Looking for better value NBN? Exetel is fast and will save you money

At the moment, everyone’s looking to save money where they can – mortgage holders are feeling the pinch of interest rates, everyone’s feeling the pinch of insurance, and electricity, gas and other utilities are on the rise.

While NBN prices haven’t changed much – and signs are they probably won’t – there’s still savings to be made by shopping around. As the saying goes, loyalty doesn’t always pay and if you want to save money on your Internet bill, shopping around is the best way to go.

Fortunately, with NBN, changing providers / plans is a fairly simple proposition, and might take as little as a few minutes of your time.

So… why Exetel?

First and foremost, it’s about saving money, right? Most NBN providers are fairly similar these days – typical evening speeds are pretty reliable across the board, and it’s fairly rare to find an NBN provider that delivers woefully inadequate speeds.

That said, let’s look at a bit of a pricing comparison across some popular plans and providers:

Some pretty clear trends emerge between the four providers that I would typically recommend to users; that is Exetel is (in some cases by far) the most affordable. Not only are they offering competitive discounts for the first six months, but the ongoing prices are significantly less – there’s almost $30 a month difference in NBN 250 plans between Exetel and the others.

What else do you get from Exetel?

• On NBN 50 and above plans, you get 5 free “Speed Boost” days per month, where you can increase your download/upload speed. On an NBN 50 plan, you boost to NBN 100/40, and on NBN 100 plans you boost to NBN 250/25. NBN 250 plans boost to a whopping 500/50. You can schedule these (e.g. if you know you’re going to want faster downloads each Saturday), or apply them when you need. Extra days are just $2 ea, and you can roll them over too.
• All plans include unlimited data, though most providers offer this.
• You can get a free Static IP on request – most users won’t need this, but if you do, there’s no extra cost. If you don’t need one, you’ll get CGNAT which works for almost everything, and keeps your connection a little more secure from the Internet as an added benefit.
• Exetel’s network is dual-stack IPv4 and IPv6 – good for future proofing.

Are there any downsides to Exetel?

If there are any major ones, I haven’t found them yet.

It’s often said that lower-cost providers have a lower-quality service, and there are certainly some bargain providers which don’t really offer a great experience. Exetel has been around since the 1990s though, and has been in the service provision business since 2003. I’ve been a past customer, and become one again more recently, and I haven’t seen any sign of the lower cost being reflected in the service delivered. In fact, I’d say it’s been excellent.

Exetel’s sign-up process is super simple; simply sign up at Exetel.com.au and you can be online within an hour or two, even if you order outside business hours. I signed up just after 7pm one evening, and was online with Exetel two hours later. This was delayed a little only because I had an existing service on my NBN link and they had to confirm whether I wanted to replace it, or add it as an extra. Bear in mind though that unless you have an already-active NBN connection (or one that’s ready to provision), there can be longer times depending on exactly where your NBN connection is up to in the process. Exetel has some detailed information about this in their FAQs.

Tech support can get a little busy during peak times, and you may wait up to half an hour or more to be answered. Good thing is you can leave your phone number in the queue and someone from Exetel tech support will ring you back when its your turn. It works quite well.

Evening peak speeds have, so far, been exactly within my expectations:

These results were taken at 6.30pm – squarely within peak time – and over my home WiFi. Over a wired connection, those download speeds are a little faster.

Most providers offer a fairly comprehensive online self-service portal these days to allow you to manage your connection, change plans, and carry out other house-keeping tasks like updating your payment details etc.

Exetel’s online portal is both easy to navigate and secure (with mandatory 2FA to stop unauthorised contacts messing with your account). You can check your usage, request a speed boost, update your details and whatever else you need:

Conclusion

If you want to save some money today, simply sign up at Exetel.com.au and you can be online and saving money in no time. Yes, $30 a month might not sound like a lot … but when you can get the exact same service for 25% less, and it only takes 5 minutes to make the change, why wouldn’t you?

What’s your NBN provider charging you for your plan? Could you save some money with Exetel too?

Note: We have used a referral link in this article for which Ausdroid may receive a benefit if you sign up. You’re welcome to use this or not at your preference.