Telstra upsizes Next G Prepaid Mobile Broadband plans

Tin (User):

Telstra may still need to revise these plans or risk losing angry customers. We get people into work all the time complaining about Telstra prepaid wireless because they put on "$30" and it disappears in less than 2 hours. Given $30 is bugger all data, I can see where it goes... Straight into Windows Updates or AV updates.

Raindog (New user):

Quoting Tin:
Given $30 is bugger all data

$50 for 2Gb isn't exactly flash either.


"can anyone say "perfect for Apple iPad?"

I can say perfect for wasting a mess load of your hard earned!

Dan Warne (Regular user):

I don't agree... assuming you're doing web browsing on your iPad, and you're not streaming radio stations etc, 4GB would go a long way. The trick would definitely be to buy the 4GB recharges, not the cheap ones... and admittedly, a lot of people wouldn't like the idea of coughing up $150 at a time. But you've got to remember this is prepaid, and prepaid is always way more expensive than contract rates, because the telco has no certainly of ongoing income from you each month. If you want the cheaper prices, you can go for the recently announced contract rates through Telstra Business Mobile. Personally when it comes to wireless broadband, on a device that is secondary to my laptop, I'd be quite happy paying $150 for 6 months / 4GB connectivity.

Raindog (New user):

Quoting Dan Warne:
assuming you're doing web browsing on your iPad, and you're not streaming radio stations etc, 4GB would go a long way.

Or would mostly evaporate at the 30 day limit. $80/month is a lot of fruit for what in the wash-up will mostly be an entertainment device.


Quoting Dan Warne:
But you've got to remember this is prepaid, and prepaid is always way more expensive than contract rates,

I'm well aware of that Dan, am also well aware that iPad without connectivity is that flash. It would appear good sense that anyone contemplating iPad anywhere away from a home tether should also be contemplating a good value post-paid plan.

kearnsy (New user):

So to get 8GB for a 1 year period will cost you < $1 a day, seems like pretty good value to me for prepaid. Like Dan said if our just browsing webpages and no streaming other intensive stuff, it is ideal with around 22mb of data a day for the whole year should be enought for webbrowsing and sending a few email.

Raindog (New user):

Quoting kearnsy:
So to get 8GB for a 1 year period will cost you < $1 a day

massaging the figures that way looks pretty good at first glance but a simple division would show that chunky looking 8GB to equate about 22Mb a day, that would scarcely be enough to log on and get the weather
once you factor in all the routine patches and updates.


Quoting kearnsy:
seems like pretty good value to me for prepaid.

Seems like pretty poor planning to me, if your were considering use for a 12 month contract, even a bigpond post paid connection would constitute much better value.


Quoting kearnsy:
should be enought for webbrowsing and sending a few email.

Maybe so but factor the Apple premium cost of an iPad, the $300 odd dollars for your sub $1/day access costs and use that to equate the cost per email.

That kind of expense for such limited utility hardly constitutes good value. No doubt the usual bigpond marketing will be showing similar math below full page spreads of happy users sending mails laden with pictures, sound and video. The reality is that promised $1 a day would entail a lot of non-use days or a guaranteed budget blowout.

kearnsy (New user):

I personally have no interest in the IPAD, I personally have a post paid account connected to a notebook. I know many people shine away from anything but prepaid which the new Telstra plans are good value considering the better coverage of NEXT G.

At 82 cents a day, if you don't use it a week you have an extra 150mb to use the next week.

I read the article as increase to prepaid value, rather than the ultimate plan for an ipad.

Raindog (New user):

Quoting kearnsy:
Telstra plans are good value considering the better coverage of NEXT G.

That is like suggesting a Holden Statesman is good value in comparison to a Camry because it is faster and has leather trim.


Quoting kearnsy:
At 82 cents a day, if you don't use it a week you have an extra 150mb to use the next week.

And if you don't use your post paid for a few days you have lots more to use at a lower cost per Mb.

The kicker is the (in many cases ridiculously short) expiry periods, if these covered a reasonable period, say 12 months then some of the prepaids could be worth considering.

For the casual users, the use it or lose it regime, particularly over a 30 day period mean their data is much more expensive, when unused allowances vaporise. For anyone else the plans represent poor value.

Dan Warne (Regular user):

Telstra's Next G coverage really is a big advantage over the other networks. It's not like leather trim on a car, which is just an optional luxury. It's like the difference between a 4WD that can take you offroad, vs trying to do an offroad trip in an entirely inappropriate car.

