For many people on tight budgets saving money is of vital importance especially if you need to meet monthly house, car or boat repayments. A few dollars here and there can really make a difference and Broadband Internet (including home phone, mobile phone, VoIP & Pay TV) is an area where significant savings can be made. Let’s explore some of the following key factors that may assist you with saving some $$$ while checking out cheap Broadband Internet Products, bargains, special offers, discounts and deals.

Know your Product
It definitely helps to know your product. What I mean by this is ‘What type of Broadband do you require and how much do you intend to use it’. There’s no point in purchasing a Broadband product that you will not make full use of. Firstly, why pay more for a very fast connection if you’re not going to take advantage of it, if a slower speed is cheaper and will suit your requirements? Or, why pay more for a plan with a huge usage limit that you’ll barely touch? But hang on you say, ‘but how do I know how much speed and usage I’ll need?’  Here’s two pointers that may assist you.

Start off Small:
Typical terms and conditions with most Broadband Providers allow customers to change their contract options. Some fees usually apply when requesting a Usage Limit downgrade (ex. dropping from 20GB plan per month to 10GB), or when requesting a Speed drop (ex. ADSL 8000kbps to ADSL 1500kbps).  Obviously, larger usage limits and fast connection speeds are more expensive. A 512kbps or 1500kbps speed with 2GB usage limit is a great starting point. It’s generally more than enough for those that only occasionally check emails, surf a couple of websites and perform banking online. If this type of set up is not suiting your needs, you can always upgrade to another speed/usage limit at the start of you’re next billing period (usually for fee). Important to note: ADSL2+ and Cable Broadband use different technologies and upgrading from ADSL to ADSL2+ or Cable may not be directly available. You will first need to check with your Provider.

Research:
You’re obviously on the Internet reading this article now, so why don’t you head across to our Broadband Help section where you can view some useful conversion tables. The link below will relocate you to a list of three tables that include a ‘Download Usage Guide’ with approximated download usage figures. Furthermore, you could also use a search engine like ‘Google’ to find other useful comparison tables and facts. http://broadbandguide.com.au/broadbandhelp/broadbandhelp/21-Broadband-Conversion-Tables 

Broadband Bundles
Bundling Broadband with products such as Home Phone, Mobile Phone, Pay TV and VoIP services can greatly reduce you’re monthly costs. Providers who offer 1, 2 or more of these services will usually give a set discount or multiple discounts according to how many products are bundled with your Broadband service. On the surface, monthly fees will appear as being reduced, however you will need to crunch all the call rates, line rental fees and start up fees among other hidden charges to really iron out the overall monthly saving, if any?

Cheap Broadband Plans
Cheap Broadband is not necessarily the best value for money Broadband, and although many cheap Broadband Plans can be exceptional value all round, its recommended that you do your research into the product. Attributes that you should consider scrutinizing prior to signing your life away are: 

Network & Routing Quality:
ISP’s need to peer with one another to exchange your data over their networks. The Internet backbone is made up from a number of interconnected routes which carry data across the world. Smaller ISP’s (such as a regional ISP) will either resell products through a larger ISP network or connect to  larger Providers who in turn may connect to a larger network backbone. Much routing occurs on the Internet which can greatly affect Broadband quality. Routing Protocols, Switches, Configurations, Network loads and the expertise of Network administrators can mean the difference between a good Internet Network and average Internet Network. Much like most services, cheap Broadband can have it’s pros and cons. Research your Provider’s network where possible.

Terms and Conditions:
The T & C’s (fine print) of a Broadband Product is an area where the overall expense and savings can really be calculated. A typical Provider will give you a ‘minimum monthly spend’ over the contract period of time in these notes. Other fees and charges can also be located in the T & C’s or usually elsewhere on the site. Key factors to consider here are:

Is there a cap for exceeding your limit?
Some Providers may shape (slow) your connection speed if your monthly usage limit is reached early and excess data is used. Generally shaping means that you don’t have to pay extra,otherwise you may be charged. Ex. 10 cents for every MB used thereafter. This may, or may not be capped at a certain excess limit. Therefore 1GB over your limit could amount to an extra $100 on your monthly bill. Some Providers may cap you at a certain excess limit, charge you for this, then shape you. Ex. Once 500MB cap is reached and is charged at $XX, your speed will be reduced thereafter with no additional fees being charged. A cheap plan could be just that, but what about the hidden fees and conditions? ‘Shaping’ is generally the safer option to take if available.

Early contract termination or relocation fees
As this suggest, if you need to cancel your contract early for any reason, what will an early cancellation fee cost you? This could in fact amount to the total remaining monthly charges or a % of such. Same with relocating, how much will an ISP charge you to do this? Make enquiries.

Fees and charges all vary from Provider to Provider and the costs involved may even change you’re opinion on a ‘cheap plans’ in some cases. Speak to your intended Provider’s sales team and find out all there is to know about additional ‘hidden’ charges before making any assumption on cheap Broadband plans.

Broadband Special Offers, Discounts and Internet Deals
Finally, the special offers and discounts that ISP’s use to lure customers to their products.

Common deals and discounts are ‘free hardware’ (modems/routers), free installation, free monthly fees (eg. 1, 2, 3 or 4 months free), Bundling Discounts (as discussed), lower call rates, half price offers etc.. etc.. Most of these deals and discounts are obviously used to promote and encourage  the customer to sign up to a Broadband Product.  Most are pretty much self explanatory too. Free monthly charges are a little bit tricky as most innocent consumers think their first 2 or 3 months will be free. Ah haa! Well think again cause some Providers may give you the 1st month free, then the 6th month free followed by the 12th month free when advertising ’3 free months’. Again, look out for the contract terms and what you’re getting locked into. Sure a few free months can substantially lower your overall costs, but what is the compromise? Most Providers will try and entice the customer into locking into a 24mth contract by dangling juicy deals, discounts, and offers over their heads. Locking you in means you may have to pay a significant amount of money if you should decide to leave early for whatever the reason. Weigh up the costs involved in  a 6, 12 and 24month contract. Will it pay to sign up over a longer period?

