Recent research from internet and mobile provider SpinTel has uncovered several knowledge gaps Aussies have about telco services, including how much they’re paying.
Of more than 1,000 Australians surveyed, 830 of which were the decision makers for their household’s internet plans, only 3% knew their monthly bill. This is despite 31% of these decision makers being willing to change providers for a slightly cheaper plan, while a further 22% were considering it.
The study surfaced a few more areas that Aussies are uncertain or concerned about, which might be keeping unsatisfied customers from switching providers or plans. Let’s take a look at a few of these and hopefully fill in the gaps.
Checking your bill is easy
Telcos are legally required to make billing information simple and easy to understand, so you won’t need an economics degree to decipher it. The two most common ways for internet providers to send you a bill notification are through email and via your online account with them – usually both.
For email, just open up your inbox and do a search for your provider’s name. The email might include the dollar amount, or might provide a link so that you can view it online via your account.
For your account – usually called “MyAccount” or “My” followed by your ISP’s name – you can visit your ISP’s website or download the app. We recommend the latter, as it’s a hassle-free way to keep tabs on your bill, once you’ve set it up.
Does bundling save money?
40% of survey respondents didn’t bundle due to “confusion or distrust”. The confusion is certainly understandable, as this topic doesn’t have clear-cut answers. A few providers let you bundle your mobile and internet bills – or even gas and electricity. This can sometimes save you money, but not always.
For example, if a certain provider gives you $10 for bundling mobile and internet, that sounds simple. Except you might save more by simply going with cheaper plans from two different providers. This is usually the cheapest option, but it can depend on what deals are available at the time.
To help cut down on the research, we have guides covering cheap internet plans, cheap mobile plans, and bundling mobile and internet.
You can also check these comparison tables for the cheapest mobile and NBN plans in our database, ranked by their introductory cost for the first six months:
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#1
|
amaysim
All Fixed Line nbn®
NBN50
$45/mth
Min. cost $45
|
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#2
|
Belong
All Fixed Line nbn®
NBN Standard Plus – Unlimited
$55/mth
Min. cost $55
|
|
#3
|
Dodo
All Fixed Line nbn®
Editor's Pick
nbn50 Unlimited Plan
$57.99/mth
Min. cost $57.99
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|
#4
|
Moose NBN
All Fixed Line nbn®
nbn 50/20 Premium
$59.80/mth
Min. cost $59.80
Link not supplied
|
|
#5
|
Tangerine Telecom
All Fixed Line nbn®
Value Plus NBN 50/20
$64.90/mth
Min. cost $64.90
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|
#1
|
amaysim
FTTN, FTTB, FTTC
NBN100
$50/mth
Min. cost $50
|
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#2
|
Belong
FTTN, FTTB, FTTC
NBN Premium – Unlimited
$59/mth
Min. cost $59
|
|
#3
|
Dodo
FTTN, FTTB, FTTC
Editor's Pick
nbn100 Unlimited Plan
$62.99/mth
Min. cost $62.99
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|
#4
|
Moose NBN
FTTN, FTTB, FTTC
nbn 100/20 Elite
$63.80/mth
Min. cost $63.80
Link not supplied
|
|
#5
|
Tangerine Telecom
FTTN, FTTB, FTTC
Speedy NBN 100/20
$67.90/mth
Min. cost $67.90
|
|
#1
|
Pivotel
25GB Mobile Swift Plan
$11.45/mth
Min. cost $11.45
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#2
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SpinTel
Editor's Pick
$23 Mobile Plan
$12.00/mth
Min. cost $12
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#3
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OnePass mobile
28 Day Plan - 22GB
$12.50
Per 28 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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#4
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Moose Mobile
Moose 23 SIM Only
$14.00/mth
Min. cost $14
Link not supplied
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#5
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Swoop
30GB SIM Only 5G
$14.00/mth
Min. cost $14
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Stuck on a contract (you’re probably not)
About 11% of internet decision-makers weren’t happy with their plan, but felt they couldn’t change internet providers because they were locked into a contract.
Very few internet plans have lock-in contracts nowadays, meaning you can switch providers and all you lose is whatever remains in your current month’s billing cycle (usually, each month is paid for in advance). A handful of providers have setup or disconnection fees for standard connections, but these can be as small as around $10.
The most common type of internet plan “contract” comes from hardware fees. Some providers offer a “free” modem router, but only if you stick around for 24 or 36 months, depending on the telco. If you leave early, you need to pay out what you still “owe” on the modem, based on the number of months remaining. But many (not all) of these providers also let you return the unit in good working order for a full refund.
And the good news is…
You probably don’t need a new router
It used to be common for ISPs to lock their modem routers to their service, meaning you couldn’t take it elsewhere. But this isn’t really the case anymore, so you can almost definitely keep your current router when you switch.
