Do not use TPG Internet
Dec 8th 2003, 6:22 am
#1
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 11,149
Do not use TPG Internet
TPG internet
famous for
High pings
Awful customer service
Failed diallups that cost 20c a go
Lots of disconnections
Very bad support
They are cheap for a reason and end up costing you anyway.
Just went to cancel the service and they will not refund any of the money I have paid in advance not event the money paid beyond the 1 month cancellation period.
Anyway I have posted this on whirlpool so hopefully my actions will deny them way more than the 34 dollars the ***s are stealing from me.
famous for
High pings
Awful customer service
Failed diallups that cost 20c a go
Lots of disconnections
Very bad support
They are cheap for a reason and end up costing you anyway.
Just went to cancel the service and they will not refund any of the money I have paid in advance not event the money paid beyond the 1 month cancellation period.
Anyway I have posted this on whirlpool so hopefully my actions will deny them way more than the 34 dollars the ***s are stealing from me.
Dec 8th 2003, 6:32 am
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: Brum to Wello Point
Posts: 74
Cheers for that, can you reccomend any one else?
Dec 8th 2003, 7:19 am
#3
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 11,149
Originally posted by Williem
Cheers for that, can you reccomend any one else?
Cheers for that, can you reccomend any one else?
I am trying Swiftel at the moment (ADSL only).
Swiftel Experience
So far I have no complaints. Check out www.whirlpool.net.au for more broadband choice.
Dec 8th 2003, 9:11 am
#4
Just Joined
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 18
Internode and Swiftel are highly regarded for ADSL. Interestingy, Telstra effectively slashed cable Internet rates on the weekend to around $70/mth. advantage over ADSL is speed. disadvantage is telstra - unreliable service in the past, plus you need to lock into a 24-mth contract, which doesn't apply to ADSL, at least not from the two service providers above.
Dec 8th 2003, 10:36 am
#5
Wishing on a star...
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: UK.
Posts: 539
As a matter of interest,
How much on average is it for internet in Australia (using about 10 hours a week?) Also, do you need a credit card etc to sign up or is it just on your phone bill? And will I be able to get an adaptor for my modem line as I know the phone socket is a different shape.
Thanks
Cherry
How much on average is it for internet in Australia (using about 10 hours a week?) Also, do you need a credit card etc to sign up or is it just on your phone bill? And will I be able to get an adaptor for my modem line as I know the phone socket is a different shape.
Thanks
Cherry
Dec 8th 2003, 10:57 am
#6
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2003
Location: Currambine WA
Posts: 280
im using arach.net.au and pay 24 dollars a month or something like that
they are supposed to cut you off every two hours but i have yet to be cut off been on for 8 hours at a time as well
they are supposed to cut you off every two hours but i have yet to be cut off been on for 8 hours at a time as well
Dec 8th 2003, 10:59 am
#7
Just Joined
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 18
www.whirlpool.net.au shows pricing from different service providers in a very convenient and easy to follow format. pricing depends on type of service (dial-up, adsl broadband, cable, satellite, etc) and usage (data download and upload). can't say an average unless you know your requirements. However, say you want an lower level ADSL broadband service (and i wouldn't suggest dial-up) you can pay about $50/mth now with some recently announced pricing packages. Price competition is currently aggressive, so rates will probably continue to decline. I'd suspect you may need to get a modem over here to ensure compatability but i'm not sure. you can always email a service provider (again, see whirlpool site to obtain service provider contact details).
Dec 8th 2003, 11:08 am
#8
Wishing on a star...
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: UK.
Posts: 539
I dont want to sound like an idiot (
) but..
Why is the price per GB? I am used to being charged per hour not per download. How long is a download? What is a download? I dont download much of the net, if I do its stuff like anti virus...are they charging per page you look at?
Sorry I am confused!
) but..Why is the price per GB? I am used to being charged per hour not per download. How long is a download? What is a download? I dont download much of the net, if I do its stuff like anti virus...are they charging per page you look at?
Sorry I am confused!
Dec 8th 2003, 11:11 am
#9
Just Joined
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 18
well that's one of the attractions of ADSL broadband - its an always on service which is not time based. Put it this way, generally the only way you'd exceed a 3Gb monthly download limit is if your downloading movies or a hell of alot of music from a file sharing service like Kazaa.
Dec 8th 2003, 12:07 pm
#10
Member who went to Aus
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Elwood, VIC
Posts: 74
This is going to hurt me. I pay £25 for a cable line and download EASILY 6Gb a month.
