Our best ever Cable Broadband deal
I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine life without ‘always on’ fast broadband. Thinking back even only a few years, I realise how much it’s changed the way I do things, both at work and at home. If for some reason the network goes down, it is moments before my wife pops her head around the corner and says “is something up with the net?”
The same happens if the broadband slows down. More and more, our home experience is linked to quality broadband being on and working as you expect it to. This leads me to something that has confounded me for the last few years of my working life, which is why more customers don’t choose to be with us on our BigPond Cable broadband product.
Don’t get me wrong, those who know it, love it. It is particularly popular with gamers and those who need the best performing broadband they can lay their hands on. But I really want to get the word out there, and get more people on to the amazing experience that is BigPond Cable broadband.
So until 15 December, we’re dropping the price on one of our most popular cable broadband offers. Now, for just $78 per month for 24 months (min cost $1,872 plus usage), new bundle customers in Sydney and Melbourne BigPond® Cable areas can enjoy the Telstra Complete Home Saver 200GB Cable Bundle.
And being BigPond, you don’t need to watch the clock on your usage. We don’t burden you with peak/off-peak restrictions, and you also don’t get hit with surprise excess usage charges either. If the monthly usage allowance is reached, the speed slows to 256kbps, that’s all.
To sweeten the deal, our Telstra Plus support team are available on the phone for up to six free calls in the first 30 days from the activation of your bundle. These are some of our best local techs, to help you smooth the changeover to Telstra and help with your in-home networking needs. That’s normally $29.95 for a month, so it’s a nice extra to make life a bit easier.
So the key points on this deal:
- High-speed, reliable broadband
- Elite Cable speeds (or free upgrade to Ultimate Cable if you’re in a Melbourne Ultimate Cable area and you don’t already have BigPond Cable broadband)
- No on-peak/ off-peak restrictions
- No additional usage charges to reduce those hidden surprises – speeds are simply slowed.
- A bonus 30 day access to Telstra Plus on the phone to make sure you are getting the most out of your package – included value of $29.95
- Ongoing 24/7 technical support online and on the phone so you can get help when you need it most, even if it is at 2am in the morning! You can also get help via Twitter and Facebook, even in the wee hours.
- No line rental charges on your home phone.
So that’s it – $78 per month for a 24 month 200GB high speed cable deal, available until 15 December 2011. Hope you like it!
Please note: This offer is only available to new bundle customers in the Sydney and Melbourne BigPond Cable areas.
- Visit Telstra Complete Home™ Saver 200GB Bundle for all the big and little details you need to get yourself moving, or call 1800 330 192 to speak to someone about how you can enjoy an amazing connection in your home.
I’m in Sydney and recently signed up for this bundle. I didn’t take a new modem as I already had one that was working fine.
When the 100mb/s comes to Sydney will I be migrated to the higher speeds and a cisco modem?
If so, will there be any additional charges?
Peter
There will be an upgrade kit available with a new Docsis 3 modem for $149. At launch you will be able to upgrade to a 100mbps bundle plan for no additional monthly fee.
regards
john
Why does Telstra always do this, I sign up to this plan and days later this comes out dropping the monthly price by $10. Is there any way I can get my $10 off a month?
Kyle, When did you sign up – this offer has been out for almost a month. Suggest you post your details over on CrowdSupport where our team can best help you. cheers john
To whom it may concern. Appeox. 2.5 months ago I transferred from Mossman to Cairns and had ADSL 2 connected. I had been for several years on ADSL2 service and it was wonderful and Skype was my main concern. However here in Cairns it is hopeless on Skype . Speed test shows app 4000KBPS DOWNLOAD AND APP 300 KBPS UPLOAD. Skype for reasonable performance requires 5000 KBPS download and min 500kbps upload. I pay the same price here in Cairns as I did in Mossman but get virtually nothing for the money .I have had many converstions with Bigpond and the people have listened , tried , but no benefit other than a man in the Phillipines resetting so that it did not drop off as much but seems to have given me even less signal One technician told me I was too far from the exchange . Icannot accept that as I am in Forest Gardens a major development . I therefore think Telstra / Bigpond are off the rails and their exchange is too far from people Do something practical and fix it . Regards KenJ Belsar
Hi Ken. Sorry to hear you have such a poor experience with your Internet. I’ve asked a local team to call you as soon as possible.