Do you’re research, surf around, google search terms. Make a list and call your prospective Providers to enquire. After all, it’s what their sales and support help desks are there for.

Cheap Broadband at Broadband Guide
Broadband Bundles at Broadband Guide 

Compare broadband bundles from various providers by clicking on this most popular bundles link.

Telstra BigPond have also recently ‘doubled’ many of the data limits on their Telstra Home Bundle plans so it may be worth having a quick browse through their offerings too.

You can compare Telstra Broadband, Home Phone, Pay TV, T-Box and T-Hub Bundles right here. Simply select or deselect the services you want using the ‘Bundle options’ checkboxes and compare prices and details immediately…. It really is that easy!


Updated by Ronnie on September 12, 2011
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Updated by Ronnie on May 11, 2011 at 3:15pm

Most Popular Broadband Bundles – Due to the popular demand of finding a broadband plan that includes Home Phone, Mobile Phone and Pay TV options, we’ve come up with a ‘most popular’ broadband bundles section. Click here ‘Top 10 most popular Broadband Bundles plans‘ to browse, compare and select from the ten most popular broadband bundles that are currently available.

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Updated by Ronnie on May 18, 2010 at 10:15am

Multiple Policy Discounts – Heard of it? If you haven’t you soon will as many businesses who offer more than one product are enticing consumers by giving additional discounts (usually in the way of cheaper pricing) when they sign up to at least two products or services. Conditions apply of course.

So what kind of deals and discounts are currently available for Broadband products then? Well the two biggest Broadband Internet Service Providers offering bundling discounts at the moment are Telstra and Optus. See their options below:

Telstra Home Bundles (Click here to Compare)
The total cost of a Telstra Home Bundle easily surpasses the total amount of purchasing the same combinations seperately. You can save in excess of $41.85 per month on a Telstra Home Bundle. Consisting of options that cover the fastest BigPond Elite Broadband, Home Phone Line Rental included, Local and STD calls included, FOXTEL from Telstra Platinum iQ package included - Prices start at $78.00.

Telstra BigPond Broadband Bundles (Click here to Compare)
BigPond Broadband Bundles consist of the fastest ADSL2+ and Cable Broadband types. You can obtain a multiple policy discount of $10 by bundling BigPond Broadband with your home phone. Recieve a $20 discount if you bundle an additional Telstra Mobile plan, or BigPond Wireless broadband plan or even FOXTEL from Telstra service. Choose from 2GB – 200GB bundle plans… It’s that easy! Broadband Prices start at $9.95. (make sure you refine search using ‘sort by price’)

Optus Fusion Broadband Bundles (Click here to Compare)
Optus Fusion Broadband Bundle options consist of plans with fast Direst DSL and Cable Broadband, line rental included, local and national calls included and some with calls to Optus mobiles and Australian mobiles included - Prices start at $79.00.

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Start saving on your Broadband Internet service when you Bundle one or more Home Phone, Mobile, VoIP or Pay TV (Foxtel/Digital TV) services with your Broadband Provider. Did you know that many ISPs offer a variety of discounts, deals, extras or cheaper fees when combining your Broadband Internet service into a Bundled package? Well they do and it can save you a significant amount of money just from rolling over a couple of your home or business services into one! Whether you’re new to Broadband or seeking to switch Broadband services, a Bundled Package can generally be obtained with relative ease by calling your prospective Provider.

Combining two or more services is generally referred to as ‘Bundle’ although it is not uncommon to use the term ‘Package’. Various Internet Service Providers on the Broadband Guide site offer discounted monthly fees when an additional service is taken with your Broadband Internet Product.  These discounts typically offer a reduced monthly Broadband fee, however some Providers may grant additional discounts or bonuses such as extra usage limits, phone calls, sms texts, or cap deals. Furthermore, reductions or special offers on free installation, hardware, or transfers when bundling may also apply.

When browsing products on the Broadband Guide site, Bundle Options are shown in the form of a small logo (e.g. Telephone, TV, Mobile Phone, VoIP). Adjacent to these logos is an adjoining Check Box that indicates availability and by checking the box, it confirms that you wish to select this service also. Search return results will show what additional Bundling options are available in conjunction to the respective Broadband Internet Plan by allowing you to ‘check’ and ‘uncheck’ a Bundle Option. Once you have established a suitable Plan and Bundled Option, further details and pricing can be located by clicking the ‘MORE INFO’ button located right next to the Bundle Options. Here you can view vital information regarding plan options by alternating the additional Bundle Options check boxes, and or, selecting various contract lengths. Prices and information will instantly change according to the selections you make.
Broadband Provider contact phone numbers are located in the MORE INFO section of all plans. So if you’re unclear on any of the information provided and would like further details, or to simply sign up to a Bundled Broadband Service right there and then, call the affiliated phone number and you’re almost done!
Search for Broadband Internet Plans with Bundle Options by clicking here.
Good Luck!�
Regards,

Broadband Guide
Useful Broadband Bundle Links:
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) at Broadband Guide
Broadband Bundles at Broadband Guide
Broadband Bundle Plans & Packages at Broadband Guide