Telstra CDMA 1x Internet Connection

I bought a CDMA with 1x no contract.

see http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/business/products/mobilebroadband.htm

or click here

Regards Russell

Hi Ian and Russell,

Just doing this myself with a Nokia 6225 CDMA handset and USB cable. I got the phone on a $40 a month 24 month plan ($0 upfront for the phone). I then wanted to connect to the time based data plan which is 10 hours for $29 a month (over and above the phone/voice plan) which looked like good value, especially at the 144kbs speed.

I found that because I went with the cheaper plan for the purchase of the phone Telstra will only allow me to connect to the data measured based data plans and not the time based ones. This means I am paying 2.2 cents per kb after the 10 included magabytes in the $29 plan. This is hellishly expensive. It works about to $22 per megabyte. On the time based plan you could download many megabytes worth in the allotted time and not pay any extra. At the increased speed it does not take long at all to chew through the included allowance in the data based plan before you are paying this premium rate!

Many average webpages are about 50 kb so would cost about $1 to download. If you were not careful you could run up a huge bill very quickly. If you downloaded an email with a 2 megabyte attachement (not an uncommon thing) you are up for about $50.

It sounds like you did the sensible thing Russell and bought your handset/data card outright. You can thus choose to connect to a time based data plan which works out MUCH cheaper. Bloody Telstra!!!! I wish that they told me about the data plan compatibility BEFORE they sold me the phone but they did not (and as far as I can see they are under no obligation). If I want to use a time based plan I must now buy out the remaining 20 months of the 24 month plan so that I own the phone and then i can connect. Until then I must remain on one of the plans where usage is measured by the amount of data downloaded.

I point this out so that people doing the same thing are aware of this trap. ASK the rep before you sign up! I hope this all makes sense. I actually work in IT and even I find Telstras plans confusing and have been caught out!

Cheers
Muddy

My first test on casual rates was connect 22cent and 20cents per 10k.

I accessed 2 telstra pages (really fast) and closed the connection ($cost $8.93 for 2.51 minutes)

Won't do that again on casual rates.

Apparantly this was designed for WAP access (data only without graphics).

The PC Pack (Time) is the way to go.

RR

Muddy 'doe (SA) either you have the story all wrong, or whoever explained it to you at Telstra got it all wrong.
Anybody on any phone on any CDMA Telstra plan can take up the $29.95 offer for ten hours - NO DATA LIMITS. Take note the time is charged in fifteen minute blocks.
I need to check, but I am not so sure, but I was under the impression that it was a twelve month contract. I will check with Telstra.

I got my information about casual contract from Telstra Call centre who for 5 minutes denied any knowledge of CDMA 1X before asking questions of others in the CC and then I was passed to and spoke to an expert on the subject who really was full bottle (IMHO) and he stated "join at any Telstra shop" and ring the call centre to cancel at any time.

What the !!!!!!!

Regards
Russell

Actually it was a phone, Kyocera Slider, $486.

So you are using the CDMA 1X on the road?

Regards

Russell

Noooooooooooo,

144.00 kbs

Regards

Russell

On GSM the data rate is 9.6kbs but with the newer 1x technology on the CDMA network the data rate is up to 144kbs depending on signal strength. Especially if you are in the scrub it depends both on your own antenna setup and how close you are to the CDMA base station. These factors will determine the actual data speed you get.

I have just bought a CDMA phone and USB data cable and am getting a new laptop next week so will give it a go. I have heard that in the real world it is pretty much equivalent to standard dial up.

Cheers
Muddy

Hi Bob,
Just wondering isnt it possible to just hook a CDMA phone up to your laptop and just dial into a local number for internet access? Because I have a dialup account which uses the same number australia wide, and I was under the impression I could just hook a mobile into the laptop and just dial in from that.
Cheers

My understanding that you can't simple dial up your ISP.

RR

Craig,

It is the phone that acts as the modem for dialing up your ISP. I used mine for 8 weeks in 2003 from Brisbane to Geraldton and back dialing into Brisbane every day with no problems, sending and receiving emails.

Only used it for email, because although it is a CDMA x1 unit, I had no need for the other services. It is a Nokia 6385 phone and the plan it is on means I get 5 minutes off peak for 18 cents plus flag fall of 25 cents.

Cheers

Magnus

Hi Magnus,
Why cant you use the mobile just like an ordinary phone to access a isp. Your laptop has a modem built in. I am sure I saw it mentioned somwhere on a telstra site. Will go and have a prowl.

Cheers

Hi Craig,
We didn't have any ISP before so no dial up account or for that matter no computer either.
We spent some time researching what was on offer to suit our requirements from telstra, optus and people like primus etc.
Based on the information we were given we think that what we ended up with best suits our needs. We have certainly been very happy with the set up so far.
As you can tell computers and associated products are not my strong point.

Regards,
bobk

Hi Craig,

Don't know why you just can't use the modem in the laptop. I had to re-install all the software etc for the phone just early this week and actually tried to use the laptop modem to connect vis the Nokia. Just to see if it would work. No go. Didn't even look like the modem wanted to talk to the phone.

Which, thinking back, is why we swapped my perfectly good Hyundai Gulliver CDMA phone for the Nokia with the built in modem about 18 months ago.

