Free with any $2 telstra prepaid sim.
Available at over 1,000 locations across Australia
In my experience speeds of between 8Mbits to over 100Mbits depending on location
Was originally slated to end last month but has been extended to next year.
$2 sim here: https://www.telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/prepaid-mobiles/2-p…
From my experience -
If you have a telstra home adsl etc… account then you can get an airID and use your laptop or any other device at a hotspot.
If you only have a mobile service (including pre-paid) then they won't give you an airID and you can only connect from that device.
I argued the point for a long time, and the sales pitch says telstra customers, not telstra devices, but I got nowhere.
I don't think this is true because I can access telstra air from my laptop at any hotspot just by logging in with my mytestra account. All i have is telstra prepaid
Same here
Nope, search the OzB archives for how to sign up after activating a SIM.
I've searched and I've tried - I'm just failing at this one. If you run across the info again please point me to it.
No luck.
I have my telstra ID (my gmail account), I'm eligible and registered for Telstra Air, but I can't connect using my telstra ID from my laptop.
I managed to activate the Telstra Air from the website…thanks Op.
I have 2 phone…my work phone is a windows 10 mobile…does not seem to be able to support Telstra Air…anyone know how?
Log in from browser
I have this link bookmarked and it tends to work
https://www.telstra.com.au/airconnect#http://go.microsoft.co…
Hey Tony, have you figured out a way to remember the username password on the login page (or hardcoded in the login link)? The Telstra Air App never succeeded to login automatically for me.
You should be able to log in from any browser..
Connect to the hotspot, then try to go somewhere ie google.com
You should be auto-redirected to a site starting with;
https://telstra.portal.fon.com/jcp/telstra?…..
then log in to your Telstra Account.
@scubacoles: Yup but I don't want to type in my username password every single time and Chrome doesn't seem to offer the remember password option for me.
@MadMaxBargainRoad:
I use LastPass… which autofills and logs in automatically. (in Firefox… dumped Chrome about a year ago when I realised it was now just as bulky - if not more bulky - nowadays and had fewer extensions that I use)
@scubacoles: Argh I see. :( I probably can't do it as I don't trust a rooted phone with password manager.
@fruit: Yeah technically I can but it's one more app and one more account that I have to manage. Given the short amount of time that I use the hotspots it's a more like a delimma for me. I really wish the Telstra Air app works better.
Thanks. It doesnt seem to work. Do I need to disable wifi or something?
Telstra Air IS WiFi. First see if you can find an Air AP on your phone's list. Connect to it. You should get an IP address by DHCP before you can proceed. From then on if you try to access any plain http site with the web browser it will redirect you to the Fon portal, and you login with your Telstra ID and password. If that works, surf away.
@greenpossum: Ahh I see. Silly me. I just try to see if I can see Telstra's AP. Cant find any at my current location. Will try another area.
Living in CBD and always failed to connect to a Telstra Air hotspot, even when I stay near the phone booth which has the Air sign.
This is nice. I couldn't take advantage of it before because it's not compatible with LG G4
The only application of this i can think of is if your a tourist and you want to buy the $2 SIM and use the hotspots? I did a similar thing in NZ with Spark and it was handy. But over there it seemed like public phones everywhere.
Telstra had no choice apart from extending the offer with their crappy network
I haven't followed the whole Telstra AIR thing much.
Can someone clarify how it works?
Do i need Telstra broadband at home to take advantage of accessing AIR on a $2 SIM?
I assume you can connect a smartphone to it, how does it authenticate?, how does it know (for when it's no longer free) which account to deduct data from?
Can i connect a laptop to it?
Do i need to install any software on said laptop or phone?
I always thought that this worked by using data off your existing home network when you were near a payphone…
That was the original plan. Now they keep extending this 'unlimited usage' so that your home data doesnt get affected.
After march if they dont extend it will use your home data..
Check out the hotspots available worldwide at https://fon.com/maps/
You may freak out when you see an icon over your property…
mwhahaha! no icon over my property hehe. Is this wifi map thing in regards to the Telstra air? Makes sense if it is, I couldn't get Telstra in my property and I am pretty sure none of the block could.
EDIT: Good to have in mind in case I ever move and can get Telstra somewhere else
I have tried to use telstra air in about 8 different locations around australia.. All but one of them 8 times failed and the one time it did work it was slow as sh1t.. they are giving it away for free cause no one in their right mind would pay for it.
I'm thinking about getting one of these as a backup in case my internet goes down (neighbour in my unit block is broadcasting Air).
Do I need to keep loading credit on the $2 sim to keep it active? Or can I just "set and forget"?
Most cost effective vs expiry time I can see on the website seems to be $30 / 6 months, which isn't bad, but $0 is better.
In my experience the $2 sims stay active for 6 months without any credit being loaded on them.
is there a map of the air wifi hotspots? how close to a hotspot do i have to be?
i have a dual sim phone, can i put a $2 sim in my phone and use it and forget about it or do i have to have credit?
Wait the deal says "free" … wait, I didn't realise Telstra actually expected customers to pay for this terrible service on top of the already most expensive Telstra service they already pay for.
Retarded lel.
Whenever I download files via Telstra Air it seems to be speed limited to not much more than 200kb/s. McDonald's wifi seems to be about 5x faster.
Do I need a dual-sim phone to use this? I dont want to change my carrier over
You don't even have to leave the SIM in the phone.
LOL, well done Telstra.
e-mail received after signing up……..
"We hope you enjoy free and unlimited Wi-Fi at Telstra Air hotspots across Australia until 11:59PM on 30 September 2016 AEST"
I got the $2 starter pre-paid sim today and activated over the phone.
I have some questions:
1.How do I tether it to my laptop? I don't intend on using it through my phone that often but it seems it's not possible to tether a wifi connection through.
2. I accidentally discovered I can access the Telstra 'media' websites (e.g. Telstra news) for free through my $2 sim without having any credit or data on my account. Is this some sort of bug or has it always been free to browse telstra sites without credit?
I only tried telstra air once today as it was slow and cumbersome to log in and then it dropped out after less than a minute but I will try again at a different hotspot to see the performance. Even just having the $2 sim for the benefits of reading the news for free on my phone for 6 months makes it a bargain!
You can't because tethering is between mobile broadband and WiFi, and Air is WiFi. But you can connect to Air directly from your laptop using your Telstra ID, provided you have associated the service with your account. The Air app is supposed to automate login but isn't that good.
It's a feature. Without credit you are restricted to Telstra's walled garden. That's how the activation can proceed by accessing Telstra's activation site even without credit.
I'm getting almost 1.5mb/sec at a particular hotspot in a shopping center. I don't think anybody is using it here. It's fantastic. :)
Just an update from a free Telstra Air user (via a now expired starter pack):
Acquisition times seem to have shortened (improved). Sometimes I drive past a payphone that has the Air hat and I hear a chime on my phone indicating successful login. I think they've only updated the app once so the improvements are on the infrastructure side.
As you may know Telstra Air is affiliated with Fon. I was a pleasantly surprised on my recent trip to Europe when it successfully signed on to a Fon AP and I had Internet access. I had assumed it required a paid Telstra account but it seems this is free too until 27/03/17.
Its a good deal but I cant find many places that offer it. In most shopping centers you get free wifi anyway. Only place I've seen it is at phone boxes and I dont like hanging around those like its the 90's all over again. Speeds were pretty good when I tested it though, got over 50mbit