Telstra again (but not my usual whinge)

tonyd · Guru

Telstra again (but not my usual whinge)

dave06 · Guru

I'm a novice when it comes to this but I bought a prepaid dongle thingy from a telstra shop and it gave me about an hour, someone said it may have been downloads but I dont know much about it, I wouldn't go back to them

DeBe · Guru

Dave, the problem with pre paid you need to disable any thing on your computer that automaticly updates Eg antivirus programs etc, these wil gobble up your prepaid prety quick. Cheers Daryl

milo · Senior Member

i have a telstra modem, now on a 6igig plan i think but not prepaid. seems to work ok for me..

Cupie · Guru

DeBe wrote:

Dave, the problem with pre paid you need to disable any thing on your computer that automaticly updates Eg antivirus programs etc, these wil gobble up your prepaid prety quick. Cheers Daryl

DeBe .. You have something there. My puter is a bit slow at the moment so I am using my Nortons facility that shows CPU usage to track down the problem, before I go to the experts who will undoubtedly tell me to re install all my programs & operating system first .. a large pain!

I have found that there are an amazing number of Microsoft (and other) 'programs' trying to repeatedly access the internet without my knowledge. I progressively get rid of them & observe the result.

In my case I think that what I am trying to do conflicts with these things in competing for CPU time. (I think slowing down the puter resopnse time)

JRH · Guru

Cupie wrote:

DeBe wrote:

Dave, the problem with pre paid you need to disable any thing on your computer that automaticly updates Eg antivirus programs etc, these wil gobble up your prepaid prety quick. Cheers Daryl

DeBe .. You have something there. My puter is a bit slow at the moment so I am using my Nortons facility that shows CPU usage to track down the problem, before I go to the experts who will undoubtedly tell me to re install all my programs & operating system first .. a large pain!

I have found that there are an amazing number of Microsoft (and other) 'programs' trying to repeatedly access the internet without my knowledge. I progressively get rid of them & observe the result.

In my case I think that what I am trying to do conflicts with these things in competing for CPU time. (I think slowing down the puter resopnse time)

Will probably get howled down for this but I turn off all updates including Microsoft, that way I don't get a lot of crap downloading and eating into my monthly allowance.

Woodpecker · Veteran Member

Hi tontyd
I have just got a big pond turbo wireless broudband usb unit. Allowance 3g per month no extra charges if you go over but they will slow the speed to 64kb .
The cost of this is $30 per month over 2 years.
As I usually use about 1.5 g this suits my needs. When getting the unit I found it better to go direct to Bigpond as you don't have the worry of an initial outlay with cash back deal as provided by telstra shops.
I have been using a Vodafone mobile card for the last 2 years but here in the West the coverage is restricted to major towns while the bigpond works on next G and with an arial we should get coverage at most of our out of the way camps.
Roy

JRH · Guru

-- Edited by JRH on Friday 12th of March 2010 05:34:59 PM

PeterD · Guru

I don't think you will get much increase in speed with a change in modem. I only have the blue toaster and most of my slow speed is sitting around waiting for the remote server to to respond.

If you wish to upgrade then see
http://www.promo.bigpond.com/keepmoving/ - you will get your white dongle free with that offer.

Wombat 280 · Guru

Woodpecker wrote:

Hi tontyd
I have just got a big pond turbo wireless broudband usb unit. Allowance 3g per month no extra charges if you go over but they will slow the speed to 64kb .
The cost of this is $30 per month over 2 years.
As I usually use about 1.5 g this suits my needs. When getting the unit I found it better to go direct to Bigpond as you don't have the worry of an initial outlay with cash back deal as provided by telstra shops.
I have been using a Vodafone mobile card for the last 2 years but here in the West the coverage is restricted to major towns while the bigpond works on next G and with an arial we should get coverage at most of our out of the way camps.
Roy

Roy is this $30 p/m for the full 24 or only part thereof.

