Check the exact product before classifying it. Current TPG and iiNet catalogues include both basic NBN voice products and business phone products such as BizPhone; a business customer is not necessarily using an ATA-style modem service. This guide explains what happened to TPG's phone products after the Vodafone merger, what that means for your business, and how to get a proper phone setup without touching your internet connection. Prices are in AUD including GST.
What Happened: The TPG-Vodafone Merger and Your Phone
TPG and Vodafone merged in 2020 to form TPG Telecom. Since then, the combined group has been rationalising its product portfolio, which includes phone services under the TPG, iiNet, Internode, and Vodafone brands.
For small businesses, the practical result has been messy. Legacy home phone and business phone add-ons have been discontinued, migrated, or quietly changed. Product migrations, sale status and support status vary by plan; check the applicable Critical Information Summary, customer notice and account record.
Product status depends on the exact plan. TPG currently lists NBN Voice and BizPhone, while iiNet lists current NBN Phone, VoIP, BizPhone, Business SIP Voice and NBN Business Phone products; check the account and applicable CIS before characterising the service. For a comparison of current options, see our guide to the best phone systems for small business in Australia.
Internode: The TPG Group SMB Option
Internode is a TPG Group brand that has traditionally positioned itself at the higher end of the SMB market, slightly more premium pricing than TPG or iiNet, but with a reputation for better technical support and business-grade service quality. Since the TPG-Vodafone merger, Internode has remained a separate brand rather than being folded into TPG Telecom's consumer stack, and still attracts businesses that had bad experiences with TPG's consumer-grade support.
Internode's phone offering follows the same ATA (analogue telephone adapter) model as TPG and iiNet: your NBN broadband connection carries both internet data and a standard phone line using POTS (plain old telephone service) emulation. Internode NodePhone is not a full cloud PBX, but its documented features include call waiting, call forwarding, Do Not Disturb and voicemail options; the exact feature set depends on the Internode voice product.
If your business is currently on Internode voice, the same upgrade path applies: a cloud phone system sits above the broadband layer entirely. Switching phone provider does not require touching your Internode broadband contract.
Legacy Products That Were Discontinued or Migrated
TPG Telecom has discontinued or migrated several phone products that small businesses relied on. The affected products included:
- TPG's legacy copper and ADSL era home phone bundles
- iiNet Phone, the residential home phone product, closed to sale in 2020
- Internode NodePhone
- Naked DSL phone services (now moot since PSTN copper shutdown)
This is not a withdrawal from voice altogether, and it is worth being precise about that: TPG still sells an nbn voice service as a bundle component and still sells TPG BizPhone, and iiNet still lists NBN Phone, VOIP, Bizphone and Business SIP Voice as current products. What went away is the copper-era product set, not the category.
Most legacy copper services in NBN fixed-line rollout areas were progressively disconnected after NBN became available, but copper services can remain in fixed-wireless and satellite areas, and NBN still operates copper-based FTTN while upgrades continue toward 2030.
Customers who were migrated got moved to an NBN voice service, which means a phone that runs through the same NBN connection as your internet. That might sound fine, but there's a critical difference between what TPG provides and what a proper business phone system delivers.
What You're Actually Getting: The ATA Service Explained
When TPG or iiNet bundles a phone line with your broadband, what they're providing is an ATA service. Here's what that means in plain English.
Your NBN modem has a phone port on it, sometimes it's green, sometimes it's labelled 'Tel 1' or 'Phone'. You plug your existing handset (the kind you'd buy at Officeworks) into that port. The modem converts the analog signal from your handset into digital voice calls that travel over your NBN connection.
The modem is doing all the work. Credential access and BYO-device support depend on the exact product. iiNet publishes Netphone SIP settings, while some current TPG NBN Voice products require a TPG-supplied modem.
This setup is called an ATA service. Basic TPG Voice is not a full PBX, but it currently supports features including call waiting and hold, call forwarding, caller ID, number display and call barring. Learn more about how ATA adapters work in our ATA adapter guide for Australian businesses.
