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Choosing a broadband provider | |
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The story of a Rose
Bay businessman who got a refund
from Bigpond after being connected to the wrong plan reminds us of the importance
of choosing the right Internet plan.
The best resource for finding the right plan is Broadband
Choice. You can search broadband plans by location, cost, speed and download
limits. Finding a plan that suits your budget is important as some plans can
be very expensive.
A capped Internet plan slows the connection down when you pass the data
limit. Rather than receiving an nasty surprise when you receive your Internet
bill, you have a slower connection until the end of the billing period. It
can be an inconvenience, but it won't break the bank.
Some providers have a combination of caps and excess use fees. That is,
they charge excess use fees up to a certain point and then cap any further
costs. We recommend avoiding these as they still can give you a nasty surprise.
Another factor to consider is the capped speed. Capped speeds are usually
64Kbit, which is a little faster than an old dial up connection. Some are
only 32Kbit which makes the Internet almost unusable and we recommend avoiding
plans like the cheaper Optus plans which have these lower capped speeds.
A capped plan is usually a good warning if someone in your household is
using the net excessively. The slower limit will frustrate the power user
while mum and dad can still use email and the web on the lower speed. It's
certainly better to put up with a slow net connection than receiving a massive
bill.
If you find the cap is too low, most Internet providers have no charges
for moving up to a higher usage plan. So we'd recommend being conservative
at first and increase your plan if you find you're regularly being capped.
Check before signing up that you won't be charged a fee should you decide
to move up to a higher monthly limit.
The fastest speeds currently available are 24Mbit. These are surprisingly
affordable. But it's important to note that there's usually a trade off with
download limits.
It's important to remember too that the faster the connection, the more
you'll tend to download. So a limit that would be fine with 256kbit connection,
might not be
Most connection fees include equipment. Cheaper connection fees may have
cheaper modems or nothing at all. If you are planning to share a connection
between computers, then a more expensive fee with a router, either wired or
wireless, may be better value.
Before entering any contract, it's important to read and understand the
terms before committing to it. Understand what your costs will be and budget
accordingly. If you don't understand anything, ask the ISP what it means before
agreeing.
We recommend choosing an Internet provider that throws in these features
for free. Other features such as movies and music downloads are often not
particularly good value. Again, it's a matter of shopping around for the service
that has what you want.
More advanced business functions such as web hosting, Virtual Private Networking
and remote access require features like static IP addresses and web hosting.
Most cheap plans don't offer these. Both Optus and Bigpond cable also don't
offer many of these features so we don't recommend cable broadband for business
use.
If you do have a dispute, document everything and do as much in writing
as possible. While some are fairly slow to take action against unpaid bills,
others are very aggressive in their debt collection so we, like
the TIO, recommend you pay your bill and then argue about it.
Avoid excess use charges
The most basic advice is to avoid Internet plans that incur excess use charges.
Most Australian Internet plans have limits on how much data you can use. When
you pass that limit some, like the plan that caught the Double Bay businessman,
charge excess fees while most have "capped" plans.
How much data
The next step is to decide how much data you need. A typical user should be
able to get away with 1Gb a month. If you have teenagers in the house the sky
is the limit.
Plan speed
A big selling point for broadband is you can choose the speed to suit your budget
and needs. The cheapest plans are 256Kbit, which is fine for basic websurfing
and email. Most people are prepared to pay for faster speeds.
Connection fees
There are few broadband plans that don't have connection fees. These vary substantially
between providers and it is important to shop around.
Contract lengths
Like mobile phone plans, there are many different deals for different contracts.
If you sign up for a longer contract then the ISP might waive all the connection
fees. Naturally there are penalties if you decide to cancel the contract early.
Extras
It's surprising how little ISP's market their extras. Many ISPs include spam
filtering, virus scanning, five or more email addresses and other useful features.
Others charge extra for such things.
Business users
Business users have different needs. If email and the web are essential to your
business, then you should invest in a business grade connection. Nothing irritates
a computer technician more than a businessmen whingeing about being unable to
recede critical email because their $29.99 a month Internet account is down.
When things go wrong
If you do find yourself with an ISP, it's important to contact them first and
try to resolve the dispute directly. It's easy to become exhausted disputing
bills as ISP call centres are very good at sending you in circles. If you
find you are getting nowhere, then you should contact the Telecommunication
Industry Ombudsman.
The Rose Bay businessman got his refund after much running around. We find
this is typical. If you are prepared to stand your ground, the telcos will
eventually back down on unreasonable bills.
info@pcrescue.com.au
PC Rescue Pty Ltd, Suite 236, 4 Young Street Neutral Bay NSW 2089
ABN 36 082 635 765
ŠTechnology Publishing Australia, 2008