If I move into a house with a telephone connection but no telephone account, do I need to pay extra for the line rental or can I purchase a broadband plan only?
29/01/2011
There may be a couple of options if you want access to the internet, but if you don’t want an active home phone line. It will depend on which services are available in your area; if you only have access to ADSL1, unfortunately you will need to have an active telephone account in order to activate an internet connection.
If you do have access to ADSL2+ in your area, the first option is to get Naked DSL. The setup involves three steps of:
1. Activating the home phone line
2. Setting up the ADSL2+ connection which will run through the home phone line
3. Disconnecting the phone line so there is no need to pay phone line rental each month
Unless the internet provider can do all three steps for you, it will be an expensive process because you will be charged a disconnection fees from Telstra for activating a home phone line yourself. I would recommend going with companies like iiNet (1300 106 571), Westnet (1300 768 134) or iPrimus (1300 137 794) for Naked DSL, as they can organise all three steps for you. It is worth calling each company to find out which one can offer Naked DSL at your address.
iiNet has some great Naked DSL plans, and also offers the BoB™ VoIP service if you want to take advantage of cheap local and international phone calls. iiNet’s Naked Home-1 plan offers 50GB during peak hours and 50GB during off peak hours for $59.95 per month. You also have the option to go on a no fixed-term contract if you don’t want to be locked into a plan for a long period. Give iiNet a call to find out more about their Naked DSL plans.
Another option is to bundle a home phone service with an internet plan. TPG has bundle plans which often work out cheaper than Naked DSL. For $59.99 per month, you can have unlimited ADSL2+ internet and an active phone line, with the option of a six or 18-month contract. Call us on 1300 106 571 to find out if TPG’s bundle plan is available in your area.
