I use it but ....
Written: Oct 10 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Tottaly unlimited access
Cons: Only an average service
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| ausdol's Full Review: Dingoblue (Australia) |
Dingoblue as an ISP do provide what I would class as a reasonable service at a reasonable price. But there are things to consider before joining.
So what do you get?
Totally unlimited access. No time limits and no download limits. Now for someone who uses the Internet a lot this type of deal is hard to pass up. But at $49 a month for the standard package (no long distant phone service which reduces the cost to $27.50 a month) there are other options available.
So called free ISPs are available in the major metropolitan areas though even if they were available where I am I would be unlikely to use them. I have a couple of problems with these, the first being the speed and the second being limits imposed, for example, 2 hours per session before disconnecting and reconnecting. That could equate to 8 calls a day at a cost of about $2.40 in local calls. Which, if my maths is right about $72 a month - far from free.
If you are on the Internet for lengthy periods but your monthly downloads are relatively small (under about 300mb) you can get services without time restrictions for about half the price. And these services are available in regional areas as well.
As for reducing the cost by changing your long distance phone service provider again in regional Australia this is not always the best option. It pains me to say it, but Telstra is still providing the best telephone service for those in the country areas.
Now with the 5mb of personal web space, this is something that many ISPs provide as part of their standard package. There are also plenty of places on the Web that provide free hosting. So there are other options in regard to this as well. Dingoblue has an advantage over most of the free hosting providers in that you do not have to display any pop-ups or banners. But when comparing them with other ISPs there is very little difference and if anything, the stats available are lacking compared for instance, with Ozemail.
As for reliability I have found them to be quite good. Though I do have two ISPs that I use as the availability is not 100%. At times I have found it impossible to get a connection or I connect at low speeds and it is during these times I use my secondary ISP. Now I am of the opinion that this is more to do with my regional location than the ISP itself as the reverse is also true with my secondary ISP.
I have also found the throughput to be a little less than Bigpond and Ozemail. Regardless of the line speed the actual load times and download speeds always seem to be a little slower.
So why did I opt for Dingoblue?
To put it simply, I am both a high time and download user of the Internet and in my area there wasn't anything that was as economical for the type of usage I have.
Do I recommend it to others?
Well that depends on their usage requirements more than anything else.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ausdol
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Member: Ron Davies
Location: Ingham Qld Australia
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 9 members
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