Hey

I've been with Bigpond for some time now, and now that my contract is over, I want to change to another ISP because I find Bigpond overpriced and slow. I searched around for other plans and found TPG ADSL2+ 25 GB plan and I'm thinking of changing.

I have some questions about this:
1) Since my contract is over with Bigpond, there shouldn't be any charges involved with switching ISP's?
2) How long will it take for Bigpond to cancel the plan, and how long will it take for the plan with TPG to begin? Would I be internetless?

Thanks

will vary from person to person... but for me when I switched from Netspace it was about a 3 day process, that was from the time Netspace cut from Internet.

when you do get connected if you do have problems, be patient, try to get on with the people from the service desk. I had some initial issues, but after about a week the connection seemed to settle down and I have had a faultless connection since then as have my parents since I switched them over as well.

good luck.

G'Day

/forum-replies.cfm?t=966542

Regards

I'm on Bigpond ADSL and not cable so i'm still not sure how long it would take for me to cancel the plan. Do they just cancel straight after you call? And if they do, do I have to pay the entire remaining month?

As a TPG user I have to warn you against going with TPG. Their stability is terrible. Their customer service is almost non-existent. They offer little to no additional services unlike every other ISP these days. TPG is just an overpriced version of Dodo.

Go with Internode.

yoble writes...

As a TPG user I have to warn you against going with TPG.

...
Go with Internode.

Your profile says "Internode · SOHO-Extreme-Super", so are you "a TPG user" or are you with Internode?

TPG. I was with internode and its much better.

yoble writes...

As a TPG user I have to warn you against going with TPG. Their stability is terrible. Their customer service is almost non-existent. They offer little to no additional services unlike every other ISP these days.

i have to disagree...i have never had any issues with TPG and their customer service was great for me when i had initial setup issues (not their fault)

n7of9 writes...

i have to disagree..

He is with Internode

Hi,

Addressing your points in order:

1) No cost from BigPond as you are out of contract. I think if you sign up for > 18 months with TPG they waive the connection fee. You may need to buy a modem if your current one isn't ADSL2 compatible.

2) Once the process has been set in motion you will have to wait for Telstra to disconnect you and free up the line for TPG. This can take a couple of days. These disconnections are done in batches and run overnight, with the cut off for being included in that nights batch being 5-6pm. Sometimes the disconnection order will not take and you have to call them up and start the process again. Once the line is free TPG takes 3-5 business days to connect. In my experience it takes 2 days or so, sometimes a little more. You can check the progress of your ADSL Installation by logging into "Your Account" on the tpg homepage. Make sure you grab the username and password when you sign up.

If I were you I would go for this plan: ADSL2+ with VoIP/30GB. Same price, more quota, better speed when you are capped and VOIP. You may need to buy a VOIP modem (depends what you have now) but it's worth it as the calls are damn cheap.

WRT the ongoing ISP wars and the FUD spread by some...

I have been with TPG at various addresses in Melbourne over the past four years and have recently been using a BigPond ADSL connection (house sitting for a friend so I have no option to change this) and thought I might take this opportunity to compare the two experiences here.

Each time I was with TPG I was on a different exchange (Exhibition Street, Flemington, Cheltenham) and overall my experience has been very positive. It has largely been a service that "just works" and represents excellent value for money.

I work from home and I use the internet as part of my job. Frankly if TPG wasn't up to scratch I would change providers. I have had to call support on a few occasions and I find that if you are "polite but firm" you will do just fine. Some people seem to become confrontational/agressive if they realise they are speaking to an overseas call centre - this is obviously going to cause a problem. If you just acknowledge that these people are doing their job and if you treat them with some respect then they will do the right thing by you.

Recently I have moved to a location where the owner of the house has BigPond ADSL on a "liberty" plan (ADSL1, 12gig @$69.95/month).

