Lap Top Wireless Internet

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

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.

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.

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

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/

There is one on Ebay at the moment with an additional $50 (5 x $10) credit. Bought one of these yesterday.

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.

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.

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