I was pouring over the forum for information on the above subject, when it finally dawned on me to use the search button anyway after reading through a few posts I want to know how things have changed? What are you using and who with? I know this is going to sound strange but I prefer not to use wifi because I'm Electro sensitive.
Thanks
Mezzie
Dougwe said
06:29 AM Jul 25, 2014
This will be an interesting topic I reckon because I am unaware of anything else other than wifi/wireless when travelling in the playground. It would be a mighty long cable to have a landline set up that's for sure.
How do you go when in areas that have free/public wifi if you don't mind me asking.
Glenelg said
06:36 AM Jul 25, 2014
Bush Telegraph
oldbobsbus said
07:13 AM Jul 25, 2014
I'm still very happy with my $40 pm Boost deal..
Sparkster said
08:14 AM Jul 25, 2014
I use an iPhone with Telstra as my carrier and link the phone by cable to my laptop for internet/email etc. and for paying bills.
If I'm in a spot that reception is dodgy or nonexistent I see that as a sign that it doesn't need doing.
My Telstra plan costs a bit under $40/month which covers my calls and 2Gb of data which I use about 75% of the data. Probably most of my data is used listening to 'Tune In Radio' on the iPhone instead of listening to sometimes scratchy radio in poor reception areas, Also as long as I have Telstra signal we listen to our favourate stations in the car by hooking the iPhone to the car radio.
I've used this system for a few years now and have rarely been let down with reception etc.
Keith....
Big Gorilla said
08:48 AM Jul 25, 2014
I've thrown away my Samsung you beaut whiz bang phone and bought a Nokia plain old cellphone for $39.00 at K-Mart. I have a pre-paid Telstra Cap Plan and for $40.00 a month I get $550.00 in free calls and text including International. I do make a lot of International calls and send a lot of SMS overseas. Between 6.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m. daily I get free calls and text within Australia. 500MB of Data comes with this plan which I don't use. If you don't require that much credit, for $30.00 a month you get $250.00 credit and still get 500 MB Data. I only want a cellphone to send and receive calls and text.
For the Internet, I prefer a laptop and when on the road I have a Telstra USB Modem which costs me $24.50 a month for 3 GB.
I've searched out most of the offerings and I can't get much better than what I have. Everyone will have their own idea of what is a good deal for themselves.
Mezzie there is no other option than using wifi.
Pejay said
01:48 PM Jul 25, 2014
We use Telstra and have what they classify as a 'rural phone' and also take our laptop with a 'dongel' for mobile broadband - no worries - get better reception out west than we do at home. Found that there seemed to be numerous people running around trying to find wifi cafes or whatever, and figured we were doing better, just had to pull out the laptop, plug in the dongle, and away I went!
We are on - homeline $35.95/mth; mobile $20.00/mth; and mobile internet $49.95/mth with $20.00 in credits each mth, so it brings the internet down to $20.00/mth.
Murraman said
11:59 PM Jul 25, 2014
Big Gorilla, Telstra don't give away freebees. I know all this you pay $40 and we give you $550 sounds fantastic but they are only giving you $40 worth in the real world or they would go broke. They still make a profit and it is a scam telling people this crap. All the main providers do it. Check your call costs and txt costs on these plans.
I use Aldi sims which use Telstra 3g and for me it works out cheaper with call costs and data usage. I think the $180 12 gig 12 month data plan from telstra is ok also.
Big Gorilla said
08:05 AM Jul 26, 2014
Murraman wrote:
Big Gorilla, Telstra don't give away freebees. I know all this you pay $40 and we give you $550 sounds fantastic but they are only giving you $40 worth in the real world or they would go broke. They still make a profit and it is a scam telling people this crap. All the main providers do it. Check your call costs and txt costs on these plans.
I use Aldi sims which use Telstra 3g and for me it works out cheaper with call costs and data usage. I think the $180 12 gig 12 month data plan from telstra is ok also.
You are certainly right there. Telstra give nothing away. The call and SMS costs are sky high, but still I make a lot of calls and send a lot of SMS, especially overseas, and I'm flat out using $550.00 every month. And of course free calls after 6.00 p.m. As I said in my original post, it's the best deal I can find. There are no Aldi stores in Tasmania.
yeoeleven said
08:13 AM Jul 26, 2014
I use the $180 per year Telstra internet getting 12gb, it carries over if I renew before the anniversary date. I used to use the dongle but have switched over to WiFi.
The phone doesn't get much use and I have the Amaysim use as you go package but it is restricted to Optus. I set my total to $15 and buy more when it gets below $2.