Not doubting you but with telstra attached to it it all sound too good to be true

-- Edited by Wombat 280 on Friday 12th of March 2010 10:26:17 PM

pricey43 · Guru

Have also just done my homework and finished up with Bigpond
They had 2 types of dongles, a Turbo and an Elite. When I questioned the difference, the salesman said that the Turbo is working at its maximum potential at the moment. In 2 years time speeds will probably be a lot faster. The Elite will be able to handle these faster speeds when available.

I also opted for the 2 year plan as the cost is a lot less than pre-paid and when at home can change it down to the lower amount.
Hope this is of some help because its all very confusing.!!!!!

Wombat 280 · Guru

pricey43 wrote:

Have also just done my homework and finished up with Bigpond
They had 2 types of dongles, a Turbo and an Elite. When I questioned the difference, the salesman said that the Turbo is working at its maximum potential at the moment. In 2 years time speeds will probably be a lot faster. The Elite will be able to handle these faster speeds when available.

I also opted for the 2 year plan as the cost is a lot less than pre-paid and when at home can change it down to the lower amount.
Hope this is of some help because its all very confusing.!!!!!

Two questions .

What's the cost per month after you got the USB card

What is meant by "when at home can change down to lower amount

Cruising Granny · Guru

They're tricky devils those Telstra sales people. The trick is they don't know anything about what they're selling.
Your "dongle" turbo or elite won't last 2 years.
I started wireless, mobile broadband in 07. I'm on about the 6th one.
The last one only lasted 2 months.
When the one before the last one died, I was lucky to get 10 minutes out of it. Then it didn't disconnect, it just didn't ......
When I had to replace it, under warranty, the man told me I had to start a new account. This meant changing my email address etc. What a nuisance!
It turns out the man gave me the wrong info. The Telstra man was wrong!
So after changing all my info to everyone who has my email address, the next one failed. But I didn't have to change any addresses this time.
When I bought this latest laptop the Telstra "dongle" died about a week after I plugged it in.
Just aske as many questions as you can. And ask more and more until there isn't a vague doubt in your head.
I could write a book about my own personal experiences with that mob. It would be dramatic and very funny. If I took Telstra seriously I'd be in the funny farm.
If everyone else contributed towards my book, the series would take up more space than the Encyclopedia Britannica, and be just as useful, but funnier and more entertaining.

Wombat 280 · Guru

What! Telstra wrong I don't believe it . Mate has burnt out two or three cards in less than 12 months and he to was told to change his account , what a pain in the rear end

Pam · Guru

I have a gmail account so I don't have to notify everyone if I have to change my service provider

twobob · Guru

re email address, I did the same, sort of. When I changed service provider, I retained my original email addy, but have to pay $25 per year for its retension and the ability to recieve emails.

I did have to change the sending side over to the new provider, which is done via the email software. Not hard to do, and a lot easier than trying to send out a new addy

pricey43 · Guru

Have just rung home and I'm told there is a letter from Telstra with a new memory card to put in the dongle. Apparently some are faulty and have viruses on. Great!!! I have not had any trouble and have pretty good uptodate protection on the computer so I think I'm O.K.

tonyd · Guru

Thanks for all the replies. Glad to know I am not alone in hating Telstra but having to use it becos it works. Think I'll stick with the white dongle for the moment until I can get connected to Mr Dudd's national broadband network . . . and the chance of the NBN ever working is as remote as Richmond winning the AFL flag this year! Cheers, Tony

PeterD · Guru

Wombat 280 wrote:
Two questions .

What's the cost per month after you got the USB card

What is meant by "when at home can change down to lower amount"

The cost per month depends on which plan you are on and also there are further $10 per month discounts if you have a Telstra mobile or home phone. See the latest offer and all the plans.

You can change your plans once in a month. If you are subscribed to more than the cheapest plan whilst travelling, when you come home you can change your plan to a cheaper one if you have an alternate connection at home

bill12 · Guru

You want to watch out for windows update as they don,t tell you that it is downloading in the background. I had it download 800meg without my permission. I now use dod which gives me 2 gig for $24.50, and works in most places.