Prepaid Wireless Internet Options

[Julie]

Sue l have one of those eee PC notebooks. Ours runs off our wirelss from home, but have never used it elsewhere

Im interested to know what Kaine did to urs

[Blondie]

Julz ... Kaine updated mine to WIN7 which is fantastic ... he also suggested I upgrade to 2GB ram as opposed to the 1GB that it came with

All I'm looking for is some wireless prepaid dongle that I can take to/from work and use on public transport ... makes the trip a lot quicker

Also, we thought about having a dongle to take interstate etc. on trips and a lot of the inexpensive ones don't have the coverage ... Telstra has the coverage, but like everything they supply, you pay gold for peanuts, so to speak

[Julie]

Ah ok ours came with Linux...its so different to use..but we got it for free when bruce got a new mobile phone, so we took it as a spare incase we went on short trips rather than take the laptops

[droy333]

i dont know why people dont just get a permanent connection. Its sooo much better.

[Rocketeer]

cause it doesnt always suit what you need.....for example I dont have a home phone, and i am not going to pay for a landline just so i can have internet. Nowadays naked broadband is available, but not back when....

[Blondie]

I've spent the last 3 weeks walking up and down the train looking for the ethernet port to plug into, but can't seem to find it ... whatever am I doing wrong?? Perhaps you can enlighten me as to it's where-a-bouts Troy

hehehehehe

I have a permanent connection at home Troy ... however, it's a little difficult to take with me when I travel

[supamodel]

I have a good permanent connection at home, and dodgy mobile broadband for when I'm away. Works wonders. I use a dodo prepaid one - it was cheap, the recharges are cheap, and it's Optus' network anyway but cheaper than the same Optus option .

Worked fine in Brisvegas on the weekend couldn't drag my ADSL modem etc up there, and couldn't have that with me for the mapping shenigans using my laptop either

[L-A]

Ah ok ours came with Linux...its so different to use..but we got it for free when bruce got a new mobile phone, so we took it as a spare incase we went on short trips rather than take the laptops

You mean Xandros don't you? - I have this model of the EeePC. Its very easy to use for what it is (and what it is the low price segment of the market). Also, you're won't match Sue's (from the sounds) in any kind of specs. Processor is less and unless its been mod'd (or I'm wrong on model) its 512MB RAM. In case you're wondering 2GB Kingston memory is what its tested to by the manufacturer (had them confirm this). Some have been known to make a 4GB stick work - last I heard it could be hit and miss though. I'll confirm that the difference between that 512MB and 2GB is noticable on the Xandros version (upgraded a clients and used tested the memory before I did there's).

Sue: If you're looking for coverage use Telstra. Not questions asked they have better coverage than anyone else - and yes, you'll pay for this priviledge. If you're travelling I don't see what bandwidth usage is high in any case. Only do emails and necessary from laptop - for all else using wherever you are staying landline or internet cafe's is going to serve you better.

If you go for a cheaper provider you'll either get more dropout/no coverage or less speed once you fall off the 3G network. Probably both. I've used Optus, Virgin, 3 and Telstra. Its always the same story - for speed and reliablity its Telstra. If you don't want to pay $$$ expect to pay in pain.

L-A

[droy333]

I've spent the last 3 weeks walking up and down the train looking for the ethernet port to plug into, but can't seem to find it ... whatever am I doing wrong?? Perhaps you can enlighten me as to it's where-a-bouts Troy

hehehehehe

I have a permanent connection at home Troy ... however, it's a little difficult to take with me when I travel

Simple. Dont use the net on the train.... You're a geek sue.

[macrocephalic]

Exetel do a pretty good deal reselling Optus. It's $5/month service fee, then it's 1.5c/MB ($15/GB) for however much data you use.

I think there are some other companies reselling optus for similar prices - but I can't name them off the top of my head.

[L-A]

Exetel do a pretty good deal reselling Optus. It's $5/month service fee, then it's 1.5c/MB ($15/GB) for however much data you use.

I think there are some other companies reselling optus for similar prices - but I can't name them off the top of my head.

Out of curiosity - does it go slower than my dial-up modem when you get off the 3G network?

L-A

[macrocephalic]

Last time I wasn't connected to 3G was probably at the beginning of the year. GPRS is a slow protocol, comparable to dialup - so probably yes.

[Earp]

Go to here
http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/
and if your telstra mobile gets reception look for ones that use the telstra network and the same for optus. I sell and use exetel's wireless here at work and they aren't too bad.

[Kaine]

Well some good news for Telstra Prepaid Wireless Broadband.
http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond_internet/rates.html

New Data allowance. Much better rates - but still not in the same area as Three / Optus / CrazyJohns - but the best speeds and coverage.

$20 225MB 30 days
$30 400MB 30 days
$40 1GB 30 days
$50 2GB 30 days
$60 3GB 30 days

[Amandahjane]

I have just gone into this at home - we dont get telstra coverage at the back of house and i have a computer guy that lives across the road. He recommended "comcen" - they gave me a 7 day trial of their dongle thingy and its great. I pay $14.95 a month for 1gb of data and thats it. I can upgrade to 2gb if needed for $24 a month.
Cant complain it works great and is simple and easy to install and use.

[PerryK]

$24 dollars for 2 gig sounds good. I'm paying almost the same from Exetel for a 3g connection. They use the Optus network.

[Amandahjane]

With Comcen’s 3G Wireless Broadband service you can enjoy the freedom of taking the Internet with you. With theoretical maximum speeds of up to 3.6 Megabits per second now you can receive Broadband speeds without wires. Customers can expect speeds between 512kbps and 1.5Mbps with burst speeds up to 3Mbps.

Now you can surf the web wirelessly from home, the office or while you're on the move. No more messy cables, just super fast broadband on the go.


With ultra affordable plans starting at $5.50, it's time to get wireless.

Choose a 3G Wireless Plan
Plan Name Included Data Price
Pay As You Go ** None $5.50 Sign Up
Wireless 1GB^ 1GB $14.95 Sign Up
Wireless 2GB^ 2GB $24.95 Sign Up
Wireless 6GB^ 6GB $49.95 Sign Up


^ Excess usage over the Included Data limit is charged at 14c/MB.
**(Pay As You Go Plan Only) Usage is charged at 3c/MB
I think if u sign up for 6 months they charge u $140 for the dongle thingy but u can sign up for 24 months and get it free.

[PerryK]

^ Excess usage over the Included Data limit is charged at 14c/MB.

Ouch, 1c cheaper than Exetel though. Just be very careful you don't go over.

$140 isn't too bad for a dongle. You can get cheaper by looking for an unlocked one from ebay or alternatively purchasing one from somewhere like Officeworks and unlocking it. Also make sure it supports the network you want to use.

[Amandahjane]

Oh it has 2 places where u can check ur useage and the system also emails you when your getting close to using it all.

Besides your not locked into the usage - mine is 1gb and i can upgarde at any time at no cost however if i decide to downgrade there is a fee.

[macrocephalic]

Ouch, 1c cheaper than Exetel though. Just be very careful you don't go over.

$140 isn't too bad for a dongle. You can get cheaper by looking for an unlocked one from ebay or alternatively purchasing one from somewhere like Officeworks and unlocking it. Also make sure it supports the network you want to use.

Exetel is $5/month then 1.5c/MB ($15/GB). They don't have an excess as such - it's all just charged at 1.5c/MB - which is 9x cheaper than Comcen.

Both Comcen and Exetel resell the same Optus 3G service.