I haven't even dared to look into what that sort of usage is going to cost me in Australia.
Luckily the wife has become a big Internet user since we got broadband a year ago so she's happy to pay what it takes to get the speed, but of course that 6Gb is my usage - so that side of things could well be up for debate.
What is it with Australia? Are they in some sort of technological dark age or something?
If Telewest can do it for £25 a month on their crippling debt base, then surely someone in Oz can do the same.
I haven't even dared to look into what that sort of usage is going to cost me in Australia.
Luckily the wife has become a big Internet user since we got broadband a year ago so she's happy to pay what it takes to get the speed, but of course that 6Gb is my usage - so that side of things could well be up for debate.
What is it with Australia? Are they in some sort of technological dark age or something?
If Telewest can do it for £25 a month on their crippling debt base, then surely someone in Oz can do the same.
Dec 8th 2003, 12:20 pm
#11
Good to be back in UK
Joined: Oct 2003
Location: Back in UK
Posts: 750
We are using Dodo.com.au been quite good, 100% better than bigpond / telstra who were the pits. this is for dial up.
Dial-up $ 69.90* per quarter (3 months)
• Unlimited hours
• Unlimited downloads
• Free seven day per week 8am AEDST – 11pm AEDST help desk
• Local call fast 56K dial-up access to 98% of Australia
• Access to World wide news service
• Online User Account Management
• On-line Dodo Web Mail
• 5 Personal E-mail addresses or E-mail aliases
• Soft session limits (4 hour minimum sessions lengths)
• No idle time out limits
• Free Personal Homepage up to 10M.B. in size
• Free custom sign-up software
Dial-up $ 69.90* per quarter (3 months)
• Unlimited hours
• Unlimited downloads
• Free seven day per week 8am AEDST – 11pm AEDST help desk
• Local call fast 56K dial-up access to 98% of Australia
• Access to World wide news service
• Online User Account Management
• On-line Dodo Web Mail
• 5 Personal E-mail addresses or E-mail aliases
• Soft session limits (4 hour minimum sessions lengths)
• No idle time out limits
• Free Personal Homepage up to 10M.B. in size
• Free custom sign-up software
Dec 8th 2003, 12:41 pm
#12
Member who went to Aus
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Elwood, VIC
Posts: 74
I quote:
Australia's largest Internet service provider, Telstra BigPond, has bowed to customer pressure and released unlimited usage plans for high-speed Internet.
The Internet provider -- which has a customer base of around 1.5 million -- has introduced unlimited usage options among a series of plans designed to secure greater favour among customers who "don't want to worry about usage limits and additional charges".
The unlimited usage plans are available with either 256/64 or 512/128 kbps download for ADSL and uncapped speeds for cable.
BigPond has come under almost constant pressure from broadband activists to remove caps on its high-speed Internet plans, while it must also win back favour among a customer base burnt by the e-mail brown-out over October and November.
The move came after BigPond managing director, Justin Milne, recently issued a note to customers in which he outlined measures to improve e-mail services from this month and beyond.
Milne said the carrier was establishing a spam-monitoring team which it expected "will be able to identify about 60 percent of spam as it enters the network".
It is also installing a new mail platform which it expects all customers to be transitioned to by mid-2004, while a range of upgrades has boosted the mail system's capacity by 70 percent.
On the new BigPond plans, Milne, said existing customers could transfer from their old contracts to the new ones -- which start from AU$69.95 per month -- free of charge and stay on their existing contract term.
However, Milne cautioned that "in order to provide the best broadband experience to all of our customers," BigPond may slow an unlimited usage plan customers' speed to 64 kbps after they reach 10 GB of usage in a month.
He said BigPond was also introducing a pay-as-you-go plan -- starting from AU$39.95 per month, available on a 24-month contract, with all usage charged at 19.9 cents per MB on top of the monthly price.
The carrier has eliminated its three and 18-month contract terms under the arrangements in favour of 24-month deals.
Australia's largest Internet service provider, Telstra BigPond, has bowed to customer pressure and released unlimited usage plans for high-speed Internet.
The Internet provider -- which has a customer base of around 1.5 million -- has introduced unlimited usage options among a series of plans designed to secure greater favour among customers who "don't want to worry about usage limits and additional charges".
The unlimited usage plans are available with either 256/64 or 512/128 kbps download for ADSL and uncapped speeds for cable.
BigPond has come under almost constant pressure from broadband activists to remove caps on its high-speed Internet plans, while it must also win back favour among a customer base burnt by the e-mail brown-out over October and November.
