Got Mobile Broadband?

[Bogan]

Anyone got one of those wireless bizzos where your internet doesn't come in through a phone line? If so tell me more about it? Speed? Price? Dropouts?

[Duane]

Only one recommendation, did it for ages... if you're going to do it, get big pond, and buy your own router. the netcomm ones they rebrand bigpond are utter shit.

Other than that reasonable speed, and with a real modem, you won't experience drop outs.

If you go the usb dongle option, any of them will do, but once again.. bigpond.

all others in my experience are shit. I've seen most of them.

[Blurr]

I have Blink wireless and WAS great before I moved. Was on top of a hill so I had good reception with very few dropouts. Now that I am at about sea level it sucks.

Blink uses Optus 3g and I would have to say that the rates are still the best going around but you need to be in a good reception area. Even our mobile phones seem to struggle here

[natty]

I have the bigpond post paid wireless at our grooming salon...no probs at all & like your home internet if you use up all your downloads it just drops to a slow speed so no hidden costs.
Was using the bigpond prepaid proir to this but once you are out of credit you have to buy more...uses alot more $$$ in the long run.

Same service that you get on your telstra 3g phone not a problem & drop outs are rare.

Oh both are plug & play & if you haggle with them you wont have to pay any extra for the modems

[mick_dundee]

I have 3, it's fine if you're inner city, $15 for a Gb, if you're not in a major city look elsewhere or if intending to use it with a laptop when you;re out and about, look elsewhere, I couldn't even get reception in the house I was camped in at Cowes last year, ditto with my sojourn to Jindabyne this year.

Have about a month left on the contract then i'll be looking elsewhere for the same thing.

[Kermit]

Tested all 3 major telco 3G in the same area and telstra came out on top.

Hel$tra is more expensive than vodacrap and optarse but that's the price you pay if you want decent reception.

[laidback]

Mate I've got the Telstra wireless. Reasonable speed here in the bush but a lot quicker in major centres.

Telstra has recently released an updated service and have now announced a major upgrade later in the year I think.

I could be mistaken but I think T uses next G which uses the old CMDA frequencies so get better receprion than 3G.

Wouldn't go with anyone else due to coverage problems even though I believe T runs roughshod over other telcos.

[6maniac]

I'm on 3 Mobile - 8 gb @ $49 / month ( less $10 loyalty bonus )= $39.

Runs @ 7.2 Mbps ....most of the time it's on 3G (HSDPA) or 3G ( when the network gets busy ?? ).

Only time I get dropouts is during major electrical storms.

Doesn't slow down if you exceed your monthly limit - you get charged 10¢/Mb over.

[blackryder]

i'm with telstra mobile, its excellent, i can go anywhere to every persons house i know and get very good reception
i think i'm 7GB for $59, and slows down once all used up, when runs out, is pretty slow, but alteast your still able to get on and use it.

Was thinking of going Optus, (is a little cheaper, but not sure if its as good), cant fault telstra though

[waynemorgan]

I use a Telstra pre-paid 3G modem - works great when travelling. Very happy with it and just recharge it when I need to

[Nosferatu]

I have Blink wireless and WAS great before I moved. Was on top of a hill so I had good reception with very few dropouts. Now that I am at about sea level it sucks.

Blink uses Optus 3g and I would have to say that the rates are still the best going around but you need to be in a good reception area. Even our mobile phones seem to struggle here

I got a Blink dongle when I bought my new laptop. 2 years free wireless, 2 Gb/month, I think its about $30/month at the end of the 2 years. The reception here sucks but if I move it around on the cable, I can get pretty good dl speeds. I would recommend outlaying for a decent length USB cable to improve your reception no matter which carrier you go for. Telstra is the pick of the lot if you travel heaps because of their coverage, but their prices are disgusting.

[mike-s]

I have a virgin broadband wireless dongle on my laptop that i take with me to work, $29/month (+ 5/month over the first 24 months for the modem purchase ) gets 5Gb a month. It works well for what i need of it. Reception is mostly ok as it uses the optus network. Though it doesn't have a handle on telstra's Next-G for coverage, which isn't a problem for me as i don't go into very many off the beaten track places with my laptop. Compared to a number of others at the time it was the best value for money, though that may have changed in the 18 months since i signed up. Have a look here and compare plans, don't forget to tick the "wireless" checkbox to only search wireless plans.

[Smitty]

mobile broadband is a contradiction

[GPZ_Jim]

Optus $59 10GB/month cap plan that has the galaxy tab thrown in for free (w00t!)

Optus wireless used to be almost unusable at times during the day but is getting better.. problem is theres the Telstra network which Telstra use, and apart from Vodafone, pretty much everyone else hooks up to the Optus network = teh slows.. if $$ isn't a prob then go for Telstra, but definately don't write Optus off as a viable alternative

I have sometimes been able to get almost the full 7.2Mbit (on torrent too!) which was about 800KB/sec.. won't see that all day every day tho

[mohawk miss]

the Honda Rider has a Toolstra wireless, I have Ooptis. I actually bought him a 2nd, smaller wireless usb thru ooptis which, so he says, has better & more reliable coverage in the major centres (like dubbo, coffs, griffith etc). Have just changed my plan down, in less than 10 min, with minimum fuss. Have never had coverage problems, even got coverage in gilgandra.
The HR seems to have some issues with the Toolstra usb, this is the 3rd in 3 years that has simply stopped working.