Normally around $70, Officeworks has dropped the price to $39.
Timely deal for all you Optus customers looking for a backup.
Telstra 4GX WiFi Plus Modem $39 + Delivery ($0 C&C/ in-Store/ OnePass/ $55 Metro Order) @ Officeworks
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jrjr on 09/11/2023 - 10:56 officeworks.com.au (3121 clicks)
Last edited 09/11/2023 - 14:51 by 2 other users
Last edited 09/11/2023 - 14:51 by 2 other users
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Well Metro did make the excuse yesterday that Optus was a backup. It was only because their regular system not run on Optus, was down at exactly the same time as the Optus backup was down that the train network had to be stopped.
What are the odds?
On the 8th of November? 100%
its not an odds game actually, its how often will it occur and its called system availability (usually quoted as a percentage of time the system won't be available or even can quote it in expected time).
There is lots of guidelines for designing systems that are applied, problem is poor design leads to situations where companies don't want to put in the extra work to make sure they have high availability. Whilst this is expected from small businesses, those big ones that went down, had no real excuses.
This incident has been a greater example to all those IT people out there that don't think about system availability or apply architecture principles.
Its fun now quoting, if you don't design it right, "optus" will happen to us. Also I don't think I've ever hear mainstream people understanding what single point of failure means, now I am hearing it everywhere even on the news!
Thanks Optus.
@paulojr: Plenty of IT people understand proper architecture, but they aren't the ones holding the purse strings.
When you're in management meetings and say "A failure here may destroy the business entirely" and they still won't give you the money for a bag of peanuts then you just have to accept that you did your job and they didn't.
Well said a backup. Got so sick yesterday of hearing people complain their business was down when they were running with a single point of failure.
do businesses really need to have a backup for everything? 2 x coffee machines? 2 x chefs? 2 x …?
My office has two coffee machines and if both of them are out of order there is Blend 43.
I had a chuckle when I noticed a tin of Nescafe next to the expresso machine at work. Took a picture and sent it to the CEO, glad to see redundancy measures are in place.
Oh man you've even got a Disaster recovery plan! love it..
if they're interested in making money without downtime Yes probably
If coffee is your sole product then yeah you'd want a backup of some form, yes if you rely on a single person to provide a core service you should have some form of backup. Even if they provide a reduced service it's better than nothing.
Having a backup data service is a lot easier and cheaper than both of the examples you provided.
Obviously it would be unfeasible to have redundancy for coffee machines worth tens of thousands of dollars, staff etc, but if your business can be completely crippled if you lose internet connectivity which will cost you thousands of dollars for every day you're not trading, and you can mitigate that risk for a hundred bucks by buying a backup wireless router and chucking it in the drawer for a rainy day, it seems like a total no brainer to me 🤷 Just think of it as a cheap insurance policy.
at work we run optus and telstra for our data links for diversity …the extra cost of an different carrier sim per month is cheap insurance considering out labour rates ….telstra has also had major outages e.g dodonet routes …. the cost of an extra data sim isn’t much considering what people charge for a cup of coffee.
look at the SLA …. neither telstra or optus guarantee 100% uptime ….and 99% means one day per year downtime ……3.65 days per year at 99% availability so definitely work having a backup and you'll find that you only get reports for full outage, when there is partial incident or serious service degradation often that isn't reported as "downtime".
Yep there is some smart asses claiming 100% but obviously its technically impossible to achieve with any one service and sometimes its stretching the truth by claiming serious reduction in operation is not an outage. Too many things can go wrong to always work, hence why we need the blend 43 option sometimes there for when multiple options are down.
It's called a "contingency plan" in business term. Yes it's very necessary if you think what you do is important.
What they need and what they're willing to pay for are two very different things.
Mate I know you're getting downvoted but I agree, EFTPOS machines often have dual-sim, ethernet, and wifi options, those Square things can be connected to dual SIM phones.
The problem is businesses buy package deals on single providers, or just don't bother with redundancy. Optus going down sucked, but the lack of a Business Continuity Plan didn't help and is completely on the business, backup connections are cheap should be considered if an internet outage shuts down your entire business.
Not sure why you're getting negged, as an honest telco we actually advise our EFTPOS customers to get a 4G backup from another provider in case our carrier's systems go down.
It really is commonsense in 2023 for your payments, if nothing else…
Sick of businesses always asking for handouts. It's ridiculous
like the politicians spraining compensation for lost revenue LOL …. you might get a bit of a discount for breach of SLA, but that’s it, and 9 hours of downtime a year is probably within the SLA ….who expects 100% uptime it’s why they quote 99% … even amazon and azure has outages.
I slightly disagree as one of the big issues with Optus (and not telstra) is they make customers waiver their customer guarantee rights, meaning you cannot get compensation. If they were a small business offering a cheap service that might make sense, but they are player number 2 and massive. As such I think the government should mandate Optus re-instant the guarantee and draw attention to the lack of SLAs at Optus. Its fair to demand compensation for a service not delivered, its not fair to demand more than the availability though (e.g. if they say 99.99% then better than that is doing better than expected) But Optus has had free reighn for years on delivering very poor services. Last outage we had they said it would take 3-4 business days to restore our service, but it was only a small maintanance work that and they didn't publish the fact that they had planned to do the work. Optus needs to be held accountable to a higher standard, they need to inform customers of planned outages, of unplanned outages as they happen and they need to put in place some reasonable assurances on how quickly they recover.
