NextG Internet

Discussion about software such as GSAK, OziExplorer etc, as well as all things hardware, GPSrs, laptops, PDAs, paperless caching, cables etc
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The Barramundi's
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Post by The Barramundi's » 24 January 08 12:57 pm

I now have the Vodafone USB Wireless Modem 5 gig for $40 a month. It has been working very well so far. Drove from my office in Adeliade to home at Salisbury East and was connected all the way home.

Going to Port Lincoln for the long weekend, and will see how well it keeps up on the trip down there and back.

Amazing how it all can change, for $10 a week, we can connect from just about anywhere in Australia. I can even SMS with it.

Barra

CanSolo
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Post by CanSolo » 24 January 08 6:59 pm

Keep your eye out for the other telco's to increase the HSDPA speed of 3G, with plans for many of them to at least get to 3.6 Mbit pretty quickly, and then up to 7.2 Mbit (which is where NextG is currently at).
I believe optus is planning to rollout 3G to most of Australia, so Telstra will have competitor....

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Post by CraigRat » 24 January 08 8:04 pm

We have a laptop for work that has NextG broadband.

So far we have found the performance to be underwhelming, particularly with respect to signal and speed. Most times we are lucky to have it running better than dial up....it's better than nothing, but in areas outside of cities, it can be a painful experience to use.

I need to go sit on the trampoline 20m from the house to be able to get it to authenticate.

That's just my experience with it, others may have a better story.

Geof
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Post by Geof » 24 January 08 9:03 pm

It seems the phone side of it is just as bad. A work colleagues telstra employee mate got his new unit out to show it off and found it didn't work :oops: wile his audience's CDMAs worked fine :twisted: .

It seems nextg DX performance is nonexistant unless you have mega gain antennas etc

If any nextg hand set will not work 150 km from a base station with full line of sight it can not be compared to CDMA.

CanSolo
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Post by CanSolo » 24 January 08 10:37 pm

Craigrat,

I think NextG's weakness with laptops is due to the closeness of the frequencies inside modern laptops. 900MHz isn't that far away from a 800MHz FSB Mobo and RAM.

We found a simple 10-15cm USB connection on the NextG USB modem did the trick. Yes, we also needed an antennae to get better reception for some of the guys at work too...

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Post by Aushiker » 26 January 08 9:14 pm

How does this speed (e.g., NextG) compare with standard home broadband service (e.g., ADSL 2+ with iiNet)?

Regards
Andrew

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Post by caughtatwork » 26 January 08 9:20 pm

With Next G, now you can download files and entertainment even faster on our Super G Fast plans with average speeds of 550Kbps to 1.5Mbps and a peak network downlink speed of 3.6 Mbps.

http://my.bigpond.com/internetplans/bro ... efault.jsp

The next upgrade will be 7.2Mbps, but that's peak network download and unlikely to be achieved by the average user.

You will need to upgrade your handset to achieve the faster speeds.

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The Barramundi's
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Post by The Barramundi's » 30 January 08 12:54 am

Here is my report on how the Vodafone USB dongle went being used on my laptop over a 1600 K trip on the long weekend in SA.

To get to Port Lincoln I travelled to Wallaroo on Friday, and caught the ferry across to the Eyre Peninsula. Half way across I still had coverage, until the laptop went flat.. I drove home on Monday via Whyalla, Port Augusta and Highway 1, caching until 6.30 AM Tuesday morning. :roll:

Coverage out of Adelaide of 30 Ks was only at GPRS speed, just a bit better than dial up. I was disappointed large towns like Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta didn't have 3G. :(

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The Barramundi's
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Post by The Barramundi's » 30 January 08 12:54 am

Although GPRS signal strength was very good at these locations, and I was able to log the caches as I found them. 5 Bars on the meter which is the maximum. Providing 30-50k speeds

That was good, because I found 65 + 4 GCA caches over the weekend, and only had a few 10-15 to log when I got home. This was the major bonus to me, hopping back in the car, with the PC connected to the web all the time, or sitting in a park logging the last few caches. Editing photos and uploading them and typing nice comments whilst the memory of the cache was still in your head.

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The Barramundi's
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Post by The Barramundi's » 30 January 08 12:55 am

When I logged a cache that we had completed maintenance on, in the Port Lincoln National Park, the owner called me one minute later after being notified via GC, asking if it needed replacing. I told him it was fine and he can buy me lunch. :P

Pocket Queries were there every day via e-mail, to keep GSAK up to date :D .

Coverage on the Eyre Peninsula was poor. Port Lincoln had coverage of about 25 Ks in diameter which covered a lot caches. There was nothing all the way up the coast, until 15 Ks from Whyalla with 2-3 bars out of 5. Hence the 10 to 15 I logged at home.

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The Barramundi's
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Post by The Barramundi's » 30 January 08 12:57 am

With 2 or 3 bars out of 5, outside the major towns on the highway was available all the way from Whyalla to about 30 Ks out from the CBD, where 3G returned, so logging finds, or in my case DNF's was possible.

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The Barramundi's
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Post by The Barramundi's » 30 January 08 1:01 am

Sorry about all the replies, kept getting dbug errors on post.

The end

diesel69
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Post by diesel69 » 30 January 08 6:09 pm

Sadly the only real coverage you will get outside the metro area is with Telstra and that is lacking in areas.

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