Folks, i have managed to organise my utility connections through Origin for when i arrive in MEL in 4 weeks time, but i am struggling to solve how to get a home phone and broadband put in.

My landlord says Telstra is best, but their website is bonkers and after 30 mins i gave up trying to figure out how.

Could anyone give me some tips?

I will be moving to South Yarra. Not sure if there are regional or area offices to call.

Thanks

Ok, so i bumped through a few threads and it seems Hellstra gets a really bad name. So i guess thats out.

what about Optus? I also want to get the Foxtel service installed, are there only certain companies that offer this or can you simply arrange to have it installed?

We use Sky at home just now.

In my experience AAPT are the best of the three large telcos.

If you already have a telephone line then look at whirlpool forums to find a better company for your telephone and broadband. If foxtel is via satellite in your area you get foxtel to install it, usually free installation for new subscribers.

Unfortunately they all rely on Telstra infrastructure ie cables/fibre optics etc, and have to rent them of Telstra.

Hi,

What you've read is completely true, Telstra are completely c**p, they made loads of mistakes with my connection. Firstly i was given the wrong information from the women in one of their shops, about the packages they offer, the prices that they cost and also about the package i would need to purchase to make cheap calls to the UK. They put me on the wrong package and the wron tarrif for my calls to the UK and i recieved a bill after only being connected for 6 days. Then theres bigpond, who provide the internet broadband, i spoke to 4 different people from technical support and was called twice by them before an engineer actually went and checked the exchange which is where the problem lay. I was only able to connect yhis afternoon, but i bet they make me pay for the week that i had with no internet. Stay away from them mate, they're bad news.:curse:

Yep, i think i will give Telstra a body swerve.

If i chose AAPT, how do you go about organising a phone line and broadband install for us arriving in 4 weeks?

can you do it from the UK online?

Naked broadband and VOIP from iinet.

Yep. iiNet is the way to go. No need to do it from the UK either. We had our router delivered and the phone and internet up and running within a week.

Gina

I'm going to go against the majority and actually say that we have found Telstra to be really good. When we were looking to get our phone connected they arranged everything really quickly, unfortunately we had to cancel our appointment twice due to job interviews - they were very helpful and tried to fit their engineers visit in with our plans.

We had tried Optus but they just weren't interested in our business at all!!

I didn't have any problems with Telstra either. I phoned at 9 AM to arrange a connection and number and by 5pm same day it was up & running. I ordered ADSL Broadband at the same time and five days later was surfing at home again. I found my usage was greater than what I ordered so went to my account area online and increased it, which was available from the next day. Price , however is another issue as they quoted me $219 for wi-fi in the home , which I declined as cheaper kits are available elsewhere and after the six month half price deal runs out they are expensive in relation to others available.
Cheers

iiNet. Everytime.

Find out who offers adsl2+ in your area and go with them, always the fastest speeds regardless of the provider.

I would still apply cost as a limiting factor to the range of ISP's that may potentially offer ADSL2+. For example, Telstra offer ADSL2+ and they charge a kings ransom normally and bind you into a blood-sucking contract.

Also, always check if a RIM ((http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=RI...ed_Multiplexer) is going to cause you any problems before you even instigate a line test for ADSL2+ (unless you go with Telstra - though it's academic as you wont achieve anywhere near the true potential of ADSL2+ speeds).

My BB was shocking. Almost gave it up to use dial up i was that fed up. But my rental house got sold so i had to move. Now back in the UK and was shocked how good the BB was in comparison.