Comments for Broadband Guide Blogs

Comment on 2011 Average Global Internet Download Speed Statistics by John Elliott

John Elliott — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:59:58 +0000

Have had 4.6 mps for most of 2011 (which is quite fine for me – non gamer) Suddenly Telstra have made it 1.3mps. Have tried asking for explanation but have had the usual run around from the Philipines saying it is standard. Have actually spoken to an Aussie girl in Melbourne about my line and net problems she asked me when did I expect the NBN rollout in my street. I said a Telstra techncian thought probably 20 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Help John of Adelaide

Comment on Telstra increase Next G coverage in Tasmaina by Rod Wallace

Rod Wallace — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:46:50 +0000

I agree that for safety and other reasons that is a positive but is it talk or action or sales and marketing talk. I am in Norwood a suburb of Launceston but am unable to get consitent NextG connection using their Ultimate wireless modem – it is hard to get good information as my windows network connection is saying that my reception is excellent, my Ultimate modem is saying the connection is excellent but web pages go from fast loading to wait and drop out loading of web pages all the time – would really like to know if Wireless mobile networks really work in Tasmania – is it a capacity problem – do not know how it can be promoted if service in Norwood is sub standard to what I have experienced on the mainland – for example Gold Coast – Tweed – someone has said that the latter area is 4G which is why the service is better – wpuld like to know if others get the same problem or is it my setup

Comment on New BigPond Wireless and Mobile Broadband Plans by Margaret Gopal

Margaret Gopal — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 01:21:59 +0000

I have had my Bigpond Ultimate wireless broadband dongle for about 6 months now – and I can’t tell you how many times a day the connection drops out on a daily basis. Yesterday for example – probably 8 – 10 times. Using a dongle is my only broadband option as my home is not serviced by ADSL. I also travel a lot on business and use the dongle in many cities – but the connection dropout rate continues to be high even in the metropolitan locations. Very frustrating indeed.

Comment on How fast is your broadband? by Milanowski

Milanowski — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:59:28 +0000

Thanks for your tips on this blog. Just one thing I would wish to say is purchasing electronic products items in the Internet is not something new. In truth, in the past decade alone, the marketplace for online gadgets has grown considerably. Today, you will find practically any specific electronic system and other gadgets on the Internet, which include cameras as well as camcorders to computer components and gambling consoles.

Comment on Telstra BigPond Upgrade – ADSL2+ Exchange Schedule & Locations by Rage

Rage — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:18:44 +0000

When is Telstra actually going to upgrade Gympie Full-stop our shit here is over 40yrs old and no one can even get ADSL2 and the amount of Drop-outs is Frigging Ridiculous come on Telstra pull your finger out or at least severely drop the prices

Comment on New AAPT 8-8 Unlimited Broadband Plans by disappointed

disappointed — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:11:28 +0000

AAPT no longer have a call centre in Australia. Ping in the Phillipines was very helpful in a not at all kind of way. (Call reference # 1363228) Apparently they have no contact numbers for their Australian offices, they have no contact with any after hours service technician in Australia. They claim their quickest possible response to a line outage is 45 hours away although I find that hard to believe as Monday is a public holiday as I was informed by Ping that they don’t work public holidays. Their “Escalation Office” which is supposed to deal with emergencies only works Australian business hours, from which I inferred that 8 am Tuesday was the earliest possible time for a technician to appear. This service is no where near good enough.

Comment on vividwireless WiMAX 4G vs Telstra LTE 4G by Eddie

Eddie — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 08:25:10 +0000

So the Telstra card used a Direct USB connection and the Vivifi hot spot goes through a wifi connection. Considering that there is a Vividwireless USB device that is closer in simmilarity to the Telstra USB device, To me this is unfair as the ‘Wifi link’ can/probably did add extra latency and slowed the download speed. This test should be re-done using the Vivid USB modem, not the wifi hotspot.

Comment on Telstra BigPond Upgrade – ADSL2+ Exchange Schedule & Locations by CIndy

CIndy — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:32:26 +0000

Oh yes – I live in the Deception Bay QLD area and this area is a high growth area and desperately needs the exchange upgraded. Very frustrating!!

Comment on iiNet acquire TransACT by chris

chris — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 05:39:24 +0000

so what happens to my transact contract, my transact mobile phone, my bundling arrangements?

