Looks like my "wedding" with Telstra is approaching to the end, and after 5 years of contract I'm planning to move to another company.
The reason is because I'm living in Flagstaff Hill, Adelaide, SA, and in this area they can't connect ADSL, which makes me use wireless. However, they just have a plan for 12/15 GB per month for the price of nearly AU$ 100.00 for this system. I'd like to know which company provides a wireless system (that works properly!!) in this area for a really good price. Thanks for your attention and I'm looking forward to hear from you soon at your earliest convenience. Regards, Gus Freitas
07/06/2012
Hi Gus,
Did Telstra say why they can't provide ADSL? Because depending on the reason, other providers might not be able to to either. Let's first look at the difference between ADSL and Wireless (or more accurately, Mobile Broadband).
ADSL and ADSL2+ use a Telstra-owned copper telephone line to provide a connection to your local telephone exchange. At the exchange, your line could plug into a DSLAM (a Digital Subscriber Line Annex Multiplexer), which is a fancy term for "a big rack of modems". The DSLAM is connected via a fibre optic trunk cable to a national network, and leads back all the way to the WA or NSW coast, where it connects to an undersea cable. The internet might seem magical, but it's really a big web of wires!
The companies that own and operate DSLAM networks are: Telstra (at almost every exchange), Optus (at 350), iiNet/Internode (about 420), TPG (about 400) and iPrimus (about 200). As you can imagine, everyone who isn't Telstra targets the same exchanges that connect to lots of people, and overlap a great deal. This is why many metro customers are spoiled for choice. Regional customers, meanwhile, only have Telstra's network at their disposal.
Other ISPs can actually lease a port from Telstra, so you're not limited to BigPond. But these "off-net" prices are much higher than the bundled prices you see advertised.
Mobile Broadband (or 'Wireless' as you've called it) is completely and utterly unrelated. Your connection to the internet is not made over a fixed copper line at all, and instead is made over a mobile network. It is, on the whole, much slowed, more easily disrupted and comes with vastly less data than an ADSL connection.
As for your area - My records show me that Telstra, Internode and TPG all host their own DSLAMs at the Coromandel Valley exchange. So the reasons why Telstra can't connect you could be:
- Too far from the exchange (TPG and Internode can't connect you either).
- No Free Ports. (TPG or Internode should still be able to connect you; since they have their own ports).
- You're on a Pair Gain line (TPG and Internode probably won't be able to connect you).
- You're connected to a RIM (TPG and Internode might be able to connect you, but at a higher monthly cost).
As you can see, Telstra not being able to connect you to ADSL doesn't mean nobody can. You can call us on 1300 106 571 to see if TPG or Internode can connect you.
Now, back to Mobile Broadband - Telstra offer the fastest and best mobile broadband network, so I can't easily recommend anyone 'better'. There are several options for 'cheaper' - Virgin (1300 106 571) and Dodo (1300 136 793) will be much cheaper, but they use the slower and more congested Optus Network. Also, because of the limited capability of Mobile Broadband, they won't offer more than the 12-15GB that Telstra can offer.
So your options, in a nutshell - call us to see if anyone else can provide an ADSL connection. ADSL will work better and offer vastly more data.
OR
Stay with mobile broadband. It won't work the way you want it to, regardless of who you go with, so you might be best off going for whomever is cheapest.
Thanks,
Adam at Compare Broadband
1300 106 571