How TPG Bundles Phone Lines with NBN: What You're Actually Paying For
TPG and iiNet bundle phone lines with NBN plans in two ways depending on the connection type:
- FTTP/FTTC/FTTN connections: Phone line is delivered via VOIP over your NBN connection using an ATA. Call quality is dependent on NBN connection quality, if your connection is congested or has packet loss, call quality degrades. During NBN outages, your phone is also out.
- FTTB connections: Similar arrangement, with the phone signal delivered via the building's infrastructure. Quality can vary building to building.
Current TPG and iiNet offers may include the voice service with eligible broadband and provide pay-as-you-go calling, with optional $5, $10 or $15 call packs; inclusions vary by pack and plan. The feature set depends on the provider and product. Current TPG Voice includes call waiting, hold and forwarding, and iiNet documents call waiting and three-way calling, although these products may still lack PBX features such as queues and IVR.
The NBN dependency risk: Businesses that have a power failure, NBN node outage, or maintenance window lose their phone service along with their internet. A cloud phone system can reduce the impact of an internet outage if the provider supports mobile diversion and it is configured correctly; desk phones still require internet, and the fallback destination must remain available. This is the core reliability argument for switching away from a bundled ISP phone line.
Having a Phone Line vs Having a Phone System
There's a meaningful difference between "having a phone line" and "having a phone system." Most small businesses that are on a bundled ISP phone plan have the former. What they actually need is the latter.
A basic voice service may be more limited than a PBX, but current TPG Voice and iiNet NBN Phone products include features such as call waiting; check the exact product before assuming a second caller will hear engaged. That second call, and everything that comes with it, is gone.
A phone system is a different category of product. It manages calls as a system: routing them, queuing them, playing hold music, distributing them across staff, and handling them differently based on time of day. PBX functionality can be delivered through a cloud-hosted service rather than hardware on site.
The difference is not about the phone on your desk. It's about the intelligence that sits between the phone network and your team. An ATA service has none of that intelligence. A proper business phone system is built around it. For a deeper comparison, see our guide on VOIP vs traditional phone for Australian businesses.
What a Proper Business Phone System Gives You
Here's what you get with a cloud phone system that you simply don't get from a bundled ISP phone line:
- Multiple simultaneous calls. Two customers can call at the same time. Both are answered, one goes to a queue or voicemail while you're on the first call.
- Ring groups. Multiple staff can ring at the same time when a call comes in. Whoever picks up first takes the call. This means a 2-person business can handle calls properly without a receptionist.
- IVR (auto-attendant). The "press 1 for sales, press 2 for support" menu you hear when calling a professional business. Inexpensive and quick to set up.
- After-hours call routing. Outside business hours, calls go to voicemail, a mobile, an after-hours message, or any combination. Customers calling at 7pm don't get a ring-out.
- Voicemail to email. Missed calls arrive as audio files in your inbox. You can listen from your phone, forward to a colleague, or save for follow-up.
- Mobile app (softphone). Staff can take business calls on their mobile without using their personal number. The caller sees the business number.
- Call recording. Record inbound and outbound calls for training, compliance, or dispute resolution.
- 1800 numbers are free for callers; 13 and 1300 numbers are local-rate from fixed lines, while mobile charges can vary.Feature availability varies by cloud provider and plan, and some bundled ISP voice services already include limited features such as call waiting, forwarding or voicemail.
Not sure what your business actually needs? Our phone system sizing wizard takes 2 minutes and tells you exactly which tier is right for your call volume and team size.
Use the Sizing WizardHow to Switch Without Touching Your Internet
This is the part most businesses don't realise: you can completely change your phone setup without changing your internet provider.
Your broadband and your phone are separate services. Even if they're both on a TPG invoice right now, they don't have to be. A cloud business phone system connects to your internet connection at the network level, it doesn't go through your ISP's phone port at all. You keep your TPG broadband exactly as it is, and a separate business phone company handles your phone service.
The process looks like this:
- Choose a cloud phone provider and set up your account.