The big advantage I take is to use Skype call to mobile and landline whenever I have the internet. It is cheap and I started up with $16 and still have most of it. It cost me 17c to call the Gold Coast recently for over 5 minutes. I have to have internet coverage but the receiver does not have to be online, if they are it is free computer to computer. John
Dav4Cris said
10:25 AM Jul 26, 2014
We use Boost for Mobiles as we can use as much as we want as far as calls and texts in Australia and at any time, cost is $40.00 for 30 days Unlimited prepaid. Boost is Telstra other Prepaid company, when you receive the reminder for payment it comes from Telstra. Only runs on 3G but you only get 4G in large towns. We use Telstra plan for Internet at $105.00 for 15GB of download, use most of this at the moment but will be interested to see how much we use when we hit the road full time next week.
Big Gorilla said
10:38 AM Jul 26, 2014
yeoeleven wrote:
I use the $180 per year Telstra internet getting 12gb, it carries over if I renew before the anniversary date. I used to use the dongle but have switched over to WiFi.
The phone doesn't get much use and I have the Amaysim use as you go package but it is restricted to Optus. I set my total to $15 and buy more when it gets below $2.
The big advantage I take is to use Skype call to mobile and landline whenever I have the internet. It is cheap and I started up with $16 and still have most of it. It cost me 17c to call the Gold Coast recently for over 5 minutes. I have to have internet coverage but the receiver does not have to be online, if they are it is free computer to computer. John
If you buy a Skype number which I think costs me $48.00 a year, people can call you on that number for the cost to them of a local call. If your Skype is off, you can redirect it to your cellphone and take the call. The other benefit is that you can make a landline call to anywhere in Australia, talk for hours if you wish, and the total cost is 6 cents. You need to do the sums to see if it's worthwhile spending $48.00 extra a year to save on calls.
in transit said
04:29 PM Jul 26, 2014
Keith, that is the sort of plan I need. I have been into Telstra 3 times and left because I couldn't get served. I have also browsed their deals on the web but can't see anything with 2GB of data for around $40. Was your deal packaged with a phone? If not I would appreciate Telstras code name/number for it if it is still available.
Barry
Mezzie said
06:45 AM Jul 28, 2014
Thank you all for your input
First of all I can see that Telstra has a hold on the system with their wifi I don't have anything to do with them because they are scammers, however, I have a normal mobile phone with the Aldi sim that is just fine and uses the 3G network, this is okay for phone calls and i can buy a number of 15.00 cards before I leave. I can see that its going to be very difficult if not impossible to get internet without using wifi . I use the internet for everything.. haha! I can spend 12 hr@day just learning new stuff (when not working) so its going to be very interesting when i'm sitting in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the stars
You would think with the technology that we have that there would be another way.
Thank you!
Mezzie
Mezzie said
06:46 AM Jul 28, 2014
Your so funny Doug.. Long cable ...........................
Mezzie said
06:50 AM Jul 28, 2014
Big Gorilla wrote:
I've thrown away my Samsung you beaut whiz bang phone and bought a Nokia plain old cellphone for $39.00 at K-Mart. I have a pre-paid Telstra Cap Plan and for $40.00 a month I get $550.00 in free calls and text including International. I do make a lot of International calls and send a lot of SMS overseas. Between 6.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m. daily I get free calls and text within Australia. 500MB of Data comes with this plan which I don't use. If you don't require that much credit, for $30.00 a month you get $250.00 credit and still get 500 MB Data. I only want a cellphone to send and receive calls and text.
For the Internet, I prefer a laptop and when on the road I have a Telstra USB Modem which costs me $24.50 a month for 3 GB.
I've searched out most of the offerings and I can't get much better than what I have. Everyone will have their own idea of what is a good deal for themselves.
Mezzie there is no other option than using wifi.
Sounds pretty good
Mezzie said
06:53 AM Jul 28, 2014
Murraman wrote:
Big Gorilla, Telstra don't give away freebees. I know all this you pay $40 and we give you $550 sounds fantastic but they are only giving you $40 worth in the real world or they would go broke. They still make a profit and it is a scam telling people this crap. All the main providers do it. Check your call costs and txt costs on these plans.
I use Aldi sims which use Telstra 3g and for me it works out cheaper with call costs and data usage. I think the $180 12 gig 12 month data plan from telstra is ok also.
