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.
10 comments
Ryan Murphy
Placed an order a couple of weeks ago to go from Aussie to them. I is going well, I jump on chat last night. Check the order , should go live after midnight. At work at 10am my wife ask what happened to the internet. Check the order still not submitted. Back on chat they had to manually push the order through. Should be an hour. 2pm comes wife texts me. No internet, Check back again, buddy contacted the nbn, ‘working on the order’ it’s 6pm still nothing went back on chat it should be up tonight but not sure. Since they don’t work on weekends if it’s not up then would have to wait till Monday. Call Aussie again they can connect me back up. Tonight any issues I can call them tomorrow. Buddy now can’t cancel the order in the system.
I will say Yazid, who was the online chat agent when above and beyond he was amazing. Can’t fault him some of the best customer service I’ve had. He was also good enough to say so the internet is back on go to a lower plan for now. This review is on the company and the tech not Yazid he is 5 stars.
The end of the day the 30 bucks cheaper wasn’t worth the hassle. Could the issue be I was on the 1000 plan with Aussie and now going to an offshoot of theirs? Could be but that shouldn’t be my issue and if it that is the issue it should of been worked out b4 launch.
If you are on a 1000 plan stay where you are or try Aussie. Should have never left
Ray Shaw
Thanks for the feedback. It all comes down to Aussie’s amazing human call centre and I certainly want that too.
JOHN
How does buddy etc match with optus for costs
Ray Shaw
Optus is $75 for 25/5Mbps and $99 for 50/20Mbps including a modem, – minimum contract is 36 months.
John
Does Aussie Broadband and Buddy Telco support Home Phone connection?
If yes, can I keep my home Phone number?
At the moment we are with Telstra at the $89 plan.
Thanks.
Ray Shaw
Buddy does not support VoIP but Aussie Broadband does as long as your modem has VoIP ports and you have a phone number. It can be ported over.
Les hughes
Very good article and very informative thanks
Ivor Davis
A great telco! Aussie BB were the first to letterbox me at my regional home at Connewarrewhen NBN became available there ~2018. They answered the phone within 30 seconds & offered good value & support so I switched ……..I was already allergic to Telstra having had similar issues to Charlie. Since then, the price has increased a little but still cheaper than Telstra & the support has been great.
Buddy Telco is a little cheaper than Aussie BB & I’m moderately tech savvy so I’ll probably switch to them. They appear to be similar to using yearly prepaid Boost for for my mobile – it uses the full Telstra network (which I need) with limited tech support, at a great price.
Love your program Charlie….thanks
Sam smith
How much did Aussie pay for this fluff piece?
Ray Shaw
Nothing – it just happens to be a damned good service at a reasonable price. How much did Telstra pay you to comment?