Hiya,
I am finally getting net access at home and am pretty phick as to setting up etc.
I looked into it 2-3 years ago but there were issues regarding some areas, such as Wembley Downs, being non-ADSL. Possibly not these days though? Any advice?
Also I am looking for a home & ADSL deal if anyone has got the scoop there? So far I have checked out AAPT but wasn't chuffed with their 2 for 1 deal. Anybody scored a good ADSL/Home phone deal? Tempted to go the moby in the bundle too. Again basic is the go.
BTW I want the ISP to be reasonably fast but doesn't need the biggest download, just adequate - around EDIT:10Gb 4 Gb per month?? He he - I don't peruse that much T n A - I just want Seabreeze forecasts at home on the weekends at last! OK a little bit of T n A would be ok too...
So would some kiteable winds! 
Cheers 
Best go to whirlpool.net and check out broadband choice.
We use Exetel ADSL2+ and for $55 a month its not too bad. We don't pay line rental and get a VOIP phone that works fine. 10 cent calls in Australia and 100 free calls a month. International calls are cheap too. So it saves us a fair bit of money compared to when we were with Bigpond/Telstra.
Optus may be the way to go if you want a package with your mobile.
Yo Moby - does VOIP mean having to change your home number? Yep - I am assuming that is the dumbest Q? for a while.
exetel seems to be the best, i was with them for years (contract free) till i swithed to 3, worst decision i have ever made....
would go back to exetel if i could get out of this stupid 3 contract.
(exetel atleast had genuine aussie call centre operators as opposed to 3's 'please believe me, the weathers great in melbourne, my name is bruce, fair dinkum mate', indian curry munchin' operators)
avoid 3 like the plauge
I think you have to change your number but not sure. The plus side is no more phone calls at 6 pm from World Vision or some company offering you a free phone. We changed our number but due to moving a few times our home number wasn't a huge issue. Most family and friends contact us via email or mobile phone.
Not sure where 3 comes in coz I don't think they offer ADSL Internet.
Depends if you go "naked" or not i think
Check http://www.whirlpool.net.au/ they will tell you all.
I use Westnet, they seem to be as cheap/cheaper than the competitors. I heard they had excellent customer service on another forum and I have to say I agree. I still tried phoning other providers but westnet were the only ones where could get to speak to a human the quickest, so they won.
Also I have never had to wait more than a couple of minutes when phoning them, their setup times were great, and their technical support is on the ball, even in the minute of the night.
Thanks Lads - will check out these suggestions. 
On 1st look Optus looked ok for a 3-in-one deal, roughly what I am paying for ol' fashioned-rip-orff-Telstra home phone on it's own. Umm.. is the Optus "up to 20mbps" deal reasonably fast for ADSL?
PR, not sure about going naked - my tanlines are attrocious! 
Doc - yep my exact experience with 3 mobile also. All good with great plans and deals, until something goes wrong, and then it is stress/drama/complete lack of ability to understand English!
Fair go most telcos are offshore these days but 3s call centres were pathetic - truly.
Check out the fine print Funkster
Some isp's charge for upload as well as download. If your a big d'l'der then this can be a big PITA.
Also check out that you are shaped (speed drops) if you exceed your quota and not charged $150 per GB as Telstra does.
Personally i'm with iinet business plan 50GB down unlimited up, annexe m enabled - $100 per month.
Very happy with them never had any drop outs or nasty stuff going on.
Speed is dependant on a number of factors firstly your didtance from the exchange, (this often isn't as the crow flies) state of the line and state of the line into your house.
Also if you have a back to base alarm system this can also interfere and you'll need a central splitter which some telco bloke will have to fit cost around $190 ish.
I'm 1.5km away from my exchange and on a wireless router i max at about 12mbps which is sufficient for me at the mo.
Oky doky PR - more homework.
Yeh - noticed the slow down (after a small fee for an extra Gb) with Optus but crikey the Telstra is a RIP ORF!! To be honest I wasn't even going to check out Telstra as with most things they simply aren't competitive or up to scratch.
Just a standard alarm - also young kids = no social life so never out at night 
Hey that reminds me - is a download limit purely what you download and save or is it every webpage you view etc adding to the DL quota?
As for uploading - I am not sure the world is in need of pics of me in a tutu just yet..
Everything you do on the web involves downloading and uploading. I can't remember the ratio but its something like 8 to 1 downloading to uploading when browsing the web. TCP/IP has an overhead sending bytes back to confirm the data coming down.
If you are not downloading movies and stuff like that then you probably won't go over 5 gig a month. I think TPG offers the best deal for downloads right now but their plans probably suit the bit torrent community.
Naked ADSL is pretty sweet. No more phone line charges.