Comment on Telstra BigPond Upgrade – ADSL2+ Exchange Schedule & Locations by AdaM

AdaM — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:25:38 +0000

I’m so frusted with Telstra it’s driving me crazy, from october to january the biggest games of the year come out and it’s nice to know that i won’t have 1 bit of a chance of playing them online because the 200gb plan with “supposedly super high connection” is running at 0.2mb/s yep… Thats just enough to wait 2 mins for this page to load.

If anyone is having the same issues that I am i suggest you contact billing and they will give you your money back until the service you’re supposed to be receiving is fixed.

Comment on Telstra BigPond Upgrade – ADSL2+ Exchange Schedule & Locations by Ravi

Ravi — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 10:20:17 +0000

I am in The Ponds NSW and the suburb has been growing so fast that there is congestion on using ADSL… i get under 1MBps at most times of the day… only in early morning when no is up around here I can get 15MPps…. such a shame to be on a contract and having to pay for this…

Comment on Telstra BigPond Upgrade – ADSL2+ Exchange Schedule & Locations by Kate

Kate — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:34:59 +0000

One telco only this Melbourne Metropolitan area – ADSL speed 0.3 – truly! Apparently the exchange is overloaded….. This does not stop them from connecting on more and more people though….. at the same less than dial up speed….. Wish I got paid for doing next to nothing!

Comment on New Optus High Speed Fusion 1TB Broadband Plans by harteaas

harteaas — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 09:16:01 +0000

Works fine 500 Gb @102Mbps at Cromer NSW absolutely amazing!

Comment on 1 Gigabit NBN Speed Tip of the Iceberg by Gerard O'Born

Gerard O'Born — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:24:49 +0000

I tend to agree with you Jason. I’m waiting for the government to give us the ‘it cost $50 billion dollars and we have to get our money back’ crap.

Comment on 26Tbps Record Speed Proves NBN Fibre Longevity by Faster-broadband speed

Faster-broadband speed — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:55:52 +0000

That is fast! Well done Germans! However, NEC Laboratories and Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology have achieved a faster speed that you cannot believe. Click on the website below to read the article. 100Tb/s data rates achieved with single optical fibre | Industrial IT Speed: More than 100Tb/s!

Comment on Telstra 4G Network Launched by gh

gh — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 05:31:28 +0000

Any coverage maps available?

Comment on Telstra 4G Wireless Mobile Network Plans by Brett

Brett — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:48:37 +0000

No matter what they do, they do not care about anything past winsor in syd.

Comment on ADSL or Cable – Which Broadband Type and Why? by Ally

Ally — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 07:08:27 +0000

We have inherited a Foxtel cable from the former owners of this house, but do not have that service. We use it for broadband. I forgot what the cable is called and what speeds it delivers. Apparently it is different for download and upload, as it was orginally designed for pay TV.

It appears to me that I may not get the same speed when the NBN comes to my house, i.e. for the same price. Could it be that I have to fork out a lot more to get what I have now? That would not be right!

Comment on Compare Vodafone Mobile Broadband Plans & Prices by Cygnett

Cygnett — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:11:40 +0000

I’m on Vodafone but i’m thinking of changing, really happy with the service and value but when ever I go down to the beach just north of Coffs Harbour, I lose service, I need service when I go to sea too fishing, my friends have service on Telstra when I don’t

Comment on Telstra BigPond Upgrade – ADSL2+ Exchange Schedule & Locations by Steve

Steve — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 12:54:41 +0000

How about being 3km from the exchange, and TELSTRA not upgrading it, btu the people one street back have it? And we have to resort at times connecting to dial up speed on wirelss just to connect now thats frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment on Combine Pay TV Phone and Broadband with Telstra Home Bundles by n_talauta

n_talauta — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:18:32 +0000

been a loyal customer of optus & foxtel for past 3yrs.. ever since ive just seen mods to a loss of the customer expense and a price tag increase! past 12 months i pay platinum pack IQ + standard (multiroom) set top boxes = 138.00 per mth ($3 can be saved electronically billed).. i use optus yes fusion $99 after non direct debit fee? bill payment fee aaaannnnnd gst automatically adds $12 onto original $97.39 plan!!! if this is how they treat a good customer im searching for a better bundled deal!!!! $$$250 per month Im sure there is some savings to be saved somehere??

Comment on 26Tbps Record Speed Proves NBN Fibre Longevity by John.T

John.T — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:53:51 +0000

Good to see FTN will not be outdated for a while. Also gratifying to see Alan Jones demonstrably foot in mouth again. I am sure Alan will extract said foot to replace it with his other left foot.