How is this any relevant to this cable deal ?
Skype audio codec is adaptative and rated at 12kbit/s only. As if you need 5Mbit/s to get skype running even with video.
With best quality settings, Skype will use about 100kB/s (1Mbit/s) up and down and will adapt if there’s less.
And get your units right
M (uppercase) = Mega = 1000 kilo
k (lowercase) = kilo
B (uppercase) = Byte
b (lowercase) = bit
4000KBS means nothing: are you referring to bit or byte ; if you get 4000kB/s on ADSL you should be very happy and it’s beyond physics !
well I liked the idea of this, but the cost to connect is so high I might as well stick w ADSL and wait for the NBN. That cable in my street has one house connected to it after 13 years or so, what a waste.
Hi (No_Tony_No), if you don’t already have Broadband with is we have actually waived installation costs on this offer. If you would like to discuss this further please post your details over on CrowdSupport or call 1800 330 192 where our team can best help you. cheers John
Now that the 100mbit plans are being released to the rest of Australia, will this deal be extended to Brisbane?
Tim, at present you can sign up in Brisbane on a bundle and get our Ultimate speeds for the same price as Elite. At this stage the offer mentioned in this thread is not available in Brisbane. regards john
Thanks in anticipation Brendan, but I have tried and been unsuccessful. My wife is in Russia at present and to have skype working like I was used to in Mossman would have been great , but unfortunately that was not to be.
Got Ultimate installed 2 weeks ago..
I have to say that overall it is very underwhelming.
Speed to local sites are amazing, often reaching 10MB/s.
Access to overseas sites however is terrible.
Connectivity is slow and latency high
A single threaded download will rarely go over 200kB/s and you must use download accelerator to at best get 1MB/s.
For a comparison, access to the same servers using either TPG, iiNet or Primus will max-out the connection every time with no effort.
Telstra’s overseas connectivity is either congested, or speeds are artificially limited.
In either case, it’s very disappointing.
I would have thought that Telstra had a top-notch network.
Why advertise speed of 100Mbit/s if you limit users to a tenth of that speed
JYAvenard, you have attested yourself that the “speed to local sites are amazing, often reaching 10MB/s”, so that in itself demonstrates that Telstra has a top-notch network.
As for “access to overseas sites [being] terrible”, Telstra does not own all of the Internet, so failing to achieve nearly the same performance with accessing overseas sites is no reflection of Telstra’s network (given the above).
Gil, your comment would be valid only if this was consistent across all ISPs, demonstrating that the problem is with the server being accessed, which I have stated isn’t the case
Should you have carefully read my comment before replying, you would have noticed that I mentioned that overseas connectivity is consistently better through all the other ISPs I have the possibility to use.
Speed to overseas sites is appalling, no matter which sites you tried to connect to.
That in itself is a reflection of the Telstra network or it’s peering agreements
If the majority of sites you are using are located overseas, you will experience worse performance than you are experiencing through any other Australian ISP even though you are paying more.
Now you can blame all you like other networks or the servers being accessed: but it’s a rather ignorant answer.
Telstra do have control over its peering agreements to foreign networks and the size of pipes being rented out.
Those are obviously under-capacity.
JYAvenard, having read your comment carefully was exactly why I chose to reply.
“Telstra’s network” is a body of telecommunications infrastructure, that provides carriage and transport service, with a definite scope that is far smaller than what people see as the Internet – but you already know that. If you were commenting on the “Internet user experience via BigPond”, in comparison with the equivalent service you can get from other ISPs, then there may be some validity in your criticism.
On the other hand, Telstra’s network is indeed top-notch, and if you read my reply carefully, you would note that is the sole subject on which I focussed. I was not interested in the broader experience because I was responding to your chosen wording in the first place.
Having been a BigPond Cable customer myself for over a decade, I don’t make the misguided conclusion that the Ultimate Cable product promises delivery of the ‘Ultimate’ Internet user experience across the span of the globe. From my personal perspective as a consumer, it is OK for the industry (as well as individual providers) to offer the market less than the total, end-to-end service outcome with any sort of warranty. While such a fragmented model of service can be disappointing and frustrating to the end-user, from a technical point of view a provider can only profitably maintain and improve what remains within its direct control, and I believe Telstra has done a good job with its BigPond Cable network; hence, it has my long-standing custom.
