There was a time, years ago, when the only choice Australian consumers had for a telecommunications provider were Telstra and Optus. When Primus entered the market in 1997, it was a comfortable duopoly with nobody around to shake things up. Primus started out offering an alternative phone service and by 1999, iPrimus arrived. It was an option for those wanting the convenience of a phone and internet bundle at a much lower price.
As a provider, iPrimus Broadband made one crucial step early on – they got their own broadband hardware into as many local phone exchanges as possible. They could then offer dedicated Primus services, bundling iPrimus broadband and Primus home phone – all without the cost of renting exchange capacity from Telstra.
Who is iPrimus?
At the time it was a pretty big deal. It reduced costs for customers, and gave iPrimus the chance to start building their own network of connections between the ISP and the exchanges that served their customers.
The result was reliable, fast broadband that pushed the limits of whatever speed of ADSL connection it was running on. Behind the scenes, iPrimus made sure their network was as fast and responsive as possible, hosting the major download providers in their own data centre and ensuring customers got fast access to popular websites and large downloads.
iPrimus was then bought by experienced network provider M2, who made further steps to speed up internet access. More recently, it was bought by the hugely respected top-tier network provider Vocus. Customers have benefited from reduced prices and a network with the same high-quality service it’s offered for many years.
Today, iPrimus has broadband connections for NBN and ADSL, along with SIM-only mobile phone plans. By embracing the streaming TV age, iPrimus is also offering TV services using the much-admired Fetch TV platform.
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iPrimus NBN Plans
When it comes to Australia’s NBN, iPrimus has made some interesting choices. The real price differential is the speed of your connection, rather than your amount of data. iPrimus will happily connect you to the new national network at what appears to be an incredibly low price, but those plans come with some heavy download restrictions making them impractical for all but the lightest users.
There’s three download-limit tiers and within the top two of those, three NBN speed tiers. The download limit on the lowest tier is punishing – 100GB a month. That may not sound too bad, but if you’re even a casual user of anything requiring a lot of data – from Netflix and Stan to YouTube or Twitch – you’re going to feel the pinch very quickly. Buy your games online – on Xbox, PS4 or PC? You’ll quickly find that a 100GB limit won’t even cover the download requirements of a couple of games. That plan is very much for light users only. Those who browse the web, comment on Facebook and get their visual entertainment from free-to-air TV.
The top-tier plans offer unlimited data. It’s very liberating to download or stream whatever you want. And to never worry about limits. iPrimus themselves highly recommend this plan for “high quality video content” like HD movies.
iPrimus Broadband NBN Plans
Internet Connection Speeds
As always with the NBN, what you pay per month depends on your connection speed. At the low end, the 100GB plan will cost $60/month. At the top end, a 50/20 connection with unlimited downloads is $80/month, or $100/month with Fetch TV added. That may sound a little more expensive than some competitor offerings, but iPrimus has some very real advantages. Their network speed in Australia is lightning-fast. Servers for Netflix, Stan, Blizzard, EA and many others are in data centres only a couple of hops away from your home connection, making access seamless and super-fast (for example; select a Netflix show on Apple TV and it’s in full HD from the start). Peak-time congestion is there (like it is for every ISP), true. But they manage it well, and having your 50 Mbps NBN connection slow to “only” 40 Mbps is something you won’t even notice.
You can opt for a 12/1 connection speed if you want – and save a whole $10 a month in return for the slowest NBN speed on the market. We’d highly recommend you choose not to.
iPrimus ADSL Plans
iPrimus still offers good old ADSL connections, and with no speed tiers to choose from (your speed depends on how far you are from the exchange, as well as the condition of your phone line). You’ve got a choice between the same plans as NBN – 100GB or unlimited, with prices at $70, $80 and $90 respectively. Having done away with separate pricing for ADSL connections to non-iPrimus hardware, you know exactly what you’ll be paying regardless of whether or not your exchange has iPrimus hardware.
iPrimus Broadband ADSL Plans
iPrimus customer service and support
If you’d like to move to iPrimus and sign up for ADSL or NBN service, call the sales team on 13 17 89 between 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday.
You can also get in touch with the friendly customer support team at iPrimus any time from 9am to 6pm Monday through Friday, just by picking up the phone and calling 1300 85 44 85.
If you’d like something a bit more casual, the company also keeps a strong presence on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube — just head to the social media platform of your choice and search for “iPrimus”. Before yo do, though, a fair warning — it’s mainly memes and videos.
You can also find them online via a useful chat widget on the iPrimus website, staffed 24 hours a day.
The iPrimus customer service and technical support team can solve anything from connection issues to billing questions without hassle. Give them a call about:
Does iPrimus offer any extras?
NBN and ADSL connections both come with a landline number and “line rental” included. There’s also unlimited local and national calls (but not calls to mobiles) offered on the 50/20 NBN speed tier as well as all ADSL connections. iPrimus supplies the NBN version of this service through a custom VOIP modem they provide with your connection. The modem is free if you agree to a two-year contract, otherwise there’s a small fee.
Plans with Fetch TV
- Up to 20Mbps Standard Evening
- Unlimited Data
- NBN 25™ Fixed Line
iPrimus By Name, Prime By Nature!
The technical quality of service offered by iPrimus has been superb for many years. They continue to provide a solid, reliable and fast service. iPrimus may not be the cheapest contender on the block. But their behind-the-scenes advantage of top-tier network access makes them a brilliant choice. Especially if you spend a lot of time on the internet.
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