With TGG ebay current 20% promo, this brings the modem price down to one of the lowest prices ever.
Should include free 2nd month, and 3rd month free if using a random referral code here on activation.
Been on it for about 5 months now, quite stable connection no dropout. Can get a bit congested around 7pm'ish sometimes, but still can stream Netflix. Def recommended for short term solution. Usually 200gb for 70/month or unlimited for 90/month.
Enjoy :)
Promises 12mbps but in reality 3-4 mbps
Really area dependant. I usually get 10-12mbps, sometimes dips to 5 or so for a minute or two.
Before I signed up, I made sure to test out the optus towers in the area during peak times.
Really area dependant.
Definitely. I struggled with it for about 8 months before I was able to get a phone line & ADSL (long story) and any time after about 4pm it dropped to about 1Mbps. It was terrible. I had full signal and was about 800m line of sight to the tower.
At 3am I could get full speed but even during the day I was only able to get 5-6Mbps tops. I've heard plenty of stories from others who get full speed all the time, and also have heard plenty of horror stories much the same as my own experience.
Good review. Thanks for the warning.
Same deal with me
I literally cancelled my contract today as I couldn’t justify the price
My friend and I have both been on Vivid and our experience was the same. About 1Mbps at peak times.
I recommend getting a get a proper 4G modem and high GB sim-only plan instead.
I have rock solid 12mbps stable and sub 50ms ping for gaming which is fine for me.
Add in the fact I've saved 5-6 hundred bucks in free referral months thanks to OzBargain, and I can't really complain at all.
This is actually really great if you are in an area that has 4G and really crap ADSL2+.
I signed up for ADSL2+ (in West Footscray, 7km from Melb CBD) and was told that because my property was so far away from the exchange all I could expect was 3Mbps max. In actual fact, I was barely getting 1Mbps, not even enough to stream Netflix.
Needless to say I was incredibly disappointed. After some research I found this as an alternative and have been getting a solid 9-10Mbps for the past year. I don't recall having any dropouts.
If you are fighting with ADSL, then I highly recommend this. Instant access to reasonable speeeds.
I can vouch for a similar situation that I was in as well (Kensington VIC), several ISPs were telling me there was a complex issue into connecting an ADSL service to my apartment and I could not be bothered losing any more time on the phone and playing the waiting game.
I decided to try out Vivid just as a temporary solution until I could find something better but have had nothing but a fantastic experience with their service - I have no problems streaming Netflix, usually average 10-12Mbps and even playing online games (CS:GO nets me 30ms at around 11pm).
Just ensure that you're in range to the towers and have good reception with Optus.
Gatehouse Drive?
Nah Epsom rd
I find the opposite…
I'm 300m line of site to my local 4g optus tower.
At the start I was getting a solid 12mpbs and it was brilliant.
Now it sits around 5mpbs and is erratic.
I can watch Netflix most of the time without buffering, but gaming FPS is almost out of the question.
Other online multiplayer seems to be fine with lag here and there.
Optus cannot find a fault. =/
You don't happen to be on the 200GB plan do you?
If so, then it could be connecting to a stronger signal (other than band 40) which limits you to 5mbps speed.
Otherwise damn that sucks :( I've been lucky with my connection being a stable 10-11.5mbps all hours of the day.
called service desk and 'locked' the modem to the correct band but doesn't seen to do anything.
when it can hover around 8mpbs as well so it's odd.
Same situation for me. From 3 Mbps (and quite often much lower) on ADSL2+, I'm now on 10 Mbps on Vivid. There's no indication as to when NBN is coming to my area, so for now, Vivid is the best option.
Kogan got 4g modem way cheaper can get it for ~70$ with voucher. It’s unlocked too so get any SIM card card with a lot of data and you are good to go. Won’t be hard for 70$ a month.
With what voucher? They have their own branded 4g router for $119 with no included data. This deal should get 2 months free service for only a few $$$ more than kogan router. Kogan itself doesn't seem to have very good 4G plans either. Interested to hear if you have a cheaper option as i'm looking to go down this route as I need internet with no contract! Cheers.
This modems price is going up and down, was 109 a week ago. There were vouchers for 20$ off 100$, combine with 10$ referral so you can get the modem at ~70$.
Kogans plans coverage and internet speeds are very good, I got 2 mobile plans with 23gb data at 20$ per month (the whole year prepaid) so that or the modem is unlocked so get any other plan.
Not good for Netflix tho but good enough if don’t need much data on wifi
Yeah, not really comparable since vividwireless has unlimited data (albeit at a higher cost of 89/month).
If you were super stingy, you could probably use a smartphone for tethering/hotspotting 4g but you need this modem to go on the vividwireless plan.
I bought one for $120 in Officeworks 3 months ago. It was a single item, so didn't post this as a deal on OzB.
Never signed up to Vivid. Instead I've put in a data sim (from my optus ipad deal) on the optus network. Confirms - it now acts as a mobile 4G broadband service. I'm using this until NBN rolls out in my area.
So OPTUS network sims will work, as vivid uses the optus network.
This might be useful for those waiting for nbn, with no adsl or can't be bothered getting adsl.
Useful for renters who move around.
