Lap Top Wireless Internet
Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 18:44
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gwezza
Any suggestions for Internet wireless for a Lap top for a for month trip - Nth Qld and NT.
Reply By: Member - Josh (VIC) - Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 18:54
Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 18:54
We have been using Telstra next g and now Telstra 3g wireless for the last 2 yrs. If there is mobile service we have internet.It is a Telstra turbo 7 express card with a pcmcia adaptor as our laptop is 2 yrs old. We pay $89 a month for 5 gig. Works
well and is very convenient. Have sat in some very funny
places and checked emails. Used messenger live to show friends where we were camped at some
places, very cool.
Josh
AnswerID:
352198
Reply By: MrBitchi (QLD) - Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 18:54
Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 18:54
Do you have a Telstra nextg phone? If so you can buy Data Packs from Telstra and use your nextg phone as a modem to connect to the internet.
If you don't, get yourself a pre-paid one, like the Samsung A411 for $99 and use that with a Data Pack.
Of course, you'll only have access where you have phone coverage.
AnswerID:
352199
Reply By: D200Dug- Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 19:22
Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 19:22
There is a flat fee telstra deal you buy a set amount of downloads and top it up if you need more.
For a one month trip I would have a look at that rather than a plan.
Telstra
shop will give you the details I think it was around $100 for the starter kit.
AnswerID:
352202
Follow Up By: The Rambler( W.A.) - Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 19:54
Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 19:54
Testra wireless prepaid starter kit is $149
recharge amounts are:
$20 gives 150mb
$30 " 225mb
$40 " 300mb
$50 " 625mb
$60 " 750mb
$80 " 3.5gb
$100 " 6gb
There is no contract plan but Ibelieve the allowances bought have to be used within a month.
Ithink this is what Iwill do when I travel north in June.
FollowupID:
620406
Follow Up By: D200Dug- Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 19:57
Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 19:57
I didn't think they had a time limit
But I have been wrong before ;-)
FollowupID:
620407
Follow Up By: Member - Cram (Newcastle NSW) - Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 20:16
Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 20:16
Any unused credit expires after 30 days. Recharging within the 30 days by these amounts will reset the 30 day credit expiry period. The data rate is determined by your most recent recharge amount.
http://www.telstra.com.au/bigpond_internet/prepaid_wireless.html
So basically if you don't use your data limit within 30 days you loose it, if you have some left and renew within the 30 days it carries on.
FollowupID:
620415
Follow Up By: Axel [ the real one ] - Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 11:25
Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 11:25
Cram , have found that it needs to be recharged 2 days / 48 hrs before time runs out if recharging online , otherwise no access for the 2 days it takes our highly efficient telstra to process.
FollowupID:
620515
Reply By: gwezza - Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 20:32
Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 20:32
Thank you all for your help. It looks like Telstra is the way to go.
I appreciate all the trouble that you went to with costs and downloads.
Cheers Gwen
AnswerID:
352210
Follow Up By: Member - Cram (Newcastle NSW) - Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 20:43
Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 at 20:43
Gwen, the fact is that Telstra is more expensive but unfortunately they still offer the best coverage and therefore are the best option.
If you were going to stay in caravan parks and you chose big 4 and became a member at the moment you can get access to their internet for 12 months for $55.00 and that gives you 10 hours access per month.
Even though I use these parks I still like the fact that I can use Telstra where ever I am, as long as you have mobile coverage you will have net access.
Recently we did the
Darling River run and had mobile and net access for virtually the whole trip.
FollowupID:
620426
Reply By: Sigmund - Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 10:53
Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 10:53
If you don't have a Telstra phone consider their prepaid wireless broadband service. You stick their dongle into a USB port and it connects to the NextG network. You then prepay for a given volume of down/uploads by the month. You can leave the account idle for up to 6 months before it's terminated but you only have 30 days to use up your prepaid allowance.
The dongle is $150.
It's not cheap but then the competitors don't have anything like the coverage.
There's also satellite broadband with wider coverage obviously but the basic gear will set you back over $3k.
More than you ever wanted to know can be found here:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/
AnswerID:
352299
Reply By: madcow - Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 12:20
Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 12:20
There is one on Ebay at the moment with an additional $50 (5 x $10) credit. Bought one of these yesterday.
AnswerID:
352311
Reply By: Trippin' - Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 16:33
Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 16:33
We bought the prepaid usb dongle the other day from the
post office for $149 plus a $20 recharge voucher. Until the 8th March if you buy a recharge at the same time as you buy the dongle Aust Post will give you an equivalent value recharge voucher for free. i.e. we got a free $20 voucher but if we had bought a $100 voucher we would have got an extra $100 voucher for nix.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Wazza - (Vic) - Saturday, Mar 07, 2009 at 16:37
Saturday, Mar 07, 2009 at 16:37
Hi Trippin,
I just bought the same deal from AusPost. Got the usb modem for $149 and a $50 recharge voucher, expecting to get a free second $50 voucher. I talked with the guy for behind the desk (pretty useless) and he could not work it out. We had the promotional material in front of us. He said that most likely when I recharged I would get $50 free at recharge time (ie the recharge would be $100)... not sure he put it through the till correctly. Question: Did you actually get two separate $20 vouchers at the time of purchase?
Cheers,
Warren.
FollowupID:
620902
Reply By: DesF - Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 17:34
Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 17:34
Hi, I am using what you need as I write this , we are away in the van and I have a nokia 6120 Next G phone and I have got a Bigpond Data Pack, it is $10 for 150 meg, and I find that to do the emails and
check the weather and brouse my sites it is ample.
I just plug in the phone ( also have a bluetooth dongle), open Nokia PC suite and log on , it is not times only on data transfer, you can open the page you want and read it as long as you want it only uses data when you change the page etc.
My mate has a telstra dongle ( $ 124.00) and he pays $ 20.00 for 150 meg.
Works anywhere the phone will work and thats a lot.
Cheers Des.
AnswerID:
352355
Reply By: bruce - Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 20:24
Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 20:24
I have been pondering the same problem for some time now...have a Samsung A412 on a $20 plan ..followed the instructions on how to connect the laptop via the phone to the net using usb cable....worked a charm...then tried ringing Telstra to get a data pack...whew , round and round in circles till I struck a very nice chap who said ..no problems just listen to me...and... presto ..he got action real quick , got a $10...150mb pack to try out...turn it off when ever and back on when ever , I am on a dial up plan with another ISP that connects at 50.6 kbs , the mobile modem connected at 230.6 kbs...so it would not take long to chew up the 150mb...but I now have the internet when I travel , as long as I have phone reception of course...cheers
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