Mint Telecom

Staff are polite and professional, but the internet speed I have been experiencing on average 12-15 Mbps download with well below the minimum 25 Mbps the NBN co technician estimated I should expect. The excuses and justifications from Mint staff are not credible.

I have to agree with another reviewer who said 'they found it strange that this business had so many positive reviews!'

Having had a bad experience with Telstra, I made the decision that I would try an Australian company, I chose Mint Telecom.

My request was to have an ADSL connected to my apartment and that I didn't need a phone. All the checks were done, I was told it was possible and an initial fee of $70.80 was charged to my card. Correspondence from Mint confirmed my activation date. Two days after the activation date with no service and no contact from Mint, I called them only to be told that there was an issue with my connection. After they investigated further they informed me that Telstra needed to come out and connect the line with an expected cost from $70-$150. Since I'd only disconnected with Telstra several days earlier, I was perplexed as to why I needed to be charged again for a line that I knew was already connected? I delayed the connection by a day until I spoke to Telstra.

Telstra were uncertain as to why I was being charged, although Mint told me that the issue was with another part of Telstra so the area I rang wouldn't have known about the fault. So after consideration I decided to continue with the connection as I was informed by Mint that the costs would apply regardless of who I went with but at least it would eventuate in an active service.

Once again, I was given an activation date and still nothing so once more I contacted Mint only to be told that I couldn't have the service after all and that all the lines had been taken.

The consultant told me that I'd still be charged due to the fact that it wasn't their fault and that they were able to provide me with a telephone line (which I'd clearly stated that I didn't need), regardless of the fact that I had NOTHING to show for approximately $220. After a lengthy discussion I was informed that I could continue to stay with Mint, paying a monthly fee for the telephone line (that I didn't need) and wait for a line to become available for the ADSL or they would terminate my contract, HOWEVER, I'd still have to pay for the technician. I told them that I was unhappy with the result and I wanted the night to think it over, it was at this stage I was informed that they'd go halves with technicians fee ONLY and they were going to cancel my contract - end of story! I then proceeded to tell them that they could not deduct money from my account and that I wasn't authorizing them to do so - THEY DID IT ANYWAY! The bank informed me that they could block the company from accessing my account again however because they used a third party - Ezi Debit they couldn't block this business from debiting my account!

This forced me to directly contact the owner who had a less-than-amazing ability to dance around the issue. The excuses provided were, 'it's Telstra's fault', 'it's your fault' and then 'we're ONLY a small business and can't afford to pay this'.The rationale used in order for them to keep my money was truly astounding. I was then directed that I needed to send back the modem and ONLY then, would they reimburse me for the cost of postage. The result was that I was now approximately $140 poorer and with nothing to show for this, plus having to pay more to send the modem back. It was apparent that I wasn't going to be able to negotiate with this person therefore I had no choice but to employ the services of the Telecommunication Ombudsman.

End result:
Mint Telecom were instructed that no unauthorized funds were to be taken from my account.
The business had to provide a prepaid envelope for the return of their modem.
Mint had to return the $70.80 that they had 'IN ERROR' debited from my account.
The Telecommunications Ombudsman determined that Telstra had been largely at fault, therefore I made the decision to pay half of the technicians cost of $70.80.

This business doesn't have enough clout to offer what the larger telecommunication companies are being able to deliver nor does it have a strong customer focus (near enough is good enough philosophy) however what is more terrifying than anything else is that someone can determine how much they want to take from your account and 'IN ERROR' follow through!

I have since gone through Vividwireless and the experience has been amazing!!! EASY, no contracts and lovely consultants!!

I just switched from Belong ADSL2+ to Mint FTTN. It's been a very pleasant experience I must say.

The whole transfer was done within a couple of weeks, with only a couple of hours down time, which certainly exceeded expectations. The service from sales to implementation is defintely first class and they keep you updated along the entire journey, something you don't get with the big names.

The only issues I had were my own issues with wifi interference in my house/area, which I have since fixed with a change to the modem/router settings.

The speed is 3 times faster than my old ADSL connection and I can now game lag free with no dropouts.

I highly recommend Mint and will be doing so to any who ask me. Thanks for the great sevice Mint, I really appreciate it. Also thanks to [name removed] who was a great help in getting everything sorted. Keep up the great work!!!

November 8th 2017 Update: I was duped by the overly positive reviews

So it started off well back in April 2017 when I wrote my original review. The service was working fast and lag free. Fast forward to about September and it became very slow and so laggy, making online games unplayable, especially during peak hour every night. Numerous emails to them resulted in the finger being pointed in my direction as the cause of the problem and no acknowledgment that there could be any kind of a problem on their end. Modem resets, even a new modem being sent did not fix the issue. I was told I was on the only customer having the issue, which I did not believe. I was also told that there were some upgrades planned, which seems funny to me that they planned to do upgrades that they did not need, as everything was allegedly perfect on their end. Eventually I was told that they will lodge a fault with the NBN, which I waited for over a week with no result. Smartest thing I did after this was to switch to Aussie Broadband and as I knew would happen, everything was back to how it should be. Very fast and lag free, even in peak hour. Proceed with caution and don't believe everything you see here, I was fooled. I would recommend to anyone considering Mint to go with Aussie Broadband instead, as I wish I had of done.

Applied for the 100 mps installation package with MINT in early March (when my area was ready for the new NBN layout). Was then told it'll be over a month of wait till 12th of April before NBN could spare the time to connect the inside of my home (even the house was already setup with the external facility).
Finally the day arrives. Was told I'll get an SMS or email from the installer a few days before hand stating the time. NADA on that. Enquiring with MINT gave me a time slot of 12 to 4 pm. So expectation was high as I waited at home all the way till 4pm with zero SMS or email contact from NBN.

Finally, the truck shows up at 4:50 pm! The guy comes in with mobile on the ear (was on the phone 2/3s of the time he was here). Tells me I cannot have the connection box close to my TV in the lounge room since the external connection was installed too far away!

Finally got internet up at around 7pm. Thinking this is going to be joy as I look forward to the 100 mps promised data download. First issue came as the "spinning wheel" continues on my internet download. Checking with several speed testing app reveals a speed of 8.5 mps download and 11 mps upload over Ethernet.

Checked with MINT and went through all possible confirmation points. But over the next few days, the highest I got from the modem was over 50 mps during one morning (4 am), which quickly dropping back below 20 mps at 6 am. A far cry so far from the 100 mps promised and paying for!

MINT tells me they've launched an CVC error request to NBN, but has no idea when they'll come around to checking (or fixing the situation).

It's probably not a fault of MINT, but surely doesn't give the consumer that's paying for the installation and highest monthly fee a very good feeling to the start of NBN era !

Got a reply from MINT before I went public with this review: I said "I am paying for the highest rate and getting the lowest rate" Reply from MINT: "at least you have service" !

Not good enough!

January 21st 2018 Update: Why are all ISPs failing their customers?

Following one year with MINT, I'm still very disappointed at the inability for them to provide much "service" as an internet service provider. 95% of the breakdowns are answered with "it's NBNs fault", there's nothing we can do about it, otherwise we will!". Which is worthless to the enduser. We really don't care which part of the middle or upper chain was the fault or cause, but we just want it fixed ASAP. I tried to check out other ISP for switch, but the comments from end users are same or even worse. Hence, it's like stuck with your bad ISP or go take a risk with a similar one or worse!!!

** just got a private message from MINT trying to stop me from publishing this review **