Wireless Broadband

I have just had the pleasure of doing a two week drive around Tasmania, and a lovely place it is too. Stayed in cottages all the way (there are lots of them, and good prices ) and my aim was to be able to download emails to my laptop , keep up to date with weather radars, check the stock exchange etc. etc.

I run Big Pond ADSL2 on my desktop and wondered if there was a way of accessing this while on the roam, but this was not possible. Telstra Shop pointed me towards a G3 USB2 gadget to plug into the laptop for $149 including $10 of downloads ( 75m) and I have to say that this worked a treat and did everything that I wanted it to. Big Pond's prepaid rates are a little higher than other plans but coverage is excellent.

If you are looking to access the internet whilst travelling, have a go at something like this- there are many plans about (not only Telstra) but coverage is not necessarily as good.

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Originally Posted by Flipflop

I have just had the pleasure of doing a two week drive around Tasmania, and a lovely place it is too. Stayed in cottages all the way (there are lots of them, and good prices ) and my aim was to be able to download emails to my laptop , keep up to date with weather radars, check the stock exchange etc. etc.

I run Big Pond ADSL2 on my desktop and wondered if there was a way of accessing this while on the roam, but this was not possible. Telstra Shop pointed me towards a G3 USB2 gadget to plug into the laptop for $149 including $10 of downloads ( 75m) and I have to say that this worked a treat and did everything that I wanted it to. Big Pond's prepaid rates are a little higher than other plans but coverage is excellent.

If you are looking to access the internet whilst travelling, have a go at something like this- there are many plans about (not only Telstra) but coverage is not necessarily as good.

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Got to agree with you Flipflop. I bought one in February and have been quite a few places with it and I live 55 klms from anywhere and it runs faster than my 2 way satellite connection that's supposed to be 512/256 but never that speed but does run at 70% of the posted speeds which they have to agree to with the Government Broadband Connect guarantee.

But with the wireless it runs at a minimum of 512 all the time out in the bush. But with any other providor other than Telstra have read reports most areas out in the country are abismal and not worth using.

One thing you should be careful with is that Telstra's wireless prepaid wont run on XP you must have minimum of Vista. DAMHIK.

One other thing if you buy the prepaid Modem they won't change it over to a plan. You have to start again. At least with the prepaid you can just recharge as you require it but a recharge only lasts 30 days but you have about five different recharge options starting at $20. You can do it immediatly over the net with a credit card or you can buy a recharge at any of the places that recharge phone prepaids.

Bazza, Telstra Prepaid does work ok with Windows XP- I was at a mate's place this morning with the gizmo and it worked perfectly on his XP laptop[.

Regards

Flipflop

Yep, got to agree with with FF.
Got a youngster managing a Telstra shop and just asked him.
His comment was that it was a bit finicky with Vista but works well on both as along as you follow the installation instructions exactly and initialise the modem correctly.
In any event he has Bigpond wireless on his desktop and that runs XP.

Bazza, I reckon there's a bit of third party software getting in the way, or maybe a hardware issue (laptop??)

Ian

Well I tried to install it on my XP machine and it wouldn't load the software so I checked with Telstra's Support for Wireless and they informed me that it required Vista to run. I will check with them again.

Are you sure it is a Prepaid Modem and not a plan modem?

Bazza,
Certain !!
Young bloke reckons Telstra pre-paid broadband will run on Vista, and XP and he has installed both numerous times.
He reckons your most likely culprit is your anti-virus software which you should disable during your installation.
You should really stop all extraneous programmes before installing new software in any case.
I have nothing more to offer you, I'm sorry.

As for support, well it's a bit like Forrest's "barx a charclets" - you just never know what you'll get. They don't get paid to sit and chat, so if it's anything other than a straight forward issue you're likely to get the brush-off.

Anyway, think about it - Why would Telstra limit their offering to Vista when the vast majority of PC still run XP?


Ian

Ian

Agree with everything you say but I did disable my antivirus. I always do that when I'm installing software. Any way I'm running it on my Vista machine. As I said I have 2 way satellite at home. but at the moment I'm out away from home and running the wireless and pretty happy with it..

Can you let me know what modem you have Barry, I had the exact opposite problem to you in that they said no it won't work with Vista but will work with XP.

