Cheap wireless broadband for 3 Months with Telstra

[markis10]

H/Norman were selling the Telstra WIFI 3G Modem for half price - $49, considering it comes with 5Gb of data that wont expire until three months after activation its a great deal, luckily Officeworks have matched price and have way more stock as well as online ordering if you dont have a local!

Telstra Pre-Paid MF30 WiFi Mobile Broadband at $49.50 in USB Modems

Specifications:

• Includes up to 5GB of data. 90 day expiry
• Network: HSDPA/HSUPA: Tri Band UMTS: 3G850/1900/2100 MHz
• EDGE/GSM: Quad Band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Active Battery Life: up to 240 minutes
• Standby Life: up to 100 hours
• Portable Wi-Fi connection for when you're out and about
• Supports up to 3-5 users simultaneously
• Light and compact design
• Compatible on both PC and Mac
• Add up to 32GB MicroSD card to use as anexternal storage drive
• Warranty: 2 Years
• # Typical customer download speeds of 550 kbps to 3 Mbps and upload speeds 300kbps-1Mbps in other coverage areas.

HSDPA / HSUPA: 7.2 Mbps peak downlink devicerating^ /5.8 Mbps uplink rating^ Typical customer download speed of 550kbps to 3Mbps.Typical customer upload speed is 300kbps to 3Mbps incapitals, metropolitan and selected regional areas#.Actual speeds are less.
# Typical customer download speeds of 550 kbps to 3 Mbps and upload speeds 300kbps-1Mbps in other coverage areas.

[LiamR]

Wow. Lucky day. I was going to purchase one of these to replace my iPhone tethering with Optus.

I was going to say I could pricematch with DSE to get the points (And a DSE is close by) But IIRC you have to spend more than $50 for points?

Its a really good offer, thanks for posting it.

[munitalP]

I have one, they are great. The battery is 21/2 -3 hours max, but the charger is a USB nifty little unit so you can use it to also recharge from the laptop or seat back () or power point. Word of warning, if using on a MB Air, for some reason it looses the WiFi password every now and again. Keep a copy of it with you to avoid the frustration!

[opusman]

Does anyone know if the unit is locked to Telstra? The missus is spending a couple of weeks in Spain on a language course later in the year and if she could use this with a local SIM it might solve her wifi problems.

[LiamR]

Word of warning, if using on a MB Air, for some reason it looses the WiFi password every now and again. Keep a copy of it with you to avoid the frustration!

Are you talking about a MacBook Air on MacOSX or Windows? I use a MacBook Air and only run windows.

Leads me to my second question... Theres a set Wi-Fi Password, you can't change it?

[Travel Guru]

Does anyone know if the unit is locked to Telstra? The missus is spending a couple of weeks in Spain on a language course later in the year and if she could use this with a local SIM it might solve her wifi problems.

I don't know, I imagine it would, but I just picked myself up a Netcomm MyZone for exactly that purpose for $115 from Hardly Normal when they had their recent 20% off sale.

At $49.50, I think i'll be picking one of these up anyway.

TG

[markis10]

Does anyone know if the unit is locked to Telstra? The missus is spending a couple of weeks in Spain on a language course later in the year and if she could use this with a local SIM it might solve her wifi problems.

According to Telstra:

If you want to use your Telstra Pre-Paid Mobile Broadband device on another network, you will need to pay a Network Unlocking Fee of $100.

There has been evidence that people have got it free by walking into a Telstra store!

[Travel Guru]

According to Telstra:

If you want to use your Telstra Pre-Paid Mobile Broadband device on another network, you will need to pay a Network Unlocking Fee of $100.

There has been evidence that people have got it free by walking into a Telstra store!

Any idea whether the SIM card can be removed and used in another device (such as Netcomm MyZone), I'm thinking of picking one up and putting it into the Netcomm once the 5gb is used and recharged, but wasnt sure whether this was possible.

When I tried to buy a SIM only from the T-Shop they looked at me like i was from mars wanting it without a modem.

TG

[LiamR]

When I tried to buy a SIM only from the T-Shop they looked at me like i was from mars wanting it without a modem.

Was this the Australia Fair one?

[markis10]

Any idea whether the SIM card can be removed and used in another device (such as Netcomm MyZone), I'm thinking of picking one up and putting it into the Netcomm once the 5gb is used and recharged, but wasnt sure whether this was possible.

When I tried to buy a SIM only from the T-Shop they looked at me like i was from mars wanting it without a modem.

TG

No problems at all, I currently alternate the SIM between the "pebble" as I call it and my USB modem!

BTW you can change the WIFI security code to one you can remember.