tv and internet recommendations..............

[Growler]

Hi everyone,

 

finally got a house and working now looking into getting foxtel tv perhaps (any advice would be appreciated) and a home broadband. Basically i would like to know which companies should be avoided and which would come with recommendations. I havnt got alot to spare so not looking for the top packages but i want to watch eastenders etc (sad i know). Thanks for your help ....

[soo_the_panda]

Do you have your heart set on foxtel or would you be happy to go via internet - either streaming or downloading shows? if you have a wifi package then that's the much cheaper way to go.

[Guest Matty]

I use TPG and had no worries apart from the long set up time

$79 per month, unlimited broadband, unlimited calls to land lines and mobiles in Australia plus free calls to UK landlines and lots of others countries

very happy with them

[snifter]

Be aware should you opt for the downloading or streaming of TV shows, depending on how much you will want or need to download, your bandwidth package needs to be able to cover that. Plus your other internet usage. If you hit the limit you can be capped and stuck at dial up speeds for the remainder of the month, which with todays speeds, is painfully slow and would mean not being able to download any TV shows etc then.

 

We have a huge bandwidth limit but it is noticable between upload and download speeds and so on. Also we know if we exceed it we get capped. We keep a close eye on the data used.

 

Also check how far you are from the exchange as this can impact greatly on your internet speed. Its not a straight line thing, they follow roads so while it might be a km or two as the crow flies, if they are routing via roads it could be 4, 5 or 6. Our house we are just over a km from the exchange but because of the way the roads our its closer to 4 km for our internet. Someone else we know lives 2km further on and their internet is noticeably slower than ours. A big selling point for us in our house buying was having a house within a certain distance from an exchange to ensure decent internet speed. Hubby needs it for work so was defo on our want list.

[snifter]

Oh we don't have Foxtel so can't comment on that. Thought it was way to expensive to even begin the justifty the cost. Hubby is happy as most sport he watches is on free to air or streamed. Movies we don't bother with. We don't watch that much TV so its not an issue for us and I'm getting into the odd Aus TV series or overseas shows aired here. A lot of rubbish but there is some good stuff once you get to grips with it all.

[theelph]

Has anyone tried changing their IP address so that they can use BBC i player, 4 OD, 5 on demand etc in Adelaide by using a VPN website? I am thinking about doing that when I move over from the UK but would be interested in knowing if it really works well there.

[Rammygirl]

We have phone, unlimited broadband and fetch Tv with optus for $115 per month.

 

we also have VPN which cost just under 100 US dollars.

 

we have no problems with watching BBC I player etc using the VPN.

 

decided Foxtel wasn't worth it though as we don't watch AUS sports, and it was pretty expensive.

 

you would need to check the broadband available though, we rejected a few houses because of this!

 

we also get very cheap international calls and $10 cinema tickets with the optus deal.

 

Son streams and games on line too apart from occasional slow downs at peak times, which seems to happen to everyone here, all is good.

[Diane]

decided Foxtel wasn't worth it though as we don't watch AUS sports, and it was pretty expensive.

 

Keep toying with getting rid of our Foxtel to save some money, but it's not all US sports on - I have really enjoyed watching all the England -India cricket series on Fox Sports, and they have also been showing the Womens Rugby World Cup (which England won - yayy!) and the new BBC First channel and SOHO have some good series on at the moment (not sure if BBC First is a foxtel thing or fta)

[RachaelOs]

We had a nightmare getting broadband. First of all we couldn't get it as they said we wouldn't be able to pass a credit check so after having the pay as you go broadband (which is ridiculously expensive) for a couple of months we signed up for Optus yes broadband and TV package - 3 weeks after ordering it they came out to set it up, then the next day they rang and said that actually they couldn't provide it (I'm still not entirely sure why!) So after 2 more weeks on pay as you go we are now finally with Telstra!! Sometimes it's the little things which are the hardest!

[candt]

We went with Optus TV with fetch,broadband and phone, purely because they have no set up fees. No charge for the router or fetch box. We did have to buy a wireless plug in thing because the TV was to far away from the phone line, that cost $40

looked into Foxtel but it was expensive and we needed the landlords permission to install it. Expect a long wait for connection though, it took 2-3 weeks!!

[Rammygirl]

Our phone and broadband took ten days the TV box a bit longer to arrive, we have the plug in too but got it for free.

[candt]

Our phone and broadband took ten days the TV box a bit longer to arrive, we have the plug in too but got it for free.

Guess I will be phoning them today then, asking for a refund. Customer services are a bit of a nightmare, English isn't there first language so it's hard to understand them and them to understand me sometimes.

[V-Bird]

I reckon, if you can afford it get Foxtel. Yes it's expensive, but in over 4 years our equipment has not so much as hiccuped. the customer service is good, you get the footy in HD with no ad's, Premier league games and no messing about with bandwidths, Internet connections etc... Relatively speaking, you get what you pay for.

[Rammygirl]

I guess it depends how much you watch it and what you want to see.

 

if you are reliant on the TV for entertainment then go for Fox.

 

In fact we had good customer service from Optus, they we're let down by their IT systems as they don't seem to communicate with each other.

[DougM]

Been with Adam Internet for years. Adelaide based, very helpful when there's a problem, they all speak the Queens English and the rates are acceptable. I believe their parent company is now Telstra but I haven't noticed any difference in service since they were bought out.

As for wifi and tv's, I'm currently going through the pangs of learning with a new smart tv and an instruction manual that doesn't help.

 

WORD OF WARNING DO NOT BUY A HISENCE SMART TV. Reason, they use a USB 2.0 external hard drive. NOBODY stocks pure 2.0 anymore. I exchanged the Hisence with a twin tuner TEAK at a lower price.

[adelaide1]

Do Foxtel provide broadband/phone along with the TV package like SKY

[wubbledoos]

We use Dodo, people warn against it on here but a lot of that was previous issues from few years ago.

 

We have no problem at all, the speed is around 8mb so better than what we had in UK and it's unlimited so we can download the shows we miss.

 

We also have foxtel, $80 a month for everything excluding sport and movies, biggest waste of money ever. It's like watching sky 10 years ago. You don't even get free view channels on foxtel, we'll be cancelling ASAP.