| 21 Jan 2009 - Telstra NextG Wireless - Rural Phone Link | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Last week I travelled to rural NSW, Far central north of the state. Knowing the service would be bad, I took the latest generation of the Telstra Country Phone. A full review off that soon. It's a piece of technology I stumbled across that got me most 'excited'. Walking into the homestead on the property I was staying, I noticed on the wall a device called "A NextG Wireless Link Service provided by Telstra" I could see LAN points, Wireless lights and thought it was some sort of Internet Router. As it turns out, Telstra installed the device at no cost, and at no specific request to the property owner. The normal Phone and Fax lines in the property were traditionally copper lines, prone to some faults especially in rain etc So, Telstra Install this NextG device. What does that do for the landline you ask? Replaces it. While still paying the same for landline calls, each call made from the landline is actually being made via the NextG network, using IP technology - this is VOIP gone mad - in a good way! A Large External Antenna is setup on the roof, pointing to the NextG tower (some 12-13km away), and the Wireless Link is connected to that antenna, and all the phone lines in the house routed through the device. What about the Internet? So I try a WiFi connection - no luck, need the password. A quick call to Telstra and the most helpful tech support I've yet encountered, and I'm in. But no Internet account has been setup. No CD is in the homestead either (let alone my EeePC doesnt have a CD drive), so another call (to the Same tech support guy as it turned out), and i was taken to an online signup page. A few hoops to jump through, verification and signup, and bingo, a simple, $30 a month broadband plan is setup on the device and WiFi internet is working a treat. (careful of the Cordless Phone, Interference was shocking, but thats a frequency clash) This is just amazing technology - and it proves that Broadband Internet can be made available Almost anywhere. Standing OUTSIDE of that very same Homestead, I got 1 bar of NextG service, 50% of the time - almost EXACTLY the same as the coverage i used to get with CDMA in the same area. So why not add a Mobile booster to the Ericsson Wireless Link Service Telstra??? Just a thought. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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