Just arrived - Best TV, broadband, Phone deal?

[TVP993]

Hi All,

Been in Sydney for 5 days now and thoroughly enjoying it all. However our container arrives tomorrow so I need to start looking into the above. Back in the UK you can get deals from Sky or Virgin with combines all 3 but they don't seem to have the same here. Had a brief look at Foxtel (don't do broadband or phone) or Optus who don't seem to offer TV.

The important channel that I will need is Sports to keep an eye on the footie back home. After that we could probably do with a couple of movie channels too and that's about it.

Am I right in saying that it's a lot more expensive over here (like everything else).

Any suggestions/help will be much appreciated.

Thnks

[deviant]

Foxtel for your sports. They have just launched a 24 hour motorsport channel to. They keep adding channels every few months at the moment including HD channels.

Our internet is with iinet. It is some naked package so we don't have to have a land line. They have been very reliable and every couple of months send us an email telling us our limits have been upgraded with no extra charge.

We both just have mobiles on 3 and no landline.

[Jader1973]

Telstra will do phone, internet and Foxtel in a bundle.

And yes, it is more expensive than the UK (my phone and internet bill is $180 per month), and the internet speed is laughable.

However, in several years time we might have a high speed national broadband network.....

[Pommygranite]

Before you get foxtel stay up till 3am every saturday/Sunday and see how you feel after a month

[motomk]

I survive without pay tv mainly because I would be watching it all the time! The free to air digital channels have enough content for me at present. For the Football(soccer) I enjoy listening to the radio very early sunday morning(EST) and very early monday morning. ABC News radio 1026am in Melbourne pipes through the BBC world service at night so you get the BBC world service verson of Sportsworld, maybe not as good as Five live but good enough for a fix each week. Of course Foxtel has most of the matches live so if I am at work on a saturday night I might watch one there. ONE-HD has delayed coverage of the Liverpool and Arsenal matches for the week unfortunately played 2 or 3 days later. If you like the Champions league or Europa League, they are on SBS live and delayed. ONE-HD also has German and Italian league matches live. When I lived in Perth, Curtin radio used to play a match live on saturday night from Five Live.
Internet I use Internode. No complaints from me at all. Shocked me a year ago by reducing the price and increasing the download amount. How often would that happen?
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/ helps with internet options.

[custardtart]

G'day and welcome, you've come at the right time, just as we're about to win the Ashes

You could try connecting to a proxy server service so you can watch all the BBC iPlayer stuff. It's great for when the F1 is on again or listening to the radio.

I've heard these guys are good www.consult-here.com

[ajg31]

If you can get TPG i think they offer the best internet/phone/mobile deals you can get. Good download speeds and unlimited data with phone line for 60 bucks. Add mobile for 15 a month ($700 call value) and all you need is foxtel (i live without it, very expensive here)
I happen to live in a blackspot for internet (as i am so far from the city (a whole 20km!!!) and i cannopt get adsl2 unless i have an antenna and have it beamed into the home. New estates here are going fibreoptic though so were slowly getting into the right century

[Google [bot]]

ajg31 said:

I happen to live in a blackspot for internet (as i am so far from the city (a whole 20km!!!) and i cannopt get adsl2 unless i have an antenna and have it beamed into the home. New estates here are going fibreoptic though so were slowly getting into the right century

...And don't think you're safe from this retardedness in Sydney. I'm about 15km from the centre in a newish (2000) build area - really poor blackspot, can't get ADSL. If you are in a blackspot you have no choice but to go with Telstra wireless and even then check it out first - by which I mean get someone to come around with their laptop and gateway, don't just trust what they say in the shop. Expensive but by far the best coverage.

Can you tell I've been burned in backwardsville?

[TVP993]

This sounds like a good deal. Will look into it.

Thanks for all the advice so far. One way or the other will need to bite the bullet soon.

ajg31 said:

If you can get TPG i think they offer the best internet/phone/mobile deals you can get. Good download speeds and unlimited data with phone line for 60 bucks. Add mobile for 15 a month ($700 call value) and all you need is foxtel (i live without it, very expensive here)
I happen to live in a blackspot for internet (as i am so far from the city (a whole 20km!!!) and i cannopt get adsl2 unless i have an antenna and have it beamed into the home. New estates here are going fibreoptic though so were slowly getting into the right century

[ajg31]

Google [bot] said:

ajg31 said:

I happen to live in a blackspot for internet (as i am so far from the city (a whole 20km!!!) and i cannopt get adsl2 unless i have an antenna and have it beamed into the home. New estates here are going fibreoptic though so were slowly getting into the right century

...And don't think you're safe from this retardedness in Sydney. I'm about 15km from the centre in a newish (2000) build area - really poor blackspot, can't get ADSL. If you are in a blackspot you have no choice but to go with Telstra wireless and even then check it out first - by which I mean get someone to come around with their laptop and gateway, don't just trust what they say in the shop. Expensive but by far the best coverage.

Can you tell I've been burned in backwardsville?

Adam Internet are also now offering a pretty good service all over Australia for wireless ADSL2 internet.

Amazed in Sydney you have the same issues. Its really odd becaude i remember in 1999 coming over here and being stunned by the amount of internet cafes and thought we were really behind in the UK.

[custardtart]

ajg31 said:

Amazed in Sydney you have the same issues. Its really odd becaude i remember in 1999 coming over here and being stunned by the amount of internet cafes and thought we were really behind in the UK.

Yep 10 years of potential progress thwarted by an oligopoly - welcome to Aus

[TVP993]

Hi All,

Well these are the packages that I have gone for.

TV - Foxtel (includes sports and movies)

Broadband, Home phone and Netphone - iinet

In total comes to $170.00 pm. When the footie season is over I will cancel the sports and if the movie channel is no good we'll cancel that too.

Was getting sick of adding up the various packages and need both asap.

[robm3]

Getting there next week and think I'm just piling all into the Telstra Bundle plus a sim card for the iPhone.

Not sure how much data to get but hopefully 100GB should do although like to play a few games online and stream the odd F1 through BBC. Costing $228 all in though.