Finally! Telstra today announced that they are rounding out their 4G devices with a 4G (LTE) capable mobile WiFi Hotspot. Read more
Tag Archive for telstra
The new iPad, first impressions
iBrothers today grabbed a couple of new iPads to replace an iPad2 and an original iPad. While specifications are all good and fine, we thought it would be worth sharing our own impressions for people considering an upgrade to the new iPad. Read more
Telstra USB 4G Pre-Paid modem Review
Update: Additional speedtests have been included.
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Ah mobile broadband. We love you so but we hate paying the megabucks for the experience, (especially when we are currently paying the megabucks for your previously fastest experience on contract) so it was with much jubilation that Telstra announced yesterday the release of their first 4G Pre-Paid modem. At $129.00 with 3GB of data to use in the first 30 days, it pretty much echoes Telstra’s previous Pre-Paid offerings. Read more
Telstra launches first Pre-Paid 4G LTE modem
UPDATE: Our review is up!
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Today Telstra announced it’s first Pre-Paid 4G LTE modem.
The Pre-Paid 4G modem has full access to Telstra’s small but super fast 4G network which offers download speeds ranging from 2Mbps to 40Mbps and typical upload speeds from 1Mbps to 10Mbps. The modem also supports Telstra’s 3G HSPA+ network for fallback when not in a 4G area.
Perfect for people wanting occasional use (such as holiday makers) it offers the best possible mobile broadband speeds and coverage without forking out for the Post-Paid 4G USB modem option. As far as it appears on paper, this would be an option iBrothers would be happy to recommend.
Customers can purchase the Telstra Pre-Paid USB 4G today for $129 which comes with 3GB of data and 30 days expiry. Read more
Telstra USB 4G Review
Well it finally happened. iBrothers managed to get it’s hands on Telstra’s latest mobile broadband offering, the Telstra USB 4G. With it’s ability to access Telstra’s 4G LTE network, the first in Australia, the device promises broadband speeds ranging from 2Mbps to 40Mbps, a massive increase over mobile broadband offerings from Vodafone and Optus where the theoretical maximum is around 7Mbps.
To access these speeds you will need to be in a 4G area. Have a look at Telstra’s coverage maps to determine if 4G is available in your area. The modem will still work in Telstra’s HSPA+ coverage areas as well as 3G enabled areas should you find yourself not in a 4G covered area. The modem has two LEDs which, depending on colour, indicates if you are in a 4G or 3G area – two blue LEDs mean 3G where blue and green indicates 4G. Read more
Telstra, Optus & Vodafone Compared: Rural Mobile Broadband SpeedTest
Even with the weather beginning to improve in Melbourne, the days are still regularly threatening rain which means, for iBrothers at least, when we find a nice day arrive with some time up our sleeve, it’s all about motorbikes and the Victorian country side. With our recent purchase of Telstra’s new wifi hotspot and the delivery of Vodafone’s Pocket WiFi 2 which accesses Vodafone’s new 850Mhz network, it seemed like a great opportunity to pack the DSLR, grab a notebook and head off for some fun. Bikes fueled, broadband & camera packed and ready to go, we decided to conduct a rural broadband speedtest using Telstra, Vodafone and Optus’ mobile wifi hotspots because, you know, it was a working day after all. Read more
Category: Benchmark, Fair Dinkum Test, Featured, Mobile Broadband |
Tags: Broadford, Gisborne, Hazeldene, holiday, Lancefield, Melton, Motorbike, Motorcycle, optus, Optus Mini WiFi, Pocket WiFi 2, Review, road trip, rural, speedtest, telstra, Telstra Bigpond Ultimate, Victoria, vodafone, Whittlesea
Telstra Ultimate Broadband USB review
Update: Our Telstra 4G USB review is up
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As mentioned in our review of the Telstra Ultimate Broadband Wi-Fi, iBrothers had initially requested a Wi-Fi unit from Telstra but was instead sent the USB version. It seems to be a pretty easy mistake to make as we found that about a week ago, we had a similar issue talking to Telstra shop store staff and found that they too got confused between the two products.
