1.5c per kilobyte? Tell ‘em they’re dreamin’ - mobile internet connections
Submitted: Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 16:48
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Mike Harding
I have a new Next G phone (Nokia 6120) and have been investigating way to get onto the net with it – not a good outlook.
Telstra do a few data packages at, iirc, $5 per megabyte, or more which only last for 30 days when anything unused expires – not much use to me – or a “Casual data plan” where you can just dial in and for the paltry sum of 1.5c per kilobyte (both download and upload charged) check e-mail and sure the net to your hearts content in the comfortable knowledge that if someone sends you an e-mail with a 5 megabyte attachment it will only cost $75 to download.
I don’t think so!
Solution – best so far anyway:
download the free e-mail client Mozilla Thunderbird
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
configure it to:
“Leave messages on the server” (so you can read them back home)
“Automatically download messages”
“Do not download messages larger than 10kb” [Disk space]
Assuming you don’t routinely receive 50+ e-mails per day this should ensure your data traffic bill are kept to a sensible level.
Someone needs to ask the ACCC to take a look at these data rates!
Mike Harding
Reply By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 16:58
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 16:58
Mike
Have you checked out three?
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:15
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:15
You speak in riddles white man. :) What is this "three"?
Mike Harding
PS. Steve wotisname won't like you! :)
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Follow Up By: Red Frog - Vic - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:36
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:36
I'm with 3 also and my elcheapo plan came with a 3 email address, for 5 $'s a month I get unlimited send and receive emails, works very
well indeed.
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Follow Up By: Brew69(SA) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:41
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:41
Yeah 3 makes Telstra look pretty sad tbh. When there is no 3 signal it roams with next G telstra.
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Follow Up By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:54
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:54
Yea when I was OS I was roaming with some carrier over there and still had access to email and internet and everything pretty good
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:55
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:55
So 3 will automatically drop onto Telstra's Next G network without any additional charges?
'Cause the only benefit of using Telstra is that they have, by far, the best coverage across Oz of any carrier.
Mind you I'm stuck with them for the next two years.
Mike Harding
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Follow Up By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:04
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:04
As far as I know it will go to who ever is available. When I go up the coast I either roam with Telstra or Optus and sometimes Vodafone just really depends on who's go the better reception and the phone picks the best one but you can set it manually
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Follow Up By: Muddy doe (SA) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:16
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:16
I think that you will find that a 3 service would only roam to Telstra's GSM service which has a much smaller coverage area than NextG.
NextG is Telstra's premier network and so far as I have heard they 'aint sharin' it with NO-ONE!
So if you want your mobile internet more than 1 km away from any place that serves decent coffee then Telstra NextG or Telstra Bigpond are the only game in town (or out of town in this case!).
Muddy
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Follow Up By: Member -Signman - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:59
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:59
Yup- Muddy is correct. I'm a happy 3 user- and when not in 3G range it roams onto Telstra GSM. OK- not as good as CDMA or the NextG option, but good plans & call rates...
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Follow Up By: Brew69(SA) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:42
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:42
Hmm Mr 3 told me it was next G. Will have to double check.
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Follow Up By: Muddy doe (SA) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:50
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:50
From the 3 Website:
Talk and Messaging Zone
When you're outside 3's Broadband Zone, you still get fantastic coverage. You'll automatically roam onto most of Telstra's GSM network.
Cheers
Muddy
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Reply By: TerraFirma - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:15
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:15
Hi Mike, I pay for a 200MB Data package each month, costs around $39.99 from memory, does me fine.
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Reply By: Andrew from Vivid Adventures - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:25
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:25
I think they know it is untenable.
They easily can be coaxed into crediting any charges made if you beg ignorance.
Their data packs, however, I view as much more reasonable...
Try using webmail so you don't have to download the whole message, and large attachments...
Most providers have webmail.
ACCC won't be interested - they will refer you to the toothless tiger the Telecommuncations Industry Ombudsman.
Cheers
Andrew.
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:54
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:54
Hi Andrew
At 1.5C per kb the interface and repeated pages of webmail will eat up much more bandwidth than the SMTP route I suggested.
Mike Harding
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Follow Up By: Andrew from Vivid Adventures - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:02
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:02
that depends on what sort of message profile you have.
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:17
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:17
I doubt any web interface would even come close to an SMTP transfer.
Mike Harding
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Follow Up By: Andrew from Vivid Adventures - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:29
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:29
If you don't have to download attachments it is much more efficient.
Cheers
Andrew who gets significant numbers of attachments.
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Reply By: hl - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:27
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:27
Hi,
They have recently changed the pricing and it is now $10.00 for 20Mb if you pay in advance or on pre-pay. (down from $16.00 for 10MB..but.. if you are on the $16.00 package, they DON'T tell you that you can get double for for a third less, you have to tell them that you want it......
They have also changed the charge for excess to $1.00 per megabyte. So, if you're only an occasional user, that's not so bad.
As for "THREE"...... it won't work where I go... in fact, it probably won't work where most people on these forums go, and never will.
Cheers
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Reply By: hl - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:31
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:31
Even better to just configure your phone to read your emails.. headers only, and also leave on server.
That way you can download and read only what you want and leave the rest for when you get
home.
Cheers
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:36
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 17:36
That was my initial approach with Thunderbird but I discovered I couldn't tell which (if any) messages had attachments, from the headers, so if I chose to download one and it happened to have one of those amusing 5MB video files people tend to send... $75 thank you Telstra!
The 10kb limit ensures I receive all normal e-mails but kill those with attachments.
