Is Buddy Telco a good idea? New Aussie Broadband brand (opinion)
Buddy Telco is a new low-cost off-shoot brand from Aussie Broadband aimed at the value self-service market. The question to ask is whether the Qantas/Jetstar move was a success. You bet it was, and so will this.
First, Aussie Broadband was the germ of an idea in 2003 by two hard-working Aussie blokes, Phillip Britt and John Reisinger, in regional Victoria. They saw how frustrated people were with the major internet providers. We won’t go into details, but they merged Wideband Networks and Westvic Broadband to focus on Victorian regional areas, South Australia and Northern Territory.
When the NBN came along in 2017, they were among the first to resell it—still with a Victorian/SA/NT focus. Their focus was on service, a local call centre, and their straight-talking, no-BS approach saw users beat a path to their door.
A brief segue – my story
Around that time, I had significant issues with Telstra (both HFC and FTTN), which messed up the NBN reliability, speed delivery, and billing. It had an overseas call centre that was useless as an inflatable dartboard, so much so that I complained to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. Telstra blamed NBN – NBN said it was not them. Telstra blamed the FTTN copper lead-in (that it sold to NBN), so we paid for that to be replaced from the street to the access point inside my home – but there was no difference. Then, to add insult to injury, Telstra billed for several service calls that did not happen.
Bottom line: After hundreds of hours of to-and-fro, Telstra said my only option was to use another provider (nice after 40 years of blind, rusted-on loyalty), and the TIO fined it accordingly for the two years of inaction on my problem.
PS—NBN reported to me that the Telstra issue was caused by its infrastructure overlaid on NBN. Think of NBN as a river (of data), and Telstra builds faulty bridges, leaky dams, and pot-holed roads. It was too lazy even to try to fix it.
I had heard good things about Aussie Broadband
So, I called them and explained the issues (100’s of micro dropouts daily, poor speeds and billing errors) to allow them to politely tell me to go elsewhere. But no – Aussie was helpful. They tested the line and spoke to NBN, which sent out a technician who arrived as promised and tested the ‘replaced’ copper to my NBN access point, and all was fine. I should be able to get a reliable 100/20Mbps as the node was showing 120Mbps, and it was literally outside my home. The swap went faultlessly, and I have enjoyed 99% uptime and stable 100/20Mbps speeds for the past six years.
Aussie Broadband is now Australia’s fourth largest Telco (NBN/Mobile/Business) and has close to a million largely happy customers.
Buddy Telco is a well-established marketing exercise
It uses 100% of Aussie’s network and infrastructure. It offers lower cost as it uses an online, entirely self-service model. Buddy has no real admin cost as it also leverages Aussie’s FAQ database and self-help systems to answer every question it has had. Its help centre is one of the best I have seen.
To be clear, you cannot telephone it. Instead, use the app, start a live chat, or fill out a contact form.
That takes the pressure off Aussie’s wonderful call centre, which is full of happy people who genuinely want to help you.
It is no different from Qantas, which claims to be a premium airline (and fails miserably), and Jetstar, which offers lower service and amenity levels. Except Qantas was led by an evil leprechaun, who destroyed any semblance of premium in his quest to screw passengers and sate the shareholders.
Aussie/Buddy is still led by Phil, who is here to help. I know which company I would support!
NBN Costs
| Speed (all unlimited data) | Buddy Telco (modem extra) Does not support VoIP landline. Monthly commitment | Aussie Broadband (modem extra). Supports VoIP Landline at extra cost. Monthly commitment. | Telstra/Optus (includes modem) Landline at extra cost. 36-month contract. |
| Standard 25/10 | $65 | $79 | $89/$75 |
| Value 50/20 | $75 | $89 | $105/$99 |
| Speedy 100/20 | $75 for the first six months, then $85 | $95 | $105 for the first six months, then $110 |
| Super-fat 250/25 | N/A | $119 | $130 |
| Zoomy 1000/50 | $89 for the first three months, then $99 | $129 | $150 |
Will Buddy Telco cannibalise Aussie’s users?
Aussie tech-savvy users who understand the difference between online self-service and Aussie’s call centre with real people may swap.
But I think it’s a shot over the bow of the many unwashed, poor-service NBN providers that don’t deserve customer loyalty, cancel email services, and change brands and owners – all without understanding what this does to their customers.
