NBN infrastructure in Australia is gradually improving; most of us can now enjoy very swift file downloads, something that was unthinkable ten years ago. With this tardy evolution comes a battle at the top over who can offer the cheapest monthly prices for the fastest plans. While most operators hover around the same price level, a recent operator – an offshoot of the established Aussie Broadband – has dropped a bomb in the pond. Or bunger, I guess.
Launched in July, Buddy is the recent budget extension of Aussie Broadband, an operator we list as one of our favorite gaming providers in our NBN guide. It’s a different and cheaper beast for two reasons: Buddy doesn’t sell hardware, so if you don’t already have a modem – and of course you already do – you won’t be purchasing or receiving one from your carrier.
The biggest difference is that there is basically no telephone customer service. You can’t step on the blower if the connection drops: you’ll be talking to an AI-powered chatbot, either in a browser or via a smartphone app. Expect to spend some time troubleshooting this bot before it migrates to a real human, which will happen if it suffers losses.
Buddy offers a NBN 1,000 connection for AUD 99 per month; This is not an introductory offer, this is a fixed price and there are no lock-in contracts. Right now, the second best price-wise connection is offered by Spintel, which offers the same connection for AU$95 per month, but only lasts six months before rising to AU$105.95. (If you’re really proactive, you could work with Spintel for six months and then move to Buddy – NBN operator hopping seems to be a sport among bargain hunters). Overall, you’ll pay AUD 1,188 per year for a Buddy’s NBN 1000 connection and AUD 1,205.70 for a Spintel’s connection. In total, this equates to a savings of $17.70 per year.
Buddy advertises typical evening download speeds of 600Mbps and 41Mbps upload speeds, which are identical to those offered by its stablemate, Aussie Broadband (although some users of Australia’s eminent Whirlpool message board claim they are closer to 800Mbps ). In other words, it’s the same call, you just need to talk to the AI bot if you want customer service.
Here are all the Buddy connection levels:
Given how competitive the NBN space is, especially at the higher tiers, it will be intriguing to see if Buddy can maintain its dominance in the low-cost segment. Likewise, Buddy’s AI-first customer service model appears to be being copied by competitors, which has obvious flaws. Whatever the case, i.eIt’s always worth shopping.
It’s also worth remembering that downloads happen at high speeds. They won’t improve connection stability or lower ping, but they will make title updates and game downloads faster.
