We've established that Optus has a s*** 3g network but I'm about to go buy one of these USB 3g cards so I can have prepaid internets where ever I go on my laptop

Anyone used any of them? including optus I guess
Questions

a) carrier?
b) quality of the tubes/speed of service etc
c) price - worth it?
d) are you 'forced/locked' into using the one type of sim card with the usb 3g thing

I'm concerned that if I say bought a "Three" 3g/usb stick I would be stuck with only being able to use "Three" sim cards in the thing - is this the case?

for those who have no idea what I'm talking about

http://www.cnet.com.au/broadband/wireless/0,239035991,240059023,00.htm

Why not save yourself the coin and tether your laptop to your mobile

better yet; don't be a homo

better yet; don't be a homo

Heh too right..

Also, UK three's modem thingo bound to the simcard when i put it in.. they were running a usb jobbie 'Huawei E220' or something... just slip the simcard in the side or the back or something..

whats it got to do with media

its a THREE-GEE modem

its like using your mobile phone as a modem for your laptop, so while you're away from an internet connection you can plug it in and it uses a mobile carriers 3g network to access the tubes

a) three
b) surprisingly quick. solid connection
c) $15/month for 1gig
d) probably locked (i think) never had a reason to swap sims

i just got the cheapest plan i could get. cos i just use it on the odd occasion when traveling around. never needed more than a gig for my purposes, and havent got a problem with speeds or service. the usb stick is good too.. self installs all drivers and is ready to rock quickly.

most people need more than a gig, so i would recommend virgin 5 gig plans for $39

Three do 6GB for $39 - I reckon they're pretty much the best value at the moment. Virgin piggy-back off Optus too so you're faced with the same issues they're having. Three's modems can be unlocked, so you can use another provider with them.

But just remember caveat emptor - Three's coverage outside capital cities is pretty poor. If you're going to be travelling outside of capital cities make sure you check their coverage maps before buying.

yeah I've done a fair bit of research on the subject, looks like there are lots of unhappy vodafone customers out there
but I'll almost always be exclusively in sydney and brisbane cbd when using it so I figure 3g coverage won't be the problem I'll have

I just dont want to get locked into using one sim when I'm buying a modem out right?
Its like buying a phone outright from optus and not being able to use it with telstra etc even though you own it

I orginally had my iphone with virgin, they suck as much as optus do because they're partially owned by optus and use optus' 3g network

a colleague is bringing his vodafone modem in for me to use before I buy it, so I guess i'll see how that goes
apparently if you're with Three and you roam away from a their 3g network (which is essentially telstra?) you get charged like $1.50/Mb

ridiculous

If you roam outside of 3's network Telstra impose roaming fees of $1.65/MB. Their modems are set, by default, not to roam. If you don't have 3G coverage it won't let you connect. If you buy the modem outright you can have it unlocked.

Stay the f*** away from vodafone. They just upped their data rates 20x without notifying anyone. Stung a lot of people including me.

I don't want a dongle since most of my browsing is using my phone, optus network is s***, 3 only works in the city. I had to bite the bullet and go for Telstra Next-G.

Why not save yourself the coin and tether your laptop to your mobile

Because a lot of carriers don't let you tie high volumes of data to your mobile account - "our billing systems can't handle it" is the BS excuse I get from both Voda and Optus.

3 is a bit dodgy in that they charge you an arm and a leg if you go away from their towers. IMO they should wear that cost if a customer isn't near one of their towers.

I orginally had my iphone with virgin, they suck as much as optus do because they're partially owned by optus and use optus' 3g network

Lets set the record straight - Virgin is wholy owned by Optus.


Telstra have the best coverage, speeds and reliability, but terrible plans.

IMO they should wear that cost if a customer isn't near one of their towers.

what if they are just passing on charges that they are charged by telstra or whoever'd towers they'd be using in that circumstance?

a) Telstra NextG pcmcia
b) Good in the city, sometimes congested. In the country though the service is phenomenal. Drove from Melbourne to Brisbane via the Newell and every little place we stopped (every 200 odd km, broken car, long story) I had a good couple of megabits of bandwidth and remote desktop behaved as if you were on 1500kbit dsl in the 'burbs.
c) Currently it's on a 1gb/$69(?) plan. telstra have a 10gb for $130 now which for the quality of service and convenience I think is reasonable. I think my biggest bill so far has been around the $700 mark.
d) pretty sure it's nextg sim only.

I would comment that I've had considerable difficulty with the telstra turbocard manager software. connect to internet and laptop hangs, no bluescreen or anything just locks up tight and you gotta hard reset. nobody else with same model laptop/OS/card/software has had as many problems as I so it could just be my windows install is fubar. I've got a lot of s*** on here.

3 is a bit dodgy in that they charge you an arm and a leg if you go away from their towers. IMO they should wear that cost if a customer isn't near one of their towers.

Why should they wear it? They make their coverage maps publicly available and when I signed up for my plan they even performed a coverage check on my home and work addresses to make sure my two main points were covered. If you're stupid enough to take out a product that won't work in your area that's your fault.

what if they are just passing on charges that they are charged by telstra or whoever'd towers they'd be using in that circumstance?

And this.

Go next G if you need coverage out of metro area's the 3g ones suck ballz. I have both

I just cant fathom how they charge $60+ for 1gb of data
I would be happy to go with telstra if they were even *remotely* competitive on price

a) carrier?
A-a) Three

b) quality of the tubes/speed of service etc
A-b) Awesome, s*** hot - 300kbps no worries in the CBD

c) price - worth it?
A-c) $39 = 6gb, not great but its a portable solution and works flawlessly thus far (alternatives were $15 = 1gb & $29 = 2GB)

d) are you 'forced/locked' into using the one type of sim card with the usb 3g thing
A-d) Nope, I unwrapped the box and it clearly states 'if you would like to unlock this device please three on 135651' or something to that effect

One thing I will say, I paid $129 for this bastard modem only to then ring up to 'active' and pay for my service - it took 20 minutes to sign up because I'd never been with three before

they wanted drivers licence, medicare, dob/full name/address/contact numbers, employers name, length of employment etc
I protested in a big way, I just wanted the internets and I'm paying upfront so I dont really see why I should have to help them by allowing them to sell my details to target advertisers (cynic I know)

anywho I managed to sign up with 99% fake information, the only reason they got my real name was because I know they need it to process my visa

what if they are just passing on charges that they are charged by telstra or whoever'd towers they'd be using in that circumstance?

That's precisely what they're doing. $1.65 per megabyte is exactly what Three get charged from Telstra, not a cent less.

Combine this with the fact that the modem is set by default to not allow roaming, and there's really no reason why Three should rightfully have to pay these roaming charges.

anywho I managed to sign up with 99% fake information, the only reason they got my real name was because I know they need it to process my visa

i hope you get done for fraud you f***ing stupid c***

Yeah the roaming isn't that bad, three provide excellent coverage maps in their brochure which is normally right next to the product before you buy it

It covers pretty much everywhere I'm likely to go, unless I drive between capital cities, at which point I don't care because I'd be driving?

can someone explain to me why if you buy a usb modem from vodafone you can get 5gb for $40, but if you use the internet on your phone it costs $20,000/gb, or a plan for $10/100mb? isn't it the same service???

yes, i think that's what you call marketing.
also, calm down.