Broadband / Wifi for short term in Brisbane

Danny2580

Hi all,

Am currently hooking my laptop up to my Nokia E71 and using VirginMoblile's mobile internet, which is incredibly slow. I need a fast internet connection for daily work but will only be in Brisbane until May so I cannot commit to a one year contract or anything like that. Can anyone suggest a company who offer a decent fast connection without a long term contract? One of those prepaid dongle things would be fine but I'm not sure if they'd be any faster than using the mobile as a modem.

Help greatly appreciated.

hussey

Danny2580 wrote: »

Hi all,

Am currently hooking my laptop up to my Nokia E71 and using VirginMoblile's mobile internet, which is incredibly slow. I need a fast internet connection for daily work but will only be in Brisbane until May so I cannot commit to a one year contract or anything like that. Can anyone suggest a company who offer a decent fast connection without a long term contract? One of those prepaid dongle things would be fine but I'm not sure if they'd be any faster than using the mobile as a modem.

Help greatly appreciated.

you can try
http://www.unwired.com.au/
there reception can be a bit hit and miss, but I know a few people who used them without too much hassle

CiaranC

Internode do a one month rolling 3G contract. Its 40GB a month for 5GB transfer, plus 100 to buy the usb dongle. Piggybacks on the Optus Network, which I find OK.

ballooba

I have a rolling contract with Three mobile. I paid $100 for the modem and get 6GB per month. Three also have prepaid. Speed varies but in the Margaret Street area it was ADSL+ fast, in the Valley it's quite fast too. I know that Unwired was abysmal in Randwick (Sydney) with terrible speeds, huge packet loss and high ping times. It's similar technology used by Irish Broadband for Ripwave.

Beachband

Will maybe get a 3 dongle before I go to Oz, sign up here, then use it in Oz - is this possible?

ballooba

Beachband wrote: »

Will maybe get a 3 dongle before I go to Oz, sign up here, then use it in Oz - is this possible?

It will be locked to Three Ireland network. It's probably cheaper here anyway. Or if you really want to get one cheap buy it off eBay. 6GB with Three is $39 per month btw, forgot to mention that.

Danny2580

Thanks everyone.

Unwired sounds like Clearwire which I've had a bad experience with haha! They don't serve Brisbane anyway so that's out.

Internode looks good but big installation fee on the no contract option, takes weeks too.

Three Mobile sounds good Ballooba. Let me see if I'm right - you paid $100 for the modem and $39 per month for 6gb, and that's it? My download speed with the E71 on VirginMobile is roughly 1,056kbps, I'm in the Teneriffe area of Newstead. What do you reckon I could expect with Three?

Thanks a mill.

Danny2580

Apparently Telstra do a good prepaid wireless broadband anyone any info on that?

ballooba

I'm in city on 23rd floor at the moment. My Three connection seems to be on a go slow at the moment but below are the results. I'm not familiar with coverage in Tenerife unfortunately.

[`[*Test Results from <a href="http://www.ozspeedtest.com">Oz Broadband Speed Test</a>*]`]
[(

---

Test run on [*17/02/2010*] @ [*01:29 PM*])]

[(Mirror: [*Optus*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*82 secs*])]

[(Your line speed is [*299 kbps*] (0.3 Mbps).
Your download speed is [*37 KB/s*] (0.04 MB/s). )]

Test Results from http://www.ozspeedtest.com

Test run on [*17/02/2010*] @ [*01:32 PM*])

[(Mirror: [*Optus*]
Data: [*3 MB*]
Test Time: [*31.68 secs*])]

[(Your line speed is [*773 kbps*] (0.77 Mbps).
Your download speed is [*97 KB/s*] (0.09 MB/s). )]

Danny2580 wrote: »

Apparently Telstra do a good prepaid wireless broadband anyone any info on that?

Doubtful. Telstra are gangsters. Only reason to use them is if you're rural and have no choice.

CiaranC

Danny2580 wrote: »

Thanks everyone.

Unwired sounds like Clearwire which I've had a bad experience with haha! They don't serve Brisbane anyway so that's out.

Internode looks good but big installation fee on the no contract option, takes weeks too.

Three Mobile sounds good Ballooba. Let me see if I'm right - you paid $100 for the modem and $39 per month for 6gb, and that's it? My download speed with the E71 on VirginMobile is roughly 1,056kbps, I'm in the Teneriffe area of Newstead. What do you reckon I could expect with Three?

Thanks a mill.

Internode 3g is the same as above. 100 for the modem, 40 bucks a month rolling contract for 5gb transfer.

There are only 3 3g networks - telstra, optus and virgin. All others are just piggybacking on those. Speeds are about equiv to a contention free 1MB DSL line.

ballooba

CiaranC wrote: »

Internode 3g is the same as above. 100 for the modem, 40 bucks a month rolling contract for 5gb transfer.

Except with Three you get 1GB extra and it's a dollar cheaper per month. ;-) FYI, I think I got a discount of $30 on my modem as a valued customer.

Three co-own their 2100 MHz network 50/50 with Telstra. It covers 56% of population. Vodafone also have their own 2100 MHz network as a JV with Optus I believe.

ballooba

A note for all, www.whirlpool.net.au is invaluable for all broadband / IT issues in Australia.

jank

Just get a prepaid 3G/HSDPA USB dongle. You can top it up as you go and it doesnt require contracts. AFAIK!

ballooba

Prepaid is about twice the price of postpaid. Postpaid does not require a contract. You only have to sign up to a contract if you take their device and don't buy it outright. I just realised that all this is semantics anyway because the speed on Virgin is same if not better than Three and Danny's not happy with that. I got better speeds when I lived 20 metres from a base station on Margaret Street but with the health implications I don't recommend that.

Danny2580

The "check my speed" site or whatever listed it as 1,056. However, seems from the information under the "Connect To" window on Vista, that it's only actually 420kbps - which I have read is the maximum you'll get from an E71 from a non HSDPA compatible provider (no real idea what this means except that if I can get 3.5G instead of 3G to appear on the phone, I should get 940kbps).

Telstras Next G Network used with one of their Turbo USB modems promised speeds of up to 3gbps. Considering I'm on around 1/6th of that at the moment, I'd be happy if I could get 1.5gbps to 2gbps on a regular basis with them. $150 for the modem and $100 pre-paid for 5gb. Could be a pile of bull**** about the speed though and not sure whether to risk it.

Beachband

Could I just use my n95 8gb(unlocked) as a modem, via usb to a latop, throw in a 3 sim into the phone etc = internet on the laptop.

ballooba

Danny2580 wrote: »

Telstras Next G Network used with one of their Turbo USB modems promised speeds of up to 3gbps. Considering I'm on around 1/6th of that at the moment, I'd be happy if I could get 1.5gbps to 2gbps on a regular basis with them. $150 for the modem and $100 pre-paid for 5gb. Could be a pile of bull**** about the speed though and not sure whether to risk it.

Telstra are obviously quite rich so they can afford to invest in some of the latest and greatest technology. They're currently testing 54MBps wireless. They probably are faster but double the price. You might get a temporary ADSL connection for that money. How long is your lease?

Beachband wrote:

Could I just use my n95 8gb(unlocked) as a modem, via usb to a latop, throw in a 3 sim into the phone etc = internet on the laptop.

Probably, I used to use my INQ as a modem before I bought my USB modem. I even used to connect via bluetooth so when I was near my desk my laptop would have 3G access. I got sick of it though and bought a USB Modem and a seperate SIM.