An exception might be if you want NBN with 4G backup. Some providers automatically switch your connection to 4G in the event of an NBN outage – but it only works if you get a 4G backup modem from that ISP. Once again, these are sometimes returnable if you leave early, but not always.
You might also be switching from the NBN to a home wireless plan, such as 5G home internet. If this is the case, you’ll need a new modem capable of receiving the wireless signal, which your provider can likely supply.
Gotta go fast
In the study, 70% of internet-decision makers said slower internet speeds were out of the question. This is fair enough if you know what you need, but a full one-third didn’t understand Mbps or internet speed, which is key if you're making this type of decision.
Generally speaking, most households can get by with either 50Mbps (NBN 50) or 100Mbps (NBN 100) downloads. Larger, internet-hungry homes might need NBN 250, but NBN 1000 is still a very niche product.
What does Mbps actually mean?
Mbps stands for “megabits per second” and it’s a global standard by which internet speed is measured. The more Mbps you have, the faster your internet. To get nerdier, you might have heard digital data is made up of 1s and 0s. Well, a “bit” is a single digit – a 1 or a 0. And a megabit is one million bits. So 1Mbps is one million bits transferred every second.
Does this level of detail help you make informed purchasing decisions? No. But now you know you don’t need to know, you know?
So, what’s a Megabyte?
You might also be familiar with the similar term “megabyte”, which is different to a megabit. Simply put, a “byte” is eight bits – and a megabyte is eight megabits. Byte-based measurements are generally used for stored data, such as the size of a file, but can sometimes be used for non-internet data transfer.
More confusingly, a byte is represented by a capital B, while a bit is a lowercase b. So if you see “MBps”, it’s referring to megabytes per second, while Mbps is megabits per second.
Why even use bytes? Historical reasons, basically.
Security concerns
Of the study’s decision makers, 28% were concerned about losing personal data, and 49% about being hacked. Let’s look at each of these separately.
Losing personal data
This can mean a few things, but let’s stick to the biggest topic in telco: data breaches. There’s not much research you can do in advance to tell what a telco’s current level of cybersecurity is, but there are a few ways you can be notified or check if and when it happens. Doing so means you can jump online to change your password and potentially other details as soon as possible, keeping criminals locked out.
haveibeenpwned.com is a tried-and-trusted website that checks your email address against known data breaches. This covers any online account for which you’ve used this email address.
Many password managers, VPNs, and security suites also have notification features like this. Some even scan the dark web for breaches that haven’t hit the public spotlight yet.
Getting hacked
Getting hacked is usually more to do with your own personal security habits and not your ISP.
A big pain point is a failure to use strong passwords. Two bare minimums are:
- All of them should be individual (yes, really)
- They aren’t limited to a single word plus a number or symbol.
They should also have nothing to do with your life – “social hacking” is a conventional way of gaining access to accounts, which can involve guessing your passwords or PINs based on publicly available information.
Password managers like 1Password are the easiest way to create and use unique passwords for every account. They cost a few dollars per month, but it’s much less time and money than being hacked. Just make sure you memorise the password to your password manager or you might be in trouble. We also advise whichever one you sign up to has both a mobile and desktop app, as opposed to only a web browser extension.
Good password practice isn't the only way to stay safe online, but it's a good place to start.
These are currently the most popular NBN 50 plans in our database of 34 internet providers:
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#1
|
Dodo
All Fixed Line nbn®
Editor's Pick
nbn50 Unlimited Plan
$57.99/mth
Min. cost $57.99
|
|
#2
|
amaysim
All Fixed Line nbn®
NBN50
$45/mth
Min. cost $45
|
|
#3
|
Tangerine Telecom
All Fixed Line nbn®
Value Plus NBN 50/20
$64.90/mth
Min. cost $64.90
|
|
#4
|
TPG
All Fixed Line nbn®
nbn50 Unlimited Plan
$69.99/mth
Min. cost $69.99
Link not supplied
|
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#5
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Belong
All Fixed Line nbn®
NBN Standard Plus – Unlimited
$55/mth
Min. cost $55
|
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#6
|
Superloop
All Fixed Line nbn®
Extra-value nbn50/20
$69/mth
Min. cost $69
|
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#7
|
Aussie Broadband
All Fixed Line nbn®
Value nbn - Unlimited
$70/mth
Min. cost $70
Link not supplied
|
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#8
|
iiNet
All Fixed Line nbn®
nbn50 Liimitless
$69.99/mth
+ $10 Upfront
Min. cost $79.99
Link not supplied
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#9
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Kogan Internet
All Fixed Line nbn®
Silver Unlimited
$69.90/mth
Min. cost $69.90
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#10
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Flip
All Fixed Line nbn®
Unlimited Family nbn50
$68/mth
Min. cost $68
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Alex Angove-Plumb
Digital Content Editor
Find a better internet plan
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