I'm looking for personal experiences with mobile broadband, my areas of interest are listed below. (Areas I need good coverage in)

Brisbane CBD / Western Suburbs
Gold Coast
Sunshine Coast
North Stradbroke
Byron Bay / Bangalow

Now vodafone I know has troubles at least at Straddy, can anyone shed some light on other vendors ?

tia

My flatmate has mobile broadband through 3 and has no problems in Sunny Coast, BrisVegas and down here on the Gold Coast...

Ok nice - they use Optus' towers don't they ?

So there is:

Vodafone $39 for 5GB (No national roaming charges?)
Three $15 for 1GB, $29 for 2GB, $49 for 4GB (National roaming charges however)
Optus $30 for 1GB, $45 for 2GB, $50 for 5GB, $60 for 6GB (roaming charges?
Telstra $$$$$

Optus and Vodafone share 3G Towers.
Telstra and 3 share 3G Towers.
Telstra operate NextG exclusively.

Optus and Vodafone share 3G Towers.
Telstra and 3 share 3G Towers.
Telstra operate NextG exclusively.

Sorta...

• Optus and Vodafone share 3G Towers.


• Telstra run a 2100mhz 3G network and resell to 3. 3 roam to Telstra 2G in other areas.


• Telstra operate NextG exclusively.

Vodafone, Optus and Telstra have their own network, and don't roam.

I was under the impression that Hutch started rolling out their 3G network long before Telstra expressed interest in the technology, and the resulting joint venture was 3GIS pty ltd.

yeah but three hasn't added any infrastructure in years by the looks of it. its actual 3g coverage is a bit of a joke.

Telstra run a 2100mhz 3G network and resell to 3. 3 roam to Telstra 2G in other areas.

er no.

From an article back when Telstra bought a 50% stake in Hutch's 3G network:

"Telstra would initially gain access to Hutchison's existing 2,000-base station 3G footprint, encompassing Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide and Perth.

Under the deal, Telstra will pay Hutchison AU$450 million -- in instalments starting from December -- for 50 percent ownership of Hutchison's 3G assets. "

Source

Given the mass uptake of Mobile Broadband, I'd actually be suprised if there wasn't some network/footprint improvements coming from the 3 camp (along with the other Carriers, other than telstra of course) in the next 12 months.. MBB is going to keep getting bigger, so it's only logical that you need to improve your network to keep up with increase in customer numbers.

ps. Hi exo!

Sup DJ?

I'm on the Telstra Next G and I can say it works well in all the areas u specified however I have only used it on south straddy not north but I got about 4 out of 5 bars so I would imagine north should be about the same.
I can't remember the last time I tried to use it and was dissapoointed with the speed or signal.

I use 3's X-Series data in Brisbane and Syndney, and Next G prepaid everywhere else.

Beware the PAYG (Pay As You Go) charges on Next G if you exceed your allowance. Depending on the network you find yourself on (EDGE or roaming GPRS) the data can cost you nearly $22.00 per MB...

I use prepaid with added data packs as required. It's still pricey, but in Telstra's defence they have come up with a good way to top up your data allowance.

darkjedi, correct me if i'm wrong, but 3 mobile broadband runs at 2100mhz and telstra's nextg is 850mhz i believe. So telstra's stake in hutchinson's (3's) infrastructure would be of little benefit to them, when it comes to the acutal receivers.
Also
at work we exclusively use telstra turbo cards and they seem quite good, ie wherever i can get nextg voice coverage I can get data coverage. Which is quite handy when you're in somewhere like Proston and you need to remote into a server etc.

MrH: That's correct. 3's 3G network runs on the 2100mhz band, whereas NextG is 850mhz. That said, my interpretation of what Telstra got out of the partnership was to provide a 3G stopgap until NextG was fully up and running. No idea what benefit they get out of it now NextG has kicked off... Of course I could be wildly off the mark too.

That's correct. 3's 3G network runs on the 2100mhz band, whereas NextG is 850mhz. That said, my interpretation of what Telstra got out of the partnership was to provide a 3G stopgap until NextG was fully up and running

Actually, that's pretty much exactly what happened. Telstra and 3 (Hutchison Telecommunications Australia Limited) have a joint responsibility to develop and deploy infrastructure for access to the 2100mhz spectrum.. Hutch got a pretty good deal out of it for allowing Telstra access to their network for a few years..

One of the most important things to be aware of though, is the cost per megabyte (and not just when you exceed your cap). Telstra's NextG network certainly has the coverage advantage over everyone else, but their cost per megabyte is horrendous.

If you can get coverage with 3, they've got the best $/MB around, but you may be stretched to get native (as opposed to roaming) coverage on Straddie etc.

Good luck though! If you need any more info, PM me.. I used to be one of their top handset support guys before I realised that they were a sucking the life out of me :D

wait wait wait

why would Telstra ever have been interested in a 2100mhz network?
NextG is (stupidly) 850mhz!

850Mhz is why it gets such good range, noob.

i'm well aware of frequencies characteristics
I'm coming from a perspective that nearly all 3g devices are built for the international standard of 2100mhz.