Is IT’S FUBAR any good? Short answer: yes. They’re a small husband-and-wife nbn and Opticomm provider based in Armstrong Creek with genuinely local support, honest month-to-month pricing, and a strong reputation on OzBargain and Whirlpool. The trade-offs are business-hours support and higher prices on the fast tiers. Here’s the full, independent picture.
Why Oh WiFi is fully independent. We have no commercial relationship with IT’S FUBAR, take no commissions from any ISP, and they didn’t ask for or see this review before publication. They sell internet connections; we fix the WiFi inside the house. Different jobs, same postcodes.
Who is IT’S FUBAR?
IT’S FUBAR Technology Services is exactly what it sounds like it isn’t: a serious little telco. It’s run by Harrison and Meg Caldicott, a husband-and-wife team based in Armstrong Creek, south of Geelong. Their About page tells the story plainly: Harrison started the business as a sole-trader side gig in 2012 while working for major Australian telcos, the Pty Ltd was born in January 2023, and residential nbn plans launched in September 2024. Harrison is the network engineer; Meg, who holds a PhD in bioinformatics, runs operations and provisioning. The About page also credits four company cats with executive titles, which tells you something about the vibe.
Despite the size, this isn’t a garage reseller slapping a logo on someone else’s product. From their launch thread on Whirlpool and their own site: they run their own BNG infrastructure in the NextDC M1 data centre in Melbourne, reach all 121 nbn POIs (via aggregation partner Virtutel), connect to Opticomm directly as a retail service provider, and publish public traffic and latency dashboards anyone can check. That’s more network transparency than most mid-size ISPs offer.
And yes, the name. FUBAR is old military slang for something comprehensively broken, which is a bold thing to call an internet company. They lean into it. Their own About page cheerfully quotes a Whirlpool critic who said he’d avoid anyone who doesn’t take their business seriously enough to come up with a better name. Judging by the sign-up numbers on their OzBargain posts, the name hasn’t hurt.
We first covered them in our unsponsored guide to the best nbn providers in Australia, where they earned the “local Geelong one” slot on merit.
Plans and pricing (as at July 2026)
Prices below are from the IT’S FUBAR website’s nbn plans page as at July 2026. Their pricing changed on 1 July 2026, so older reviews and forum posts quote lower numbers. All plans are unlimited data, month-to-month, no lock-in contract.
| Plan | Speed tier | Price/month | Typical evening speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| nbn Home Basic II | 25/10 | $59.90 | 23.7/9.5 Mbps |
| nbn Home Standard | 50/20 | $95.90 | 47.5/19 Mbps |
| nbn Home Fast (FTTN/FTTB/FTTC only) | 100/20 | $99.90 | 95/19 Mbps |
| nbn Home Fast II (FTTP and HFC only) | 500/50 | $99.90 | 440/47.5 Mbps |
| nbn Home Superfast | 750/50 | $114.90 | 500/47.5 Mbps |
| nbn Home Ultrafast | 1000/100 | $127.90 | 550/95 Mbps |
They also sell nbn fixed wireless plans (from $59.90), Opticomm plans for the private-fibre estates that dominate Armstrong Creek and Charlemont, and business-grade plans with static IPs and enhanced service levels. If you’re in a Warralily or similar estate and not sure which network your house is on, our OptiComm in Geelong explainer covers it.
Their September 2024 launch deal (nbn 25/10 at $49.95/month ongoing) is one of the most upvoted internet deals in OzBargain history. The follow-up September 2025 post collected another 1,510.
A note on that famous 25/10 plan: it launched at $49.95, crept to $50.90 through 2025, and now sits at $59.90 after the July 2026 change. nbn wholesale costs on the 25 tier have been rising across the whole industry, so this isn’t a FUBAR-specific cash grab, but it does mean the “legendary cheap plan” is less of an outlier than it was at launch. It’s still honest pricing: the number you sign up at is the number you keep paying, with no six-month honeymoon bait.
Past OzBargain posts also mention a $19.95 setup fee and an optional preconfigured modem for $99 (BYO router is fine). Check their site for current fees when you sign up.
What customers actually say
We haven’t run long-term connection tests on an IT’S FUBAR service ourselves, so this section reports what real customers say publicly, with sources.
On OzBargain, the sentiment across their deal threads (September 2024 through October 2025) is about as positive as that famously grumpy community gets. Representative comments from the September 2025 thread: “Been with them a few months, no issues” and “totally recommended. Great connection, never an issue… ever!” from a customer eight months in. Multiple commenters said the appeal is not having to churn ISPs every six months to chase intro discounts.
On Whirlpool, the launch thread that ran from September 2024 to late 2025 praised quick activations, responsive support, the free static IPv4 on request, and the fact that sign-up-to-cutover happened on the requested day. Harrison himself posts in the thread under his own name and answers technical questions directly, which is not something you get from the big brands.
The criticisms in those same threads, reported as written: the name puts some people off, the early website had broken policy links and a confusing portal setup, one user reported calling and not getting a callback, some found the sign-up process asked for more personal information than they expected, and a customer on Opticomm reported dropouts (which, per the thread, were resolved when FUBAR migrated them to their newer IPoE platform). Fair criticisms of a young, small company, and notably thin gruel compared to the complaint threads big ISPs generate.
There’s no meaningful ProductReview presence for them yet either way, which is normal for an ISP this young and this small.
You won’t get Telstra knocking on your door to see what’s up. That line, from FUBAR’s own founder on Whirlpool, is the whole pitch: if something’s wrong and you’re local, they can actually come and look.
