When travelling ,Telstra is the only way to go, unfortunately, no one else has the coverage outside of big towns.
We did our trip on telstra pre paid for the internet .but utilised macDonalds and other free wifi spots for doing big uploads including updating virus checker and windows.


-- Edited by Gary and Kerry on Thursday 26th of November 2009 02:21:33 PM

Thanks Gary, Kerry and Disco Duck, It looks like Testra will be the G O. 

How many gig did you use each month when you were travelling? We are mainly wanting to be able to use email, banking, facebook and similar stuff. Not into downloading big files.

We have been planning our trip for years now and finally it looks like we might actually be able to do it. Work is such a kill-joy! I think I will believe it when we have left town and are settle in for our first night in the van. we don't have any specific travel plans, other than to head toward the NT (we are in Redland Bay - 40kls SE of Brisbane) and then work our way around and down the WA coast and on from there. My husband and I are soooo looking forward to escaping our daily grind. oh well, only 5 months to wait now ......

I use Maccas & Libraries. Theres a lot of them out there.

Hi Halls we use telstra as well and the phone as modem..but use their $10.00 150meg plan each month. plenty for a few emails and a small browse.. and those other ideas sound good never used mackers. on wifi.. see some thing learned... safe travels ...Bob

Back before I got the blue toaster I used my mobile phone as a modem during "my hour." For large downloads and Window$ updates I paid for time at internet cafes (where they would let me connect my machine.) Many internet cafes will pull the network cable out of one of their machines and plug it into yours. They charge the same hourly rates as using their machine.

I found that it only took a few minutes to download your e-mails and in the remaining free time I could download and save quite a few forum threads. I would keep my connect time to 18 minutes (in fear of going over the 20 minute time limit.) I would generally reconnect for a second go and save a heap more threads. I then had 23 hours to compose the replies for my next reconnect period.

Never got billed for the mobile phone time once.

Now I have the blue toaster I pay $50 per month, which I consider good value knowing the cost of installing networks in the bush. When I was associated with the remote rural telephone systems (DRCS) in the 80s the base stations were costing between $100,000 and $300,000 a piece. I don't know the current cost of those phone cells across the Barkly or Nullarbor but the costs would be similar. If you want remote area access then you have to pay up.

The non Telstra networks have also oversold their networks or have inferior networks. A while ago APC magazine did a survey of download capabilities of the networks. Telstra was the only one capable of downloading video from the ABC network without problems. So if you want wireless and get some good download speeds then it is Telstra again and pay for the service they give.

Below is a summary of the APC article I composed:

Answer to Questions on Telstra Pricing

The Telstra net covers an area vastly bigger than any of the other networks. With each base site costing a few hundred thousand dollars you are going to pay significantly more for this wide area coverage. Too many people bleat away about the high cost of BigPond and do not take this into account - I think these members are expecting the service for nothing.

I have posted the above sentiments for a long time. Then the other day I got the October 2008 issue of APC magazine and there is a good comparison of the wireless broadband services. On page 56 they say:

But, in our testing, we can see why. Next G wireless broadband services really work well. We were able to playstreaming YouTube videos in high-quality mode with no buffering delays at all. And the fact that you can use it basically anywhere with full network speed makes it perennially useful.

Speed tests showed a download speed of over 4Mbit/s and an upload speed of 800Kbit/s. It was the only wireless broadband service we tested that provided enough performance to view ABC's TV-on-demand service, iView, consistently well.

They then rabit on a little about pricing and then finish off the Telstra bit with:

Telstra is maintaining its network quality by restricting demand with its high prices. But at least for the money you pay, you get a service that actually works reliably.

They finish off the comparison with some test results. Two of them describe downloading YouTube and ABC TV. None of the other networks went within a bulls roar of doing that properly. Whilst you are probably not wanting to do this on the road you will want to download some large files like pictures and not have to wait too long to do this.

The bottom line is do you want to pay for promises and get poor results or pay for performance and receive value.

Halls wrote:

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We are planning on doing the big lap starting around Easter in 2010 and was wondering what the best service provider is for wireless internet access while travelling. We want to be able to keep in touch with family and friends plus do a small amount of business onine eg banking etc. Optus vs Telstra next G. Does Telstra really give that much better service. they are more expensive, but is it worth it and is it the best option? comments please.

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Also read general forum . page 2, better service in van .

safe travells .

 

im on bigpond, yes its dearer , but u do get the better coverage

Not one to get into this free camping I use van parks and I found that those parks of note now provide a net hook up and you buy the time you need If staying a week or so I get the 5 hour package for about $10.00 that gets me an access code and I'm away . Just remember to log off when you are finished otherwise the meter keeps running .

In most of the park directories they indicate if net access ids available to help with your trip planning

With Vista the computer can be hidden on public networks, to overcome the problem with 'hackers'

use the 'Public' place

Public place

Choose this location for networks in public places (such as coffee shops or airports). This location is designed to keep your computer from being visible to other computers around you and to help protect your computer from any malicious software from the Internet. Network discovery is turned off for this location.

Note

For older systems, I believe and from memory only, with 'users must enter password' selected, this should keep most at arms length. There is a setting in the network//wireless section for 'do not transmit BSID' or do not transmit base station ID, also. Not sure if this prevents the IP address being sent.

Pam wrote:

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How does macca's internet connection work?
Start button, bottom left of your screen. Select .. Connect to , Highlight Macdonalds FreeWiFi as your internet connection, accept terms and conditions.

What do you need to hook up there?
A wireless enabled laptop

What does it cost?
Free

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Thanks Gary and Kerry

Disco Duck wrote:

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Don't know that I would trust the Microsoft protections too much Twobob. I may be wrong......but...............

Have you tried with another laptop at Maccas to see if it really does hide it. I would be interested.

This is my opinion.........may not be fact.





"I thought I was wrong once.....but I was misteaken!"

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We have tried it with 2 laptops, my work one and ours.
Ours was hidden, work one wasn't.

Unfortunately Telstra owns most of the infrastructure, Optus owns the rest.
They only lease out "enough", but not maximum space, hence the variation in service & range

Cruising Granny wrote:

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Unfortunately Telstra owns most of the infrastructure, Optus owns the rest.

They only lease out "enough", but not maximum space, hence the variation in service & range

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As far as I know, Telstra do not share any of their mobile phone network. This ceased with the closure of the CDMA network. The bit they share is the fixed line network.

In the early days it was decreed that networks were to share their buildings an towers. Up until that time they had separate com sites on each hill top. You will find that Vodaphone and Optus share most of their installations, but their networks are separate.

-- Edited by PeterD on Thursday 10th of December 2009 04:14:35 PM