NBN providers?

Just wondering the state of affairs wit ISPs.

Was an iiNet customer for many years, though last 3+ years with Telstra (was already connected at current residence. Moving to a new place and questioning what you gain/lose by the more expensive/cheaper plans. Given they are all on the same infrastructure…

For example, do cheaper ISPs oversell capacity during the evening peaks?

Is it a customer service issue (as in good/bad)?

Something else?

Appreciate experiences…

I’ve been with Exetel for a long time, and have few complaints. Its not a provider you want if you need a lot of support, though. I’m on FTTN 50/20 at a grandfathered rate. I get dropouts from time to time, but never for long. Its cheap by comparison with, say, Telstra, iiNet, Internode, AussieBroadband… but I’m guessing the performance is not a lot different from the complaints my friends make about Telstra.

Maybe go have a read in https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/92

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These days with NBN, I don’t think it’s about “overselling capacity” leading to congestion as much as it about highly-recommended ISPs paying (more) attention to their usage numbers and over-provisioning capacity to prevent congestion-related issues from ever cropping up in the first place, especially during peak times where congestion may not be as predictable. Small difference? Perhaps.

If you’re looking for NBN ISPs, I’d ask what your other fellow nerds are using and do your own research from there.

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Long time iiNet customer, recently moved to a place with NBN (was using ADSL2 previously, haha). Move was seamless and support was great as I had to terminate my old connection earlier than expected and new connection being brought forward, no issues with downtime. On the NBN25 plan, WFH four times a week. Decent enough for me.

We have been with iiNet for years. Their evening performance is 53.6Mbps on an NBN50 plan. Recently they have put us on a faster plan for 6 months at no additional cost. We are seeing 180Mbps. Impressive, but overall performance is restricted by many other factors including speed of the sites we visit.

My understanding of ISPs is that you get what you pay for. Less expensive ISPs may offer slower performance at peak periods, lesser quality modem/routers and/or poorer service.

@ Bennyling is on the money.
Regardless of which RSP you go with, they all use the same physical network. The difference comes down to the allowance they purchase to cater for the amount of users they have on a particular POI (Point of Interconnect). The allowance is known as CVC (Connectivity Virtual Circuit).
If a RSP only purchases a small amount of CVC on a particular POI, then they sign up hundreds of customers that connect to that POI, performance will drop until they purchase additional CVC’s. As CVC’s are shared between their customer base only.

I use Aussie Broadband and they are quite transparent with this.
You can check the POI you use here: https://www.aussiebroadband.com.au/nbn-poi/
You can check their CVC allocation on different POI’s here: https://www.aussiebroadband.com.au/cvc-graphs/

I paid to upgrade from FTTC to FTTP through the NBN’s TCP (Technology Choice Program). And currently am on an ultrafast package. Speed wise I average about 940mb down and 40mb up.

Sorry for all the acronym’s.

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Bloody hell. Are you rich?!

The NBN’s TCP (Technology Choice Program) cost varies dramatically based on the existing connection technology in use and the location of your property to the infrastructure already in place. Upgrading from FTTC (Fibre to the Curb) is generally one of the cheapest options. Upgrading from other tech like FTTN (Fibre to the Node) is generally a lot more expensive. For me it was about $2600 for the upgrade. So definitely on the cheaper end of upgrade costs.
You can get a free quote at this link if you’re interested:

The high end plan is a bit of a mix between needs and wants. We could get away with a lower plan but with both my wife and I working from home full time and two kids that love watching online content, there is a reasonable amount of usage in the house. On top of that there is always a handful of computers and other tech turned on so there is always data in use.
I work in I.T. so being able to quickly download ISO’s or VM images makes my work much more efficient. Plus it’s nice if I want to sit down and game with my kids that we don’t have to sit and wait long if there is a multi-gig update of some kind.

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After 10 years on iiNet, which I loved but went downhill after the TPG acquisition, and then five years on Telstra because it was the only provider available in my previous housing estate, I am now thoroughly enjoying Aussie Broadband. Exceptional customer service, everything is easy, and fast very very fast.

Yeah I will be going ABB if my grandfathered plan gets dumped.

Have been with Superloop a while now, no complaints from me!

I’m still with Internode, after a thousand years or so. They were an independent Adelaide based ISP when I got my first account. Their service has always been really good and the speeds are fairly consistent on NBN.

I’d love to hear what others are paying for their NBN. I’m on an NBN50 FTTN plan with 500GB for $75/month. I’m guessing that isn’t anywhere near the cheapest I could get.

Aussie Broadband Ultrafast. 1000/50. $149 p/month. +$5 for a static IP.

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A local tech I have know for a long time recommended ABB & Exetel.