Telstra is pushing this 4G thing pretty hard, even if Apple’s new “4G” iPad doesn’t support the connection locally. In any case, you can now add 4G LTE speeds to any device with a new gadget released this week.
An update to Telstra’s 3G version, the new Telstra Mobile Wi-Fi 4G Â offers access to Telstra’s super-fast mobile broadband connection to up to five devices on the go. Any device with support for WiFi can take advantage of the hotspot, including tablets, iPads, mobile phones, portable game systems, and computers, offering loads of devices high speed connections using a network that can reach download speeds higher than that of a home ADSL2+ connection.
Like previous Telstra mobile hotspots, the 4G includes an LED display showing information including WiFi hotspot name, password, connection strength, and battery level.
Two versions of the product are available, with the Telstra Mobile Wi-Fi 4G available for business customers this week on a $50 monthly plan, and the consumer-grade BigPond Mobile Wi-Fi 4G for $60 monthly, each including 8GB of downloads per month.
The hotspot can also be purchased outright for $299.
The problem with 4G data speeds is that your data allowance won’t last long. Telstra needs to wake up and offer decent amounts of data with 4G. I can burn my 4g of data in 10 working days and thats not doing any downloads above normal web surfing. 4G is great the amount of data offered is useless.Â
Not sure I agree. 8GB seems like a decent amount per month for a mobile hotspot. I’m not sure how much heavy downloading one needs to do with one, mind you.
I have a 4g 4G account. 8gb would last me around 20 working days. Have you used a 4g account in a 4g zone? for more than a review?
I have not. It hasn’t been part of a test environment I’ve needed to account for. What, if I may ask, is chewing up through the data?
When you look at the usage its very hard to say what it is. I do not download as such on this account. I have a 500gb ADSL connection at home for that. My 4g account is general browsing emails social networking. Maybe as part of your testing you should get an account and use it every day and see how long your data lasts. 4G is great don’t misunderstand me on that what isn’t great is stupid data allowances for what is a very fast connection if you are in a 4G zone. And I work in a 4G zone so its always fast.   Â
Perhaps you have some background downloading going on that you’re not aware of. 8GB takes a bit of effort to churn through, especially when you’re not ‘downloading’ anything per se, but just surfing and social networking. Running an up to date Anti-Virus / Internet security package? Maybe you should do a port scan or evaluate your network traffic via a monitor to see if there’s anything fishy going on…
Note: I have a 4GB account. I am also aware of the issues you talked about. This Laptop also waits till its on the home network before it updates windows.
8GB is nothing, especially when you consider Telstra is charging both traffic directions (upload and download). Did you know that? Other ISPs (like TPG for example) are only charging the download.