If you can let me know which modem you have, I'm pretty sure I can direct you to the correct website on how to get it to work with your Operating system, but no promises

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Originally Posted by Flipflop

I

I
Telstra Shop pointed me towards a G3 USB2 gadget to plug into the laptop for $149 including $10 of downloads ( 75m) and I have to say that this worked a treat and did everything that I wanted it to. Big Pond's prepaid rates are a little higher than other plans but coverage is excellent.

If you are looking to access the internet whilst travelling, have a go at something like this- there are many plans about (not only Telstra) but coverage is not necessarily as good.

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Gotta agree with you FF,great to be free to roam at will with this USB modem.

Bought it initially to go overseas with on a small netbook.Am happy with all it does or me with flexibility accessing markets,financial applications etc.

Running windows XP with service pack 3

Cheers:)

I considered getting one of these modems but instead I bought a new phone which can be used as a modem, the Sony Ericsson z750i. It is $199 prepaid on Telstra (and occassionally it is on special at places like Target). Apparently the $99 Samsung is pretty good too and can be used as a modem (the max speed is half that of the Sony).

I don't use my phone much so the fact that calls are not the cheapest doesn't matter (in fact you can get cheap calls from any mobile, using Pennytel: 10.5c a minute plus 8c flagfall to landlines, or 21c a minute mobile to mobile).

The advantage of a phone over the modem is that if you are an irregular wireless internet user (like me) is that there are no extra costs or effort to keep the account active. The USB modem account is deactivated 6 months after credit expires. This would be a problem if you don't go on holidays twice a year. The bloke I asked in the Telstra shop didn't know how you would reactivate it (he thought you'd have to get a new SIM and presumably set up a new account). Consensus seems to be that you just put some money into the account to stop it expiring - not only is that an extra cost, it is inconvenient and error prone.

When I need to use wireless internet, I just use the phone to buy a datapack (the prices for data on the phone are about the same as for the prepaid modem).

You can also get free access on the phone to a lot of useful stuff like Whereis maps, stock market prices, cinema times, restaurants, Yellow Pages etc, and if you want to pay for data, you can run Google Maps, GMail and Opera Mobile (which is a surprisingly usable web browser for phones).

I used it at Christmas for several gigabytes of data ($89 I think) and recently bought 100MB for $10 when away for a few days. NB you can get a lot more data for your dollar from Three or Optus but the coverage and/or speed is not as good. Apart from Telstra which has good to excellent coverage most places, only Optus would have any hope of having any coverage in the sticks.

Ruff to you too, Totoblue.
I can't imagine wanting to do too much internet work on a mobile phone screen, but if you find that ok, so be it.

As far as the six month expiry for SIM card, you can just go into a Telstra Shop and get a new one- they are free.

It is a good system, however you access the internet. I don't know how we survived in years past.!!

Cheers

Flipflop

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Originally Posted by Flipflop

Ruff to you too, Totoblue.
I can't imagine wanting to do too much internet work on a mobile phone screen, but if you find that ok, so be it.

As far as the six month expiry for SIM card, you can just go into a Telstra Shop and get a new one- they are free.

It is a good system, however you access the internet. I don't know how we survived in years past.!!

Cheers

Flipflop

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Umm, you've missed the point here, the phone is used in conjunction with the computer, ie the phone becomes the modem instead of using the usb gadget.

I regularly use both systems on the same computer, depends on where I'm at and what is handy at the time.

The USB modem is basically a phone but with out a screen or numberpad :;

There are a few options, certainly more than are listed here:

Phone with data pack -> Internet

Computer -> USB cable -> 3G modem -> Internet

Computer -> USB cable -> 3G modem inside phone -> Internet

Computer -> Bluetooth -> 3G modem inside phone -> Internet

Phone with 3G modem -> Internet

I used to use the 4th option and found it convenient when travelling as it required less bits to take with me. I converted over to a USB modem because they had an offer of 1gb for $15 per month which was cheaper than the phone deal.

I've gone Totoblue's route anticipating a couple of months travelling outback. NextG is atm the only network to go with to get max coverage and for emergencies I wanted something between blowing hard on a whistle and a PLB.