I'd like to share my subjective experience of the difference between the two providers:

Speed: BigPond feels about the same as ADSL1 connection I had off Flemington Exchange with TPG for web browsing. Feels slower for downloads and BitTorrent. Neither BigPond or TPG seem prone to evening or weekend slowdowns.

Connection: While TPG was pretty much 100%, the BigPond connection drops out a lot. Sometimes I lose internet connectivity all together. The "Internet Connection is now Connected" pop up appears in the bottom right hand corner every few hours. I cannot sustain an SSH/TELNET connection because of this which is a real problem given the type of work I do.

Quota: Bigpond is 12gig but uploads are counted against this reducing your effective download quota to about 10gig depending on your pattern of use. This rules out anything but very light BitTorrent usage. Also, there is no off-peak quota with BigPond. The TPG ADSL1 Medium 1500/20GB/voip plan I was on was 10g on-peak, 10g off-peak and 128k/128k when throttled. BigPond is 64k/64k when throttled.

Customer Service: TPG customer service over the phone is good, but not great. I had an initial issue when I first connected voip many years ago. They took my mobile number and the same person called me when necessary as they were diagnosing the problem. Problem was solved quickly and to my satisfaction. In all once you get past level one support (the first person who answers the phone) you can get some very good service. In the meantime, keep in mind that we as Australians speak very quickly, have an unfamiliar accent (most people overseas are used to an american english accent) and tend to under-pronounce/mumble - I have had problems in many countries in the world being understood in person for this reason. This is made worse when you are dealing over the phone. So, slow it down, speak clearly, be polite but firm and you will be fine. Hold times are short these days but have been longer in the past.

BigPond customer service is good, but not great (probably slightly worse than TPG - based on a range of experiences at both current address and various small businesses on liberty plans). Even though the call centre seems to be in Australia the person who answers then phone is not always a native speaker of English. BigPond customer service people seem to be pathological about "following the script" and getting you to do isolation tests etc. Then are also very ready to blame any other equipment you might have for the fault and disowning you - I have had BigPond refuse to help me because I was on an office network in the past, when that was clearly not the root of the problem. Hold times can be very long - allow 45mins minimum per call hold time minimum. Also there seems to be no connection between different departments. They spend five minutes verifying your identity when you first call and then make you go through the same thing every time you get transferred. This gets old very quickly when you are dealing with a complex problem. They also seem to be very good at forgetting about plan change requests and so on when you make them over the phone. In one case it took 3 months to get changed up to a higher quota plan after repeated requests were made to do so and then disappeared into the black hole that they like the call "the system".

Misc TPG Advantages: TPG plan had static IP (you can run your own server etc from home), VOIP (very cheap phone calls), IPTV (streaming TV, not counted against quota).

Misc BigPond Advantages: They offer some sites/services where traffic is unmetered (does not count against quota). This includes their online gaming servers, a large file download repository (where you can request that files be added if you want) and a range of frankly pretty boring websites listed here www.bigpond.com/unmetered.

In summary the TPG experience has been better than BigPond by a long margin. Add this to the fact that TPG offer stunning value for money ($40 cheaper per month for a better package) then the choice is really a no brainer.

Cheers,

Mr Majorca.

yoble writes...

TPG. I was with internode and its much better.

So you must be in denial then as your profile still lists Internode as your ISP! :D

Anyway, I wouldn't want TPG to be a bad experience as I'm currently switching over from People Telecom.

broadbean writes...

Anyway, I wouldn't want TPG to be a bad experience as I'm currently switching over from People Telecom.

I've been with TPG for ages now. Never had a problem, customer service is actually pretty good..well I've only had to call in once. Speed is good, quality is good...I switched over from Bigpond.

Their presales on the phone were woeful however. I kept getting transferred between sales and technical and back again, then got dropped off in between transfers. Called back twice and same result. I think I was just trying to find out about the mechanics of churning to TPG!

Got my questions answered from the helpful TPG reps on this forum, so I'm hoping it'll just work anyway.