We haven't hit the road yet, but wanted to know what sort of laptop computers/accessories others find helpful to work online, and keep in touch, whilst on the road.
My first "must have" is a smartphone or tablet with GPS and Wikicamps. Invaluable !
We have one "Remote area,Blue tick" smartphone from Telstra ( tradesmans "Dave" phone ). Another smartphone using Virgin & an internet dongle from Virgin.
We have a thick,meter long external antenna for the Dave phone. So far it has not made any improvement to phone reception.
We have a laptop, nothing special. When free camping we have a charger from Jaycar Electronics that takes 12 volts & turns it into 19 volts for the laptop.
A dongle to get the net for the laptop. We got a great deal with Virgin. Had our own dongle so sim card only. 12 GB a month for $40.
If there is a phone signal to have, we get it. If we can't get the net we wait until we are somewhere where we can and catch up.
Works for us. Hope that helps.
A laptop is probably a necessity if you intend to take photos with a camera and store them on there.
BUT if you just want communications with the outside world then I would personally go for an iPad with wifi and a data sim as well as a mobile phone. All on Telstra as they have the best coverage across Australia. You can get 12gb of data for 12 months on a Telstra pre-paid data sim card for $200.
If you decide that you need a laptop then instead of the iPad get a pre-aid modem from Telstra with the same 12gb data allowance for $200 which you can then hook up your laptop to.
as far as which Telco to go with - each publish a coverage map of Australia. You can then decide which one you will need or want to go with.
We have 2 Virgin phones and just waiting for the contracts to expire before we cancel their service (they use the Optus network which is not that great in the rural areas)
We have a Dave phone from Telstra (you can drop it in up to a metre of water if you feel in the mood lol) with a handsfree kit and external aerial on the roo bar. You need to select a Telstra "rural" shop to get good advice - and there are rural shops in city areas). Most of the retail phone shops employ bimbos who know very little about anything other than selling you a pink or red cover, so be careful. You can find where your nearest "rural" shop is online through the Telstra site.
We carry two android tablets mainly for e-books, but we have wikicamps on one. Wikicamps is fantastic. 14 day free trial or $8 to buy. Find by "wikicamps" app. Also can get it on Ipads.
We both have a laptop each for email, various sites, google and of course The Grey Nomads. Wikicamps needs Windows v 8.1 to operate or Apple
We use a Telstra dongle - $200 for one year of 12 GB - not much and expensive, but best coverage and we have plug in aerials which are about 18" long that go into the dongle to better coverage.
Remember if you cant get reception or its very slow, take your device outside. Caravans, cars and motor homes block out a lot of signal
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
"We have a thick,meter long external antenna for the Dave phone. So far it has not made any improvement to phone reception. We have a laptop, nothing special. When free camping we have a charger from Jaycar Electronics that takes 12 volts & turns it into 19 volts for the laptop."
Be careful using the charger as you use the laptop, I've burnt 3 of these units, actually melted the units, I returned them and swapped but no one has been able to tell me why this happened, the one I have now, I only charge with and not use the computer at the same time or use an inverter to use 240v.
its important to use a suitably rated invertor if youre going to run devices like laptops etc......unless youre only going to run on 240v at CP's.
We have a 1000w unit and run/charge our 2 laptops, 2 phones and 2 tablets from either a CP power supply or battery (solar). Could probably get away with an 800w unit.
Don't try microwaves, toasters and heaters off an invertor - the initial power draw is too high (unless you get a really big (and expensive) invertor
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
We've been using 12V to 19V inverters for over 12 months for our laptop power supply and the faults we have experienced are with the physical components such as wiring connections that fail. Fixing those has usually fixed the problem and we always use the inverter when running one or both of the laptops we have.
I carry my $50 prepaid Telstra mobile phone, purely to send and receive phone calls, (transferred from the home phone via "Call Forward") and my laptop with Telstra mobile broadband, fitted with a USB modem, 4G, it's all we need, if camped out, and if we have a signal I use the laptop until it goes flat then charge it up at the next powered site.
I usually check the phone for a signal before I drag the lap top out of the cupboard.
Those modems can also be purchased for prepaid internet. Mine has a connection for an antenna, which I have at home, but don't use one in our travels.
A major Telstra shop will have all the info, if they don't confuse you.
I once had a row with Telstra over this business of "losing it if you don't use it" regarding the prepaid phone, the end result was if I recharge using $100 voucher from a Westpac ATM I get one year advance on the balance remaining. I think at present I am good for about 2017 or later, as they don't wipe off my remaining balance. Everytime I recharge with $100 I gain another years credit.
The moral is, talk to them, argue with them, tell 'em they're a bunch of robbers, whatever, and get the best deal you can out of them.
Bevan
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Bevan
Friendship is not a relationship with someone whom you've known for a long time, but with someone you trust, under any circumstances.