Comment on 26Tbps Record Speed Proves NBN Fibre Longevity by Barry Broadband

Barry Broadband — Wed, 25 May 2011 05:02:12 +0000

OMG that’s fast! Well Done German Scientist Dudes!!

Comment on NBN Broadband Plans 100Mbps Speed 180GB Data $159.95 Price by mark

mark — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:15:27 +0000

I have to admit my taxes being used for this project ticks me off because it seems to me that there are much more important projects to be finding a solution to and ‘superfast’ internet to the average person basically means nothing at the moment.
Remember dial up? now think about how you used the internet then compared to now – there was no skype, youtube, online gaming networks, pay per view movies (telstra t-box stuff) and yet today it seems almost unthinkable to go without some of these services so what will the next generation of internet give us? we can only wait and see.
To the service providers however, it allows them to ramp up their services like VOIP, IP TV, Web site and email hosting to a much larger market and these sometimes unreliable services will eventually become the norm and instead of having a bill with just telephone calls you’ll have an internet bill with a voip account. Foxtel might even have to compete with likes of IP TV/pay per view.
To business outside of the IT sector it means that they can have alot more services held onsite and more services offered to their employees eg remote web workplace, vpn hosting, internal email hosting for remote offices. There are so many options from a technicians point of view.
Unfortunately these technologies take time to implement and even longer for the general mass’s to accept them as part of every day life (anyone have an elderly relative with a new digital set top box??? kill me now)
So I’m not really holding my breath for an major changes to happen quickly – once the infrastructure is in the technicians need to learn how to use it efficiently.
Those plans do suck but keep in mind there is an entire copper network with billions invested in it and I imagine there would be a limited number connections the Tassie network, so like everything exclusive it comes with a premium. Until it becomes all inclusive, in which case the premium is dropped(yay).
5Mbps is a joke, i don’t understand why Aus upload speeds are so terrible, i get why consumers aren’t given synchronous speeds in the big picture, but at least give ABN holders 100/15.
i just felt like throwing that out there and venting my views, in summary i think we have been given a lemon, now it’s time to roll it in sugar and make the most of it

Comment on NBN Broadband Plans 100Mbps Speed 180GB Data $159.95 Price by Peter

Peter — Wed, 18 May 2011 02:00:30 +0000

At a time when we are supposed to be using less electricity, has anyone stopped to worked out how much this will add to our collective power requirements. And what happens to our telephones if we have a power blackout?

Comment on Combine Pay TV Phone and Broadband with Telstra Home Bundles by ron towers

ron towers — Mon, 16 May 2011 07:55:27 +0000

am at present using optus $78. broadband total a month around $96 + plus foxtel package at $105 p.m but limited for movies which being in our 80/77 yrs we use a lot what would to offer to equal and probably save a few dollars a month is there such a thing ? many thanks

Comment on NBN Broadband Plans 100Mbps Speed 180GB Data $159.95 Price by Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:02:01 +0000

I agree with John. Anonymous, you have to be a Labor stooge. You have to be, to believe it’ll cost what Labor say, and that it won’t be much more than current ADSL2+ prices. It’s a complete waste of money, esp when more and more people are going wireless with their communication. I certainly won’t be signing up. Just when you think Labor has wasted enough money, they find something else. We’re only just finding out how much NSW is in debt. That’s nothing compared to how much the Feds have put us in.

Comment on Vodafone Fixed Line Broadband Plans for NBN by Vyntr

Vyntr — Thu, 05 May 2011 12:11:27 +0000

After using Vodafone Hutchison Australia mobile broadband on my macbook for the last 2 years i can honestly say that i would have been far better off using dial up. sure i can get 300kbps, at 3am! any time between noon and midnight i get stuff all. I’m paying $30 a month for this crap and i just did 2 tests on speedtest.net. its 8pm weeknight and i got 0.05mps download and 0.08mbs upload. the second test was 0.07/0.03. the needle didn’t even move, if it were not for the digital readout i would not have even realised it was working! Not a happy customer

oh and its not like i’m in the sticks or anything, we are talking 5mins north of the northern end of the freeway, Perth.

Comment on Telstra 4G Wireless Mobile Network Plans by Doug

Doug — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:29:53 +0000

Agree same issue in Mt Martha pay premium for wireless convenience but it is all I can get this area,not so sure that NBN will do much to change so far only appears to benifit those who already have reasonable service to get even better, Bring it on maybe there is hope???????

