What type of internet connection do you have?

[Julia]

Digging this thread up, I use TPG adsl for home desktop and happy with it

I would like to know is anyone using mobile laptop technology and how are you finding it.(Internet)

Testra covers big Centres plus CDMA but is replacing it with G3

Unwired I hear has a lot of dropouts around Sydney, I think will join with Austar outside major regions

Vodaphone also mobile tech launched recently.

I would preferably like to be online on my occasional country trips which may become more frequent

Much appreciate anyones experiences

Cheers

ADSL from Westnet. Great service from Westnet. You get a real person on no more than the third ring when you phone. They follow up all queries with email to check that all is well and offer a reliable virus checker on all incoming emails. In the last year, have experienced only one outage and that was for just over an hour.


Julia

 

[kerosam]

westnet ADSL

 

[happytrader]

I started off with Telstra broadband in 2002 and kept them on till 2004. For some reason I thought I would get good service. Although it only dropped out half a dozen times over that period, the length of time I had to hold the line waiting in the queue for service would extend from 20 to 40 minutes. I could never complain about their technicians as I found them very helpful but the waiting time I can see now was ridiculous.To top that off I was unable use their particular modem with any other server when I finally got fed up and dumped them. Since then I have been using Dodo broadband which comes with dialup backup in case of emergencies.

Cheers
Happytrader

 

[Dan_]

Optus Cable,

Never drops out and it fast (avarage about 7mbps) on a download. Great for gaming as well with an recently increased upload

 

[sam76]

Telstra Bigpond wireless, and yes, they suck!

Always dropping out, and never remembers my password not to forget max one gig download per month. My last months internet bill was $500!

 

[captain black]

.Netcall ADSL
512/128 Plan

Inexpensive, no frills, no probs. in 6 months with them.

 

[mit]

wireless with shoalhaven.net. Very reliable at 256k/256k. Being in the country I thought I would never get broadband but got access under the governments HiBis scheme

MIT

 

[Happy]

Joe,

Looks that single vote entry doesn’t look enough, for dual-access forum members, but this is flip side of polls I suppose.

Forgot to mention:
Dial-up 31.2 or 28.8 when rains

 

[Caliente]

Amnet 8M/1M ADSL

40GB Peak/40GB Off Peak @ $69 per month

 

[Smurf1976]

Forgot to mention:
Dial-up 31.2 or 28.8 when rains

Rain? Lines not too good?

 

[Happy]

Telstra cannot do anything about it, they guarantee Internet connection 2.6 or something of this "magnitude", and as far as they are concerned they keep their commitment.

 

[Mumbank]

I have been using Bidpond ADSL but have recently changed to TPG Broadband because its lots cheaper than Bigpond and a few colleagues have recommended it. However I have recently changed my browser from IE to Mozilla Firefox and it is sooooo much faster and sooo much better, I was starting to have real difficulties with email through bigpond, not being able to reply, forward etc, too many hiccups, so Im really happy now.

Can I just ask, I am about to upgrade my laptop and go to Wireless Broadband for when I am working in Sydney (I live in Newcastle) - any suggestions about either the laptop or wireless providers? It's all a bit of a maize to me. Any help appreciated.

 

[crash82au]

Hey Mumbank, try http://www.three.com.au/index.cfm?pid=2253&pageid=2253 for wireless internet. Ive used it when it was officially released with three. I would put its speed on par with a decent 256k/64k adsl connection. Packet loss is extremely high and you will pay through the nose for data. The only real benefits of using this type of service is mobility and email. As far as i know still you will only need a notebook with pcmcia slot free(the might have some sort of usb tech now).
As far as notebooks go, anything that handles the performance of you reguarly used programs. I bought a asus notebook($999 inc GST) and its fine for most applications. These days the smaller and compact the machine the heftier the price. This notebook has a 15.4" and is rather beefy, pay a little extra and reduce the size of the screen and save on weight. Most these days come with all the std technologies(usb,wireless lan/lan/firewire/svideo).
Try to steer clear of compaq and ibm if your on a budget, these companies offer great support for their products hence the price.

Danial

 

[Mumbank]

Thanks for that, I'll check it out, and your probably write when I'm in Sydney I only really need emails, Word and MYOB, so I probably don't need lots of bells and whistles. Thanks for the info

 

[chansw]

Dialup with iPrimus. Connection speed is always 52K. quite fast and reliable

 

[Smurf1976]

Dialup with iPrimus. Connection speed is always 52K. quite fast and reliable

You must live quite near to the phone exchange to get that speed?

 

[crash82au]

Could be several factors - Good lines(new area, racabled, less noise). That connection speed is pretty average. Top kb/sec wouldnt exceed your connection speed so 52000 bytes/s.

 

[Smurf1976]

I normally connect at either 44.0 or 45.2 but for my usage as long as it stays reasonable then I'm not too fussy. I'm not too sure at what point it would cause problems for me but I know that anything down to 31.2 doesn't have a noticeable effect with the way that I use the net.

It would make the regular 30 meg downloads that I do take a bit longer though but that doesn't matter because I just leave it going unattended.

 

[phoenixrising]

Westnet seems poular, also know someone who switched from Bigpond and is happy.

Mumbank, I'm also looking at laptop online on the go.
Unwired seem to be the cheapest, $199 modem and from $30 per month, but have heard that it doesn't work in many areas including near Hornsby and lower nth shore.

Telstra $299 modem & $70/mth

Will check Computor mags at Newsagent to see if any comparisons done.

 

[Bomba]

I use unwired.