How to Pick a Plan

The first important thing is to think about what you are using your new broadband plan for (and who else in your family will be using it) as this will determine the price range and the type of connection, speed & usage allowance you require.

  • Slow connection with a low usage allowance is cheap.
  • Fast connection with a high usage allowance is more expensive.

The two major factors are speed and usage allowance.

The speed of your internet connection enables you to do more things faster. Why wait for things to download slowly? That’s the whole reason you are shopping for broadband in the first place so be wary of choosing too slow a connection or it won’t really feel like a ground breaking revolution from an old dial-up connection.

If you have multiple users in the house, you will need a usage allowance that accommodates everyone’s usage.

Some providers / plans count your usage allowance to be all of the content that you upload as well as download which can further burn through your allowance.

If you have multiple computers in the house, you will all be sharing the plan’s usage allowance and you will need to think about how to get them all connected to the internet.

You can choose either a wired modem / router or a wireless modem / router for this task. A wired router will allow computers to connect via an Ethernet cable (so your computers will need to be close to the router or you will need to run really long cables all over the place). A wireless modem / router will spread the internet connection throughout the house, although all computers will need wireless connectivity enabled.

If you want a blend of these connections a 4 port wireless modem / router will offer a wireless signal in your house and some Ethernet cable ports for you to connect computers to via a cable.

1. Connection

The first thing that you need to do is select how you want to connect to the internet. The main options are:

  • ADSL - relatively fast connection through your standard phone line (can be wireless inside your house with a wireless modem / router)
  • ADSL2+ - super fast connection through your standard phone line (can be wireless inside your house with a wireless modem / router)
  • Cable - super fast connection through a separate cable (like a FOXTEL cable and can be wireless inside your house with a wireless modem / router)
  • Wireless / Mobile internet - connection via the mobile phone network (HSDPA) or WiMAX.

View more information about the different connection options

2. Speed

The speed of your broadband connection is an important part of your internet experience.

The download speed for broadband in Australia currently ranges from 256Kbps (kilobits per second) up to 30Mbps (megabits per second).

Dial up internet usually runs at a maximum speed of 56Kbps, so even 256Kbps is a nice improvement but not a major difference, especially if you plan to download rich media content such as music or video. 30Mpbs is lightning fast - it will blow you away and make the internet a great place to be.

3. Usage (downloads + uploads)

As mentioned above, your usage is comprised of all content that comes down to your computer as well as the content that you upload. This includes all text, photos and images on websites you view, videos / music you listen to online or download, and all email content, including attachments.

There are two things that can happen if you download / upload more than you are allowed to in your monthly plan:

  1. You pay a fee for every MB of excess usage and keep the original speed of your plan (could cost you a lot if you go crazy)
  2. Or, the speed of your connection is lowered (throttled / shaped) when you reach your usage allowance - but you do not incur extra fees

Choose your preferred option by adding this in the Extra Features popup on the WhistleOut results page and we will filter the plans accordingly.

4. Extra features

There are lots of extra things that are attached to broadband plans. Things like:

  • Personal webspace - some free space for you to host a website
  • Email addresses - the number of email addresses you want hosted by your ISP with extensions such as @bigpond.com. Remember, you can use free services such as Google's Gmail, giving you flexibility to change ISPs but keep the same email address
  • Spam filtering - does the ISP offer spam filtering at the network level on the email accounts so that you don't get lots of junk mail?
  • Many more - open the Extra Features popup on the WhistleOut results page to fine tune your requirements.

5. Total Cost (of Ownership)

This is how much you will pay for the product you purchase across the period of the contract. This is helpful as it provides you with an understanding of any extra costs that may be incurred for things such as modems or installation. Some fees are recurring and you can see the impact of these on the regular monthly price that you will pay.

For ‘no contract’ plans, we show the total cost of ownership over a 12 month period so that everything can be viewed on an even playing field.

6. Bundling

Combining a variety of telephone and related services on a single bill from the same provider will often result in a discount over individually purchased services.

For instance, if you bundle your home phone with your broadband plan, then you will usually achieve a discount of around $10 per month on your broadband plan and there may be other incentives offered too.

7. Modems

Modems are an essential part of the broadband experience. You will need a modem, regardless of your connection, and most providers will offer a modem for purchase or allow you to supply your own modem.

If you are willing to commit to a contract, most providers will supply a modem at a reduced price or in some cases for free. Add your required modem in WhistleOut and we'll include the price in the results list.

8. Fast Transfer

Fast Transer is a program which allows customers to move between participating Internet Service Providers quickly and at a reduced cost. Both the company you are transferring from and the company you are transferring to must be part of the fast transfer program.

Search for a broadband plan now