money spent" issue appearing. I don't want to be paying for GB bandwidth I'm not using.

My goal is to get the best value for the money I am spending. Though $50-$60 is my budget. So pretty much the 2 plans I listed here.

Just to show you how good your plan is, this is mine(the only type available where I am located):

Satellite internet
Contract Length: No contract
Download: Burst speed of 712kbps but typically is around 400kbps(I've never seen it higher than this)
Upload : 70kbps
Data Limit: 20 GB
No Peak Times
Monthly Cost: $ 420.00

north_guy said:

Just to show you how good your plan is, this is mine(the only type available where I am located):

Satellite internet
Contract Length: No contract
Download: Burst speed of 712kbps but typically is around 400kbps(I've never seen it higher than this)
Upload : 70kbps
Data Limit: 20 GB
No Peak Times
Monthly Cost: $ 420.00

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north_guy said:

Just to show you how good your plan is, this is mine(the only type available where I am located):

Satellite internet
Contract Length: No contract
Download: Burst speed of 712kbps but typically is around 400kbps(I've never seen it higher than this)
Upload : 70kbps
Data Limit: 20 GB
No Peak Times
Monthly Cost: $ 420.00

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Yikes!! Where are you? Alaska??

BrianLachoreVPI said:

Yikes!! Where are you? Alaska??

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Yikes I'll say. At that price, believe I'd be pushed back to the cave man era. At least, I sure wouldn't have anything in my house connected to the web.

I got on board with iiNet and i get 100 and 100 naked for $59 a month. Im about 5k's from the box and i get the slow dl speeds of max of 6120kb/s
The havnt got this offer up anymore, but i can chop and change whenever i want as there is no contract on the one im on.

It really is a buyers market out there atm but by the look at your needs you shouldnt need a big one.

I'm with TPG and have been for many yrs.
Their "upto" is just that, and I find that each time I move, that I always get the best of that upto, and the longer that I am with them, it diminishes.
Still have a lot faster than most people I know where I live, and it was the same for me in Melbourne, but even then, they definitely do something non kosher.
Also keep in mind that quite often with TPG they often offer deals, but in the middle of the sign up process, they turn around and say that there was no room in the nearest exchange for the offer you are interested in, but you can have the next best (you can't have ADSL 2+ but you can only have ADSL).

north_guy said:

Just to show you how good your plan is, this is mine(the only type available where I am located):

Satellite internet
Contract Length: No contract
Download: Burst speed of 712kbps but typically is around 400kbps(I've never seen it higher than this)
Upload : 70kbps
Data Limit: 20 GB
No Peak Times
Monthly Cost: $ 420.00

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Welcome to the club!!
I could have unlimited high-speed but they don't deliver to bush wackers 80 KM out of town

But I'm a bit mystified as to the price, I have pretty much the same specs you have yet only pay $140 in the month with Xplorenet.

Paulatuk NWT/Canada, google it. There's only one provider here so they can pretty much charge whatever they want. Thankfully my stint up here is done(I'm RCMP), and will be transferring out in a month. Back to civilization and actual high-speed internet!!!!! Can't believe those suckers got $420 p/month from me for 2 years....ouch...it's like a car payment except I have nothing to show for it.

6string said:

Also keep in mind that quite often with TPG they often offer deals, but in the middle of the sign up process, they turn around and say that there was no room in the nearest exchange for the offer you are interested in, but you can have the next best (you can't have ADSL 2+ but you can only have ADSL).

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Ohhh thanks. This I did not know. I'll email them before hand to make sure there is space in the local exchange.

north_guy said:

Paulatuk NWT/Canada, google it. There's only one provider here so they can pretty much charge whatever they want. Thankfully my stint up here is done(I'm RCMP), and will be transferring out in a month. Back to civilization and actual high-speed internet!!!!! Can't believe those suckers got $420 p/month from me for 2 years....ouch...it's like a car payment except I have nothing to show for it.

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Scary. Presumably no mobile phone company providing wireless dongles for mobile internet then?