Introduction
Netspace started offering dial-up internet services to Australians in the 1990s. With their headquarters in the suburban areas of Melbourne, Victoria, its founders, Stuart Marburg and Richard Preen, run Netspace.
Netspace supply their internet services through a wholesale agreement with Telstra. This means that rather than set up an infrastructure of lines, they purchase an infrastructure from Telstra at a wholesale price, then sell services on to the customer. While one might think this would make Netspace’s prices more expensive than Telstra’s, this is not the case. Due to differing production methods, Netspace offers broadband internet at speeds and prices that are generally preferable to Telstra.
Internet Services
Netspace currently offers services for ADSL, ADSL+ and Naked DSL for home or office.
For the standard ADSL broadband plan, Netspace offer, at a speed of 512 down/128 up, 5 GB download for $39.95 a month or 30 GB for $49.95 a month. Unless you aren’t planning to use the Internet often, or you’re only using the internet for websites that don’t contain multimedia files, it’s probably worth spending the extra ten dollars a month for 25 GB worth of downloads.
Excess data usage on Netspace is shaped. This means that if you happen to reach the download limit within the month, your speeds will be slowed to around the speed of a dialup modem, rather than being charged for excess usage.
Netspace’s tech support has received few complaints over the years, with generally few complaints given about their treatment of customers, and their abilities in solving the inevitable problems that spring up when setting up and maintaining an internet connection.
Due to these factors, Netspace is one of the most competitive ISPs currently in Australia. While it may be considered that larger companies would be more reliable, it’s worth considering that Australia’s largest ISP, Telstra BigPond, has some of the levels of customer satisfaction.
Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- Reliable customer service
- Competitive pricing with opposition
- Offers ADSL 2+ where there is coverage
Cons:
- Higher costs for faster speeds
Conclusion
Netspace is certainly one of the companies with a greater amount of customer satisfaction than the average. While only a small company, their prices, speeds and download limits are more attractive to the average home internet user than that of the larger ISPs. When comparing the different ISPs Australia has to offer (and there are many) it would be worth taking Netspace into consideration.
