I can't make up my mind on what I should do about my broadband.

Currently I'm on the 20/40GB grandfathered plan with Optus Cable, offering 9.9Mbps down / 256kbps up. I'm out of contract, and paying $72.15pm for this service by bundling it with a home phone @ $20pm. The home phone is handy, if only for people to call us.

The thing that bugs me about this plan is the piss-poor upload speeds which means I struggle to host games and run servers (like Ventrilo). I'm big into online gaming, and the Optus Cable service is great as a client player (great pings) but not so good as a host. The service has also started slowing down A LOT lately for no obvious reason - particularly with interstate players joining my games.

So I figure my options are one of these new Fusion plans or a Bigpond Extreme plan (I'm in a 30Mbps/1Mbps area). Could anyone recommend one of these plans? What would you choose? Or would you choose to stay with the old plan?

Ok. First things first:

What ADSL providers are in your area - type your number into adsl2exchanges.com.au

A few things you should note:

The new 20mbit Fusion plans still only have 256k up, so no improvement

BigPond cable is fast, but you pay a premium and uploads are metered, so you being a gamer this may impact your choice

Personally, I would get off Cable. ADSL is cheaper, faster than optus cable and better value.

Tenoq writes...

or a Bigpond Extreme plan

Piss-poor upload speeds leads to fear
Fear leads to Expensive telcos
Expensive telcos leads to Tel$tra

Do NOT go to the darkside Luke ! :-)

citizen_smith writes...

Piss-poor upload speeds leads to fear

1mbit/s is hardly slow.

≤ Matt ≥ writes...

1mbit/s is hardly slow.

I was actually quoting the OP :-)

Having piss poor upload speeds (like I enjoy with a similar Optus Cable Plan) can lead to very silly and desperate thoughts - like joining Tel$tra.

Yuck, I feel dirty even thinking about it :-)

Tenoq writes...

Currently I'm on the 20/40GB grandfathered plan with Optus Cable, offering 9.9Mbps down / 256kbps up

citizen_smith writes...

I was actually quoting the OP :-)

Oh ok. I saw the bit about Cable Extreme and presumed you were referring to that.

Having piss poor upload speeds (like I enjoy with a similar Optus Cable Plan) can lead to very silly and desperate thoughts - like joining Tel$tra.

hehehe. Though the way things are going, Optus are not much better than Tel$tra

Yuck, I feel dirty even thinking about it :-)

Imagine how I feel! I'm with them!

≤ Matt ≥ writes...

What ADSL providers are in your area - type your number into adsl2exchanges.com.au

Pretty much all ADSL2+ providers are in my area (TPG, Chime, Optus, Telstra). The reason I said "Cable or Cable" in my title is I'm too far from the exchange for ADSL2+. Cable length would be at least 3.5km, and more likely 4.5km+.

So yeah, my only options are cable. Or cable. :/

Tenoq writes...

So yeah, my only options are cable. Or cable. :/

Well then I would stay with Optus. Besides going with telstra, then you don't really have another option.

The Optus cable plan you are on is better than anything telstra can give you - and how do you know Telstra Cable is in your area? It's very rare that the Optus and Telstra cable networks overlap.

≤ Matt ≥ writes...

and how do you know Telstra Cable is in your area? It's very rare that the Optus and Telstra cable networks overlap.

It's on their website (with the online availability check), and I also had the Bigpond doorknocker telling me I could get cable from them.

And I thought the whole point of the Telstra cable network was to duplicate the Optus one, or vice versa. It seems quite common to have access to both, in my limited experience.

Bigpond's 30/1 is great but yes the counted uploads is not so great.

What kind of online games are you playing? If they are hosted on Gamearena's servers (and you got Bigpond Cable) then that traffic is unmetered.

Mind you, online gaming doesn't really chew up that much data unless you play 8+ hours a day :)

Tenoq writes...

It seems quite common to have access to both,

Nope, it's actually completely the opposite. Optus cable is more in the outer suburbs like keysborough, and a bit in the suburbs and telstra cable is usually only in the city and suburbs.

falcc writes...

What kind of online games are you playing? If they are hosted on Gamearena's servers (and you got Bigpond Cable) then that traffic is unmetered.

Warcraft III is a common one - which is hosted by the game creator, not the Battle.Net server. Same applies for when we play CoD4 online over Hamachi - we're using a local host.

I'm aware it doesn't use much data - but I do use up a fair bit of my data with general downloads, Youtube and the like. So unless I hit the 60GB plan from Bigpond, it's probably not worth it. I reckon I'm already paying too much for what I get, so I'll just stick with Optus until FTTN/H. :p

Tenoq writes...

so I'll just stick with Optus until FTTN/H. :p

Good idea, don't change your plan, as it is pretty good value, if you change you will only be paying more for less.

If you really want to host your own game server, rent a server in a local data centre and share the costs with your gaming friends.

Failing that, get the cheapest iiNet standard ADSL2+ plan and use it for hosting gaming servers.

I have friends that are 4.5km and are getting almost 6mbps another one is 7.4km from the exchange and are getting 3/1mbps, one even has 3.8/1.1mbps at 8.0km. (hes lucky, thicker copper line, meaning more signal goes through the line.).

Anyway as I said stick with your Grand Father Optus Cable plan.

.:Ask:. writes...

Good idea, don't change your plan, as it is pretty good value

+1

I would love to have that 20/40GB cable plan if I could get it!

.:Ask:. writes...

If you really want to host your own game server, rent a server in a local data centre and share the costs with your gaming friends.

That'd work fine for CoD4 - but obviously no good for Warcraft III. There's no dedicated hosting function in that one. ;) But thinking about it, I agree. The other plans aren't worth the expense for the extra upload speed.

I just wish Optus would fix their congestion/bandwidth problems of late. Even with just a few players, interstate clients in W3 have massive pings for no obvious reason. :P

≤ Matt ≥ writes... 

.:Ask:. writes... Good idea, don't change your plan, as it is pretty good value +1I would love to have that 20/40GB cable plan if I could get it!

+1

Stay with this Optus plan. No one even gets the promised 20Mbps/512Kbps on the other plans (I would know I'm with them).

EDIT: Just saw the bit about Warcraft. My friend is on the same plan as you and can host games just fine (no lag/delay). Are your ports forwarded correctly? Anything else using your connection?