[Editor]

Broadband in Melbourne is a very popular subject amongst expats in Australia especially when you bear in mind that 35.8% of the Melbourne population were born overseas. This is well in excess of the national average of 23.1% with British, Italian, Croatian, Vietnamese, Chinese and New Zealand expats very prominent.

If you're looking to move to Australia to work online then the availability of broadband in Melbourne is vital. What kind of services have you experienced in Melbourne? Are there any broadband providers in Melbourne who you would recommend?

 

[AngeliquePrince]

I will be moving to Melbourne in a month. I will optus the network provider of my husband

AngeliquePrince

 

[rofnac25]

Optus I would steer clear of just because their customer service is DIRE.

Telstra (Bigpond) out here is like the BT in the UK. Telstra own the majority of the equipment in the exchange so even if you use "DoDo internet" its running over Telstra's network.

Melbourne has ADSL2+ in the majority of the inner suburbs so speeds of up to 24mbps. The further you get out of Melbourne CBD the crapper the internet... I live 1 hr away and can only get ADSL 8mbps Max.

Your big providers are:

Telstra - BigPond (most expensive - probably the best)
iiNet
TPG
Optus
internode

I've used internode (Naked DSL - no landline required) and Telstra (ADSL) - both have been very stable - had 99% uptime and I've never been 'throttled' for over-usage. Neither block ports and both when I've had issues are very helpful.

Telstra who I'm currently on are very expensive but I am very happy with the service

I've heard great things from TPG (and they're cheap).

The only issue with Australian network providers is a lot of them will tie you down to a 24 month contract - some offer month-by-month but you will pay for it.

Compared to the UK though broadband is expensive as **** out here. You can get it cheap but you will have seriously low data caps (1gb per month). I require 200gb package in my household so I cry a little bit at the end of every month when the bill comes out.

 

[Ozz777]

We use Telstra ADSL2+ which is supposed to be 10Mbps speed, but it usually caps at 7-8Mbps which translates to a max 1MBps actual download speed. I download all of my tv shows, as we get no tv service here, so we have a 500GB/mo plan, and I use most all of that every month. Its $50/mo but bundled with 2 mobiles and landline for a total of almost $300/mo. We are 75km outside of the Melbourne CBD.

We are happy with the service, and it is much faster and more reliable than the first house we had. We have a year left on our 2yr contract, so will be shopping around then, especially if we move much closer to the city. Telstra is really the only option for us out here. Telstra customer service is IMHO HORRIBLE, thats the one drawback.

Back in the US I had cable broadband at 50Mbps, which downloaded at 10MBps, so ten times faster. It was unlimited bandwidth and cost $45/mo bundled with basic cable. Just for comparison.

 

[randomwally]

I think rofnac25 covered it pretty well.

I've had TPG unlimited ADSL2+ in Brisbane for about a year now, very few problems. They're cheap and good as long as things are working, I've heard that customer service can be a bit lacking if things go wrong (though that's true for a lot of internet providers in Australia).

If high speed internet is essential for you, look at the National Broadband Network rollout map and see if you can live in a suburb that either has, or will soon have, high speed fibre to the home. You can then get plans up to 100mbps, which is fast enough for just about any home user. New housing developments may already have fibre installed but may not show up on the NBN rollout map.

The major problem with internet in Australia is the quality of the existing copper network. The infrastructure is owned by Telstra in most places and is often the only option for internet service (most other providers use the Telstra network). In some places it is highly degraded by time and/or weather, so you'll have problems no matter who you are with.

The distance of your home from the broadband exchanges is the other major factor affecting speeds. More than a few KMs from the exchange and speeds drop off quickly until you can't get a connection at all, usually around 6km+. There are maps available online that allow you to see how far you are from the closest telephone exchange. Remember that the distances cables have to travel can be much further than the direct distance between your house and the exchange.

 

[dejainc]

At home i use TPG, $69.95 per month for unlimited ADSL2+ with home phone. No issues other than slow speeds at night time (most likely bandwidth issue). Never had to call or email them. They have reps on Whirlpool Broadband forums who are quite active though.

At my business i use Internode Business with SLA with landline. Costs about $100 per month for 200gb. Had to call them a few times when the line went dead, fixed within the day.