Top 5 Broadband Deals for Families

Just how much data does a family use? It’s a tricky question, as no two families are exactly alike. Some use it just for email and checking the news. Other use it to work from home, and maybe stream some TV. Sometimes, you need to upload and download massive files — for work-related tasks, pro-am hobbies, study, and even just for fun. If you’ve got kids, there’s a good chance they like video games – which can be a huge data sucker. So in reality, it’s really a multi-part question.

How does your family use the internet?

What elements matter most? And how much are you willing to spend?

Once you know the answer to these question, you can examine the most obvious question remaining.

Is your broadband plan up to the task?

To get to grips with this question, I polled my married friends who had children, as their internet usage patterns differ greatly from my own.

Here’s what I found.

Parents use broadband when dealing with a huge range of stuff. Work emails and tele-conferences. Organising holidays. Researching kitchen appliances. Listening to podcasts. Gaming. Legitimate, legal file-sharing. Staying up to date on social media. Blogging. Reading other people’s blogs. The list is endless.

Children use the internet in just as many ways. Socialising, gaming, researching school projects. Uploading vlogs and organising weekend activities.

However, generally speaking, there is one large factor that both adults and children have in common.

Families use the internet for entertainment.

TV shows and movies and music are streamed or downloaded. Games are purchased and played online.

So what does a family need?

Again it’s tough to say. But generally speaking, it comes down to five things – speed, latency, reliability, data, and cost.

So what does your family need from a broadband plan?

Speed

This is how fast the data moves to or from your modem. This is a big deal when you have a house full of people streaming, downloading and generally trying to get what they want now. A slow connection means people are going to complain.

Low latency

Latency is the measure of how fast your ISP responds to a request. In a family situation, this matters when you are trying to entertain. No one wants to spend ages waiting for a menu to load – they want to watch Frozen on Netflix. Again. And again.

Reliability

With a house full of people streaming TV, chatting with friends or downloading work documents, the last thing you need is a dropped connection. As the person in charge of deciding which internet package to go with, you’re the one they look to – or blame – when things go wrong. So it pays to seek out a stable connection from the start. From experience, reliability ranks as following: 1) ADSL 2) Cable 3) NBN.

Data

And a decent amount too! From my survey, the minimum amount used by a family of four was 120 GB a month. At the top end, it was more than ten times this amount! However, most families got by on an average of about 500 – and rarely went over. In most cases, going over your data limit gets your data connection “shaped”. This restricts speeds to 256kbps or less. And trust me – this is not fast enough for the whole family. Indeed, with unlimited plans more and more common, it’s a hard sell to sign up to a plan with a limit.

A good price

As recently as the early 2000s there were families paying $50 each month for 1 GB of dial-up internet. Why? Because they didn’t know better. Naturally, you want to provide your family the best broadband deal you can – without breaking the bank. So the price of your broadband package should be kept to a reasonable level for what you’re watching

The Top Five Broadband Deals For Families

As outlined above, we’re looking at fast, stable connections that feature 500GB or more per month. We want decent latency. And we want it at a decent price – meaning bundles are okay! Right now, we’ll leave 4G and Wireless options alone – I want to focus on in-house installations. And who knows? Maybe we’ll do a review on them later?

#1 Southern Phone Turbo Speed Plan

For big families, Southern Phone has you covered with their super fast connection and huge to unlimited data offerings just like their Turbo NBN plan. It gives you unlimited data on a 50/20 speed tier for high-speed internet use at $70/month with no lock-in contract. Not on the NBN yet? You can instead get their ADSL Large plan, which would give you 1000GB for $70/month as well.

#2 Exetel Premium Plan

Exetel’s internet plans are refreshingly affordable. For starters, unlimited data configured on NBN100 with typical evening speeds of 83Mbps is only at $89.99 per month. The Premium NBN plan is a great fit for a family that needs quality connection and reliable speed, even during peak hours, while keeping the internet bills humbly affordable. Even better, Exetel implements the Anytime Data Usage, which means that download allowance isn’t split between peak and off-peak times. Moreover, the telco’s NBN plans are optimised for streaming so the entire family can still enjoy quality time with no connection issues to ruin a good show or movie. As for the contract terms, it’s pretty flexible. It’s either 12 months or month-to-month with the same pricing; though a lengthier contract gets you two months of free service plus a WiFi modem – while the monthly setup gets you one.

#3 Soul Mates from MATE

Broadband for the entire family means it has to be unlimited and fast. MATE’s Soul Mates plan with typical evening speed of 79Mbps at only $79 per month, with no lock-in contract, is one of the excellent options available. For one, it’s cheaper than most and super flexible, too, considering it’s already configured on the NBN100 speed tier. There are no lengthy contracts, no setup fees, and no plan change fees even when you bring your own modem.

#4 Tangerine XXL Speed Boost

Tangerine offers three speed-tier NBN plans with XXL Speed Boost being the fastest. That gives you unlimited NBN with typical evening speed of up to 83Mbps. Streaming is made easier and faster with this speed and for a great price, too — only $69.90/month for the first six months, $79.90 thereafter. Even with the original price, Tangerine’s NBN100 offering is among the cheapest in Australia. Not to mention the flexibility that comes with signing up, including its no lock-in contract plans, waived set-up fees, and a 14-day risk-free trial.

#5 Telstra NBN Entertainment Bundle

Telstra has long been a staple for many families in the telecommunications market. And now when it comes to choosing broadband for the household, Telstra Broadband offers a very tempting bundle. For only $99 per month, you get a home phone connection with included unlimited local, national, and mobile calls and are hooked into the NBN with unlimited data each month on the 50/20 speed tier. Plus you receive a free Telstra TV 3 and a $125 Telstra TV Box Office credit that’s equivalent to 20 new movie rentals fresh from the cinema!

Only the Best for You and Your Family!

And as usual, make sure you check out the service availability in your area. Not to mention the critical information summary for any plan you’re considering. This will detail the total costs of any options or added extras you choose, including any area-specific setup fees, installation costs, customer service rates and terms of use.