My husband works away from home and we are connected through Telstra for his mobile wireless computer and we use a Logitech webcam to talk about 30 min per night. The Telstra bill appears to be very high. I am looking for another provider. We use iiNet at home.
27/03/2011
Mobile Wireless Broadband is the best type of broadband for people on the move. If your husband is constantly working in different locations this is still going to be your best option for internet, but if he always works away from home at the same location he may want to consider an ADSL connection at his workplace.
However, it sounds like he is accessing the internet from various locations, so you need to be aware that there are three main types of mobile phone towers in Australia: Optus, Telstra and Vodafone. In some major cities 3Mobile also has its own mobile towers, but if you leave the metropolitan area the connection reverts to an expensive Telstra service.
Optus resells its mobile phone towers to numerous providers like Dodo (1300 136 793), iiNet (1300 137 765), iPrimus (1300 137 794) and Virgin Broadband (1300 768 103). Optus has quite good coverage in a lot of locations (not quite as good as Telstra) and is much cheaper than Telstra, but as many customers share their towers, speeds may be slower than Telstra’s.
Give Optus a call on 1300 768 194 to find out about the quality of its mobile wireless coverage in the areas where your husband travels most. If Optus coverage is good, it opens the door to all of its resellers.
As you are communicating via webcam video calls, you will need the fastest connection possible to keep the video and audio quality at their highest. This is where Telstra’s NextG network sets itself apart from the rest. However, as you know, you will be paying much more for this better level of quality.
Your last real option for good mobile wireless broadband is with Vodafone. In metropolitan areas Vodafone resells off of the Optus towers, but in outer suburbs and regional locations, it uses its own Vodafone towers. Give us a call here at Compare Broadband on 1300 106 571 and we’ll tell you whether Vodafone Mobile Wireless coverage is good in the necessary areas.
Vodafone is much cheaper than Telstra (in the same realm as Optus and its resellers), but as it doesn’t share its towers, the speed can be a bit better than the competition.