Got a $69 Samsung prepaid on sale; with recharges there's an option of 12 months expiry. A patch lead and portable 5 db gain antenna cost $45. Will add a datapack and send copious boring reports back to the forum from the laptop :rolleyes:

Living in Tassie, as I do, and having a wireless broadband as I travel for work, I have to say the coverage is not all it is cracked up to be. Telstra did warn me that I would have no signal here, and at the outset that was definitely the case. Then I moved my chair 30cm to the right and so when there is a signal, it works really well. Trouble is there is not always a signal. I think that as a one-off holiday job you are better using the on-line access centres in the local libraries here - they are a great service and the cost is minimal (or free if you live in the area).

My service sometimes lets me down at critical junctures, but is generally adequate for my needs, and, if I lived in a good service area then it would be fab. But then if I lived in a good service area I probably wouldn't have needed to go wireles ...

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Originally Posted by rsser

I've gone Totoblue's route anticipating a couple of months travelling outback. NextG is atm the only network to go with to get max coverage and for emergencies I wanted something between blowing hard on a whistle and a PLB.

Got a $69 Samsung prepaid on sale; with recharges there's an option of 12 months expiry. A patch lead and portable 5 db gain antenna cost $45. Will add a datapack and send copious boring reports back to the forum from the laptop :rolleyes:

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What was the number of the samsung and where was it on sale

did the patch lead and the antenna come from the same place

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Originally Posted by ratchet

What was the number of the samsung and where was it on sale

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http://www.lasoo.com.au says the Samsung A411 is on sale at $69 at Australia Post. It used to be $99.

I believe the Samsung A411 is Blue-tick approved which means it is recommended for country areas. I haven't used one, but this Samsung has good user reports on whirlpool.net.au

There is now a Samsung A412 on Next G but it doesn't seem to be available as prepaid yet.

The Sony Ericsson z750i that I have is Blue-tick too. Most phones available on Next G are not blue-tick, nor is the USB modem.

You should get better coverage in the sticks with a blue-tick phone. I believe one of the blue-tick criteria is the ability to plug in an external antenna which the z750i can do. It also comes with the USB cable.

The Samsung has 1.8Mbps data rates while the z750i and the USB modem have 3.6Mbps. However I am not sure that is a huge handicap as speeds I have seen are not usually over 1.8Mbps. The Samsung also only has a VGA camera vs the z750i's 2Mp camera.

Looks like the samsung is locked to telstra.

I use telstra when nomading and optus at home (bundled with cable , getting a good deal)

my local Australia post had none in stock

the sales person said that it maybe locked to telstra , $80 to unlock , or free after 6 months

maybe worth the wait

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ratchet

Looks like the samsung is locked to telstra.

I use telstra when nomading and optus at home (bundled with cable , getting a good deal)

my local Australia post had none in stock

the sales person said that it maybe locked to telstra , $80 to unlock , or free after 6 months

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There's no point in trying to unlock the Samsung as the Telstra model will only work on Telstra Next G.

Telstra Next G operates on 850 MHz only, while Optus (like the other 3G networks) is on 2100 MHz. Optus also uses 900 MHz in some country areas, which is claimed to improve range.

Some phones work on multiple bands. The Samsung A411 is not one of them. I am not sure if you will find any phones that support all three of 2100 MHz, 900 MHz and 850 MHz. The Next G Sony Ericsson z750i for example works on 850 MHz and 2100 MHz but not 900 MHz.

Telstra also has a 3G network in partnership with Three on 2100 MHz but it is capital cities only. Not sure what is happening with that given that Three and Vodafone are merging in Australia.

If you are going to continue to use both Optus and Telstra at different times, why not just use 2 phones (presumably you already have a mobile that works on Optus). If you choose the Long-Life option on Telstra prepaid, you can recharge $60 and the credit will last 12 months and you can buy data "plus packs" to give 6 periods of 100 Mb/30 days or one of 750 Mb/30 days.

I see Telstra seem to have dropped the 4GB/30 day "plus pack" for phones which was $89 IIRC. That's a bugger.

Patch lead and antenna were off ebay.

Seems I got the last Samsung at that PO that was on special.

...

3 are now selling some phones that will roam on the NextG frequency - 850 mHz I think it is.

Question, i have an E160E wireless modem (pre-paid) on the 3 network. It sux. No coverage outside Melbourne (Rockbank it cuts out) and roaming costs an arm and leg and its constantly cutting out. As all the networks use the same modem, is it possible for me to just get an OPTUS sim and use that?

Well ,
got a samsung a411 from the post office

need to get an antenna and cable now

Ratchet