Frustrated MyRepublic customer? Here are your NBN switching options

MyRepublic has finally shut its website to new customers, weeks after Canstar Blue reported that the Singapore-based NBN provider had decided to leave the Australian internet market.

MyRepublic, which had been offering NBN plans in Australia since 2016, issued a press release on Christmas Eve announcing its plans to exit the Australian market, effective as of December 23, with fellow NBN provider Superloop to acquire MyRepublic’s existing customers.

MyRepublic said in the December press release that it was leaving Australia because it was ‘refocusing on profitability’.

The announcement raised the ire of MyRepublic customers, who complained in comments on the company’s Facebook page that there had been no direct communication with users about the change prior to or at the same time as the public announcement. The provider’s website continued to advertise its range of NBN plans to new customers until recently. Links to Canstar Blue’s story reporting the market exit, posted by customers on MyRepublic’s Facebook page, were repeatedly deleted.

Comments on a post about MyRepublic’s ‘refer a friend’ program accused the company of wanting to make a “quiet exit” from Australia. One customer commented: “Hang about … you’re running a refer a friend program and aren’t telling your customers you’re exiting the country?! Bit weird, folks. I came here to check I hadn’t missed the announcement but it appears you simply haven’t told us”.

These comments appeared to have later been hidden or deleted.

More recently, the provider’s Facebook page has been flooded with customer complaints about internet outages lasting more than 24 hours. Some customers also complained about a lack of customer support for their technical issues or when trying to cancel their account.

MyRepublic’s website was updated with information about the company’s decision to exit Australia on January 23 — a month after it publicly announced the decision by press release. Customers appear to have been notified via email around the same time as the website was updated.

In the original press release, it was stated that both MyRepublic and Superloop “expect the bulk of the subscriber migration to take place in February 2023 pending the completion of network transition”. MyRepublic’s website FAQs mentions that customers will be contacted with your planned “cutover” date and Superloop will get in touch once your service has switched over.

We have reached out to MyRepublic for comment but received no reply by the time of publication.

Do MyRepublic customers have to move to Superloop?

While MyRepublic struck a deal with Superloop to transition its customers to a Superloop service, MyRepublic customers are free to switch to another NBN provider. You might find this the perfect opportunity to switch providers and even look to save some money on a plan or find a plan that better suits your needs.

If you haven’t received notice from Superloop that your service has been migrated as part of the process described on the MyRepublic website, you should be able to sign up to a new NBN plan with your provider of choice and notify MyRepublic that you want to cancel your service. MyRepublic claims that you will be released from your plan immediately after you notify the telco, and won’t be charged cancellation fees.

It’s worth noting that if you choose to transition to Superloop, your plan will mostly stay the same as it was with MyRepublic; you won’t be transitioned to one of the plans Superloop currently offers. Where Superloop can’t replicate your plan or service, your plan will either be cancelled or, in the case of international calling packs, the service no longer provided to you.

Customers who have changes made to their plans will be contacted “proactively” by Superloop, MyRepublic said on its website.

If you’re looking to sign up to a new NBN plan, there are plenty of NBN providers and plans to choose from. Use the below tables to compare a range of NBN plans on different speed tiers — you can compare the different speed tiers by switching between the tabs.

Want to compare more plans? Use our free NBN plan comparison tool to compare more speeds, plans and providers.