Of course, we are presently armed with the Ultimate Broadband USB modem so of course we are going to take a look at how it performs on Telstra’s HSPA+ Dual Carrier network. Read more
Category: Benchmark, Mobile Broadband, Reviews |
Tags: HSPA+, Internet, Mobile, Online Gaming, ping, Sierra Wireless, telstra, Ultimate Broadband, USB
Telstra Bigpond Ultimate Broadband Wi-Fi review
Update: Telstra have announced their new 4G LTE mobile WiFi Hotspot
Update: Our Telstra 4G USB review is up
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iBrothers likes it’s mobile broadband – no, we REALLY like our mobile broadband. It’s there when we are stuck in traffic and need directions, when we are looking for a decent coffee in an unknown area, conducting emergency remote support on the road, enabling us to share photos instantly at the birth of our children … So when we hear about improvements to speed and performance being offered from Mobile Broadband, you know we are going to be all over it.
Enter Bigpond’s latest offering, the Ultimate Mobile Broadband WI-FI. Using Telstra’s next G network, the device promises download speeds up to 20Mbps and upload speeds up to 3Mbps. These speeds are a considerable jump from the current offerings of any other carrier. The modem itself is a Sierra Aircard 753S and while the website claims theoretical speeds up to 42Mbps, Telstra is stating the speeds to be around half that. The unit supports frequencies of UMTS 850/1900/2100 MHz, comes with wireless N connectivity and an internal GPS. More information can be found in the links at the end of this review. Read more
Category: Benchmark, Mobile Broadband, Reviews |
Tags: 3G, benchmark, Bigpond, Hotspot, HSPA+, mobile broadband, Review, Sierra Wireless, telstra, Ultimate Broadband Wi-Fi, wifi
Make your smartphone smarter with FREE Turn-by-turn navigation software
With just about every smartphone on the market these days; from the $188 unlocked Huawei Sonic to a high end iPhone or HTC Sensation, you are more than likely to find it sporting an internal GPS. While the GPS functionality is used for more than just navigation (at iBrothers, finding a decent coffee in an unknown location is impossible without a GPS based social networking app) turn-by-turn navigation is still considered the most useful application of this technology. Turn-by-turn navigation of course requires an app and the good news is that the choice available keeps on growing.
The list of features for each application vary considerably. Aside from simple turn-by-turn navigation, vendors have been looking to add other functionality to give their product an advantage over their competitors. Buying a GPS device or app can give you some interesting things such as speed camera locations, multipoint routing, school zone warnings, text-to-speach, custom or celebrity voices and navigate to photo just to name a few. While some apps continually download the maps they need live, some have have the map data built into the application with the benefit of off-line usage (no need for a data connection). The trade off is that the application weighs in at about 200 to 400MB and vary in price from $19 MetroView (Map data provided by PMSA) to $80 for TomTom (Map data provided by Sensis)
What I am looking at today is two free options on the market suitable for the occasional user that while basic in their offering, work extremely well and above all are FREE! Read more
Telstra, Optus & Vodafone Compared: Mobile Broadband SpeedTest
At iBrothers, we have generally stuck with Telstra when it comes to both mobile phone coverage as well as mobile broadband. The reason for this is that Telstra’s Next G network is supposedly the best of all providers for speed as well as coverage. Of late however, we have been noticing that, at times, the speeds we were getting from Telstra seemed to be slower. Coupled with anecdotal evidence from customers and family of similar issues, we decided it was time to conduct some actual real world tests of our own. Read more
Category: Benchmark, Fair Dinkum Test, Mobile Broadband, Reviews |
Tags: 3G, benchmark, hume, ipad, mobile broadband, Next G, optus, speedtest, telstra, vodafone, wifi