truely mobile
I have just signed up with 3 for 24 months (yes it is a long time) for mobile broadband. I can not complain about the price $0 upfront, $50 a month for 1Gb of traffic and while I had to give 3 customer care a couple of phones calls. The installation instructions were a little vague and because I was trying to connect within a hour of signing up somebody had to manually flip a switch, it was not a difficult task.
The good news is I now have the phone number of their Mac support centre, and the modem came with Os X and Linux drivers.
Speed is much better than the trusty old 56k modem I have at home, but not quite the shared 10 Mb link at work.
February 8th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
The next question (besides does it work on the Mac, which you answered) is what’s the speed really like and what’s the real coverage.
what’s the rate when you go over 1Gig.
This is extremely tempting. Not a bad price if you consider the Telstra products in this range. And you get a sexy blue light… :)
February 8th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
You’re living the dream, man! Internet wherever you go (while the battery lasts anyway). I figure with only a gig it won’t be your primary net connection though? Do you get excess data charges or is it a shaped plan?
February 8th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
I think I just saw one of these gadgets in Minority Report. ;-)
February 9th, 2007 at 7:44 am
The speed in theory at the moment is 384k, though 3 say they will be upgrading their network soon and it will be much faster.
Excess is charged at 10c Mb however the 2Gig plan is just an extra $20 a month. And after spending years with 56k modem capped a 1Gig a month, I will just see how things go (ie get adsl2 for home, upgrade to the 2Gig plan or survive as is).
I know Adrian was using 3 last year, but move to Telstra for better coverage and more speed (512k). However, I do not really the extra coverage and I think Adrian is regretting the move, particularly given 3 new competitive pricing.
If you sign up on 3 site, you get $50 credit. I did not see that.
February 10th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Dude, that photo came out SO BIG in your feed! I almost jumped away from the box :)
It sounds tres cool, but I am not tempted (honest, I’m not!) — rarely leaving the house means the inbuilt wireless is all I need — its enough for Hammock Surfing ;)
February 12th, 2007 at 7:11 am
Lea sorry about the photo size on the full RSS feed. I use a large photo and scale it to fit the webpage ― see the elastic images post (A popular post with Spanish speaking Webdevs this month). Did not know how to scale it for the full RSS feed, until I wrote this, more work in the redesign for me.
I spend thirty minutes each way travelling on a bus to and from work four days a week, so for $5 a week ($50 for mobile access UTMS less $20 for dialup and $8 for phone calls per month) I am connected on the bus ride or anywhere else I want to take the MBP as well as having an alternative to the network at work (which I am not allowed to connect the MBP to).
March 18th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Hey nick, remember me?
saw your post and was a bit smitten. I’m signed up now, but on a 12month (at a 10/month premium) on the 49/month plan for 2gb. NOTE ALL thats two way traffic, not downstream only like a typical service.
So far pretty good Liking it, and being a consultant now, it’s really earning its keep.
good work on the blog Nick, it’s always a good read.
March 21st, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Ben, yes I remember you, even subscribed to your blog feed. No mention on your blog about the move out of the public sector to the big bad world of consultancy.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
[…] With my mobile broadband I have never needed to use Metromesh, however I had heard have only heard positive things about them from jealous interstate visitors. As for ResourcesNet, that is not my side of town, I would like it cover a little more of the Perth CDB and beyond, like just over the railway line to the Cultural Centre. But I would like to thank the the Chamber of Minerals and Energy Western Australia and the big mining companies for providing ResourcesNet it will be helpful to a number of people. […]