Maybe I’m an atypical consumer in that I don’t look to attribute or apportion blame, as the first order of business, whenever one or more expectations are unmet by what’s in my current environment. My money allows me access to goods and services on offer in the market, but by no means is the fulfilment of my desired outcomes guaranteed; any gaps are mine to own and address as best I can, as long as the goods and services are of merchantable quality (ie. satisfies the promises in the published specifications and/or marketing collateral) and supplied with proper skill and care.
JY As you know, there are many links in the traffic chain both within and outside of Telstra’s control when it comes to traffic performance once it leaves Australian shores. Whilst we did have some issues earlier in the year around the time of the Japanese earthquake we haven’t seen a continuation of systemic problems with international links or peering performance. I’d definitely like to understand what is happening though and obtain some trace-route data from you to help narrow down where there any bottle-necks that you feel are slowing your international performance that are within our control. Would you be OK for me to have someone contact you to discuss the results you are seeing? If you post on CrowdSUpport
our team can follow you up directly cheers john
When will Brisbane have the opportunity to have the same offer as other cities in Australia? Or is it that the ‘Brisbane line’ is still effective in todays marketplace! And with this ‘Sale’ on at this time, will existing customers of BigPond Cable suffer from their ‘always on’ connection not being ‘always on’ as Telstra BigPond learn to use their reasonable skills and endeavour to reset local technical settings so that long term faithful cstomers of Telstra BigPond are not finding their ‘always on’ ultimate cable connection is not ‘always on’ and is not as ultimate as sold by Telstra salespeople
peter this offer is now available nationally, call 1800 330 192 to take it up thanks john
why do you only offer the deal to new subscribers??? i am off contract and looking for a new deal….should you not be contacting me as well to keep me?
Ernst, like any business we are keen to retain our customers and attract new ones. As per the many notes on this thread, the best place online to find out if you are on the best deal for you would be to contact the team at CrowdSupport regards john
I just got my bundle connected, however received a bill with $88/mth. Required me calling back in to fix the issue. Anyway all resolved, but can you please ensure your offer fullfillments are smooth?
Also, I have just read some disturbing news about our PRIVATE details, passwords etc. being leaked onto the internet via a simple google search. Can you please explain this breach and the impacts it has for me as a customer??? Just not on.
http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/security-it/telstra-customer-database-exposed-20111209-1on60.html?comments=34#comments
So what are Tesltra proposing to do about all the customer details that were made publicly available by a simple search as exposed today? As I had signed up just the other week, my private details have been shared along with many many others.
I value my online privacy and am extremely upset that this has been allowed to occur, and there should be a swift and severe punishment, and there should have been a swifter resolution to this issue once identified.
Shame Telstra, Shame.
Hi Brett, We’ve been keeping our customers posted here on our corporate blog and throughout or social media channels. You can see the update today right here.
Gil – re your comment “If you were commenting on the “Internet user experience via BigPond”, in comparison with the equivalent service you can get from other ISPs, then there may be some validity in your criticism.”
I can confirm the bigpond international links have had lower than normal capacity for a number of months now. I can download from a site in the UK and am lucky to get 1mb/s directly via my bigpond cable account.
The same website using a VPN to another ISP in Australia consistently gets 6mb/s or more.
This is disappointing to long term bigpond users, like myself, who have chosen bigpond on the basis of their (prior) superior connectivity overseas AS WELL as inside Australia
Peter/Gil and others – there are similar threads over on CrowdSupport and our best technical folk are available over there to assist further in testing any issues you are experiencing with these international links. I encourage you to join or start a thread over there. regards john
The existence of this deal appears to be a secret from Telstra’s sales staff. I arranged the $78 bundle last week only to receive a plan summary listing $88. I was met by adamant disbelief from the first person I spoke to when trying to correct the error. Having spelled out this web address letter by letter they decided to hand me to someone else and the whole process started again. Assuming I am eventually successful I imagine the installation will be pushed back yet another week. This is a good deal worth persevering with but the process is painful.
