SillyDog701

[Don_HH2K]

I don't know if Telstra has any 4G rollout plans yet, but I'm personally waiting for WiMAX or LTE to be mass-deployed around the US before I look into mobile broadband. I'd say that the higher nominal downlink speeds would be worth waiting three or four years.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0 x64; en-US; rv:1.9.2a1pre) Gecko/20090322 Minefield/3.6a1pre (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[Antony]

words

more words

Yeah, Telstra would win hands down with coverage, but the prices are ... not exactly cheap. Optus is definetly catching up in the coverage AND price department - I'm eager for them to finish their new 900Mhz 3G "YesG" network.

(...)

Remember to check out their coverage maps.

In my opinion, the coverage is more important than speed (as long as the speed is acceptable).

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.0.8) Gecko/2009032608 Firefox/3.0.8

[Antony]

I'm personally waiting for WiMAX or LTE to be mass-deployed around the US before I look into mobile broadband. I'd say that the higher nominal downlink speeds would be worth waiting three or four years.

It does not mean that you can't have current mobile broadband technology while waiting for the next generation.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.0.8) Gecko/2009032608 Firefox/3.0.8

[Don_HH2K]

I'm personally waiting for WiMAX or LTE to be mass-deployed around the US before I look into mobile broadband. I'd say that the higher nominal downlink speeds would be worth waiting three or four years.

It does not mean that you can't have current mobile broadband technology while waiting for the next generation.

Sure, but why buy something when I'm already planning on replacing it?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0 x64; en-US; rv:1.9.2a1pre) Gecko/20090322 Minefield/3.6a1pre (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[Antony]

Sure, but why buy something when I'm already planning on replacing it?

So you can use that for the time being.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.0.8) Gecko/2009032608 Firefox/3.0.8

[Happy Dude]

4G won't really take off until they kill GSM networks using x and y Mhz channels.

At least, that's what Telstra plans to do... in 2012 at least

E: I used to think "oh hey, may as well just skip 3G cause 4G is around the corner", 3G is pretty decent even for calls and unless you've got like the first 3G phone it'll also switch to GSM and back without dropping out.

Just sayin'

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.8) Gecko/2009032609 Firefox/3.0.8 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[Happy Dude]

Whoo, bumping/"double posting"

Just spent a week on holidays with my 2G phone. It was awful, miss having a 3G phone - it wouldn't cut otu all the time and I could understand what the person on the other end was saying.

I also need to invest in a proper 3G modem, and not tether via phone. Ugh

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.8) Gecko/2009032609 Firefox/3.0.8 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[Antony]

In my recent road trip (border of Victoria and NSW), this LaCie Rugged Hard Drive has been travelled with my MacBook Pro as well as other gadgets.

The LaCie Rugged Hard Drive provides generous storage space as well as a very good peace of mind on physical protection on the HDD itself. I would recommend getting one.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042315 Firefox/3.0.10

[Happy Dude]

Bought a 3G modem the other day off eBay; a Merlin XU870.


(Mine is "3" branded)

It cost me $60 + postage. It was used, however that doesn't bother me as long as it works.

It's GSM Quadband supporting GPRS and EDGE, and UTMS + HSPDA enabled on 850/1900/2100Mhz bands up to 7.2mbps down and 2mbps up, which means I can use it on any network in Australia, both 2G and NextG etc... (except YesG 900Mhz, which is a bit of a shame)

All in all, for $60 I don't think I could have done better...

(I could have gone and spent $399 on a new Telstra device for 21mbps speeds on NextG though >:D)

E: Antony your ExpressCard modem looks alot like this - you could always sell off your Telstra modem and get your Vodafone modem unlocked for about $30 and have NextG support

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[Antony]

That's a good value.

I bought the Vodafone mobile broadband last year with contract. Well, they did not sell contract free connection, and with 3, the very limited coverage means very expensive outside major cities. (At least, it was the situation last year.)

(I could have gone and spent $399 on a new Telstra device for 21mbps speeds on NextG though >:D)

I was actually considering moving to Telstra once my mobile broadband with Vodafone ends.

E: Antony your ExpressCard modem looks alot like this - you could always sell off your Telstra modem and get your Vodafone modem unlocked for about $30 and have NextG support

Thanks for that tip.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042315 Firefox/3.0.10

[Happy Dude]

That's a good value.

I bought the Vodafone mobile broadband last year with contract. Well, they did not sell contract free connection, and with 3, the very limited coverage means very expensive outside major cities. (At least, it was the situation last year.)

Yeah, 3 used to fall back onto Telstra's 2G network at $1.65/MB extra. Now they fall over to Telstra NextG at 50c/MB provided your device supports 850Mhz 3G.

(I could have gone and spent $399 on a new Telstra device for 21mbps speeds on NextG though >:D)

I was actually considering moving to Telstra once my mobile broadband with Vodafone ends.

Whatever floats your boat -- or whatever gives the best coverage. Personally if Telstra wasn't so expensive I'd probably use that only instead of Optus.

E: Antony your ExpressCard modem looks alot like this - you could always sell off your Telstra modem and get your Vodafone modem unlocked for about $30 and have NextG support

Thanks for that tip.

That's done online thru a service called www.dc-unlocker.com. I can find out how much (if any) Vodafone will do it for after your contract is up

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[Happy Dude]

Antony: I asked around and your Vodafone data card should either be unlocked or it (should) cost nothing to unlock at the end of the contract, if you're curious

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

[Antony]

Thank you Happy Dude for looking that up for me.

I am not planning on unlocking it at this moment, but I will keep that in mind.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042315 Firefox/3.0.10

[Happy Dude]

Well, I got my 3G modem today, and I'm surprised what I got for the price - $60 got me the (used) Merlin XU870 7.2MBPS ExpressCard 3G modem with 850/1900/2100Mhz 3G support.

Looks like its brand new, plus everything is there - box, CD, manual, even the card the original SIM card came in.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.10) Gecko/2009042316 Firefox/3.0.10 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)