The super stylish 3 USB dongle
We've been waiting for one of the mobile carriers to bundle mobile data with a standard capped mobile plans and 3 Mobile has finally come through. Well, sort of.
Last week spending AU$69 with 3 Mobile could have bought you AU$550 worth of calls, plus a bunch of free talk time to other 3 Mobile customers. This week that same amount will get you, in addition to the aforementioned plan, 2GB of mobile downloads with an HSDPA speed USB mobile broadband dongle.
The catch is that you get two SIM cards: one for your mobile and one for the dongle, and this means the 2GB of mobile data can't be used on your phone. So people who want truly mobile data will have to pay extra to access the Web from their mobile handsets.
Still, it's a pretty sweet deal, and there's a few variations to the basic combo which you can check out at the 3 Web site. Hopefully the deal urges the competition to match them, maybe with bundled data we can use on our phones too.
gerling182
31/03/2008 04:56 PM
Virgin mobile also offer a combined deal, $80 per month gets you $550 worth off credit plus a wireless broadband modem and 1GB of downloads (shaped after 1GB). Hopefully this starts a price war between companies.
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jazzednjaded
01/04/2008 05:06 PM
Virgin hada similar deal available last year and probably dtill has. As long as you're in the coverage area it's brilliant.
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siddlal
12/04/2008 01:09 PM
3G Wireless mobile broadband This option has become really popular this year because all the mobile phone companies have started building infrastructure to increase the speed of their mobile networks & this has helped them introduce TRUE wireless broadband to the Australian market. The technology behind this vast improvement in the 3G network is called HSDPA. One of the main reasons I have been impressed with this technology is that it is truly mobile & you can essentially take your laptop and work while you are in the shopping centre, in a cafe, at the beach, at a client's office or even while on the train/bus. Basically you can take your Internet connection anywhere. The main thing to remember is that as long as you are in a 3G zone which at this stage covers 65% of the Australian population (this is what I gather from the Optus website & higher coverage from Telstra) you will be able to achieve practical speeds between 500 kbps to 1500 kbps (although the companies claim the max speed possible is 3 mbps). However when you go outside a 3G zone you will be on the GSM network which means you will only achieve speeds between 20 & 50 Kbps. So before you go out and buy a 3G connection please make sure you are in a 3G coverage zone - www2.optus.com.au (Optus/Soul) http://www.three.com.au/cs/ContentServer?pagename=Three%2FPage%2FIFramePageTemplate&cid=1185943280265&c=Page&p=&homeId= (Three) Another important factor to keep in mind is that some companies differntiate between the charges for the 3G zone vs the GSM zone. E.g. from what I can understand Hutchison's 3 Network charges users roaming charges when they go outside Hutchison's 3 zone and this can hit your wallet big time as the roaming charges are very expensive ($1.65 per MB above the roaming allowance) Telstra is supposed to have the best coverage amongst all the players & from what I can gather they cover more than 95% of the Australian population. However they are much more expensive than Optus, Three and Vodafone. http://www.beeneverywhere.com.au/html/pricing.htm (Telstra pricing) One of the best networks I feel is the Optus network as long as you are in a 3G coverage zone because they do not charge you excess fees in roaming charges for wandering between 3G and GSM zones and further their modem/software automatically selects the best network which is available. The Optus wireless connection is sold via many resellers and one of the best plans around for people on a budget is the $19.95 for 1GB download plan from Soul and at the time of writing they were giving away a USB wireless modem for Free on a 24m contract. Please see www.WirelessInternet.net.au for more details. However for people who want to do more with the Internet, check out Vodafone's wireless internet option $39 for 5GB download http://www.vodafone.com.au/Personal/PricingPlans/VodafoneMobileBroadband/index.htm
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cjc_1977
06/05/2008 07:28 PM
Three's express card works pretty well and i even went from SE Melb suburbs all the way to Ararat playing online games and it only cut out 2 times between Ballarat and Ararat for a min or two other than that in the 2G network it worked pretty well, and also three has roaming allowance I joined on the half price 2GB plan at the start of 2007 for $25 and i have 4GB roaming, so as long as you dont go over 4gb when roaming you wont get slugged with the Telstra-imposed rates of AU$1.65/MB for using its network (depending on the plan you join you get between 2gb and 6gb roaming allowance), and compared to some of the other carriers their excess data allowance is only 10c/MB when on the 3G network and it comes with the adapter to fit the older card slot as well which is what im using. In Dandenong SE suburbs of Melbourne (40km SE) it works not a problem (normally 4 of 5 bars) The only problem I have with Three is that when im in Croydon visiting i am at the edge of the 3G network and have had a few problems staying on the 3G network and so i went to stores to find an external antenna to maybe get a bit better range and three stores dont have them and they arent compatible with what telstra sells, i even checked if jaycar sold the MS-151 connection and no luck and so I either look overseas to buy the connection to male my own pigtail (antenna connection) or there are one or two aussie antenna stores (not that cheap) that i found that sell them. others might have had better luck finding them but i doubt it, some store salesmen say im not the only one having problems getting the external connection antenna end for the Three's express card.
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