When my contract runs out we will be switching to the pre paid time option for Internet use offered by Telstra and just buy a month at a time when needed. For a normal emergency mobile, we will get one of the prepaid packages and a basic $100 phone. We will still be some hundreds of $ ahead on an annual basis.

This only works for us because we have no need for a mobile, never have it switched on, do not give out the number and always keep it fully charged. Like a first aid kit. There when you need it.

PS The downside is we have to carry the instruction book with us so we can use the advanced options like querying the answering machine etc as we use it so infrequently we can't remember how to operate it.!!

Magnus

Hi Magnus,
We seem to be getting conflicting info concerning this subject.
Just wondering if you specified on your computer when you tried your mobile which com port it was using?
As I am pretty sure you would have to.
Where abouts did you connect the phone to?
Eg USB port or serial .

I guess I will have to wait till I get my CDMA mobile and associated cables etc and try it out.

Cheers

Craig,

I am sure I did. But will post this and go try it all again and then will report back in bout 15 mins or so

Magnus

Craig,

Nope. Wont work primarily because the Nokia is on Com 1 (serial Port) and the modem is a soft modem on com 3 and looks for a land line connection which of course isn't there. If I was using an external modem (Of which I have about 3 spare) it would still need to use the serial port where the phone is. Later Nokia's I understand use a USB connection, this model uses a serial connection.

Regardless, just make sure the CDMA phone you buy can access the internet to get your emails etc.

Not all CDMA phones have modems. Only a few do.

Magnus

Just wondering if anyone has tried this. I have a Nokia 3200 and it does not have an internal modem so I cannot use it for dialing into internet on the road (have tried it and no go). However I have a full Nokia car kit for it and the little black box that controls the car kit has two extra RJ45 plugs on it. One is for a handset and the other is for a computer. So in theory you can plug your laptop into the handsfree and use your internal modem while using the phone just for the phone line. Therefore no modem in your mobile is required. I haven't tried it yet but I will shortly.

I also have the Telstra free hour and have a work dial up account so it will be free all round.

Hi Utemad,

Yep. That will be interesting. Wait with bated breath to see how it goes.

Very Interesting indeed.

Cheers

Magnus

I tried the car kit idea and it didn't work. On my new car kit for my Nokia 3200 it has only got an RJ12 connection for a handset not for data. I am positive my Nokia 5110 had both. I have since installed the 5110 kit in my Dad's ute so I can't check it for a while.

Perhaps it will or perhaps it won't. I'll check next I see him.

After you set up the CDMA as a modem and configure a dialup connection to your ISP then your PC/laptop will behave as normal, using your current e-mail client and web browser.

You can normally access your e-mail by using web-mail that usually is associated with most ISPs

Standard CDMA dialup connections are at 14.4k whilst 1x is upto 144.k and the new EVO is upto 300k.

I dont know what your phone is capable of or what Optus offers.

RR

Russell B CDMA dial-up is 19.2kbps
EVO can be up to 1.5Mbps

Willie it depends if your Nokia has an inbuilt modem. Unfortunately Nokia CDMA phones are absolute poor quality crap that give nothing but problems getting to connect to the Internet. Nokia are proprietary non-standard CDMA garbage with poor range and a general pain in the little toe. For trouble free connection you need a Korean CDMA phone with built in modem and with all the proper CDMA standard features. Also make sure the phone accepts a TRUE proper coax external aerial.
You can dial up any ISP with a Korean mobile phone just as if it was on your phone at home. I have been connecting to the Internet by mobile phone since the days of the analogue brick phones and had GSM fax for donkeys years until recently.

No other charges.

RR

My understanding from Telstra is that you pay for the data plan over and above the phone access plan. When you are using the phone for a data call you are also charged for the airtime at normal voice call rates.

If someone knows differently then I would love to know!

Muddy

Muddy 'doe (SA) the plan includes all charges including no flag fall.
You are not charged for anything else and most definitely not normal voice call rates. Few could afford such a bizarre system.

joc45 what makes you think your phone does not have data capability.

What make or model of phone do you have?

Hi Bruce,
How does the phone hook up to the laptop?
Is it plugged into the usb port or serial con?

Cheers

I purchased a data cable for the phone..cost was about $60 if I recall correctly and this hooks in to the laptop via the usb port...can program nos. etc into the phone while connected to any computer....for the internet the system uses the in built modem of the phone...I have the laptop set up to also use a normal phone line if I have access to one , if not I just wait for my "free" hour and use the mobile...cheers

Bruce do you have the Hyundai TX60B phone?

They are a great phone and connect every time to the Internet.
Yes, I dial-up everyday on the free "My Hour". I have two phones on the free "My Hour" plan. Don't know what the hell is going to happen when the contracts run out as so many have become reliant on them.

Yes David , that is the model that I have...I believe that I got on a recomendation from a fellow named David in one of his numerous posts...as I have only had it for about 4 mths I am not particually worried about the contract running out just yet....there may be something better on offer in 20mths time , but I wont hold my breath...cheers

IanMc Telstra only cancel your number if you stop paying the account.

It is not confusing at all. All you need to do is read the information and work out which options suit you best.

Any phone will phone up on 112/000 for emergency calls on any network available - not necessarily the users network.