Haha! your not wrong about Telstra
chaslib said
07:21 AM Jul 29, 2014
My mobile plan is $10 per month and have rarely had a bill more than $10 plus GST! .. No internet, only calls and SMS. One problem ...my plan is With Vodafail and it rarely works except in large metro areas. Not really worried, other half has Telstra calls and SMS $30 per month and the few calls we make or receive go to that phone. We do not want internet on our phones ... we both have cheap Samsung and Nokia phones! Our main means of communication is email and our blog so friends and family always know where we are at any one time. We have the Telstra 3G mini sim card with 12G for 12 months for 180 on the iPad and we never run out and the balance of data goes onto the next period if you renew before expiry date ... I think I currently have about 28g of data available ... Hate online games and refuse to play them and that saves lots of data.
-- Edited by chaslib on Tuesday 29th of July 2014 07:26:32 AM
Mezzie said
06:53 AM Aug 2, 2014
First of all, thank you all for your response.
Ive been doing some research on a dongle which you have to buy either with a plan or on its own.. The dongle can be anywhere from $65 - 140 depending on who you buy it from. If you buy the dongle outright (cost anywhere from $15-100) you still have to buy the sim from someone to access internet but its only $5-15 add to that the plan cost which is anything from $10 - 180+ a month.. You know I talk to people all around the world, not only do we have to worst internet in the world but the most expensive. Its a shame really with all the supposed amazing technology.
I know this, i don't want a plan, i got out of all my plans, phone/internet/mobile years ago and swore I would never be restricted and committed to any company again as they all scam. Telstra seems to be the network that works better than the others so ill make sure who i go with a telstra carrier.
Let me tell you about our technology.. The NBN was rolled out here recently.. a small country town in Victoria and we were excited, although my internet is quite good but from all the report of the NBN on the media etc., this was going to be amazing!! and the tower is only 500 mtrs away, so the guy came out to install the NBN (unfortunately it was fixed wireless) and told me it wont work because there are a couple of trees in the way... WHAT??!! your kidding, right? No he said.. I was flabbergasted...All the Hype and how they said "All Australian's, especially in country areas will have access to the NBN".........Hello!! What the F..k Happened??? My opinion is they should have kept it in the wires, I believe Abbot is responsible for the tower as originally it was going to be fiber optics, and now NO NBN in this area. oops! getting a bit excited here..
Anyway, if anyone is interested in my findings Im happy to share.
I was pouring over the forum for information on the above subject, when it finally dawned on me to use the search button
anyway after reading through a few posts I want to know how things have changed? What are you using and who with? I know this is going to sound strange but I prefer not to use wifi because I'm Electro sensitive.
Thanks
Mezzie
How do you go when in areas that have free/public wifi if you don't mind me asking.
Bush Telegraph
I'm still very happy with my $40 pm Boost deal..
I use an iPhone with Telstra as my carrier and link the phone by cable to my laptop for internet/email etc. and for paying bills.
If I'm in a spot that reception is dodgy or nonexistent I see that as a sign that it doesn't need doing.
My Telstra plan costs a bit under $40/month which covers my calls and 2Gb of data which I use about 75% of the data. Probably most of my data is used listening to 'Tune In Radio' on the iPhone instead of listening to sometimes scratchy radio in poor reception areas, Also as long as I have Telstra signal we listen to our favourate stations in the car by hooking the iPhone to the car radio.
I've used this system for a few years now and have rarely been let down with reception etc.
Keith....
I've thrown away my Samsung you beaut whiz bang phone and bought a Nokia plain old cellphone for $39.00 at K-Mart. I have a pre-paid Telstra Cap Plan and for $40.00 a month I get $550.00 in free calls and text including International. I do make a lot of International calls and send a lot of SMS overseas. Between 6.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m. daily I get free calls and text within Australia. 500MB of Data comes with this plan which I don't use. If you don't require that much credit, for $30.00 a month you get $250.00 credit and still get 500 MB Data. I only want a cellphone to send and receive calls and text.
For the Internet, I prefer a laptop and when on the road I have a Telstra USB Modem which costs me $24.50 a month for 3 GB.
I've searched out most of the offerings and I can't get much better than what I have. Everyone will have their own idea of what is a good deal for themselves.
Mezzie there is no other option than using wifi.
We are on - homeline $35.95/mth; mobile $20.00/mth; and mobile internet $49.95/mth with $20.00 in credits each mth, so it brings the internet down to $20.00/mth.
I use Aldi sims which use Telstra 3g and for me it works out cheaper with call costs and data usage. I think the $180 12 gig 12 month data plan from telstra is ok also.
