Oz A2Kers: Broadband advice needed rather urgently.

Is this a phone plan you are talking about? Home broadband should be in the $40-$50 range depending on who offers service in your area.

Yes, a phone/internet plan, engineer.

I guess, in a conversion from US to Oz dollars, that would be the equivalent to the Optus plan I mentioned above. (I assume you're in the US).

Thanks, engineer.

Been checking out the pamphlets I have here. A couple of Luddite questions, if I may:

(Without going into too much detail) what's the difference in access b/n 10GB broadband use & 20GB usage?

And the difference (in performance) b/n a "standard modem" & a "home Wi-Fi modem"?

Back later ..... Gotta go do some shopping now.

do you stream video or music?

the difference is kinda like how big a pipe you need to flow your info in.(videos use more)

my service is more equivalent to your lower priced plan, and I get by OK...

I don't think currency translations should apply, unless you are importing something. That's just my understanding, and don't have input on the broadband connection. Anyhow, around here, the companies that have held onto longterm contracts for dialup are now defunct.

Er...well, I have (ADSL2 (broadband fast enough to stream video and such ) for $39 a month ( I think) from chariot.net.au


I get 2 Gigabytes a month dor that...after that I am on dial-up speed unless I pay more.

Haven't had to do that...and I have downloaded 2 entire TV series (Breaking Bad) ...though they are short seasons.


Chariot's service is rude and off-shore, and I have trouble understanding them sometimes.

I am not sure if this was a special price for existing slower broadband customers? I'd check.

A friend has just switched to Internode and is VERY happy....I am not sure what she is paying.

There was argy-bargy with Telstra re phone access and such, because Telstra are so horrible (I don't get why...I had no issues.)


My personal experience with Optus is that their service is very poor...but that is re mobile phones.


I have heard people praise Virgin.





Edit.

You wanna combine phone...didn't see that.

I don't think chariot and internode do phones, sorry.

Hi msolga.
I have been with www.iinet.net.au, Australia's 3rd largest provider for 10 years, absolutely recommend them with honours! Go to their site and look at their plans, you have a heap to choose from to suit your circumstances. I pay $39.95 per month and get 5G's peaktime and 5G's off peak, because I have my phone account with them as well. I'm on line a lot and this is ample for me. Good luck.

Would not touch BigPond or Optus with a 40 foot pole, to many hassles, just ask around, many of my friends have complained about them.

$75/month unlimited downloads (but slowed to dial up speeds after 10 gig). with bigpond. no "bundled with phone" deal

look here for the best info
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/

survey http://whirlpool.net.au/survey/2008/

I just wantted to thank msolga for making me think about this. I checked the bigpond plans and changed mine to 12 gig per month at 59.95 a saving of $16.00 per month.

Thanks so much to all of you for your input! I'm grateful.

I've been checking out the sites Dutchy & dadpad suggested & will investigate further tomorrow. I think I'll also ring a couple of providers for a few more details. I'm still uncertain about which plan best suits my usage .... I intend to check out videos & maybe music, too. Thing I don't do all that much of now. I don't know how this will affect usage/cost.

Dadpad, that was a very interesting Oz survey. Thank you!

I think I'll be able to to find a pretty reasonable broadband plus phone deal. A bit worried about possible difficulties with installation, though.

I hope it's OK to keep asking questions as I need to. I'm pretty clueless on a number of details.

Hi msolga. I wouldn't worry about installation etc. I''m sure which ever provider you go with will provide you with the necessary instructions, most likely a DVD and modem. Mine did, and I was on line in a whiffy

Dutchy

I've been checking out iinet. Had never heard of them before your recommendation. So I did their survey & this was the recommendation. What do you think? Can you see any problem that I can't? :

One thing I noticed in the linked survey that dadpad posted, they seem to have very high customer satisfaction.

They'll walk you through setting up the modem.

If I can do it, you can!!!!!

I set up my new one all by myself.

OK, If you say so, Deb.

That sounds a good deal, Dutchy. Could I ask what extra cost the phone account involves?

OK, I'm getting rather bleary eyed & must head off to bed. (I seem to have some sort of sleeping sickness, or something, at the moment.) Any feedback on those 2 options I mentioned would be much appreciated if any of you have the time tomorrow. Also, if you know of even better options, I'd appreciate that, too!

Thanks very much, again.

Night night all!