Strengths
- Actually local. Based in Armstrong Creek, phone answered in Geelong, and they’ll do on-site troubleshooting in the Geelong and Melbourne area. For most ISPs “local support” means an Australian call centre; here it means a person who can drive to your house.
- Honest pricing. The advertised price is the ongoing price. No intro discounts, no price-jump ambush at month seven.
- Free static IP on request (nbn services). Genuinely rare at no cost. If you run security cameras, a VPN back into your house, or any kind of home server, this alone can justify the plan.
- Real infrastructure and transparency. Own equipment in NextDC M1, public latency and traffic dashboards, and a founder who answers hard technical questions on public forums under his own name.
- No lock-in. Month-to-month residential plans. And unlike some “no lock-in” providers, their general terms confirm month-to-month services aren’t subject to the 30-day termination notice that applies to their fixed-term contracts. (Some comparison sites list them with a 30-day-notice warning; reading their actual terms, that clause is about fixed-term services. Confirm at sign-up if it matters to you.)
- Small enough to care. Multiple forum posts praise support interactions with Harrison by name. Your ticket is not one of ten thousand.
Honest caveats
- The fast tiers aren’t price-competitive. At $99.90 for 100/20 and $127.90 for gigabit, you can find cheaper big-name and challenger options, at least during intro periods. FUBAR themselves have acknowledged on OzBargain that they compete on efficiency and service, not venture-capital-subsidised pricing. If you want the cheapest possible 500 or 1000 tier and don’t care who answers the phone, they’re probably not your pick.
- The 25/10 value story has narrowed. At $59.90 it’s still fair and honest, but it’s no longer the runaway bargain the 2024 OzBargain crowd piled onto. Industry-wide wholesale changes are pushing everyone’s 25 tier up.
- Opticomm services and CG-NAT. As of late 2025, customers and the company’s own forum responses indicated Opticomm connections were CG-NAT only, with static IPs available on nbn services but not Opticomm. If you’re in an Opticomm estate and need inbound access (cameras, gaming servers, remote access), ask them directly before signing up, as this may have changed.
- Business-hours support. Listed support hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Forum reports suggest they’re responsive beyond that, but there’s no formal 24/7 line. If Saturday-night downtime with no one to call would be a crisis for you, weigh that.
- It’s a very small team. A husband, a wife, and (per their own 2025 comments) a few part-time contractors. That cuts both ways: brilliant accountability, but less redundancy than a 500-seat operation. Their public status dashboards help offset this.
- No IPv6 yet. Promised in the Whirlpool thread but not delivered as of late 2025. Only relevant to a small slice of readers, but worth knowing if you’re that slice.
Who they suit, and who they don’t
A great fit if you:
- Live in Geelong, Armstrong Creek, the Surf Coast or the Bellarine and value a provider who can turn up in person
- Are a light-to-moderate user who wants a fair, stable price on a 25 or 50 tier without churning ISPs every six months
- Need a free static IP for cameras, remote access or self-hosting
- Run a small business that wants a local tech partner rather than a ticket queue
- Are simply tired of call-centre runarounds
Look elsewhere if you:
- Want the absolute cheapest gigabit or 500 Mbps plan and are happy to churn through intro offers (see our national nbn provider guide for those plays)
- Need formal 24/7 phone support
- Are on Opticomm and require a static IP or no CG-NAT (ask them first; it was nbn-only as of late 2025)
For the wider local field, see our guide to the best internet providers in Geelong. And if you’re in their home suburb, our Armstrong Creek service area page covers the estate networks, common WiFi problems and local context.
The bottom line
IT’S FUBAR is the rare ISP we can describe as a genuinely good local business. Not perfect, not the cheapest at every tier, and still young, but honest about pricing, transparent about their network, and backed by a public track record on OzBargain and Whirlpool that most providers ten times their size would kill for. If their plan pricing fits your usage, there’s no reason to hesitate, and a good local reason to go ahead.
One last thing, because we see this every week: your ISP and your WiFi are different problems. IT’S FUBAR can deliver a rock-solid connection to the box on your wall, and your bedroom can still be a dead zone, because that part is about your router, your walls and your floor plan. Whoever your provider is, if the internet is fine at the modem but rubbish on the couch, that’s not an ISP problem. That’s us. That’s the job we do all day.
Common questions
Is IT'S FUBAR a legitimate ISP?+
Yes. IT'S FUBAR Pty Ltd (ABN 34 313 377 448) is a registered Australian telco based in Armstrong Creek, run by founders Harrison and Meg Caldicott. They operate their own network equipment in NextDC Melbourne, service all 121 nbn POIs, and connect to Opticomm directly. Their deal posts on OzBargain have thousands of upvotes and a long public comment trail from real customers.
Does IT'S FUBAR use CG-NAT?+
On nbn services, they offer a free static IP on request, which takes CG-NAT out of the equation entirely. On Opticomm services, customers reported in late 2025 that connections were CG-NAT only with no static IP option. If inbound access matters to you (cameras, servers, remote access) and you're on Opticomm, confirm the current policy with them before signing up.
What does the FUBAR in IT'S FUBAR mean?+
It's old military slang for something broken beyond repair, a tongue-in-cheek name for a company that fixes exactly that. The founders openly joke about it, even quoting their critics on their own About page. Behind the silly name is a serious operation with its own network infrastructure and public status dashboards.
Can I get IT'S FUBAR outside Geelong?+
Yes. Although they're based in Armstrong Creek, they service all 121 nbn POIs, so they can connect homes Australia-wide, plus Opticomm estates and nbn fixed wireless. The in-person, on-site troubleshooting advantage applies mainly to the Geelong and Melbourne area, but phone and email support is the same wherever you are.