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Thread: Mobile Broadband

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    Default Mobile Broadband

    Hello there.

    My family are moving to a new property where we are building a new house.
    The house is going to be off-grid so no landlines, but lucky for us they have erected a new tower closer to us few years ago.
    On top of the drive way I have full bars on my optus phone, but where the house is going to be, I only have 2-3 bars. As I understand optus and telstra are sharing antennas and renting out space to other providers?
    I'm still pretty new to Aussie internet providers as I only been living here for 4 years, so not to sure what are my best options.

    I learned that Telstra is a EVIL company are here to take your souls, so I would like to avoid them, but they offer a good deal of 200g for $75/month plus netgear sim card router.
    Also they do have amplifier package for strengthening the signal for the house.

    Are there any other options for me out there?
    Or should I just go and get a sim card from a good provider, and just get my own gear?



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    Have you plugged your address into NBN's website to see what type of service it will offer, if you're going to be off-grid I assume it's in a rural location? If so, NBN's Fixed Wireless is OK-ish, but if it's via satellite consider purchasing a Telstra and Optus SIM card to see which gives you the strongest reception.
    Also, have a look at Starlink, it's accepting sign-ups from some parts of AU now.

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    Quote Originally Posted by macca View Post
    Have you plugged your address into NBN's website to see what type of service it will offer, if you're going to be off-grid I assume it's in a rural location? If so, NBN's Fixed Wireless is OK-ish, but if it's via satellite consider purchasing a Telstra and Optus SIM card to see which gives you the strongest reception.
    Also, have a look at Starlink, it's accepting sign-ups from some parts of AU now.
    I haven't, I'll have a look. Thank you.
    My parents in law have got Starlink and are not happy with it.

    Thanks for the help🙂

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    +1 for checking out NBN.

    Wireless NBN is fine (compared to satellite) and plans typically have no data limit.

    Telstra and Optus usually have their own towers.... NBN also usually have their own towers.

    If you go mobile broadband, you will need an external antenna and possibly an amp to increase signal at the house location.

    Remember that the 1-2 bars you get is outside... inside the house will be much less.

    For regional signal coverage, Telstra beats all the others (in most areas) but sounds like Optus is OK at your location.

    Is that a 4G signal you have measured?

    Get someone you know with a Telstra plan to see what signal levels you get there, but if you can get wireless NBN, go for that.

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    +2 for fixed wireless NBN if it's available in your area.

    Apart from anything else, mobile broadband is very expensive per GB when compared to an NBN plan. But I guess that only matters if you stream movies, webcam chat, etc. If you're only checking emails then you won't need nearly as much data.

    On my (unlocked) smartphone I can scan available networks and as well as "Telstra", "Optus AU" & "Vodafone AU" it also picks up NBN towers (they show up as a number). If you can run this scan yourself it may tell you if wireless NBN is available where you are?

    Andrew

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    Quote Originally Posted by mtv View Post
    +1 for checking out NBN.

    Wireless NBN is fine (compared to satellite) and plans typically have no data limit.

    Telstra and Optus usually have their own towers.... NBN also usually have their own towers.

    If you go mobile broadband, you will need an external antenna and possibly an amp to increase signal at the house location.

    Remember that the 1-2 bars you get is outside... inside the house will be much less.

    For regional signal coverage, Telstra beats all the others (in most areas) but sounds like Optus is OK at your location.

    Is that a 4G signal you have measured?

    Get someone you know with a Telstra plan to see what signal levels you get there, but if you can get wireless NBN, go for that.
    I had a look at NBN availability, by the looks we only can have their satellite.

    Yes, it was 4G.

    I have tested Optus and my parent in-laws have tested with their Telstra, plus their guests used Telstra phones.

    I have looked into the antenna and amps.

    I have looked into Optus 4G home internet, and as I understand it is just a mobile broadband? But they tell me that it is not available to me...
    I made a call, but the person didn't understand me what I was after.
    My plan was to get a sim card with a router that connects to mobile towers and than you connect to it, just like those dongles.

    While Telstra has a package plan with netgear nighthawk m2, that has pretty good reviews. But the reviews are who been using for camping, not permanent house use.

    Thank you for your help, I'm just used to having access to fiber in Sweden with up to 1gbs.

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    Have a look at the Huawei E8372 wingle. It works with your data sim card, and can plug into a cheap USB power source. In effect it is a wifi router (802.11 b/g/n) that connects to a 4G or 3G service. It has sockets to connect external antennae, so if you have line of sight to a mobile tower you should be able to get equivqlent service to NBN at least. Even with just a reasonable signal strength it is good enough for streaming.

    I use one in our timeshare unit at Mansfield which is in a fairly poor mobile area, with just 6db attached antennae, and it supports our Fetch mini plus a couple of laptops without too much trouble. My biggest issue is the network cost. We quite easily chew through 30 - 50 GB per week, and it can easily cost $40+/week, compared to the $60/month we pay for an unlimited 50Mbps NBN service at home.

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    Quote Originally Posted by jgm View Post
    Have a look at the Huawei E8372 wingle. ~

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    Thanks.

    I have found this one

    And was thinking connecting it with my Asus RT AC66U router.

    Looking at tangerine 500g mobile broadband. They are out of stock for their sim cards now, but ill just wait.

    Also I will have to get external antenna to get gain. Need my Gains

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    Seems expensive compared to the Huawei E8372 which can be found for $29 (locked) or $59 unlocked, and doesn't need a separate device to provide you with wifi.

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    Quote Originally Posted by WaffleJam View Post
    I had a look at NBN availability, by the looks we only can have their satellite.

    Don't trust their online map as being definitive ~ if I go to their coverage map, and enter our address here, it comes back saying only NBN satellite is available.

    The reality is, we are on fixed wireless (which is ok and better that satellite), due to the elevation of this place on a hill & we have line of sight with a local area tower. Other places around us (like our neighbour behind us) are limited to satellite only, as they are in the shadow of the hill we're on....many folks around here are in the same boat, just due to the local topology....the whole area on the NBN map is marked satellite only, but this is not the case ; many residences have fixed wireless, ultimately it depends on the exact location of the residence.

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    On that note, not sure if you've been following this thread but may be of interest...


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    Quote Originally Posted by Bigfella237 View Post
    On that note, not sure if you've been following this thread but may be of interest...

    Thanks.

    I have followed that one before.
    Will take some time. will try the mobile broadband first.

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