Thread: Reliable Satellite Internet

From memory satilite internet was around $3000 to $6000 a month or was that microwave internet, i can't remember could be $15,000 a month, either one is one of those prices.

Not worth it unless your a big company.

Baz.

Telstra has a wireless broadband on offer. It actually a mobile phone in a card that plugs into your PC. They should work where you have cdma phone coverage.

They too are quite expensive but nothing like the above. I would think the speed should be adequate for skype but you'll have to watch your usage as they have very limited bandwidth and I image it would cost to go over your quota.

I've been considering this for our trip next year too. However I'm worried that they will make you sign up for 2 years which will make it pricey.

I travel to some god forsaken places and for email I use my mobile phone as a modem linked to the laptop.

Generally works whereever you can get phone coverage (long as you arrange for global roaming on the phone)

It's slow - okay for email and the occasional browse - but I don't think it would run web cams.

Don't be surprised some of the most remote backwater have some sort of access to the internet now.

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Telstra has a wireless broadband on offer. It actually a mobile phone in a card that plugs into your PC. They should work where you have cdma phone coverage.

They too are quite expensive but nothing like the above. I would think the speed should be adequate for skype but you'll have to watch your usage as they have very limited bandwidth and I image it would cost to go over your quota.

I've been considering this for our trip next year too. However I'm worried that they will make you sign up for 2 years which will make it pricey.

This may be the best solution - the standard "Next-G" phone can double as a modem, so your mobile phone also provides you with broadband internet.

BUT.... Next-G phone coverage is advertised as having the same coverage as CDMA, my experience is that it is actually a little less, but not much (I still have CDMA but my next door neighbour has Next-G). However, while Telstra claims that their coverage extends to 98% of Australians, this is only while they are at home! (and most Australians live in cities - we are one of the most highly urbanised countries in the world) Look at their maps.

You will have to sign up for two years to get a free phone, but you probably need a mobile phone anyway (and the Next-G, replacing CDMA in a year or so, is the only sensible one for away from the major cities). My understanding is the additional sign up for broadband can be done on a monthly basis. Find someone at Telstra that knows what they are talking about (this may be hard) and discuss the matter.

John

now i don't know the correct terms and would not have have a clue on how to set my laptop up to do it, i remember camel_landy in all sorts of places using unsecured wireless stuff when he was travelling around OZ

i have heard that all telstra exchanges have unsecured wireless, most small outback towns would have one, i believe all mcdonalds have unsecured wireless as well

this is all hearsay, maybe somebody can confirm

I guess it all revolves aroung, whether

"The missus and I are starting our lap around the map next May"

Means round the map of Australia - or something further a-field - CDMA doesn't work anywhere apart from AU.

Originally Posted by ladas

I guess it all revolves aroung, whether

"The missus and I are starting our lap around the map next May"

Means round the map of Australia - or something further a-field - CDMA doesn't work anywhere apart from AU.

Like everyone else I assumed we were talking about Australia!

"CDMA" will not work in Australia from late next year, but remains in increasing use elsewhere in the world, for example, by Sprint in the USA. Its replacement does not work anywhere else, but may come into use elsewhere.
CDMA is actually a technology which is in widespread use worldwide, and strictly speaking the Telstra replacement for "CDMA" , "Next-G" also uses CDMA. The whole nomenclature is confusing, for example the widespread use of "digital" to mean GSM as opposed to CDMA when both are in fact digital technology.

One of the problems for world travellers is that mobile phone technology is wide open, and so few people travel that there is little pressure to settle on standards - it looked as if GSM might become one, but its short range makes it unsuitable for Australia, and it was never widely adopted in the biggest market (the USA), and is now essentially obsolete (doesn't provide for all the bells and whistles that mobile phone companies think users want), with no single clear successor.

John

you can get 3g phones that fall back to cdma and others that fallback to gsm

a mate carries both... show off that he is.... i dont know where he got them and i wont see him till mid next year to ask him as he is playing lost in the desert for a few months..... sheer madness this time of year, but he gets paid megabucks to do it....

a look at the 3g coverage maps will soon answer your questions on suitability.

helstra will have the best coverage, but also the heaviest pricing i would imagine