Broadband headaches (relates to Australia only)

[nithig]

Ah ... maybe here in the lounge I can kick off m' shoes say "as far as I can tell all Aussie Telcos are *%$#@!s. I've been on dialup forever ... or at least since I first went online back when ...and I am so over it and ready for broadband. But the telcos are so (unnecessarily) tricky ... they don't seem capable of offering a plain English straight forward deal ... it's all - you have to bundle this and you have to be eligible for this by also having this and that .... I've already got a mobile and am happy with it .. I jsut want an stand alone preferably wireless broadband offer. Now if you're reading this and you have an income then you might be thinking "hey what's the proble" ... but my income is limited. That's why I want to do away with the landline and go wireless cos I'm tired of having to pay landline rental just so I can have access to an ISP. Grrrrrr....any entrepreneurs out there ... there's a big market here in Australia for folks like me ... One thing ... when a deal includes both uploads (as well as the normal downloads) what effect does that have on useage? does it double it? Anyone have any idea. BTW if you know of a deal let me know ...and sorry but I'm in the regions so none of the city deals are offered here. Now where's a grumpy old emoticon .....oh there's only a mad one ... oo roo.

 

[kodi]

Where do you live in Australia?
What company are you with for your Mobile and how good is the reception on it?
How much a month do you want to pay?

 

[nithig]

Hi Kodi,

Thanks for yr interest.

I'm in the Northern Rivers (nr Grafton) - local exchange only has ADSL capacity. Mob. is Optus pre-paid ... I like that as my family and several friends are on it too so each time I rechange $30 I get 300 minutes to use freely with any other Optus pre-paid. Reception is good...have never had a reception problem. Currently my ISP is Telstra Bigpond. So it cost $30 line rental (I hardly use the phone as a phone) and $25 for unlimited dial - up. So that's $55 before I occasionally make an STD call (capped at $2 for 3 hrs) So I can afford say ..up to $60 per month. (Once landline goes I can use skype which is no good on dial up)

ps I'm wary of the plans which measure upload and download ...

 

[Golden]

Hi,

Check out Internode. I'm not sure if they service your area, but I moved to them from Bigpond BadPond, and I have never looked back. Just a simple straight-forward ISP.

Let us know how it goes.
Golden

 

[nithig]

Hi Golden, thanks for that lead. Just now they don't have what I'm after. They offer 5GB for $49.95 - & count up and down load. That wouldn't be enough. By comparison Optus offers 8GB wireless for same price.

 

[smarteyeball]

One thing ... when a deal includes both uploads (as well as the normal downloads) what effect does that have on useage? does it double it?

No, it's not doubled.

When up and down is counted - all traffic usage adds up to your plans total.

ie: An 8GB plan.

If you downloaded 3GB of files, used 3GB while browsing (youtube, video streaming, sites with a lot flash, large pics etc) and you 'uploaded' 2GB of data (torrents, e-mail attachments etc ) that all adds up to your 8GB total.

You couldn't download 8GB of data and upload 8GB of data because the total would be 16GB which would cost a hell of lot extra in excess usage fees. I'm pretty sure that all wireless plans count both up and down.

If you haven't already, check out the Broadband and Mobile sections of Whirlpool

 

[spinifex]

One thing ... when a deal includes both uploads (as well as the normal downloads) what effect does that have on useage? does it double it?

If you haven't already, check out the Broadband and Mobile sections of Whirlpool

Beat me to it, as that would be my recommendation also.
Whirlpool rules.

 

[nithig]

Thanks smarteyeball and spinafex ... I'll get onto it.

 

[nithig]

forgot to say - my gut feeling is that there won't be real competition here until the retail arm of Telstra is privatised ... sooner the better. I just can't see how any retailer can compete with another retailer which is also the wholesaler. Once Bigpond etc are privatised and Telstra is only a wholesaler then companies will compete. Plus of course the NBN will add spice to competition.

 

[kodi]

Have you looked at Either Optus or Virgin (they use the optus network) mobile Broadband wireless dongle.
They have some good plans and if you are getting good reception from Optus now they should work for you.
Unless you are into Torrents you will not upload very much at all so I would not worry about that.

http://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Template_woRHS&FP=/personal/internet/wirelessbroadband&site=personal&tas=semmb&cid=SL_Mob_BB_001:BAU:OSC:OMB:SEMost_Wireless_BB:30062010&s_kwcid=TC|17954|optus%20mobile%20broadband||S||8275209841


http://www.virginmobile.com.au/broadband/mobile-broadband?s_kwcid=TC|14491|virgin%20mobile%20broadband||S|e|8930634355

 

[nithig]

thanks Kodi. not so keen on Optus ... have talked to them ... too much small print, no shaping... looking at Virgin ... have heard some negative feedback about their service back-up but I'v saved the page and wlll check it out thoroughly. My main limitation is financial ... although I do feel that all providers are following the leader and being a bit miserable on GB limit. I mean have you seen the plans one can get in say England? Leaves us for dead.