Currently, Optus provides broadband and phone phone at @$79 a month.

Hi David,

We get a lot of questions about speed at Compare Broadband; it's generally the first thing people ask when they're signing up for a plan. There are a lot of misconceptions floating around about speed and how various Internet Service Providers (ISPs) give you different speeds. Let's try and address a couple of them.

A lot of confusion comes from the fact that when you buy an ADSL1 service – the first ADSL broadband that was available in Australia – you pay not just for how much data you want per month but also how fast you want your connection to be. With ADSL2+, however, you pay only for how many GBs per month you want.

When they give you ADSL2+, most ISPs will offer you exactly the same speed. This is because your internet speed comes from your distance from the telephone exchange, rather than anything in particular your provider offers you. The closer you are to your local telephone exchange, the faster your internet will be.

Some other factors do come into play. Some of them are outside the control of the ISP, but others are not. One important consideration is the contention ratio on the pipeline the ISP has – that is, how many customers they try to jam into the same pipeline. ISPs with low contention ratios will generally have faster speeds, so it's worth asking Optus if this is what they mean by offering a "super sonic speed service". Otherwise, it might just be a prettily alliterative piece of advertising.

TPG do provide good internet service. I would recommend the Unlimited Home Phone and Internet plan at $59.99/month. You can call us for more information and to see if TPG are available in your area on 1300 106 571.

It's also worth calling the following providers and asking about their bundle deals to see what they have that would suit you.

Eftel: 1300 106 571
Club Telco: 1300 138 155
Dodo: 1300 136 793

I hope this helps!

Mikaella.