The move came after BigPond managing director, Justin Milne, recently issued a note to customers in which he outlined measures to improve e-mail services from this month and beyond.
Milne said the carrier was establishing a spam-monitoring team which it expected "will be able to identify about 60 percent of spam as it enters the network".
It is also installing a new mail platform which it expects all customers to be transitioned to by mid-2004, while a range of upgrades has boosted the mail system's capacity by 70 percent.
On the new BigPond plans, Milne, said existing customers could transfer from their old contracts to the new ones -- which start from AU$69.95 per month -- free of charge and stay on their existing contract term.
However, Milne cautioned that "in order to provide the best broadband experience to all of our customers," BigPond may slow an unlimited usage plan customers' speed to 64 kbps after they reach 10 GB of usage in a month.
He said BigPond was also introducing a pay-as-you-go plan -- starting from AU$39.95 per month, available on a 24-month contract, with all usage charged at 19.9 cents per MB on top of the monthly price.
The carrier has eliminated its three and 18-month contract terms under the arrangements in favour of 24-month deals.
Dec 8th 2003, 8:47 pm
#13
Just Joined
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 18
What is it with Australia? Are they in some sort of technological dark age or something?
no, shite don't work like that. like its about economics. specifically, australia has a relatively small population over a large area. industries with high sunk and fixed costs (telecommunications, airlines, etc) gravitate towards natural monopolies if there is no regulator to exert an offseting influence. Cable broadband - only 2 service providers (telstra, optus - but effectively operate local region monopolies w/ this service as cable is only in certain areas). ADSL broadband - a hell of alot of resellers but they all use Telstra as their ADSL wholesale service provider, the latter of which ends up getting 80% of sales revenues from these service providers and effectively determines end prices.
no, shite don't work like that. like its about economics. specifically, australia has a relatively small population over a large area. industries with high sunk and fixed costs (telecommunications, airlines, etc) gravitate towards natural monopolies if there is no regulator to exert an offseting influence. Cable broadband - only 2 service providers (telstra, optus - but effectively operate local region monopolies w/ this service as cable is only in certain areas). ADSL broadband - a hell of alot of resellers but they all use Telstra as their ADSL wholesale service provider, the latter of which ends up getting 80% of sales revenues from these service providers and effectively determines end prices.
Dec 8th 2003, 9:19 pm
#14
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 11,149
With broadband the obstacle to competition is the last mile ie the bit of wire from the exchange to the house.
In the UK that is controlled by BT and in Australia by Telstra.
In the UK oftel beats BT around with a stick and threatens regulation if BT does not fulfill its wishes. All such regulation in Australia comes under the auspices of the ACCC whose powers are limited hence they cannot bash telstra.
The other problem is the price of comms to the US where most of the net hubs up to. Laying fibre across the pacific is an expensive business.
Politicians in Australia are more concerned about the level of service to rural Australia where the national party (part of the ruling coalition) has its constituencies.
Something else to note is that telstra is still 49% governement owned.
In the UK that is controlled by BT and in Australia by Telstra.
In the UK oftel beats BT around with a stick and threatens regulation if BT does not fulfill its wishes. All such regulation in Australia comes under the auspices of the ACCC whose powers are limited hence they cannot bash telstra.
The other problem is the price of comms to the US where most of the net hubs up to. Laying fibre across the pacific is an expensive business.
Politicians in Australia are more concerned about the level of service to rural Australia where the national party (part of the ruling coalition) has its constituencies.
Something else to note is that telstra is still 49% governement owned.
Dec 8th 2003, 9:40 pm
#15
Guest
Posts: n/a
Originally posted by cutgrass
This is going to hurt me. I pay £25 for a cable line and download EASILY 6Gb a month.
I haven't even dared to look into what that sort of usage is going to cost me in Australia.
If Telewest can do it for £25 a month on their crippling debt base, then surely someone in Oz can do the same.
This is going to hurt me. I pay £25 for a cable line and download EASILY 6Gb a month.
I haven't even dared to look into what that sort of usage is going to cost me in Australia.
If Telewest can do it for £25 a month on their crippling debt base, then surely someone in Oz can do the same.
1Gb plans from $35pm, 6Gb $55, 12Gb $65. BUt iot does go up with higher speeds.
Following Telstra's price changes, in last few days, anything could change over the next few weeks. I expect prices to come down again. I've got 8 months left on my Telstra ADSL contract, then I am changing to one with no contract terms. And one with NO upload charges.