Having travelled a bit around NT, I was amazed that the -only- network with coverage was Telstra.. and although most people don't go to remote areas very often, even the inner-city coverage with Telstra is noticeably better. You get Next G in lifts/tunnels/carparks and other inner-city 'blackspots' where the other networks lose reception.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm no fan of Telstra, and I could never recommend their fixed-line broadband when there are so many equivalent or better services out there for a better price; it's just that the Next G network is undeniably better than the competitors for mobile broadband (and with these better prices is nowhere near as expensive as it used to be.)

Quoting Raindog:
For the casual users, the use it or lose it regime, particularly over a 30 day period mean their data is much more expensive, when unused allowances vaporises. For anyone else the plans represent poor value.

Don't forget the larger recharge value plans have much longer expiry dates -- six months for the $150/4GB plan.

Quoting Raindog:
That is like suggesting a Holden Statesman is good value in comparison to a Camry because it is faster and has leather trim.

Raindog (New user):

Quoting Dan Warne:
It's like the difference between a 4WD that can take you offroad, vs trying to do an offroad trip in an entirely inappropriate car.

That is utility not quality, the 4WD may offer better coverage but it can hardly be considered as value.


Quoting Dan Warne:
Having travelled a bit around NT, I was amazed that the -only- network with coverage was Telstra.

Hardly surprising given its the only 3g network installed there, similar for Tasmania. The reasons why its the only networks being well known and far from a Telstra plus point.

Quoting Dan Warne:
he Next G network is undeniably better than the competitors for mobile broadband

For Mobile broadband perhaps, but for wireless in a great many location the alternatives can offer much better value and excellent coverage. It the same chooklotto coverage/provider/location equation that troubles any kind of broadband throughout Australia.


Quoting Dan Warne:
Don't forget the larger recharge value plans have much longer expiry dates

True, but this can still be a trap for casual use, expiry within months is a healthy earner for Telcos, and a real pain for the consumer. Do you buy a little extra and watch it vaporise if unused, or do you charge through every byte and then do without when you need it. The Idea of the standby phone or data plan dies with the reality that you cannot purchase any kind of pay as use pre-paid access.
No one expect parity pricing with contract plans, but the reality is that Telcos make a huge whack out of never used data and voice carriage.

Quoting Dan Warne:
You get Next G in lifts/tunnels/carparks and other inner-city 'blackspots' where the other networks lose reception.

In lifts? What in blue blazes are you going to practically do in a lift with an iPad? There is no doubting NextG has a coverage advantage, thanks most to a good deal of it being funded from public money. But despite this the alternatives offer better value in a great many locations. Again I draw the distinction between wireless and mobile. If its mobile and iPad is to be judged on its utility from bus stop to bus stop that fine but good value will never be part of that equation.

kearnsy (New user):

I'd consider leather seats a luxury (need), having coverage where you are - it more a need. If the other providers like Vodafone and Optus had the coverage and were cheaper I would agree Telstra would not be good value.

For the service quality and coverage and the fact that prepaid is now even better value I give it the big thumbs up!

Mat Wilson (New user):

$130 for 3GB over 90 days is a joke, by buying 3 lots of $40 for 1GB over 30 days I can get the GB and days.

Telstra is charging people $10 for the "service" of only having to pay once. Where is the discount?

Anchalee (New user):

Could somebody please explain the difference between the current products offered by Bigpond Next-G versus Telstra Pre-paid Wireless? I'm looking for a mobile broadband option for a computer-illiterate friend to use in Stratham (a suburb near Bunbury in rural WA) which appears to have Next G range. She only requires minimal quota as pretty much just uses the web for browsing and email.

I don't really understand why there are two products on offer, but the Telstra Pre-Paid option with the USB modem seems most appropriate. What advantage would there be to getting the Turbo USB modem for use in this rural location?

Anchalee (New user):

Could somebody please explain to me the difference between current products offered by Telstra Prepaid Wireless Broadband and Telstra BigPond NextG Wireless? I cannot get my head around Telstra offering two types of prepaid wireless broadband products.
Specifically, I'm trying to find a suitable option for a computer-illiterate friend living in Stratham, near Bunbury in Rural WA. She only requires minimal quota as her internet use is only for email and browsing - no music/video downloads, Skype or gaming.
The BigPond website had this to say when I checked the availability of Telstra Wireless Broadband coverage:
"Wireless - At this location typical customer download speeds from 550kbps to 8Mbps¹, with a BigPond Elite™ device are not available. However, at this location, typical customer download speeds from 550kbps to 3Mbps² may be available with a 7.2 or BigPond Elite™ device.²"
What would be the advantage of this device over a USB-modem? Would the Turbo-USB modem be preferential in this situation?
I don't know much about this stuff, but she knows even less - any help would be greatly appreciated!