Runaround your issues have been noted throughout the thread above. Pls use CrowdSupport if you require any followup, our team are ready to help you there. cheers john
Is this available with the 500GB?
Clifford it is available to customers wanting to upsell to higher bundles, pls call 1800 330 192 for further details. cheers john
John, I might need your help. I’ve been trying to sign up for this deal on Saturday (based in Sydney). After speaking to 4 people (none could sign me up for the offer) finally found a supervisor who could help and knew about the deal. I got a case number and was promised to be called back on Monday to make an appointment for the installation this week. At no point in time was it discussed that this might not be possible. I didn’t get a call Monday. Called Telstra on Tuesday only to find out that they had no record of me signing up for the bundle. Had to create a new bundle order again. Was then called and told that installtion would not be until early January which was later revised to 30th of December. Another day went by and just now I got another call from Telstra offering me an even later date for the installtion after my inital complaint about the unprofessional customer service I had received so far (and I’m not even a customer yet…how bad will it get once I’m on the 24 months deal?). I’m about to lodge a formal complaint but was hoping that you might be able to help.
Hi Torben,
Firstly let me apologise for the difficulties you have had in obtaining this deal. I agree it’s not good enough and I thank you for your feedback so we can fix it for you.
I want to have someone look into this for you so you can get connected ASAP. We’ve sent you a separate note asking for your details, so when you reply I will get someone onto it.
My apologies again for all the inconvenience, hopefully we can get this sorted quickly.
Hi John
A while days ago, i saw your corporate blog with delight and tried signing up for the deal via website. ie. http://www.telstra.com.au/latest_offers/actually/?red=/actually
My postcode was verified and all criterias were met too. ie. 13 digits account numbers (got an existing Telstra phone line that’s never used ) , postcode..
I was placed through a few Telstra consultants and finally came back saying i qualified for this home bundle of $78 (phone + internet) but unfortunately 2 days later, another consultant came back mentioning that i do not qualified, as my estate was still in the midst of transferring to another system….. and the only deal available was to signed up with the absurdly expensive $79.95 internet and a separate phone line for $22.95. total – $102.9.
My question for you,
- How authentic is your phone bundle offer? It appeared to me that consultants weren’t sure of the bundles?
- Will this be extended further ie. for a few more months?
- Is this offer only meant for special 13 digits account holder?
- Is this another deal that’s meant to defraud another well-intentioned client to sign-up for a 2 year deal, with the promise that accounts will eventually be rolled-over in the next few months?
Travis, it is authentic and has been extended nationally for all customers taking up a new bundle. pls call 1800 330 192 to sign up or post on CrowdSupport if you have any ongoing issues. many thanks john
Hi John,
This was a great offer and now that the Ultimate 100Mbps service is available in Sydney I was extremely tempted to switch across to Telstra Bigpond Cable (we have a coax connection in our unit – never used in the 6.5 years we’ve owned it)
The quota on offer was a little lower than I’d like (I currently use 180Gb down, 110Gb up on average per month and I don’t see that dropping a lot over the next 2 years but that wasn’t the show stopper.
Currently I have an Optus based DSL service with VOIP and I have 2 months of the contract left. It would have cost me $200 to break the contract. This I considered paying.
There were also a few comments about single threaded downloads from overseas not being as fast as other (eg. TPG) ADSL services, presumably as they employ more local caching which gave me pause.
But what really killed the deal was the extra $40 / month I’d need to spend if I wanted to activate a DSL wholesale service on the Telstra bundled home phone to keep my phone number on the current VOIP service (I ported my fixed line number in to Exetel).
In short having the phone line included is worth about -$40 a month to me. That’s what killed the deal in the end.
I look forward to hearing of any future Cable deals you may come up with. If you come up with a 300-500Gb plan after February (preferably without the phone bundle) for less than $100 I’ll be all over it.
Regards,
Michael.
P.S. In the meantime I look forward to hearing you have increased your local caching solutions.
Any chance of this offer being extended? I am having battles with my ISP on getting a path ID because you guys cant find it due to me being on Naked DSL
Yes Alexander it has been extended and is now available nationally til february. call 1800 330 192 to sign up. John
Hi John, earlier you mentioned this offer only to new bundle customers in Sydney and Melbourne BigPond® Cable areas.
