If you count yourself among the millions of Australians who want to ditch their home phone line in favour of mobile, you're probably wondering if you should get Naked DSL. It makes sense. Naked DSL is ADSL without the line rental. And if you're not going to use that line, why pay for it?
But what exactly is Naked DSL, how does it work and, most importantly, is it still a good deal? In this guide, we answer these questions and more.
What is Naked DSL?
‘Naked’ refers to the absence of home phone line rental in what's required to connect to a broadband internet plan.
For a typical ADSL connection, the normal copper telephone wire to your house is activated for broadband use at the central telephone exchange. Once this is all setup, you plug an ADSL modem into the wall to connect to the internet, and a landline phone handset in to make phone calls.
With all home phone connections in Australia, you ‘rent’ the copper line to your house for a fixed monthly fee so that you can make or receive phone calls. On top of this ‘rental’ charge, you then pay extra for the calls.
What this means, in essence, is that you have three billing events: line rental, the calls you make on your home phone and finally your broadband bill. These days providers will bundle all of these services together into a single monthly fee.
Typical ADSL connection
However, with Naked DSL, you strip away the need for phone line rental. The physical cabling is still there, and is being activated, but is only being purposed for internet traffic.
You can still make and receive calls with a Naked service, but you’ll be using something called Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). In this case, your telephone calls travel across the internet as data, rather than an analog signal over the copper phone lines.
These VOIP phones look and act just like a normal wireless home phone. You dial out to any number and you’ll connect. You are provided with a number for people to dial in. The difference is that your phone number will probably start with a different digit than you’re used to. And if your internet connection drops out, or if you have a blackout, then your phone will drop out too.
Typical Naked DSL connection
Is Naked DSL a good deal?
It may surprise you, but these days the answer is no, in most cases. This is because of the way the ADSL2+ market has changed over the past few years. Many providers are now absorbing the cost of line rental on ADSL2+ into plan prices to make them comparable to Naked DSL. Meanwhile, new low-cost providers are ADSL2+ plans including line rental that are even cheaper than Naked DSL.
There are few providers that still offer Naked DSL. And among those that do, most still offer Naked DSL at a cheaper rate than their ADSL2+ plans. So if you're dead-set on getting your plan from iiNet, for example, choosing the Naked DSL option will be cheaper than getting ADSL2+.
But if you're the type to shop around, Naked DSL is now far from the best offer in town.
Here are a few plans, for comparison:
ADSL2+ plans with line rental
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SpinTel 
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Exetel 
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TPG 
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Dodo 
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Belong 
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MATE 
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Internode 
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Westnet 
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iiNet 
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TPG
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Setting up Naked DSL
If you do decide to go with a Naked DSL plan, the most confusing part of the set-up is what you imagine might happen to your phone line if and when you cancel your phone service.
The answer is that you won't notice any physical changes. The copper line still runs into your house and your normal phone sockets remain as is. You plug your new Naked DSL modem and VOIP router into the same sockets as a regular phone.
The difference that you'll see is that when you do make phone calls, your calls will be routed over the internet. There may also be some set up costs with your new Naked Broadband plan and a line activation cost (depending on ISP and contract term) so be aware of that when deciding on Naked DSL.
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