I bought mine for $39 from the good guys.
Stacked a concierge credit with a few $20 survey credits when they had a 20% off networking Promo
Using it with my optus data sim from the 100gb iPad pro 12.9 deal
Nice
Damn u overpaid on the iPad by a ton
I was paying $90 a month for internet. So I got an iPad pro 512gb with 100gb data deal for $80 over 24 months with optus
Seems to be enough for us. Has free Netflix and spotify data which we use mostly
Also stream new episodes of US TV shows on various websites in 720p which is good enough for me on a computer screen.
@easternculture:
I remember that deal, or was it double data at 200 Gb?
Either way, the cost of the ipad pro was equal to the 2yr contract! So essentially a free ipad pro for the data plan. Well done, easternculture
@easternculture:
Still, you essentially got a free ipad pro.
Or you got free 100gb/month for 24 months, depending on how you look at it
What are the main benefits of using one of these vivid wireless modems over an Optus prepaid hotspot device or even the iPad Pro 12.9 in hotspot mode?
Ipad Pro hotspot (or any other idevice in hotspot mode) uses energy +++, not quite a 24/7 router.
Vivid = 24/7 modem+wirelessrouter built-in, can connect ? 20+ devices.
Optus prepaid hotspot device good for a few devices to connect, ? 3G vs 4G, ? wireless range enough for a decent sized house.
This locks you to Optus 2300mhz though, doesn't it? So speeds, etc will be dependent on a locations access to Optus 2300mhz?
I get close to 50Mbps with an optus sim in a vivid modem
So OPTUS network sims will work, as vivid uses the optus network.
Can you please confirm whether you get 4G speed or is it still capped at 12 MBPS?
Not speed restricted if you use an Optus sim in it.
Source: I have tried.
Not speed restricted if you use an Optus sim in it.
That's amazing, thanks for confirming. Now waiting for 200GB deal :D
Any ideas on whether these are network locked/what bands they support?
See above. Optus sim works as it's on the optus network. Not sure if other sims will work
I would recommend you get the telstra 40gb endless plan for $69 per month with no excess data charges over this
https://www.telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/plans-and-rates/byo…
Runs Netflix great
So you can binge netflix HD for 13 hours… then VCR quality for the rest of the month? No thanks.
Seems to prioritizes Netflix traffic. Tested on the standard Netflix and works without any buffering issues on the capped quota data
Netflix usually ships boxes with all their content for the region to ISPs so ISPs have no remote data cost for Netflix content.
i have been using this for 6+ months. speed is much better if you use it in bridge mode with a good router.
interesting, can you provide some more info on which router you are using, and how you set it up?
i'm using asus Ac68U - pretty simple to set up. on router set it to automatically get ip, and turn off dhcp on the modem. connect modem to router internet port
ok np - thanks for that, i will try on some of my spare kit too
An advantage this has over all other 4g wireless services is that you get a real ip address instead of NAT
sometimes I still experience NAT… i have to reset all my connections to fix it.
I used to use it for that reason however I think they are doing a lot more NAT now :(
An advantage this has over all other 4g wireless services is that you get a real ip address instead of NAT
How does it matter to a general user? I googled the difference between these two but can't find much info so would appreciate your response, purely to educate my self :)
Cheers
No, for Internet browsing, Netflix, general Internet usage - nope. :) I was using it as a temporary service when moving, then after that as a backup/failover connection, and running services behind it - so public IP was important in my use case :)
For your average Facebook/Youtube user? It doesn't. It's once you need a reason that NATs become annoying as hell.
Vivid pricing was great untill they got acquired by Optus. We used it a year ago (while waiting on fiber to get connected) in the CBD and had really good speed (better than ADSL). Right now I'm not sure about their services, but it's much more expensive than what it was before
Noob question. Can I ask the advantages of using this over like a cheap optus router or using an iPads tethering capabilities?
Appreciate any help that may be able to be given
I have a 100gb 4g service through the optus ipad deal. We have just been tethering through the ipad to this point.
Same
Surprisingly 100gb is enough for 2 people
Depends on your use. I have the unlimited plan on Vivid, and I can get through about 300 GB of data a month. Lots of YouTube, lots of Netflix. We haven't bothered to fix our TV antenna so anything we watch is streamed.
Most of our data was Netflix and spotify but free Netflix/spotify data via optus solved out problem
And we got a free iPad pro out of it . The missus was about to upgrade and pay outright for it so was a win win situation
Just checking as I saw your above post you use the sim card out of your ipad in this router and you still get free netflix?
Optus have told me that the sim card needs to be inserted in the ipad. This is why I'm still tethering
Is this a deal that's still available?
Most of our data was Netflix and spotify but free Netflix/spotify data via optus solved out problem
You can only stream SD I take it?
Just a quick heads up…
Vivid is the worse internet provider I've used here in Australia
😎
On the unlimited plan. No complaints honestly. Everything as as advertised. No congestion, stable pings, never slows down. I bounce everything through a VPN to avoid their aggressive QoS - The only annoyance.
Which VPN? Does it not slow things down?
Also… can you set a VPN on the router itself?