Mike Harding
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Reply By: Member No 1- Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:07
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:07
i make every one ring me...At Their Expense...else they have to wait till i get
home and read my emails...if i dont want to do what they want me to, i do what every one else does...delete it and say..."what email!"
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Reply By: Muddy doe (SA) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:35
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:35
Yes Mike, very expensive area if you are uninformed! You are quoting an old rate there. Telstra have just reduced the casual rates from an extraordinary 1.5c/kilobyte ($15,000 a Gb!!!) to a more measly 0.2c/kilobyte which is still $2,000 per Gb. LOL! Definately meant for low volume users!
Bigpond offer a good option in a couple of timed plans which we are on - good for travelling. Works on NextG so coverage is about as wide as you are going to get.
10 hours for $34.95 a month or 20 hours for $59.95. You have to buy a USB or Expresscard data device at a one-time cost of $299.
If you get a good connection with NextG then the data can really rip in (especially on the 20 hour plan) and you can use up a lot of data in a short time. People get caught out when their PC has been offline for a while and suddenly wants to download 20 megabytes of Virus updates and a 30 megabyte Windows Update!
They do offer data packs (200Mb for $59 seems the most popular) but as I say - you can chew this up pretty quick.
The thing with the time based plans is you can download as much as you like within the time allowed (excess time rate 80c/5min or $9.60 per hour if you go over). When on the road you tend to use short bursts for catching up on emails and banking etc so you don't really need to be on for long periods.
If you want to sit at
camp surfing net for hours and hours then this plan may not be for you.
Just my experience.
Muddy
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:50
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 18:50
>Telstra have just reduced the casual rates from an extraordinary
>1.5c/kilobyte ($15,000 a Gb!!!) to a more measly 0.2c/kilobyte
Interesting. The
young lady I spoke to yesterday on 1300 362 162 was unaware of this?
The trouble with their data packs is that they expire after 30 days - why? Do they need to replace the radio waves after this time?
The whole thing is a _MAJOR_ rip off and needs to be sorted - what's the point in governments pontificating about how we have an Australia wide broadband network if it's 500 times too expensive for anyone to use?
Mike Harding
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Follow Up By: Member - Franga (QLD) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:03
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:03
Well I must have got them at a weak moment I went on the 20 hr plan and gave me the USB for nothing (not that you get anything for nothing these days).
What I like about the USB is it has a connection for an external antenna.
Franga
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Follow Up By: Muddy doe (SA) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:03
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:03
The monthly expiry of data allowances is no different to mobile phone plans coming with included calls.
$40 plan with $35 of included calls - use 'em or lose'em.
They make it soooo complicated for the average punter to understand.
Bigpond is the retail arm of Telstra for Internet and they offer the timed plans I was talking about. Only thing is you have to buy a device up front.
Telstra Mobile offer only the data pack plans now. They used to offer the timed plans a
well but then everyone started attaching the timed plans to thier existing mobile handsets so they dropped the timed plans from Telstra Mobile which means you have to go to Bigpond any pay for a device upfront. GRRR
Telstra might have the coverage and products but they sure do know how to charge for them. This is Sol and rising ARPU targets (Average Revenue Per User) that is just screwing us all.
As you can see I REALLY love Telstra!
Muddy
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Follow Up By: Muddy doe (SA) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:08
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:08
Yes Franga, some manage to get the device for free as a sweetener (I did as
well but that is another story).
I think the whole service is just so damned expensive!! But in the absence of serious competition in non-urban (high revenue yield) areas we are just going to have to put up with it.
Muddy
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:12
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:12
Muddy; do you have any reference for the "casual 0.2c per kb"?
Mike Harding
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:20
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:20
Thank you - I shall
check that out tomorrow.
Mike Harding
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Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:20
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:20
If you don't like the price then don't buy the product, its really that simple.
No point in whinging on here about it but then again thats par for the course for you Mike.
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Follow Up By: hl - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:24
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:24
Hi,
If you only plan to use it a few times a year when traveling, the best option is to get a prepaid NextG phone for around $170.00, load it up with datapacks as you need them, and use it as a modem.
Telstra now have a 12 months credit expiry option for the phone when you charge it with $30.00. When you want to use data, you simply log in and buy a $29.00 Data pack with your credit and then you have 80 MB to play with. Simply recharge when it runs out. The only downside is when you convert your credit to data, it expires in 30 days, the upside is, you cannot get caught with a huge bill as it simply stops working unless you re-load it.
The phone is much cheaper to buy than a dedicated modem, you can make phone calls on it as well!!! and the speed is similar to what you get with the modem.
Cheers
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Follow Up By: Mike Harding - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:26
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:26
John
A few weeks ago I came to the conclusion that a few people on this
forum have significant personality problems - you're one of them - and I decided the best way to handle them was to ignore them - consider yourself ignored - life is just too short to waste time on you people.
Mike Harding
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Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:31
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 19:31
Yeah good one Mike, but we all know who has the personality issues.
If life is to short to waste time on "you people" then what are you doing on here wasting it with "us people"?
As I said a reflection of the personality.
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Follow Up By: Footloose - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 21:27
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 21:27
John, methinks the pot is calling the kettle black. Luckily the pot has learned to avoid the kettle, if not the black.
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Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 22:00
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 22:00
Yes very deep Jim very deep, I'm sure I will ponder those words of wisdom for sometime to come. :-)
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Follow Up By: Footloose - Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 22:03
Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 at 22:03
Don't ponder too long John. You never know when that black pot will show up again :)))
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