Broadband: Which plan is for you?

Product ratings -- AAPT, Internode and Netspace

Product AAPT 512/512
Price per month AU$179
Vendor AAPT
Phone 13 38 17
Web www.aapt.com.au
 
Interoperability
The second fastest in terms of overall throughput with the highest up time/reliability of any of the plans tested.
Futureproofing
Up to 32 static IP addresses at no extra charge.
ROI
Great performance and reliability, good range of features, including a managed Internet router and a relatively small cap but expensive excess charge per MB.
Service
Phone and e-mail support is 24x7.
Rating
Product Internode 512/512
Price AU$220
Vendor Internode
Phone 1300 788 233
Web www.internode.on.net
 
Interoperability
Very good performance and only a moderate loss of uptime.
Futureproofing
Up to 10 hours dial-up included free and free anti-spam and antivirus filtering.
ROI
Very good performance, very large cap with low charge for excess.
Service
Priority business support -- between 7:30 and 12am CST.
Rating
Product Business SYM 512 -- Plan C
Price per month AU$149.95
Vendor Netspace
Phone 1300 360 025
Web www.netspace.net.au
 
Interoperability ½
The best overall throughput of all the plans but many more lost pings than AAPT.
Futureproofing
One free static IP but up to 32 for only AU$20 extra, Netspace to Netspace traffic is unmetered.
ROI ½
Very fast, quite reliable, moderate cap (for plan featured), expensive excess charge per MB.
Service
Phone support is 8am to 10pm Mon-Fri with 24-hour e-mail support.
Rating ½

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Talkback 11 comments

    Broadband review WOW ! Anonymous -- 14/11/05

    Wow what an excellent review, keep up the great work. This is what we love to see

    Legends Anonymous -- 14/11/05

    You guys really know your stuff great test and informative review. Pity there were not a whole lot more broadband providers included.

    Great Review... NOT Anonymous -- 14/11/05

    Love that fact that when I went to that page there was an AAPT ad at the top!!!

    I can't really see how this review is measured nor does it seem to be discussed.

    Why is the static IP options mentioned for Netspace and AAPT but not internode?

    Don't AAPT buy their international bandwidth though someone else?

    What the hell is future proofing? and how the heel can it be measured?

    I'll review the review..... poor very poor.... Some of the lines don't even have similar information.... and there not categories as to what they are there for...

    I think someone needs a kick in the arse for this review.... I'm now dumb from reading it!

    Read the How we Tested Anonymous -- 15/11/05 (in reply to #120123270)

    If you read the review you would see the How we Tested section.

    http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/software/internet/0,39023437,39221708-7,00.htm

    Pretty much covers it all.

    Wow, you really got this one correct... NOT. Anonymous -- 15/11/05

    How about you get a clue. Then have another crack at it.

    Why no mention of VOIP Anonymous -- 15/11/05

    Surely, a big component of any broadband review must focus on wireless and the elimination of line rental. All DSL does is give unearned revenue to Telstra.

    VOIP and Wireless present a big saving without the $30 dead money each month.

    Yes I have dumped the home phone..

    Very informative Martin Hamil -- 15/11/05

    Seems not all services are created equal despite purporting to be so!

    Very interesting to see the critics of this report don't publish their details or whom they are affiliated with.

    This is a bias article Anonymous -- 18/11/05

    This is a bias article for a number of reasons:

    1. It forgot to include Telstra and Optus
    2. It recommended AAPT and their website/banners have AAPT ads everywhere.

    I would not believe everything you read in this article.

    Did you even read the review before commenting? Mark Jacobs -- 24/11/05 (in reply to #120123486)

    It seems you did not even read the first few paragraphs! before commenting my friend. Both companies you mentioned are described and the reasons they gave for failing to participate.

    START QUOTE >>> "This month we invited the Internet service providers generally considered to be the top 10 in Australia to submit a plan for this review. Interestingly, both Optus and Telstra declined to submit, as did Exetel.

    Telstra's response was that they were simply too busy to participate as this extract from their e-mail shows: "Telstra Business and Government have declined your invitation and the BigPond production team has been flat out and indicated it's not able to assist at this time."

    Optus states that it does not have DSL available in the area of the Test Labs, and were clearly not willing to use Telstra's." >>> END QUOTE

    Seems to me that this review was very well put together and each provider thoroughly tested over time by an independent organisation Test Labs it seems. To wit an excellent and thoroughly scientific test methodology has been described, provided and used by them, and the resulting facts are supplied in a easy to understand format.

    Seems to me that AAPT have won fairly and squarely and have advertised complementarily.

    By the way what organization do you represent your post was marked anonymous, perhaps this Telstra or Optus hmm?

    WiMax Anonymous -- 24/11/05

    I am on a Hibis airspan Wimax service. It generally seems really good and the speeds are not bad - according to ZDs tester it is generally around 450Mbs. However I use alot of Voip and I am not sure that it isn't abit lumpy/has some lag problems..(I have tried pinging my Voip server and it generally comes in at 400-500ms)...any thoughts from anyone..any similar experiences

    What a review! I Anonymous -- 26/10/09

    Thanks so much for such thorough insight. I was a bit iffy in considering AAPT as a provider, but they're serious contenders now. Thanks!

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