as per https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/170680 but now extended to 1000+ payphone sites nationwide :)
FREE Telstra Wi-Fi™ Trial - 30 Mins @ 1000+ Payphone Sites Nationwide
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tonester on 19/03/2015 - 22:04 webcache.googleusercontent.com (1090 clicks)
Last edited 11/06/2015 - 16:20 by 2 other users
Last edited 11/06/2015 - 16:20 by 2 other users
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Still currently in trial phase so open to everyone.
Later in the year it will "launch":
When our Wi-Fi Network launches this year, members will be able to use their home broadband allowance at domestic Telstra Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as more than 14 million Fon hotspots overseas.
Do people really envisage themselves using the hotspots that much anymore? 5 years ago when i was only getting 200mb a month for sure but data on phone plans is getting cheaper and cheaper. If i need a laptop connection i can just hotspot off my phone.
note - i still think its a good idea doing this. Its just personally don't see how often I would use it
Do people really envisage themselves using the hotspots that much anymore?
Try streaming a few footy games each month on your mobile data allowance…
@jv: Haha fair call, but I always seem to be running out of battery just at the exciting parts of the games!
I always seem to be running out of battery
…and you call yourself an Ozbargainer… You should be ashamed…
Unless your a backpacker, I see no reason to put your privacy at risk by using public WiFi. It's not 2005 people.
I see no reason to put your privacy at risk
Yes, I'd hate for people to know my highest score on Candy Crush…
@PainToad:
https, vpn, tor?Back in my day people used to have conversations. I mean with audible words that people within range* could hear because they weren't encrypted…
*dependent on line of sight, obstacle construction, power output and quality of receiving antenna.
I have 200gb quota on Telstra cable at home, but just 200Mb on my $10 per month iiNet phone plan (now grandfathered), as mostly I'm near a wifi network. So extra hotspots that come from my home quota is great for me.
I'd argue mobile data at many carriers has gotten more expensive. Many of the major carriers have cut back on how much data is available on a plan. For example, the gradfathered prepaid plan I'm on gives me 2GB of data (and the recharge value then allows me to purchase an additional 3GB under the same recharge - resulting ion a total of 5GB). Many of the newer plans are closer to 1 to 1.5GB and not all allow a data pack to be purchased using the same recharge credit like my current plan does.
I don't think Telstra is alone in scaling back some of their data plans either.
Perhaps on the low end, smaller data caps have gone up, but at the same time higher end plans have been stagnant for some time or have either had their data allowance scaled back or the cost increased. Smaller carriers may have improved in those regards, but many don't have access to 4G which is a mark against those carriers for me and a reason why one might want to use wifi.
Having hotspot data come out of a 200+ GB home connection is far far more appealing than it coming out of a 1 - 5GB pool of data, assuming the hotspots speed is reasonable and you have access to a hotspot to begin with. I'd assume it also works on devices that don't have a 3G card built in, such as most laptops and probably the majority of tablets sold.
"Try streaming a few footy games each month on your mobile data allowance… ;
Vodafone 's every·weekend, in·fi·nite sports streaming·network ??
The Telstra link is broken.
NBN ?
It's working now. It was a HTTP 500 error.
I've tried it at Milsons Point Station, Wynyard, Hornsby Station and Liverpool Hospital so far, since December 2014.
You get around.
tried one a few weeks back outside a mall for the sake of trying. It didn't work lol.
Meanwhile the one in the mall that asked for my email which was handsmashes worked fine.Wonder what square m of Aus geographic footprint would a prime hot-spot network fit.
?2percent+/-……..
+will Uplink reach.125mbyte-s :)
Its a joke,never work
if you never work, you'll not earn any money…
Oh jv
Very hard to connect between 9 am to 7 pm. Less than 50% chance
The ones around Hobart always seem to work fine. You have to be pretty close to the payphones to get a stable connection but they work!
If you find yourself hanging around a payphone ….you might be an ozbargainer.
or a crack head.
Anyone know how much data can be downloaded?
answering my own question…No data limit according to telstra (apart from the 30 min limit in the OP's title x the speed) http://www.cnet.com/au/news/telstra-switches-on-first-150-pu…
I would be interested in terms of if they are collecting any metrics on users who are using these WiFi points. I'm not a huge fan of sharing all my location, social media etc. data with Telstra.
from the same cnet article above I thought this was interesting ….
"Telstra customers will also form part of the network itself, thanks to a new Gateway Max modem that turns the user's home broadband network into a Wi-Fi hotspot that can be accessed by other users."
Does anyone know how to automatically connect to free wifi hotspots? Using tasker or some other app perhaps? (I've got the 'wifiweb login' app, but that just automates the log in sequence once connected, I still have to pull my phone out and manually connect to each hotspot)
Its free. Really?! It's that hard to just login to each one?
Seriously. Kids these days.
Free internet really isn't amazing anymore. I say this as a 28 year old, not a kid.
This is straya though … free internet is pretty amazing in straya.
How long until criminals start setting up "Telstra Wi-Fi" hotspots and nicking what they can?
Was I complaining? No. Is it that hard? No. Could it be more convenient? Yes.
Go get on your high horse somewhere else mate.
You have to pull your phone out to connect to a different free wifi hotspot. Sounds like a first world problem at the very least.
As for it not being hard or not to do. Can't comment. I am not a web designer/free wifi hotspot provider.
With regards to convenience. It is a free service. Up to whoever providing the service wether they should spend more time to making it easier to jump from one free wifi hotspot to another.
Before anyone jumps up and down saying my comments are not helping. Here some food for thought then.
If there are say 3 to 4 free in a given area? How exactly will autoconnecting to wifi hotspot work? Perhaps speed test each and connect to the fastest one? Check the strenght of each wifi hotspot signal and connect to the strongests one?
TL; DR
Telstra free wifi internet is free. They want more people to get a chance to use it in the hope you sign up with them for home internet. Im guessing same goes for other wifi hotspot provider. They want you to spend money with them. So no onus to make it easier to jump from one to other.
@xoom: No-one said the onus was on Telstra's to write the app. Why would Telstra branch into writing Apps anyway? Asking if there is better app than the (~$2) wifiweb is perfectly reasonable question. Heck, before jb6's comment I didn't even know about wifiweb.
I never said anything about telstra having to write apps. All i said was telstra or any wifi provider for that matter do not have to make it easier to jump from one wifi hotspot to the other.
Will one be permitted to re-login-register to the same or a different one of the powerful phone booth APs post 30 Mins? OR would some token & cookie say your time session allotment has expired today - and simply 2% of any day. +How much will the charged version be & ahead of maturity of the network by 2019? Meantime, smaller carrier covers 95% of metro in ✓LTE 4G.
109G consumed for me on 4G in my first month/no limit/vha,lteI am going to hazard a guess once your 30 minutes is up you have to wait till the next day/24 hours till you can connect again.
On today's service or charged ? We'd remember most commutes involve two directions (from/to) where one would use it..Station. Park. waiting etc
Certainly businesses have many places solved.
You can just reconnect.
how fast are the hotspots? anyone tested them out yet or even done a speedtest on the hotspot?
Downloaded 1gb file from Mega @ 1.2mbps during peak hour at Sydney CBD.
Interesting.
So is it just a lame http proxy or does it allow other internet services like VoIP, Skype, Line, WhatsAp, Messengers, etc etc???
To my understanding telstra/bigpond broadband customers are able to use the wifi and it just comes out of their monthly total? Is that still telstras plan or do they want to create separate plans for the hot-spot use?