Australian WiFi: New Telstra 4G Wireless Broadband
Ask any connected traveller coming to Australia what their biggest frustration is and they will answer Australian wifi internet connection!
It’s expensive, slow and unreliable.
We were shocked returning to Australia after living in the States. I was even more shocked when, in the mountains of Chiang Rai Thailand, I had faster internet service then I did in areas of Sydney.
As travel bloggers, wifi connection is vital for us, especially when we are mobile as we are heavy social media users. At home in the house we are Telstra connected and our service is fast and reliable.
But our mobile phones are Optus and it’s another issue altogether.
We like Optus’ customer service and cheaper plans, but they don’t have the speeds, the wide network service and reliability that we need.
We are slowly going bald from tearing our hair out.
On our recent road trip we partnered with Telstra to test out their 4G wireless broadband network using dongles through our lap tops. (don’t you just love the world dongle by the way!)
I maybe online all the time, but I am no techno geek. I have no idea what 4G means and I don’t really have to. All I want to know is Does it give me what I need?
Fast and reliable Australian wifi.
Travellers, may your frustrations be gone because the answer is a BIG
HELL YEAH!
Finally Australian wifi is up there rocking it with the rest of the world.
We LOVED it.
You have no idea how much easier it made our travelling lifestyle. We swore less and had more time to enjoy each other’s company rathar than dealing with the frustration of not getting connected.
Having your own wifi dongle for your lap top works out to be way more convenient and cheaper than relying on your accommodation to provide wifi for you.
And forget cafes in Australia, they rarely provide you with free wi-fi and if they did you are competing with plenty of other people for the speed.
Too much of a headache.
It was awesome to log on and hit connect and not have to even think about whether I was going to get on or not, or even how many bars I had. Even if I only had two bars it was still fairly fast.
I could even work in the car (actually I’m writing this in the car using the Telstra 4G wireless broadband).
At times it would hit patches where it dropped out in really rural or foresty areas, but it wasn’t all that often and I managed to get a fair amount of work done in the car.
And with the amount of deadlines I had on our trip this was such a relief for me to be able to make use of that down travel time. It was awesome!!
Next stop now is to convert the mobiles.
Here’s a few Tesltra 4G wireless broadband facts for you to get your Australian wifi internet connection:
- Typical 4G download speeds between 2Mbps and 40Mbps and upload speeds between 1Mbps and 10Mbps in 4G coverage areas. It’s up to twice as fast as 3G networks.
- 4G speeds are initially available in all capital CBDs, associated airports and selected regional locations and will seamlessly switch over to fastest available 3G speeds in other coverage areas.
- Choose from a wide variety of recharge levels, data allowance and expiry options to suit every wireless broadband need
- Prepaid prices start from $129 for 3GB of data
We actually met another traveller for dinner the other night who pulled out his Telstra 4G wireless broadband router and was raving at how good it was and how surprised he was by it too!
How have you found Australian wifi on your travels?
Are you keen to test out the Telstra 4G wireless broadband?
Caz
Caz Makepeace is the co-founder of y Travel Blog and has been traveling and living around the world since 1997, first solo, then with her husband, and now with her two daughters. Don't miss her 9 best tips to help you travel more. Follow her on Google+
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13 comments on “Australian WiFi: New Telstra 4G Wireless Broadband”
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Hi! We’re Caz and Craig…
Our blog is about helping you to get inspired & informed to go travel, & travel more often Read On
We’ve stuck solely to Telstra, purely for the service coverage, so we really have no choice. It’s sometimes been frustrating because the price wasn’t competitive with them until quite recently. For anyone who’s planning on travelling within Australia I would tell them to steer clear of anyone else. The Telstra 4G is super fast in cities, but drops back to a 3G signal where 4G isn’t available. Still much faster than in the past though
Loreena recently posted..Aussie Lawn Mower Racing Fun!
Absolutely Loreena. It’s one of those things, do you go for cheaper or better quality? We went cheaper to begin with our mobiles and are regretting it. It is just so slow and unreliable, it causes far too much stress and angst for us. We’d rather pay the extra and know that we can have the high speed connection and get what we need to get done. Time is money at the end of the day!
I am really excited about the broadband network rolling out as well!
Rather than a ‘dongle’ would always (now) get the broadband router WiFi thing. Advantages are:
*It is not limited to ONE (at a time) device
*Because it is giving out WiFi, there are no drivers
*It supplies WiFi – so it can be a broadband connection for anything
*You can stick it out of sight, or even where the signal is strongest! (whereas a dongle is stuck into the side of a machine or on a small remote cable!)
Great advice Gerald! Thank you!
Our friend had one and he said he could get service from up to 100 metres away which I thought was excellent. I think we will look into that for our next trip considering there are two of us.
Great information! We are heading to Australia in a few months after New Zealand and was just starting to research the best connection options. Have you any feedback on iPhone sim cards? Would you recommend Telstra there as well? Although Gerald has a great point of getting the wi-fi router to connect all the techno gear!
Cheers and safe travels!
Cheryl recently posted..Work Exchange for Travelers
Yes we would recommend Telstra, it is just faster and covers larger areas around Australia. We have Optus on our phones and want to change over as it’s just not strong enough. They would be the next best after Telstra. I wouldn’t even consider any other provider as they just don’t have the coverage or the speeds you need.
Great news… I remember when I was there a few years ago it sucked balls… so hooray for life!
Hogga recently posted..Get Off Your Fucking Phone, Stop Taking Pictures and Enjoy Life
I often wonder if my blog would be much further ahead than where it is today had I started it when I was travelling round Australia. I suspect not, because I would never have been able to upload anything! I had no idea how bad internet access in Australia was until we visited. Nor did I suspect I was going to be eating quite as much McD’s in order to scrounge slow wireless for my brief facebook updates. Sounds like it’s finally starting to improve
Laurence recently posted..Overeating in Costa Brava
Right I hear ya on that!! The wireless at Maccas nearly kills me. Telstra is on a winner with this one. They are rolling out national broadband soon. Don’t ask me what that is except its meant to be super fast.
So glad I accidentally came across this article… Going to Australia for 6 months and wanting to get a 3G or 4G key because I remember how ridiculously expensive hostel/café internet was in Australia back in 2010!
Almost the first thing on my to-do list when I arrive is going to Dick Smith’s to try to figure out this whole internet on the go thing.
Beatrice recently posted..Les 5 endroits que j’espère visiter en 2013
Wow 4G is expensive there here in USA I get unlimited talk,taxt & data for $49/mo
4G cell plan
Oh yes. Australia is expensive period. But the internet thing is a bit of a joke. We miss the US for this reason alone sometimes.
I am very interested in your critique. Have you any experience of 4G coverage in some country areas through most of Australia? I believe 4G is only available in major cities and maybe some major towns.
Michelle recently posted..Bus Conversion – Beavering away