Ok so this has been done a million times, but at home we had no choice but to go with bigpond so i didn't really take much notice.
HOWEVER! Now that I am moving out this weekend! (woot) I need a good internet connection connected ASAP!
I would get the home phone bundled as well. I have checked out www.broadband-choice.com.au.
Seems that the new Dodo deal for 30gig, with phone is like $83 dollars a month...which is cheap as...but ITS DODO!? What is dodo like anyone? speeds are what they say they are?
Or I have netspace 40gig with phone for 100 a month.

Internode and Iinet don't seem to be coming up?
Anyone have any other suggestions?

ermm i just found whirlpool's site so I am checking that out atm too.

Edit: oh and advice on a good ADSL Modem/Router would be good too.
Thinking maybe the Belkin Draft-N wireless router. I read on here that Belkin had pretty good coverage with strong signal strength? (http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=365203)

Actually iiNet for $99.90 a month looks pretty good! 20 gig peak + 40 gig off peak. With line rental and 1.98 30 min international calls!

Whats iiNet like these days?

i'm on that plan with iinet, and i've been with them for about a year and a half. they've got good service, and the plan is very decent

+1 for iinet

iinet are excellent matty
they are fast as and after you get over the initial setup hassles (for some reason they are bad at moving connections/setting up new ones), they are good as gold

couldnt be happier with iinets service;

i like my billion routers, but whoop will tell you he gets a chubby for linksys

i find my billion (7300g) to be fast, stable and easy to use and doesnt whine like dlinks do

is the iinet deal you're looking at one that hooks into your phone line, or the new wireless thing that comes out this month? where you don't need to pay telstra line rental...

I've had both iinet and internode at different locations throughout qld/nsw and both rock quite hard
I'm using a cisco 877 but it's kinda overkill for home use - iinet give you a 4 port switch/wireless ap/VOIP capable modem on some of their plans - highly recommended you take it up, it's a good little unit and I still use mine just for the wireless/voip features these days

iinet business adsl2+ plan + voip = $139/mo for 80gb (40/40) + 5 static IP's & voip account ftw
internodes best real plan is basically the 60gb adsl2+ soho imo
edit: as spook mentioned iinet sucked at provisioning accounts but I had mine connected a few weeks ago and it took 3 days from woh-to-go

Thanks for the help guys!

f*** ADSL is lame, you need a phone number to look up to see if its available! WHAT IF THERE IS NO PHONE NUMBER?! I have to go next door and ask them for their phone number?!
*sigh* I wish grey pages was still around

For ADSL2 iiNet are good, but the ADSL1 plans are so, so bad. I mean, really bad.

All good, ADSL2 is available in the house a few doors up from me! So ADSL2 here I come :D....well in 2-5 working days while the phone is connected...then 7-10 working days until the internet is connected to that phone...:| rediculous!

matty, they say 2-5 + 5-10 days, but it's just to cover their own ass. they're usually heaps quicker. i had a change of address with iinet last week, and they said 2-5 + 5-10, it was all done in about 4 business days

MAKE SURE YOU RING THEM EVERY DAY AND CHECK

we sat around waiting for them to hook up our new place, and iinet were all like "oh, you're there already, we were waiting for you to let us know"

once you get hooked up, it will be all good though

TPG ADSL2+ 150GB (40GB on peak, 110GB off peak)= $69.95 per month.

give me the street name and i'll give you a phone number on that street using /greypages/ on my server

Yeah, except for the fact TPG lick sweaty balls, that plan looks great.

In all seriousness though, at the end of the day you get what you pay for. I can't speak for iinet, but in about 3 years of having adsl with internode I could count the number of days of downtime I've had on one hand, even if I had lost a couple of fingers in an industrial accident. Blazing speeds, awesome service, 20 - 30ms pings to game servers, its worth every dollar.

What the hell is wrong with TPG? I've used them for a year now, and I haven't had a single day of downtime, save for a few times when it was our router f***ing up. I get a full 20Mbit connection all the time, fast upload, and the highest I ever see my ping go is 30.

