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Forum Index : Off topic archive. : Dodo dial-up vs. NextG broadband
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| domwild Guru  Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Hi, Dodo dial-up: $12.90/month or $160 or so per year. NextG broadband: 10 GB data, $150 per year, 365 days renewal. Have a NextG mobile, which I need in the bush and it can be used as a USB modem in the city and with a $120 antenna in the bush for NextG. Hate to be the one advertising for Telsucks, but it seems to be a good deal compared with my dickey telephone line to the rural suburb outside Perth; lots of dropouts needing a redial and an extra charge for a 019 call to Dodo by Telsucks. Speed claimed is 230 kb/sec and I have seen up to 60 kB/sec during downloads, a bit better than 4 kB with dead bird. No fixed line broadband in my area from Telstra or Optus and the NBN is up to eight years off. Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
Hi Dom, Its a good deal if your data is shaped to 8kB/s after the 10 GB limit is reached, with no excess penalty rates. With the right gear Next G can be super quick. I am so far out in the sticks I cant get a mobile to work, I still average between 100 - 200 KB/s with a decent 850 Mhz yagi. The best speeds in the bush are had with a professional non-telstra modem and using a different provider as a mirror,(my best 589 KB/s from 79 KM from the cell tower) but its not worth the cost or the hassle. I have found the little telstra USB modems the trickiest to set up, even in good reception areas they need maximum signal strength before they will run glitch free at high speeds. Expect 180 to 390 KB/s from a slow 7Mb/s tower these babies are tuned for 850 (Next G) from RFI 
I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
I have such an antenna, which claims to work for that 850 MHz band, but I am leaving it inside the house in the metro area (full bars) and have not mounted it. Do you think in the bush I will get more than 1-2 bars if I mount it outside? Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5012 |
Big YES to that. The higher the better, but you get to a point where the losses in the extra cable offset the gains in power. Best place is the middle of your roof, it acts as a ground plane. Or you could build a yagi like I did, I had good results with that. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
It is different for both places, in the city signal strength gets you speed, in the bush the high gain antenna gives a lower noise floor, so with lower levels of background interference a quality signal can be had with low signal levels. mine happily runs at -95 dBm (no bars). A 10 or 15 metre low loss cable (LL195) with quality swaged FME ends is about $60. Technically 15 metres is over the length limit for this cable but the added height more than compensates (provided its aimed around the trees) the yagi in the photo is a RFI model yb15 850. 13 dB gain ??? I cant remember what the whip is but it is about 9 dB gain Some of the multiband antennas have very poor gain on the Next G frequencies, I have tested some that claim 8-9 dB but yield 2.5 or 3 dB on the 850 Next G signal. yahoo I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| windlight Guru Joined: 03/03/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 331 |
Dom I don't know if you are aware of these maps showing tower locations and frequencies etc. ">coms towers Maybe it will help in the bush. Allan "I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it" - (Act II, Scene IV). |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
http://www.perite.com/vk7jj/nextgyagi.html Thanks for suggestions. The above is a link to a home-made Yagi and had I seen this before may have saved me $120 for the RFI whip. I may just build one like the above as I can use two, one for the bush and one for the city. With a Yagi I need to know the nearest tower, for which Allan's link will be useful. Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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