However, I have accessed the link you provided http://www.telstra.com.au/latest_offers/actually/?red=/actually
I can see it says this offer is also available to new bundle customers in Bigpond Cable areas in Perth, Adelaide, BRISBANE and GOLD COAST as well. I live on the GOLD COAST, and passed the offer availability check.
My question to you is, am I eligible for this special offer?
Hi John,
Thank you and I got your message as well as the one from someone else. Unfortunately I only got his out of office on the email. Can you let me know whether I should send it to another email address. I’m kind of running out of time here before Christmas. Thanks.
Hi John,
What’s the best available deal for 200G Bigpond Ultimate cable 100/2Mbps + Cable Modem without the home phone line? I want to keep my existing non Telstra ADSL service as a backup internet connection.
Hi Michael, The best available deal for is our 200GB Cable Ultimate bundle for $78. For a limited time we are providing a $10 discount on a 24 month contract. Please call 1800 330 192 to speak to one of our consultants.
Thanks
Hi John,
I don’t want to change my phone line over to Telstra as I want to keep my ADSL service and Optus based incoming phone number.
What is the best cable deal WITHOUT a bundled phone line?
Regards,
Michael.
Hi John,
Thanks for the feedback I just signed up. Hope it all goes smooth as I am having issuesing finding inactive line.
Just a small question. I received my bill, with the backdated charges for November and December as well as for January, but also have a fee of $249.00 for the Home gateway. No mention of this anywhere when signing up.
Can someone tell me why this has been added to my account?
GT
Hello Graham, Can I have your account and contact details so I can have someone call you to figure out what’s up wioth that charge? You can use this form.
2nd invoice received last week..
And once again, the charges are $88 for the home bundle.
Upon calling billing, once again they aren’t aware of any $10 discount and as such will have to escalate…
It is so depressing dealing with Telstra… It’s like there’s a Chinese wall between Tech Support, Sales and Billing.
Will they ever get it right?
Jean-Yves, Would you like me to have someone call you to discuss? If so, please use this form to send me your account and contact details.
Good deal – I’m considering signing up for my other house. Hopefully it will all go smoothly.
On a side note, I hope that Gil isn’t an actual Telstra employee. His responses to JYAvenard were totally out of line!
Hi, I just signup for $78 200gb bundle plan.I have my old netgare modem for 50gb plan and I am going to use it for my new plan, also I am 4 to 5 kilometer away from telephone exchange. Now my question is will I get same speed if I use new version modem or better speed. I am confused to keep old one or upgrade to new one and spend$149. Thx
was looking at the offer at
http://www.telstra.com.au/latest_offers/actually/red=/actually
as a long time existing bundled customer, why can I not switch to this offer?
Hi, I want to sign up for this plan. Is it still available?
…available until 15 December 2011. am too late!
Afraid so Jim. We have just launched new bundles though, might be worth a look. John
Hi Jim,
This deal is no longer available, it finished when Telstra announced their NBN deals.
The best deals now (outside of Telstra Door-2-Door salesmen, it’s worth your time to find one as you can save money) are listed on the website. Unfortunately they are only \similar\ if you value \free\ phone calls, which I don’t.
Hi, I was signup for $78 bundle and after two month latter when I call technical help they said my cable is not ultimate but when I signup, It was the ultimate deal with line rental, I am frusted ??????? Very bad???? If I don’t callas be I never know what I m getting ?????
Mohammad. We have dedicated customer support teams and the best way to access that support in an efficient manner is to use the links above and connect with us on Facebook or Crowdsupport. You can also contact our support tesam 24×7 on Twitter @Telstra. Brendan
my encounters with telstra online customer service led me to the conclusion that they hated their complaining customers. Unfortunately they have to move over to the funeral parlours business since their customers there dont and cant complain, whatever abuse Telstra gave them.
But on second thought even then it wont work. At the slow rate they respond to any situation, like the 4 weeks they have taken to install a cable connection for me, the morgue would be flooded with juices and excreta if they are managed by Telstra.
Perhaps Telstra should close shop for once and for all and let others run for a change, anyone would be better.
Bring back this deal! (or is it still ongoing/applicable) I heard my friends saw this deal from a brochure or something like that but when I finally got it, it was too late. The current bundle deal is like 101$ which is quite pricey