I've had next to no issues at all with TPG, but my girlfriend is with iiNet, and they're on the phone to them trying to get them to pull their finger out every other week.

In closing, either TPG loves me, or they hate you (assuming you've used them before).

I've never used them, I'm just going by the fact that every other TPG user I've ever known has bitched and moaned about how s*** they are. It always seems to start off well and end in tears :P

Don't people bitch and moan about every ISP though? After hearing the things the people I know have said about iiNet, I was surprised to read so much praise for them in here. Each to his own I guess.

The reason TPG have a s***ty reputation is because back in the day they used to promote their services as cheap + high download limits when in reality the data you were getting was from satellite connections with 400~ms ping times.

It was fine for web users but total ass for gamers, and you paid nearly as much as you would have for an Aussie ISP which was getting international data at much higher rates with much lower latency

Yeah, that does sound like total arse. I can say it's definitely not like that now though. The only real annoyance I've had is that when I've called them, the phone has been answered at some Indian call center. I've always gotten the information that I've needed, but I'd prefer to talk to someone in the same country.

I agree with mitch, been with TPG and they are great, were on the 18gig adsl1 plan and have been able to pull 25gb before capping. Our exchange just got enabled for DSL2 and it is excellent. Good pricing and speeds :)

Have also had TPG at my folks place for a few years and no problems. You don't have to hold for their customer service (at least, I never have).

oh and, about getting a phone connected? pray you don't end up in the same ordeal as us, took telstra 11 f***ing weeks to get a phone line connected. total bulls***, they kept f***ing up forms and s*** and i had to keep calling to check progress and they would say 'oh the last person you spoke to did the wrong thing' even though I made them promise me they were doing the correct forms etc..

f***ing nightmare i hate those c***s

last edited by partyhat at 12:24:17 11/Oct/07

Only problem with iinet I have had in the 3-4 years of using them on and off is the last time I signed up with them I put in my application with them and waited a week before calling. When I called they realised my CC# wasn't right and the application had never gone through. Wasted week :(

We are with Optus Cable at home.

We have 60gig for $72.00 a month, 20 on, 40 off. Always enough, but we keep not using the offpeak times for d/l and get shaped for the last few months.

Well I got a message on my mobile in regards to a phone appointment 8am tomorrow morning! So that either means it will be connected tomorrow or they will be calling me saying they need to get someone to go out and get it working. I doubt it will be the latter! So hopefully I can get the internet ball rolling tomorrow morning and ill have internet next week at some stage. No internet?! for a few days?! HOW WILL I SURVIVE!

Probably just going to go with the Netgear DG834PN ADSL2+ & Router.
Got 3 x netgear cards. And its cheap at $175. Rather not go with a Pre-N technology, would cost me like 250 + 2-3 x cards at 115 each is a bit expensive just to share internet through wooden walls.

DONT GO NETGEAR

i hated my dg834g and was stoked when it died so i could replace it

Yeah but it seems Billions wireless is pretty slow. And consdering I will be using just wireless and I have a friend with the same model with which I got connection in the carpark of his unit complex. I have the WGR614 and the one up from it, and the one up didn't drop the internet much at all. GOing to ask my friend exactly how it is in other respects.
IMO dlink and linksys are not as good - which doesn't leave me with much choice.

all wireless is slow matty, hardwired is where its at (cept for lappys)

i found my netgear would sync way lower than the billion, and then was no where near as stable

coz im hardwired here, sync speed is what im chasing (oh and staying connected)

havent really checked lappy speeds, but was put off wireless when i set it up with the netgear (and netgear wireless nic) and speeds were way down, coudlnt game on it

Yeah see I have my media centre with wireless, laptop with wireless and my roommate will have her wireless.
The Netgear I had at the old place wasn't too bad, i'd get constant 100meg connection. I could game (wow) on it.
I don't game anyway so its not really an issue.
Ill check up on some alternatives on the weekend!