Wireless Prepaid Internet

I agree with Fred B and Telstra is the only way to go. We have just done 4 weeks on the road from Bathurst to Peak Hill, Bourke, then to Qld andCunnamulla, Yowah, Quilpie, Thargomindah, Tibooburra, Broken Hill and at a rest stop 80km east of Wilcannia where mobile coverage was also available.

Internet access was very slow in one or two places and the caravan park at Thargomindah (Big 4 that allows pets) was in the process of setting up WiFi but the electrician had been unable to get it finalised. At Thargo I was unable to get all my footy tips in because of the combination of internet speed and graphic content of the website (2GB).

I was managing several client websites, my home email address and one from the laptop, strangely enough I stopped getting email for the laptop and continued to get email from my home server. We are still trying to work that one out but is probably something to do with they way we have set up our specific security network.

Telstra can drop the net onto a bottletop (relative) if they want to, at the rest area out of Wilcannia once I got 80-100 metres awayf from the main area the reception started dropping off.

Regards
Paul & Fi .............

I know it is the responsibility of the owner of the network to ensure that their network is locked. By the same token, it is the responsibility of the user to ensure that they are not using access they haven't paid for.

All the smiley faces don't help...it's still theft

Yes, I agree with what your saying - only to a degree

when you consider their network is not locked because they are on a gaming
plan that is open, endless and seamless it costs them NOTHING in $$$

I have a friend with a 16yo geek who lives on a lounge, just playing 'games' with everyone, he openly admits he could not care about others using his connection because some of those he plays with are using it anyway to attempt to beat him at his home, it costs him nothing extra because of the plan he is on.

Maîneÿ . . .

Yes, tis a big difference too :)

Doesn't Westnet use the Optus Network??

The Optus Mobile network is just rubbish compared to Next G.

John
If you don't know what system Westnet uses and Optus and / or if you haven't used Optus then how do you know it's rubbish, It all depends on where you are, and what system you log into, and the plan/speed ,
And yes I do believe Westnet uses the Optus system , that would explain the Westnet use of Optus coverage maps.
Optus has download speeds up to 3.6Mbps
Bigpond Mobile has download speeds 550kbps to 8Mbps1

.

Doug I do have experience with Optus through several business interests that I am involved with (Past & Present) and thats how I know its rubbish.

I seem to remember from some research awhile ago that Westnet was reselling Optus bandwidth but was just looking for a confirmation of my memory, hence the ??

Simply speaking in my view the claimed speeds of the Optus Wireless BB network are pie in the sky, here in the Melb Metro area the system does not come anywhere near the claimed speeds and I would seriously doubt that their country coverage would be any better.
I also add that in my view their voice coverage is highly unreliable.

I just returned from 2 months travel around the country and used the the Next G broadband USB dongle and was most impressed with the service coverage and speed of the Telstra wireless system.

Cheers

John
I agree , Bigpond is very good. I'm using it but the price is high when one is on a pension, therefore I don't mid sacrificing a bit of speed for a lower price , But I think as time goes by the other services will get better,

.

Maybe OT (?) for what its worth, standing up on top of Ayres Rock the only mobile coverage (phone not internet) when we were there was with Optus. No one with Telstra or Vodaphone, 3 etc etc had any coverage up there. I thought of all places, if there was only one network going to work there it was going to be Telstra not Optus.

I was a little slow at the time (probably worn out from the "walk" up), should have rented my mobile out for use up there by the ones that wanted to phone someone from top of the 'Rock'. Could have set up my own phone box :))

Yes, Westnet resells Optus, and Optus claim to be building 2 towers a day or somesuch. Last time I looked the price diffs were marginal with NextG.

3 claim now to have mobiles that will roam with NextG but one user report posted here was that reception was cr*p.

Yes!!

iinet will sell you an Email address for $25 a year.
I had them at home and when i cancelled to go on the road it was offered to me.

Had a TELSTRA (NOT BIGPOND) USb dongle and got my money back as it was fairly useless out of large cities. I have two laptops and could not get consistent connections anywhere except in larger places on the east coast and in Alice Up the middle.

I had it replaced twice under warranty by the manufacturers and still no different.
I now use an old Bigpond home modem (the blue one with two aerials on it)
It has been unlocked and I just use my Telstra sim in it
Cost $85 on Ebay and whilst slow and needs 240 volts it connects in fringe areas no prob.
Can be made to run on a stepown off 12 volt to 6volt but I havent bothered.

When I got the refund on my dongle I asked if the new 21 sereies had better reception strength and was told probably not although it can take an external aerial I believe, which should help.

Telstra really is the only way to get wireless internet in all the places it is available.

John, do you have more info?

I cancelled my Next G modem account after the last trip, not using it enough.

I have iinet for my ADSL2+ at home.

I also have bought my father a 3G USB modem from 'Three' for use in Brisbane from his retirement home, since he can't get ADSL with a paired line.
Gets 200kb/sec since it is working on 3G, as good as Next G and half the cost, but 3G is only good for about 50k out of Brisbane and other capital cities. Then it drops to GSM.

Next G has the larger coverage, but is a higher price, and you have to deal with Bigpond/Telstra.

So if I could get Next G through iinet, it would be great.

I interpreted this follow up by Ray as "keeping my access to any other server/email account such as home or business??"

And answered yes with that thought in mind with the ability to access his current Inet email accounts via Telstra/Bigpond ISP.
(If this is not what was being asked then I apologise for assuming incorrectly)

I used a Next G Pre Paid USB Dongle and it worked very well indeed.
I accessed my personal and business email accounts which are held on private servers other than Telstra/Bigpond without any problems.

The other vehicle I was travelling with also had the same Next G USB dongle and they accessed their email accounts which happened to be with Optus.

John
Three roams on the Telstra 3G Network (Not the Next G network, different radio frequencies to 3G) when not within range of Three's own network.
I use Three for my business mobiles as they have better plans/rates and the service for the majority of my business use is very good here in Victoria.

I also carried a cheap ($99-) pre paid Next G phone on my recent trip for those times I had no Three coverage and found the Next G service to be excellent in sometimes unexpectedly small towns and remote areas, Old Halls Creek was one such place that springs to mind.

The Three wireless seems to work very well most of the time, sometimes gets a bit slow due to the high number of users that are on line sometimes.
And yes their pricing is very good compared to Telstra/Bigpond so long as you don't allow the dongle to roam onto the Telstra network when not withing a Three network as the price per MB rises.

Next G is only available through Telstra/Bigpond at the present although I did recently hear that Three was nearing agreement for future access to the Next G network, that may now change with the merger of Three and Vodaphone??
Will have to wait and see I guess.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Thanks John,

Have heard but can not verify that Optus may be going to Next G like frequencies next year.

Optus already has an equivilent to Next G

Telstras Next G is 850mhz

Optus is 900MHZ.

Yeah, that's what I've done.

Gone for the Long Life call plan as well for remote emergency use and a 30 buck recharge is good for 6 months. Phone was $69. Cheap.

Oh, and got an external antenna for the phone.

What you could have done is left it on a plan sold it and transferred the plan to the new user.
I think thats the only way to do it cos as you say cancel it and they deactivate the IEMI number.