Comment on Telstra BigPond Naked DSL now on Youcompare by jc

jc — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:18:03 +0000

I agree totally with the Urs. I too signed up in July 2010 and each month get a bill that is over $100 apparantly Telstra has closed the naked DSL office and so no one nows about these plans. there is about 900 of us on it.

Comment on How fast is your broadband? by Snail

Snail — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:13:06 +0000

No wonder I spend all day trying to get things done my kbps DL is 6630
with the UL kbps 1004 getting ripped I think.

Comment on NBN Broadband Plans 100Mbps Speed 180GB Data $159.95 Price by John

John — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:19:40 +0000

They have to be joking with the High price and crappy download limits, I pay $50 per month from TPG, I get 15Mbps speeds “lucky to be about 2Klms from the exchange” and 200GB download, I find it way fast enough for me,how fast do you want Google to open:>) you won’t be downloading much,I hope there is a change of government before they tear up the copper in my suburb and force me into this over priced crap

Comment on NBN Broadband Plans 100Mbps Speed 180GB Data $159.95 Price by Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 06:12:07 +0000

Actually, Andy, it isn’t much more expensive than current ADSL2+ prices. When the NBN is finished the quoted prices above will most likely be a lot less.

Comment on Telstra BigPond Naked DSL now on Youcompare by Urs Zwygart

Urs Zwygart — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 09:38:49 +0000

I have signed up for this naked adsl trial mid last year (2010). Since then, I am receiving each month the wrong amount $80.90 on my Invoice from Telstra. I have called and e-mailed telstra several times and they promised to fix this. Nothing happened so far. I am not happy with telstra’s/bigpond customer service and I do not recommend this plan.

Comment on Telstra 4G Wireless Mobile Network Plans by Joe Acciarito

Joe Acciarito — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 11:23:19 +0000

Whilst wireless internet may suit those that choose to be on the move , nothing beats a hard wired connection. Radio allways has and will be subject to the vagaries of various interferences, and line of sight problems.
I have and can only get wireless internet in Tarneit 20km from Melbourne, at best it is only marginally better than dialup when it works. Bring on the NBN asap.

Comment on Telstra BigPond Upgrade – ADSL2+ Exchange Schedule & Locations by Dee

Dee — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:22:49 +0000

Be grateful, At least you have adsl access we can either fork out major $$$ for mobile/satalite for minimal internet access or put up with dial up!!!

Comment on New Optus High Speed Fusion 1TB Broadband Plans by Mick Hoppo

Mick Hoppo — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 21:28:09 +0000

HAHAHA..1tb @ ADSL 2+ for $99…Thats ok if you CAN get ADSL 2+..I live at Narellan NSW,still in the Syd Metro and surprise surprise, BIGPOND are the only company offerring ADSL 2+ from my circa 1970 exchange…so I guess Im gonna have to pay through the nose for it…BRING ON NBN I SAY!!

Comment on Telstra Trial FREE NBN in Tasmania Test by John Trythall

John Trythall — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:31:07 +0000

Well I am for the NBN with Slovakia faster than OZ and Japan nearly 60 times faster we aint goin Nowhere Fast .
Lets Get it Happening real soon or become the Worlds biggest loser .

Regards John

Comment on NBN Broadband Plans 100Mbps Speed 180GB Data $159.95 Price by andy

andy — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 23:24:45 +0000

Absolutley a rip off! These data limits have sent us backwards and not affordable at all. Come on guys give us something more realistic

Comment on 1 Gigabit NBN Speed Tip of the Iceberg by Jason Stevenson

Jason Stevenson — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 23:34:02 +0000

WOW, Tb for the NBN Very impressive, but speed is one matter, how much it will cost consumers to subscribe is another. If those currently using Cable or ADSL2 can get acess to NBN at same cost than great. But those same people are required to pay the earth for these speeds than it is only relevant for large business and public service.

Comment on How To Buy Wireless Broadband Wiresly by Dee

Dee — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:27:11 +0000

Informative article. More research, as suggested, will be required but at least I will be heading in the right direction. I am grateful that blogs such as this exist. Like most things to do with computers, one may not initially care how things operate as long as they operate, only to realise that in order to get a ‘good’ deal one learns to care! Caveat emptor rules.

Comment on Telstra BigPond Upgrade – ADSL2+ Exchange Schedule & Locations by Roxana

Roxana — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 02:37:00 +0000

How about increasing ports in the current exchanges CBD locations! Being 14KM from brisbane CBD in Mackenzie, QLD and not having decent ADSL access is very frustrating! The Mt Gravatt Exchange needs more!

