Who can connect my phone line apart from Telstra?

Hi Elena,

There's a few questions here that blur the line between phone line (as in, the copper telephone line in the ground that connect from the telephone network to a point in your home), and a telephone service (that is, who can activate the already-in-the-ground line with a dial tone).

If you need a new line installed

If you need a physical line joined to the property, then no, only Telstra can do that. It would be very odd for an existing property to not have a Telstra line connection, but not unheard of. This costs $299. Telstra can be reached on 1800 331 286.

If you have a line into the house, but it's currently inactive

I take it this is more what you're asking. If the line is already in and just needs to be active, then it can be activated as part of a connection with another provider. Telstra are still the company that carries out the work of connecting you - and that means visiting the grey telecom pillar in your street, opening it up, finding the line that corresponds to your home (not that easy a task!) and then connecting that to mains power line.

Available Broadband service providers

If you're connected to the Bundoora exchange (which covers most of Watsonia North) then you have limited options for cheap broadband connections.

Telstra doesn't just do the connection between your home and the exchange - they also have the largest wholesale network from the exchange and out to the wider internet. Physically, this means that Telstra has a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) at the Bundoora exchange building. Many companies rely on this network to provide you a connection.

A handful of major providers have their own DSLAM network to connect to. These are TPG, iiNet (Including Internode), Optus, Primus and Eftel. TPG and iiNet are the two biggest, and so are the most frequently available alternative providers to Telstra.

At Bundoora, TPG is the sole alternative wholesale provider to Telstra, which is not a bad thing. TPG can provide an Unlimited connection for as low as $60 a month- this cost includes the line rental for the connection to your home, and a basic phone service. You can add $10 to receive free local and STD calls to landlines, and 100 free international minutes.

Other providers are available, but to clarify- they would be using Telstra's network from the exchange to connect, which attracts much higher prices.

TPG is a fairly bare-bones sort of provider. They require all fees be paid via Direct Debit (no bills, no payment terms). They don't offer free connections, usually charging about $100 to connect. But on the flip side, they have short contracts and offer unlimited data at high speeds.

We're a dealer for TPG, Internode and Vodafone, so you can contact us directly for more information on these offers.

Dodo and Club Telco are relatively good at squeezing value out of Telstra Wholesale connections, so they are a viable alternative. Dodo can be contacted on 1300 136 793, Club Telco on 1300 106 571.

Thanks,

Adam at CompareBroadband

1300 106 571