Broadband

Q. I was recently told by two ISPs I can’t have ADSL2+ at home and yet Telstra says I can have it (a very expensive option) because they have Next G. Can you explain what this means and whether there is any other way?

A. ADSL2+ runs over copper phone lines. It requires ISPs to have suitable equipment at the local exchange and you must be within 5km of that telephone exchange. I suspect Telstra is saying that they can provide ADSL2+ speeds using the Next G wireless network which as you point out is much more expensive. You can check if your exchange is equipped at https://my.bigpond.com/check-availability/default.do and, if it is, check for ADSL2+ at www.whirlpool.net.au.

Sourced from Ray Shaw’s column in The Courier-Mail.