Hello I am interested in changing my home phone plan with internet.

Hi Jenny,

Usually when your internet goes slow halfway through the month it's because you've exceeded your data quota – basically, your family have used up the 50GBs, and accordingly BigPond have slowed your internet right down until the next month.

On the plus side, you're not getting excess usage charges, but it is a pretty good sign that you need to upgrade your plan. Be careful before you switch straight from 50GBs to 500GBs – that's a big upgrade, and one you may not need.

Keep in mind that downloading a movie doesn't even use up 1GB most of the time, so unless you're doing a lot of very heavy downloading, it's unlikely you'll use up the 500GB. Remember that most companies won't charge you to upgrade, but they will charge you to downgrade. It's better to start small, unless you see a really great plan, like TPG's unlimited one. However, you're in a bit of an annoying situation, because while 100GB might suit you just fine, most companies will give you that 100GB as 50GB during the peak period (usually from around 9am-1am) and 50GB off-peak – not at all a solution for your broadband woes. Finding an inexpensive unlimited provider might be a better alternative than spending a lot of money on a 500GB plan from Telstra.

Here are a couple of great bundles you could look into:

TPG offers an Unlimited ADSL2+ and Home Phone Bundle for $59.99 per month. As you have unlimited GBs on this plan, there's no way they'll be able to slow you down, and you can download movies to your heart's content! Call us for more information or to sign up with TPG on 1300 106 571.

Dodo offers an Unlimited ADSL2+ and Home Phone Bundle for $59.80 per month. Again, this plan means you can download to your heart's content, but be careful before signing up with another Dodo plan unless you are absolutely sure that you won't be using more than the GB allowance they've given you, as Dodo will hit you with some excess usage charges. Their unlimited plan, however, is great value. Give them a call on 1300 136 793.

If you want to keep your home phone with Telstra, you could add on Club Telco's Unlimited ADSL2+. It's the cheapest in Australia, at just $25.00 per month. Call Club Telco for more information or to sign up on 1300 138 155.

Of course, none of these providers are able to bundle in Foxtel, but you could always buy a Foxtel service outright and it might still be a little cheaper than Telstra's expensive services. Alternatively, you could contact Optus (1300 137 897) as they have their own great Optus MeTV service.

I hope this helps!

Mikaella.