On 15/06/2014 10:39 AM, Russell Coker wrote:
On Sat, 14 Jun 2014 15:42:59 Andrew McGlashan wrote:
Yes on WiFi hotspot using Android, but most 2.x devices are too old to support 4G or new, but too budget to have all the right radios. The biggest problem with older gear is the radios that are supported -- that's the biggest reason to /need/ to update mobile phones too.
Kogan was offering 6G per month before Telstra stopped them from being too competitive.
Yes, we know all about that, no argument about Telstra there, but the service was a limited type service anyway -- the way the plan worked was wonky in itself, allowing them to /forever/ chop off the top users for using too much of the /unlimited/ components that were included. Please to help with clarity, use GB for quota and just G for network capability.
Aldi offered 5G per month for a reasonable price then 2.5G when Kogan wasn't competing and have since made their offerings even worse value for money.
Yes, but you have to go by current plans. I have a mobile broadband only plan that gives me 10GB per month on 4G on a month-by-month basis for $39.99 per month. There are no calls or SMS, but I've got a phone on a different plan for normal mobile phone use that is very reasonable. Unfortunately that phone plan is not available to new users; I pay a dollar per month plus usage at very low rate, said plan is mostly used for just incoming calls anyway. I use different options for outgoing calls generally. In any case, this topic is about broadband, not phone usage with broadband add-on. 2GB plans on 3G are available at $15.99 per month, also on month-to-month contract. 5GB for $24.99 and 10GB at $34.99 -- the 4G plan with 10GB is just $5 more than the 3G plan with same quota, but with the potential for far greater speeds and also much less latency on the 4G/4Gplus Optus network.
I find it difficult to stick within the 2G per month limit of my phone plan on 3G. I don't have problems with transfer speed, any transfer that is large enough for 3G speed to be a problem is going to be a quota problem first.
That's probably because of the 1MB data chunks that I told you to be wary of previously, but you never thought that was a problem.
3G downloads on my phone which has a 2G quota are 1/3 the speed of my home ADSL which has a 150G quota. If my phone quota was 50G per month then I MIGHT have a problem with 3G speed, but otherwise I won't.
Fair enough.
Every Android phone I've ever owned has been able to play Youtube at normal speed over 3G, that includes the Xperia X10i and Samsung Galaxy S. It seems to me that Youtube is the only common use of Android phones that involves large time sensitive data transfers.
Okay.
Still, I think it is better to run a dedicated router, such as a Netgear WND3700 or newer, just make sure it is supported -- of course this is less good when you are out and about, but great for fixed locations -- you can use an inverter in the car, but it will be more hassle than just using WiFi hotspot.
Of course an Android phone can be considered a "dedicated router".
Sure, an Android phone can be a "dedicated router", but you need to keep it plugged in and the phone needs to be able to remain powered without needing to unplug and replug the charger. Having something like a WNDR3700 (or newer, you probably can't get the 3700 now, unless second hand from eBay, but that's probably not a good option due to shipping costs as well as the low cost of brand new gear today with full warranty), you also have gigabit networking ports available for wired networking tasks. If you don't want gigabit ports, then you can go much cheaper with a TP-Link unit. Cheers A.