Broadband: Which plan is for you?

Product ratings -- Pacific, Primus and Westnet

Product Business 512/512
Price per month AU$149
Vendor Pacific Internet
Phone 13 36 39 (business support)
Web www.pacific.net.au
 
Interoperability
Very good performance but with more lost pings than average.
Futureproofing ½
Includes free serviced firewall for 1 year, static IP addresses, unlimited dial-up connection, e-mail virus and spam filtering, 10 e-mail addresses, 10MB Web space.
ROI ½
Very good performance, less than average reliability, large cap, moderate cost for excess.
Service
4 Phone and e-mail technical support is 24/7 with a 24 hour turn around on e-mail support.
Rating
Product Business 512/512
Price per month N/A
Vendor Primus Telecom
Phone 1300 850 000
Web www.iprimus.com.au
 
Interoperability ½
The third highest performer and only one lost ping. Also had one of the shortest average ping times of the plans tested.
Futureproofing ½
Optional DSL firewall service.
ROI  
Cannot rate as vendor declined to provide indicative pricing.
Service
Phone and e-mail support is 24x7.
Rating ½
Product Premium ADSL 512/512
10GB+10GB
Price per month AU$79.95
Vendor Westnet
Phone 13 19 60
Web www.westnet.com.au
 
Interoperability
The slowest of the 512/512 plans, only three lost pings, a very low ping time but was very reliable.
Futureproofing
Free static IP, six e-mail addresses and 20MB personal Web space.
ROI
Very reliable, lowest throughput of the 512Kbps plans, good-sized cap, and low excess charge.
Service
Phone and e-mail support is 5 to 1am WST.
Rating

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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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