Comment on Malcolm Turnbull – NBN waste of Taxpayers Money by Chris

Chris — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 04:01:25 +0000

Cliff, the argument you put forward for Turnbull is simply someone who saw a buck in a business, and then without any loyalty exited when the $$ were right..prima facie. And whilst I’m not a lab or lib voter, I actually much prefer Turnbull to Abbott.
The guy with the vision was Rudd (like him or not). With the three principals in this now Guillard, Abbott and Brown there is no doubt NBN has fallen into a political maelstrom. Which is a bad scenario made worse with an entrenched Australian media, who without doubt would (right now) see NBN as as their biggest threat.

Comment on How To Buy Wireless Broadband Wiresly by Terry M

Terry M — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 05:48:57 +0000

I chose Bigpond wireless broadband, ( USB device ), so that I could use the one device and account for both my desk top PC and my laptop. First thing that I had to do was install an external antenna ( I live in the north west of Tasmania, though close to a transmitter ). I get a very good to exellent signal strength ( four bars out of five ), but get frustratingly regular drop outs – - sometimes just minutes apart, and always when trying to download a large file. I really can’t recommend it for home use. I intend to change to ADSL2, and a prepaid wireless for the laptop.

Comment on Vividwireless Wireless Broadband Plans Prices Speed and Offers by Kim Hooper

Kim Hooper — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 02:53:27 +0000

I have had Vividwireless for about a month now & couldn’t be happier! I get average download speeds of about 10Mps & upload speeds of about 2.5Mps according to, “Speedtest.Net”. My “Ping” averages at 68 with no packet loss. Customer Service is great, no being put on hold. They even phoned me back to see if everything was alright still. I am on the $75 unlimited plan, have the ‘Gateway’ & live in East Cannington. Yes, it is really good ,fast and cheap.

Comment on Rapid Transfer, Churn, Migrate or Switch Internet Providers by Bonita Leeson

Bonita Leeson — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 04:41:09 +0000

I am changing providers in the belief that it will be cheaper,so I don’t expect any charges to apply..

Comment on Rapid Transfer, Churn, Migrate or Switch Internet Providers by Bonita Leeson

Bonita Leeson — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 04:38:04 +0000

I am changing providres in the belief that it will be cheaper.

Comment on Telstra to build NBN with FTTN & VDSL2 by golfman

golfman — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:30:31 +0000

At what point in time did the NBN change from FTTN to FTTH? Who made that decision and on what grounds? It defies the logic and experience of most other developed nations in the world.

Just roll out FTTN now and extend it later to FTTN when/if we need 1GBbps. New generation FTTN/VDSL2 technology is going to give 100Mbps using copper over the last 1000m….

Why has this obviously much cheaper and quicker to roll out FTTN solution been quashed without discussion?

Sounds like some vested interests grabbed the joystick.

Comment on Malcolm Turnbull – NBN waste of Taxpayers Money by Cliff

Cliff — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:38:42 +0000

I am neither a Liberal backer or a fan of Malcom Turnbull but in the interest of balance I had to reply to this uninformed rant. Malcom Turnbull was the owner of OzEmail and sold it in 1999 for $60m, and listed in Australias top 200 richest people. I think he would know a bit more than you about internet capabilities. Try and do some more research before you start your spleen venting.

Comment on NBN used as Political tug-of-war for Votes by Leesha

Leesha — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 05:12:17 +0000

I’ve posted on this same topic elsewhere but it is still in moderation 12 hours after being posted – most likely as it is against the NBN. Similarly I don’t see a lot of hope for posting the same here because of that but I believe somewhere there is some honest writer that believes in putting both sides forward.

Please – Vote 1 for high speed internet, not NBN.
Another flawed argument for Labour’s $43 billion project. I can also talk about the virtues of the NBN, but personally while 70 houses have it now in Tasmania, i dont’ want to wait 8-10 years minimum to get fibre into my house. I want high speed wireless broadband out and about from my house sooner than that and NBN cannot deliver.

The NBN is not state of the art, and only provides one internet technology. The Coalition plan is also built on a high speed fibre backbone but most people haven’t taken the time to read it first hand. It is a technology that allows us flexibility into the future where we can supplement what we have with the newest technlogies. The NBN does not do this, and locks us in to at least $43 billion of debt – most likely more. And it won’t give me my highspeed wireless !

Vote 1 for highspeed internet and not NBN and censorship.