I stuck with my NBN provider for a long time, not specifically out of loyalty or the perception that it was the best value for me but for the convenience of not worrying about the hassle of changing.
After a discussion with a close friend about their experience changing NBN providers, I found that the allure of better speed and pricing became too much to take. But with a heads up from a couple of people about a relatively new provider in the space, I figured I’d give them a go.
Why Leaptel?
I previously wrote about the decision to change my provider and what won me over. The decision making process hasn’t changed with a few areas considered.
I want to go with a smaller provider because typically they have shorter wait queues and more personalised support if it’s needed. The bigger providers often also — through their name and the bundles they’re able to offer — have a higher contention ratio meaning that your speeds are going to be more heavily affected during peak times.
Being on FTTP from the first rollout of NBN, I’m lucky that I’m able to get some blistering speeds on my Internet. So, with the kids getting bigger and using more bandwidth and working from home more; it was time to think about a bit more bandwidth and that was a governing factor.
As part of my working from home, I use a static IP address and some providers don’t offer that on home connections. I don’t need a business connection, I just want a bit more speed…
So a quick query to confirm the availability of static IP and I was pretty much sold. I did a bit of asking around and the people I know already on Leaptel gave really good reviews of the changeover process, support and, most importantly, the consistency of speeds during peak times.
Ultimately, the decision was made when I realised I could get 500/50 speeds for the same cost I was paying for 100/40.
Changing providers
This was my previous fear and I can’t be complimentary enough of the service — shout out to Marty — during sign up, or the speed of the change taking effect.
The whole process from starting the sign-up online, calling support to confirm a detail I wasn’t sure of, and making the necessary — basic auth — change in my router, was 17 minutes.
Outright speed and peak hour consistency
Contention ratios were mentioned earlier and, at this stage, Leaptel has (although it’s early days) delivered consistent speeds throughout the day and into peak times.
I’m more than happy with the decision to switch providers at the moment and, now I’ve done it and know how quick it can be; if there’s a better option I’ll happily look at changing in the future.
If you’re thinking about changing providers, then Leaptel has some great specials running at the moment that are worth looking closely at.
Again! How much did your static IP cost per month? These new providers are fine when they start out, but over time with more users they become congested with not enough bandwidth. Lets see how happy you are in 12 months?
Phil’s already replied – $10/mo for static IP.
How much extra did your static IP cost? – Will be interesting what your thoughts are in 12 months. As some of these smaller providers bandwidth becomes chocked due to its limitations with too many users.
$10 a month for the static IP – It’s a business expense for me, so not a major issue.
As we understand it, Leaptel is a relatively new NBN RSP, and so the aggressive pricing is likely a ploy to grow the userbase and bring in more revenue to enable greater provisioning to the POIs where customers are signing up. It’s a fairly common strategy for RSPs in their early phases. My expectation would be that Leaptel’s pricing will probably more closely align with other RSPs come the end of the 12 month introductory period. One would hope that the expansion results in bandwidth being provisioned where its needed, not growing users for the sake of doing so with… Read more »