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IPSTAR review
Our verdict: IPSTAR offers plans across fixed-line NBN, fixed wireless and satellite connections, but isn't upfront about the speeds you're likely to receive.
IPSTAR focuses on serving rural and regional Australians and provides NBN, satellite and fixed wireless connections.
While IPSTAR's plans are priced about average, it doesn't disclose any typical evening speeds on any of its plans. This means it's unclear what speeds you can expect to receive during busy hours of the day, which is typically 7pm-11pm.
You can opt for IPSTAR if:
An Australia-based customer support team is a priority.
You're looking for a new NBN provider and want a risk-free trial. IPSTAR offers a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
But you should also keep an eye out for:
Lack of clarity around its typical evening speeds. This is quite uncommon for NBN plans as typical evening speeds are a point of reference for most people when comparing plans.
IPSTAR's satellite plans are all classified as Sky Muster Plus. This means your data usage is unmetered (not measured) during off-peak hours between midnight and 4pm.
Data limits are only enforced on video streaming and VPN usage during the peak hours of 4pm–midnight.
Like NBN, you can sign up for either a month-to-month or a fixed-term contract. There are no installation or set-up charges on satellite plans.
IPSTAR's satellite plans are also competitively priced. Unlike NBN plans, satellite plans don't disclose typical evening speeds as they tend to fluctuate too much.
Things to watch out for:
The fixed-term satellite contracts have an early termination charge – $165 for 12-month contracts and $275 for 24-month contracts.
IPSTAR only offers 1 fixed wireless NBN plan. Similar to its regular NBN plans, there's a $99 set-up fee for month-to-month plans and none on contracted plans.
Again, the price is decent but without an advertised typical evening speed, it's hard to tell whether you'll be getting good bang for your buck. There are other fixed wireless plans from other providers though that have a higher maximum download speed for less cost.
Things to watch out for:
Early termination fees apply across all contract types, even on its month-to-month plan. You'll need to pay $5 if you terminate your month-to-month plan, $165 early termination on 12-month plans and $275 for 24-month plans.
While the fixed wireless plan comes with unlimited data, IPSTAR enforces a fair use policy that is implemented by the NBN. Should your average download usage exceed 400GB of data and average upload exceed 120GB data in a calendar month, IPSTAR may reduce the number or quality of online activities you can carry out.
IPSTAR's NBN plans are priced around the average of NBN plans on Finder, though its NBN 100 plan is slightly more expensive.
You have the option of signing a month-to-month, 12-month or 24-month contract. However, keep in mind that you will have to pay a $99 set-up charge for the month-to-month contract. There are no set-up charges for the fixed-term contracts.
While signing up for an IPSTAR contracted NBN plan has the benefit of nullifying your set-up fees, you could likely find a better deal elsewhere for a month-to-month plan.
Things to watch out for:
You'll need to pay a $99 set-up fee on IPSTAR's month-to-month NBN plans. Contracted plans don't have this fee.
Regardless of the contract length, you will be required to pay an early termination fee if you cancel an NBN plan before the end of your contract period – $5 for the monthly plans, $165 for the 12-month contract and $275 for the 24-month contract.
Performance
IPSTAR isn't included in the ACCC broadband performance report so the reliability of its speeds cannot be officially verified. The ACCC report allows customers to see which NBN providers are delivering the speeds they've advertised, as a measure of reliability.
Additionally, IPSTAR does not advertise its typical evening speeds either, making it difficult to know how the NBN connection will perform during peak hours before signing up.
Customer service
You can contact the IPSTAR team in the following ways:
Call customer support from 8am–8pm AEST Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm AEST Saturday.
Fill out the enquiry form on the website.
Get your query answered by the chatbot.
Good to know: IPSTAR's customer support team is based in St Leonards, NSW.
Bonus features
IPSTAR NBN gives you a couple of perks alongside its internet plans.
💰 30-day network satisfaction guarantee
If you're not satisfied with your new IPSTAR connection within the first 30 days, you can cancel the plan without paying any early termination fees.
💵 Referral credit
Successfully referring a friend to IPSTAR can get both you and your friend $50 in credits.
Which rivals are giving IPSTAR NBN a run for its money?
For more satellite options:
With an Australia-based team, SkyMesh has a wide range of plans offering both capped data for all usage or capped data only for video streaming and VPN usage during peak hours.
For a cheaper regular NBN option:
Tangerine has some of the cheapest plans on Finder and offers 6-month sign-up discounts to sweeten the deal. It also offers some fixed wireless plans.
Ready to sign up to IPSTAR?
IPSTAR isn't available to sign up to via Finder. You'll need to head to ipstarbroadband.com.au and choose a plan there.
You can also continue to compare internet plans on Finder to see if you can find a better deal.
What if I'm moving house? You can select a date during the sign-up process for when you'd like your new IPSTAR plan to be activated. Keep in mind that it could take up to 16 days to get connected.
Make sure to give your current provider a heads-up in case there's a notice period to account for. You don't want to be stuck paying for 2 internet services.
Saakshi Gupta is a writer for Finder. She has written for startups and other organisations. Her work has been published on Time Out Melbourne. Saakshi has a Master’s Degree in Media Communication from the University of Melbourne.
NBN wholesaler nbnco offers four NBN speed tiers to ISPs, which dictates how fast your Internet connection will be, and here's how to choose the best plan.
hi, I had satellite NBN with someone else but went back to mobile broadband because of cost issues but your 300gb plan looks goo. I still have all the satellite gear here , can it be reused? not that it matters much as its free install anyway, but would make things easy..
Thank you for contacting finder, a comparison website and general information service.
While we do not represent IPSTAR or any of the companies featured on our pages, we can provide you with general advice and guide you in making an informed decision.
For you question, the satellite gear may still be reused but it would still depend on IPSTAR if you would be better of with new gear.
It may in fact make the installation simpler if you go with new gear. If you want to gain more clarification on this and if you would really want to use your existing satellite gear, you may contact IPSTAR directly.
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hi, I had satellite NBN with someone else but went back to mobile broadband because of cost issues but your 300gb plan looks goo. I still have all the satellite gear here , can it be reused? not that it matters much as its free install anyway, but would make things easy..
Hello Dean,
Thank you for contacting finder, a comparison website and general information service.
While we do not represent IPSTAR or any of the companies featured on our pages, we can provide you with general advice and guide you in making an informed decision.
For you question, the satellite gear may still be reused but it would still depend on IPSTAR if you would be better of with new gear.
It may in fact make the installation simpler if you go with new gear. If you want to gain more clarification on this and if you would really want to use your existing satellite gear, you may contact IPSTAR directly.
Hope this helped.
Cheers.
Gru