No Contract Broadband Plans

Most people think of the NBN as a national network designed to improve broadband speeds via newer technology – and of course it very much is. But the NBN was also designed to do something else – to replace the monopoly-owned copper phone network with a brand new, government-owned one. And one of the little-mentioned side benefits of that was the lack of hefty connection fees for customers coming on to the network.

Now, of course that didn’t stop some providers from persisting with contract plans anyway, often just levying their own made-up “activation fee” or similar as a driver to get you to commit to a contract. But competition’s been taking care of that, and today you’ll find a huge range of plans at many and varied providers, all available without committing to a contract.

Competition has even seen no-contract plans make their way to legacy ADSL connections, so even those who are still impatiently waiting for the NBN to arrive don’t have to miss out.

Aside from being greatly preferable for renters and others who have reasons for not wanting to commit to a years-long deal, no-contract plans have another major benefit – they give you control. When you sign up for a broadband provider, you’re taking a lot on trust – how good their network is, how fast their peak-hour speeds are and even how helpful their customer service is. If you’re on a no-contract plan and you find your new provider to not be up to scratch, you can switch. That’s power that consumers haven’t really had with broadband until recently, and it’s very welcome in what is becoming an extremely crowded field of new and veteran broadband providers.

And of course, the provider you choose won’t want you to get to the point of wanting to switch – so they’re more likely to make the extra effort to deliver good service, at least in theory.