Time for a holiday! It is cheaper to fly to LONDON and go to a live Premier League match than to buy an Optus broadband bundle and watch the game from home

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Looking to watch the English Premier League down under but not keen on forking out the eye-watering subscription? It may be time for a holiday.

A consumer advocacy group has revealed it is cheaper for Australian supporters to fly to London and watch the English Premier League live than it would be to pay for an Optus broadband subscription to watch it from home.

The telco giant received a wave of backlash online after announcing their cheapest broadband bundle with access to next season's EPL costs $2,880 over the minimum 24 month contract.

Optus paid $50m over three years to secure the rights to broadcast EPL games, meaning from next season the games are only available to watch for their broadband and mobile broadband customers.

A consumer advocacy group has revealed you could watch a match in London for less than paying for Optus' cheapest broadband bundle to watch the English Premier League

Consumer group CHOICE has slammed Optus for what they deemed to be a bid to force football fans into becoming customers.

'With the cheapest Optus broadband bundle that gives you access to next season's EPL costing you $2,880 over 24 months, it would much cheaper to fly return to London $1,396,[1] get a return train ticket to Leicester $58.18[2] and buy a ticket at the ground $85.71[3],' said CHOICE Director of Campaigns and Communications Matt Levey.

'You could even treat yourself to a $4.26[4] pint of Fosters before the game,' he added.

The cheapest option for Optus customers wanting to watch the game on a big screen is $1440.

This option is for customers with an Optus mobile contract on a minimum 24 month contract, who will have to pay an extra $5 a month for the new Fetch Mini set-top box.

And Optus revealed on Tuesday that the Fetch Mini will not have the ability to record matches, many of which are played in the middle of the night Australian-time. 

If fans are willing to watch the games on their mobile phones there are plans that cost about $85 per month, which include EPL games for free.

The cheapest Optus broadband bundle that gives you access to next season's EPL costs $2,880 over 24 months - but it would only cost $1,540 to fly to London and watch a live match

Optus have also been slammed because their the new mini set-top box does (bottom right) does not have the ability to record - meaning fans will have to get up in the middle of the night to see many of the best games

Fans reacted with fury on Twitter on Wednesday after Optus announced their pricing plans to watch English Premier League games next season

Supporters are angry at the amount of money they will have to pay Optus to watch Premier League games

Some Australian football fans included the official Premier League account in their tweets

Supporters were dismayed to learn they will have to sign up for a minimum two-year mobile, broadband or YesTV contract in order to access EPL games

English Premier League games were shown exclusively on Fox Sports before Optus won the rights by paying $50m over three years

Mr Levey predicted large amounts of supporters will use virtual private networks (VPN) to watch matches from countries you don't have to watch change our broadband provider.

'Optus has bungled its bundle by forcing Aussie football fans to become an Optus phone or broadband customer to watch next season's English Premier League broadcast.' 

'Telcos need to realise that the days of locking Australians out of the international market for content are over. It they over charge, consumers will seek out more competitive prices overseas,' says Mr Levey.   

Australian soccer fanatics immediately took to Twitter to voice their fury at the details of the pricing plans and the fact they would have to dump any existing deals and now sign up for an Optus mobile, broadband or FetchTV package.

One wrote: 'RIP EPL in australia, can't believe you have let this new deal with @optus go ahead @premierleague'. 

Minnows Leicester City won this season's Premier League title this week ahead of the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal in one of the most amazing sporting stories of all time

Another tweeted: '@optus EPL packages = rubbish!!! Total joke! Looks gonna have to find some foreign stream' 

Access to the EPL games for Optus mobile customers costs $15 on top of the regular subscription, the cheapest of which is $40 per month.

Given the fact new subscribers will be locked into a two-year plan, the total outlay will be $1320 - and that only lets fans watch the games on a small mobile device. 

Alternatively, fans have to sign up for the full FetchTV and broadband service which can record games, but costs at least $90 a month - or $2160 over a full two-year contract.

Optus claim that 63 per cent of fans interested in watching the EPL are coming towards the end of their contracts with other mobile phone or broadband companies.

And they believe many will now switch their services in order to get big games such as Liverpool v Manchester United and Arsenal v Tottenham. 

Big EPL games such as Liverpool versus Manchester United will be shown by Optus next season