- Ask the gaining provider to confirm that it can port the active number; eligibility and validation conditions apply. Under C540:2023, after confirmation and where infrastructure exists, Cat A targets are 80% within 8 business days and 98% within 15; Cat C targets are 80% within 15 and 99% within 30. These are service metrics, not end-to-end guarantees, and excluded or rejected ports can take longer. Keep your service active with your current provider during the process.
- Once ported, your number rings on the new system. Porting the number out does not by itself cancel your TPG service, so check with TPG what happens to the account.
- Keep the TPG bundle in place for the broadband and simply stop using its voice service. Do not cancel the voice component on its own: TPG states that on an NBN bundle plan "the NBN or Voice service cannot be cancelled separately" and that cancellation "will cease both services", so cancelling the phone would take your internet with it.
- Do not expect the bill to fall. On TPG's standard NBN bundles the voice service carries no separate monthly charge and calls are pay as you go, so the only thing there is to cancel is an optional call pack if you had one.
Number porting is a regulated process in Australia. Under ACMA rules, your current provider cannot block or unreasonably delay a port request. For full details on how porting works, see our number porting guide for Australian businesses.
For setup guidance on connecting a VOIP service to your NBN connection, see our NBN VOIP setup guide.
What Does It Cost Compared to What You're Paying Now?
Current advertised TPG and iiNet NBN call packs are $5, $10 or $15 per month, while the underlying phone service may be included with an eligible plan. on top of your broadband plan. For that, you get one phone line with no business features.
Cloud phone pricing varies by provider, seat count, minimum-seat rules, included calls, features and hardware; compare the total quoted cost for the required seats and inclusions, including the phone service, the features listed above, and any physical handset or app.
The gap is often smaller than people expect. Especially once you factor in the cost of the missed calls that a basic ATA service produces.
To model the numbers for your specific situation, use our VOIP cost calculator. It takes your team size, call volume, and current setup and produces a monthly cost estimate you can compare against your current bill. You can also see a broader breakdown of what VOIP actually costs in our VOIP cost guide for Australian businesses.
What Most Businesses Get Wrong
Three mistakes come up repeatedly when businesses try to upgrade from a bundled ISP phone plan:
Mistake 1: Trying to use the ISP's ATA port with a VOIP handset. An IP handset connects to a compatible VoIP service over Ethernet, Wi-Fi or through a DECT base, depending on the model and provider provisioning; it does not connect to an analogue phone port. It does not plug into the green phone port on your modem. The green port accepts a standard analog handset only. Plugging a VOIP handset into the green port won't work. You need a proper VOIP service (and usually a separate handset or softphone app), not a hardware upgrade plugged into your existing setup.
Mistake 2: Cancelling your existing service before porting is complete. Cancelling before the port completes can cause the port to fail. A disconnected number generally enters six months of quarantine and may be recoverable, but reissue is not guaranteed. The correct sequence is: set up the new service, initiate the port, wait for confirmation the port is complete, then cancel the old service. Never cancel first.
Mistake 3: Buying a phone system based on what a competitor or friend uses. Every business has different call patterns. A 1-person trades business answering 3-5 calls a day needs a completely different setup to a 10-person professional services firm handling 50+ calls a day. Use the sizing wizard or talk to a specialist before committing to a plan.
TPG and iiNet Call Quality: What to Expect
Call quality on TPG and iiNet bundled phone lines varies significantly depending on your NBN connection type and local node congestion. The most common complaints from business users:
- Broadband performance can vary during busy periods, but test the specific connection rather than assuming that all TPG or iiNet FTTN and FTTC services degrade from 6-9pm. Packet loss can affect real-time voice, but perceptibility depends on factors including the codec, loss pattern, jitter buffering and packet-loss concealment.
- SIP ALG interference: Router and NAT settings, including SIP ALG where present, can affect some third-party VoIP configurations; check guidance for the specific router model and phone provider before changing the setting. If you have intermittent one-way audio or dropped calls, check your router's SIP ALG setting.
- Fault resolution time: Fault handling and service levels depend on the specific product and contract; compare the applicable CIS and SLA rather than assuming every bundled service receives lower priority.