You are certainly right there. Telstra give nothing away. The call and SMS costs are sky high, but still I make a lot of calls and send a lot of SMS, especially overseas, and I'm flat out using $550.00 every month. And of course free calls after 6.00 p.m. As I said in my original post, it's the best deal I can find. There are no Aldi stores in Tasmania.
I use the $180 per year Telstra internet getting 12gb, it carries over if I renew before the anniversary date. I used to use the dongle but have switched over to WiFi.
The phone doesn't get much use and I have the Amaysim use as you go package but it is restricted to Optus. I set my total to $15 and buy more when it gets below $2.
The big advantage I take is to use Skype call to mobile and landline whenever I have the internet. It is cheap and I started up with $16 and still have most of it. It cost me 17c to call the Gold Coast recently for over 5 minutes. I have to have internet coverage but the receiver does not have to be online, if they are it is free computer to computer. John
If you buy a Skype number which I think costs me $48.00 a year, people can call you on that number for the cost to them of a local call. If your Skype is off, you can redirect it to your cellphone and take the call. The other benefit is that you can make a landline call to anywhere in Australia, talk for hours if you wish, and the total cost is 6 cents. You need to do the sums to see if it's worthwhile spending $48.00 extra a year to save on calls.
Keith, that is the sort of plan I need. I have been into Telstra 3 times and left because I couldn't get served. I have also browsed their deals on the web but can't see anything with 2GB of data for around $40. Was your deal packaged with a phone? If not I would appreciate Telstras code name/number for it if it is still available.
Barry
Thank you all for your input
First of all I can see that Telstra has a hold on the system with their wifi I don't have anything to do with them because they are scammers, however, I have a normal mobile phone with the Aldi sim that is just fine and uses the 3G network, this is okay for phone calls and i can buy a number of 15.00 cards before I leave. I can see that its going to be very difficult if not impossible to get internet without using wifi
. I use the internet for everything.. haha! I can spend 12 hr@day just learning new stuff (when not working) so its going to be very interesting when i'm sitting in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the stars 
You would think with the technology that we have that there would be another way.
Thank you!
Mezzie
Your so funny Doug.. Long cable ...........................
Sounds pretty good
Haha! your not wrong about Telstra
My mobile plan is $10 per month and have rarely had a bill more than $10 plus GST! .. No internet, only calls and SMS. One problem ...my plan is With Vodafail and it rarely works except in large metro areas. Not really worried, other half has Telstra calls and SMS $30 per month and the few calls we make or receive go to that phone. We do not want internet on our phones ... we both have cheap Samsung and Nokia phones! Our main means of communication is email and our blog so friends and family always know where we are at any one time. We have the Telstra 3G mini sim card with 12G for 12 months for 180 on the iPad and we never run out and the balance of data goes onto the next period if you renew before expiry date ... I think I currently have about 28g of data available ... Hate online games and refuse to play them and that saves lots of data.
-- Edited by chaslib on Tuesday 29th of July 2014 07:26:32 AM
Ive been doing some research on a dongle which you have to buy either with a plan or on its own.. The dongle can be anywhere from $65 - 140 depending on who you buy it from. If you buy the dongle outright (cost anywhere from $15-100) you still have to buy the sim from someone to access internet but its only $5-15 add to that the plan cost which is anything from $10 - 180+ a month.. You know I talk to people all around the world, not only do we have to worst internet in the world but the most expensive. Its a shame really with all the supposed amazing technology.
I know this, i don't want a plan, i got out of all my plans, phone/internet/mobile years ago and swore I would never be restricted and committed to any company again as they all scam. Telstra seems to be the network that works better than the others so ill make sure who i go with a telstra carrier.
Let me tell you about our technology.. The NBN was rolled out here recently.. a small country town in Victoria and we were excited, although my internet is quite good but from all the report of the NBN on the media etc., this was going to be amazing!! and the tower is only 500 mtrs away, so the guy came out to install the NBN (unfortunately it was fixed wireless) and told me it wont work because there are a couple of trees in the way... WHAT??!! your kidding, right? No he said.. I was flabbergasted...All the Hype and how they said "All Australian's, especially in country areas will have access to the NBN".........Hello!! What the F..k Happened??? My opinion is they should have kept it in the wires, I believe Abbot is responsible for the tower as originally it was going to be fiber optics, and now NO NBN in this area. oops! getting a bit excited here..
Anyway, if anyone is interested in my findings Im happy to share.
Cheers!!