My ISP started off good value (AU hikari) but after about 6 years there has been no improvement in speed etc. and it seems like there are cheaper and better options around these days. One seems to be NURO by Sonet (basically a subsidiary of Sony) which has high speed and seems to be about half the price of what I’m paying. Sadly, my “mansion” is all tied up and NURO need applications from about 6 people before they can install the fibre and the boxes. Can anyone recommend any other similarly cheap and speedy alternatives? Fixed internet packages seem to be a bit of a moving target with lots of hidden fees, but if we could get some good info, maybe we could come up with a comparison table of ISPs.
I found my ISP via kakaku.com. As far as I can tell the market is flooded with various resellers basically selling the same thing, and there’s only a little variance in who can be the actual ISP (like maybe less than 10) and underlying provider (DSL or Fibre) that you get at the end of the day.
From memory the kakaku.com site had a tool to find out what services I could use, and then the results simplified the offerings nice and clearly - so I opted for the highest rated one with an ISP that has English speaking support.
(disclaimer it’s two years since I did this, so could be totally different now 
)
DEFINITELY seconding kakaku for a general search of ISPs, but in my experience, it’s largely down to what campaigns are on and for how long. Some offer half price for X amount of months with a one month cancellation charge at any time. Ergo, if you have an insanely cheap deal, you could pay the cancellation fee and still have more money in your pocket than if you’d stayed the full amount.
Some companies, such as a J:COM, offer a package deal with cable TV and phone line, and these can sometimes be cheaper than a straightforward internet plan.
Also, if you net use is generally low, you could be incredibly savvy and use one of the many MVNO Data Sims in a 4G phone and tether it to your computer. Some MVNO’s actually include WiFi deals in their package for use at home. This would make you totally wireless! (Might want to keep the phone plugged in to your charger though!)
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