Next G Mobile Internet...more interesting stuff

Keep in mind this article was written 6 months ago and the content may need updating.

But the differance in price and service between Big Pond Wireless Broadband and Telstra Mobile Broadband is still the same.

It is cheaper by a mile to use Big Pond over Next G but they are from the same carrier/company using the same equipment with the same coverage and the same service, the only differance is if you are a Big Pond customer or Next G and you access differant web contents for free and a differant home page.

They have seperate phone numbers for Big Pond and Next G but I bet you the call goes to the same operator who handles both, he or she just puts on a differant hat.

Bit like buying a Nissan Patrol for $50,000 from a Nissan dealer and just down the road there is the Grand Family Truckster dealer sell the Canonero that is made and owned by Nissan and is a Patrol and the only differance is the colours avaliable and badging but is $20,000 more.

This is what Telstra has done.

This has certainly changed a bit since that article was written. There is a lot of "free" content now on the phone plans as well (weather maps, news, etc), also, the charges have dropped somewhat, 20MB is now $10.00 per month. This does not seem like a lot of data, but if you just use the phone to access the net, email etc it is not bad.
If you want to use the phone as a modem, you chew up data much faster. It still beats having to sign up for a year or two if you only want to use the phone as a modem on trips a few times a year.
cheers