Wireless Broadband in Regional Australia? Ho hummm…
By Stephen Spry : Filed under SBSN News
I recently had to move to new digs, so decided it was time to “upgrade” my ADSL to the betterer, fasterer wireless broadband that’s (supposedly) possible using the 3G mobile phone network.
The main attraction was the “portability” this technology offers - i.e. I can take it anywhere I go (assuming 3G coverage is available) whether I need to move house again, or if I go travelling for any time.
And I didn’t have to worry about paying to get the fixed line home phone moved (and paying line rental etc), and also waiting forever for the ADSL to be reconnected (and I STILL have to ask WHY this takes so long to do!!!!)
The end result?
After my 7 day trial, my experiment with the Optus 3G wireless broadband in regional Australia could only be described as an “interesting” failure!
Here’s why…
Rather than get the “memory stick” style modem that plugs into a USB socket on my computer, I opted to get the In-Zone wireless gateway, which also doubles as a home wireless and ethernet network.
This is an excellent little modem… but…
If you can imagine the guy on the roof adjusting the TV aerial to get the best signal while the footy finals are on the tele…
That is what basically happened with my 3G experiment!
The modem NEVER picked up a 3G signal downstairs in my new townhouse. Unfortunately, modem speeds of 14-20k on the slower GSM network just don’t cut it for me!
Instead, the modem lived upstairs in my bedroom, near the glass sliding door leading onto the balcony. For a lot of the time, the mode light was either purple or blue (which indicated the faster “possible” speeds - up to 3000k - available with 3G).
However, for no apparent reason, the signal would OFTEN revert to the much slower GSM network!
Which meant I could be working away downstairs in the office, and find myself time-warping back to 1994 access speeds.
Moving the modem into the doorway, opening the glass sliding door, or even holding it above my head outside on the balcony, SOMETIMES helped it go back to 3G speed…
Maybe IF there was an external aerial you could attach to the In-Zone modem it might help…
Unfortunately, the Optus 3G Wireless Broadband service in my part of regional Australia just doesn’t cut it!
While it might be OK in other parts of the country - major cities or larger regional areas perhaps - it didn’t want to play with me here in Laurieton, despite the almost clear line-of-site (except for a stand of trees) to the 3G phone tower servicing the area.
Thankfully, they are good with their 7 day coverage guarantee, which meant I could cancel the contract, and return the goods (at my expense), and that’s that!
And now?
I’m back on dialup, patiently (not) awaiting the reconnection of my ADSL… and am reminded of the importance of designing web sites for people with slow modems 
I’m also finding it extremely frustrating to get any work done! How we ever did this back in 1995 with 14.4k modems is beyond me!!!
[...] was a 7 day trial run of 3G mobile wireless broadband. Unfortunately, that didn’t work, spending far too much time at the slower GSM speeds [...]
Yes, unfortunately wireless is pretty ordinary in a lot of places right now. Fortunately the prices have dropped a lot over the last year thanks mainly to Three, Vodafone, Virgin and Optus. But the networks all become so congested and the signals aren’t strong enough to work well for a lot of people.
Oh and your comment:
“waiting forever for the ADSL to be reconnected (and I STILL have to ask WHY this takes so long to do!!!!)”
It’s appalling isn’t it. It must have to do with Telstra. Anything they do usually takes about 5 times longer than a competent company
you might have done better with the “stick” as it is dual band where the in-zone only works on the shorter rand 2100mhz band. I find my coverage 120km out of capital city works fine and fast
Ian there were two problems with the stick idea…
1. I have a 3yo Mac iBook, so most of the sticks say they don’t work with a Mac (or there’s no support) so I didn’t even try for that… and
2. I also had MORE than one computer to share the connection, hence the in-zone gateway.
I’ll give the stick a go next time
If you live in a city then speeds are fine, however most of the wireless broadband providers fail to point out that speeds are awful elsewhere. You should be able to get your money back if you return it within a few weeks so I’d advise anyone to try out the connection as soon as you can so you can return it if the speeds are unacceptable.
I think this technology will be great in the future but it’s just not up to spec for for lots of places right now.