I host my own. Algo VPN on a Binary Lane VPS. Ive found things were quicker actually.
Router is pretty basic, so no.
At the previous house we were at our Telstra ADSL was horrendous. After a couple of months of techs coming out and terrible communication we gave up, got one of these and were on an ok 10Mbs within an hour.
You should get a 1 month free with this and if you get a referral from someone else that is using vivid you will both get a month free.
How do you do that here? Any time someone even tries to offer a code, the admins delete their post. Do you do it in the forums or something?
Figure out who is using vivid and message them privately is what I would do. Keeps it out of the comments.
Can we make a forum post and put codes in there? I'm too afraid to do that. I don't like rejection. Like, for real.
It's in the post, click through that gives u a random code from ozbargainers. Enter the code when registering your service should give u the third month free :) I wasn't able to link the referral code straight to the post, due to this being a TGG deal rather than vividwireless
Okay… that's actually a really neat solution.
So say I'm someone who is looking for a code, and say I like you, and I want to use your referral code. Is there a way of finding your code? Or a page with a list of codes?
If that user has posted a deal and it has more than 25 votes then their deal post will also display their link in addition to random, otherwise there isn't anyway to pick a particular person. It would likely lead to referral solicitation, ie members saying 'here is the referral randomiser, pick me'.
I don't recommend Vivid as a long term solution. Make sure to check if you are close to phone tower, like really close to one. Also you may have to move the modem around the house a lot to get the best signal.
I currently swapped out the vivid sim for an optus one. There was a deal for a 200gb $70 month to month data sim only plan. Don't get it confused with the home wireless plan. Data sim only plan gave me speeds of 15 to 30 mbps and I never have the same connection issues that vivid gives me.
quick question guys, im on voda $60 so called unlimited 4g plan,its limtes the speed to 1mbps after 60g,i havent reqch the thredhold yet, but wonderin if its.gonna be super slow for youtube, browsing etc ? anyone had experience? thanks
With 1 MBPS, you would struggle so bad and will increase your blood pressure.
damn..thats not good.. just renting and will be leaving soon,dont wanna spend too much on connecting a new adsl service now.. guess this thing is the only choice
Can confirm. You can't watch anything. Don't forget, web pages are getting bigger and bigger. Even browsing is going to want to make you throw things at the wall.
just renting and will be leaving soon,dont wanna spend too much on connecting a new adsl service now
It has worked for me really well as ADSL in my area is $hit. I pay $90 for unlimited but seems like you would be ok with their 200GB $70 plan.
PS. Make sure you check that you are in the 4G area and have an Optus 2300 mhz tower nearby (google it).
thx matey
maybe i've overlooked sometihng - if you 'buy it now' thru ebay, how do you choose the plan?
I'm in south Sydney, 4km from exchange, crap ADSL, NBN in "6months" (ha!) - this seems best way fwd for me.
You choose the plan when you register yourself as a new user. You do that when you set the modem up.
EDIT: To get a month free, look for referral codes from friends.
Thanks mate - so the registration (via Vivid site) understands you've already got the hw, and wont expect you to pay another registration/setup fee?
Dont worry i'll be using a code! Mucho freebies, thanks very much ;)
Can't remember anything about a registration fee. But basically, you'll need the modem in your hands, connected to the internet, in order to choose your plan.
You can't connect multiple devices to the same plan though. I looked into that.
@flaminglemon:
ok no worries - i'll go ahead and get the device, then go from there. Thanks for the info!
another tip: If we're going on holiday I'll check if vivid will work in the area I'm going and take the modem along.
I'd do that if the in-laws had reception out in the country. They have NBN in the area, but are not using it for some reason.
Somewhat reliable 5Mbps connection when I used one, but thankfully I got 15Mbps on ADSL once that eventually got set up. As others have said, super area dependent.
I've been using Vividwireless/this modem for over a year, briefly switched to Optus 200 GB for $70 sim plan a few months ago using the same modem and got 70 Mbps download/36 Mbps upload, but my usage goes well over 200 GB per month so I switched back to Vividwireless unlimited plan for $89.
If you are in a good reception area, well worth it, I get excellent signal from the closest tower and Speedtest shows 11-12 Mbps download / 1 Mbps upload.
Do your downloads grind to a halt when you're uploading? I find when I start uploading, I can barely watch anything.
Assume this is the Huawei B315s Modem as advertised on Vivid's page.. right? Can't see anything on the GG page confirming this.
not sure if its been covered before, but whats to stop someone from purchasing a bunch of these and swapping them every 2 months?
(as the cost of the device is less than 2 months of fees)
1 free month per modem and 1 for a referral.
I had one of these before I had NBN and it was pretty good. I also managed to get a load of referrals so didn’t pay any monthly fees for a year, which was nice
Does this come with a plan?
On the Optus website, they want you to buy a plan with a modem. I'm assuming there's a different activation web site for modem only purchases…
The sign up fee is buying the modem and a free month is included in that. Plus get a referral and you get another free month. Which will pay for the modem at this price by itself. Then the option is a $70 200GB plan or a $90 unlimited plan, month by month plan, no lock in.
jv on 04/07/2018 - 09:30 Comment score below threshold.