For a business that takes inbound calls as a core part of operations (reception, bookings, client services), relying on a bundled ISP phone line for call quality is a structural risk. A cloud system can reduce dependence on the site's primary internet connection when mobile or external-number failover is supported and configured, but it does not remove network dependencies entirely.
Your Next Steps
Here's a practical checklist to move from a bundled ISP phone plan to a proper business phone system:
- Write down your business number and check it's currently active. You'll need to port it, make sure you know which provider holds it.
- Count how many people need to make or receive business calls. This is your seat count.
- Call volume is one input; seat count, included minutes, required features, hardware and provider pricing also affect plan choice.
- Decide which features matter most: ring groups, IVR, after-hours routing, mobile app, call recording.
- Run your numbers through the VOIP cost calculator.
- Get a recommendation from a specialist provider. Describe how your business actually operates, not just the headcount.
- Once you've signed up, initiate the number port. Do NOT cancel TPG until the port confirmation arrives.
- Test the new system thoroughly before going live. Make test calls, check voicemail, confirm after-hours routing.
Can I keep my existing phone number when I switch away from TPG?
Yes. Your phone number is portable under Australian telecommunications regulations. When you sign up with a new business phone company, you initiate a number port request. Under C540:2023, after confirmation and where infrastructure exists, Cat A targets are 80% within 8 business days and 98% within 15; Cat C targets are 80% within 15 and 99% within 30. These are service metrics, not end-to-end guarantees, and excluded or rejected ports can take longer.. Do not cancel your TPG service until you receive confirmation that the port is complete, cancelling early means the number is lost.
Will changing my phone system affect my TPG broadband?
No. Your broadband and phone are separate services. A cloud phone system runs over your existing internet connection, it doesn't go through the phone port on your modem. You keep your TPG broadband exactly as it is. Do not assume the phone component can be cancelled separately or that the bill will fall. Confirm the port-out, bundle and billing consequences with the current provider first.
What is an ATA and why is it a problem for my business?
An ATA is a device, or a function integrated into a modem-router, that connects an analogue handset to an IP voice service; the phone socket is its analogue FXS port. It lets you plug in a standard handset and make calls over your internet connection. A basic ISP voice product may lack PBX features such as ring groups or IVR, but its actual features vary; current TPG Voice includes call waiting, hold and forwarding, and other ISP products may include voicemail options. For a business taking more than a handful of calls per day, that's a real constraint.
Can I plug a Yealink or other VOIP handset into my TPG modem?
No. The phone port on your NBN modem (the green port or 'Tel 1' port) accepts a standard analog handset only. A VOIP handset like a Yealink connects via ethernet cable directly to your router and communicates with a separate VOIP service. To use a VOIP handset, you need a cloud phone service, you can't use the modem's ATA port as a workaround.
How much does a proper business phone system cost compared to my TPG plan?
Current advertised TPG and iiNet NBN call packs are $5, $10 or $15 per month, while the underlying phone service may be included with an eligible plan. Cloud phone pricing varies by provider, seat count, minimum-seat rules, included calls, features and hardware; compare the total quoted cost for the required seats and inclusions. For larger teams, expect $25-$50 per seat per month. Use the VOIP cost calculator to model your specific situation before committing.
What happened to my TPG or iiNet phone plan after the merger?
After TPG merged with Vodafone in 2020, the combined group began rationalising legacy phone products across all brands including TPG, iiNet, and Internode. Many home phone add-ons were discontinued or migrated to NBN voice services. Legacy copper disconnection occurred progressively in NBN fixed-line rollout areas, but copper services can remain in fixed-wireless and satellite areas and copper-based FTTN is still operating. Check the exact plan and its current or archived CIS to determine whether it is still sold and supported; an active service is not necessarily grandfathered or unsupported.
Do I need to change my internet provider to get a better phone system?
No. A third-party cloud phone service can run over existing TPG broadband, but connected endpoints still depend on that broadband and porting or bundle changes require coordination with TPG. Confirm the effect on the existing bundle before proceeding. You set up an account with a specialist business phone company, port your number across, and your phone system runs over the same NBN connection you already have. Your TPG broadband stays untouched.
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