From my experience working with them they are extremely incompetent business operators, and as number 2 that's not good as they are too big to let them chose their own journey. Governments do need to have a say when your dealing with monopolies or near monopolies which I think Optus qualifies for as number 2 major telco in Australia when they slip and fall the country slips and falls too.Note the downtime is one thing, the reputational damage is another on those businesses, but then you add to this the fact that Optus has lost peoples drivers licenses, passports, and basically are responsible for putting many Australias at personal risk just last year, I think its time to investigate how they run their business and whether some more direct control is required.
Hey. If they had a business grade plan with an SLA then all power to them. If they were operating a business on a consumer based plan though they're SOoL.
"What's a recommended option to consider after using up the 3GB data? I'm still a bit uncertain about choosing between data plan SIM cards and phone plan SIM cards with data. Can regular phone plan SIM cards still be used? They appear to be more cost-effective compared to standalone data SIM plans."
i assume its locked to telstra
Yes it is.
So Boost is probably ok
@BLAIL: Very popular Deals to watch out for!
Lots of FREE Data (eg 65GB) plus a profit💰Recently, Shopback had $30 profit!
$5 cashback profit per Boost SIM + $15 bonus for buying 3.CashRewards offered that $6.23 profit few days ago.
@Ronnnie: Usually 3/month
All are activated under 30d.Depends how many I've bought, & how much I'm streaming / downloading.
Busier than usual… Due to great Deals!
2 in use in 4G+ & 5G phones (mainly for Data)
5 waiting to activate (2 from last month to activated in week, 3 from recent $30 cashback with SB)
& 2 in mail from $6+ CR Deals.
I set up a family member with an unlocked portable modem & Belong sim on the $19 plan & it works great.
I can't guarantee this modem will work but it's Telstra so it should.
It should NOT， as belong uses telstra wholesale network.
That's right, it belongs to Telstra's network
@idonotknowwhy: I use my belong mobile plan $19 in a Telstra 5G Wi-Fi Pro and it's worked fine these past 6+ months
Belong have a data only SIM with 20GB + unlimited 1MBPS over quota, for $15/m.
Can regular phone plan SIM cards still be used?
Yes
If Belong Mobile works on this, you can get a data SIM for $15 for 20GB/m with unlimited 1MBPS after quota.
Others have said Boost works on these, Belong is owned by Telstra, but I don't know for sure.
"Normally around $70, Officeworks has dropped the price to $39.
Timely deal for all you Optus customers looking for a backup."
Can this be unlocked?
I had this same model back in 2016 and remember purchasing an unlock code from eBay for £1.49.
Can't find the eBay listing/seller anymore though.
I got one from ebay also, $2.50aud in 2018.
Can't find the eBay listing/seller anymore though.
Probably eBay preventing listings for things that shouldn't be sold.
Can we unlock this modem for free?
Probably after 24 months.
yep after 2 years ….
What’s the best data sim value for money ?
Any providers except Optus
Optus might actually be the best going forward, at least for a little while. No network congestion because nobody else is using it!
Kogan - 500gb goes on sale here and there for $160-$200. Voda network
Won't work in the Telstra Hot Spot
Will. I’ve used this everywhere with voda, Telstra and other sims here and internationally. Works very well!
Last overseas use was voda Vanuatu with no complaints.
Edit: I have the pro version, not sure if that makes things different. My bad
I've been trying to get this modem unlocked from Telstra for the last 2 months - I've been told by Telstra that since Huawei has withdrawn from the Oz market, they can no longer unlock it and told me to contact Huawei directly lol.
I've been told by Telstra that since Huawei has withdrawn from the Oz market, they can no longer unlock it and told me to contact Huawei directly lol.
These are made by ZTE though.
They might be confused with the 4GX Pro which is made by Huawei.
Ah yes you're right - mine is the 4GX Pro.
Yep, I used this yesterday during the Optus outage. it's a great little back up just in case.
Telstra will not help you whatsoever to unlock this modem. Beware.
That's a deal breaker :(
Mine was unlocked, but only after second attempt. First attempt was handled by a bunch of clowns.
How much did it cost you ?
Free. Unlock code via chat
Their live chat helped me unlock mine less than a year ago, cost $30 from memory.
From my livechat:
Rules
Customers can unlock their Telstra Pre-Paid mobile, iPhone or mobile broadband device so it works on another network - but if it was activated on the Telstra network for less than two years, we charge:- $80 for devices never activated or only active for six months or less
- $25 for devices activated for six months to 2 years
- Free for devices activated 2 years or more
Please allow me a couple of minutes for the IMEI number to be verified here
Then got an email from [email protected] about 5 days later after I paid and followed up with their livechat. The email had the unlock code and instructions, which worked and then it started to work with Optus.
Just contacted Telstra they charged me 25 dollars and told me it will take 7-10 days for the code
Seems like no one can unlock this. I'm curious though - even if you could unlock it, how would you use it? Does it take a SIM card?
Appears it will be landfill if you are not going to reload on Telstra.Does it take a SIM card?
Yes that's how these work
It's how all mobile devices work. Either SIM or eSIM.
I use an old LG V30 mobile and hotspot it.
Same :)
Would Boost work with this? I had a much older Telstra locked modem that used to work with Boost, but have seen lovbargain's comment above which suggests it may not with Belong
Boost is on full Telstra network
Belong is on more limited wholesale network - so usually only works in unlocked devices.
I use both.Haven't tried in modem in years.
Just use 4G+ or 5G phone on Hotspot for household wifi. Almost endless FREE data with Boost.Using a FREE Boost SIM now in locked Telstra phone. Others have reported it doesn't work for them. Seems to depend on device.
Belong SIM does not work in that phone without unlocking.I use the free Boost SIMS in one of the pricier Telstra 4GX modems, no issues, it's not unlocked..
(I used one of these 4GX Plus modems for about 5 years (the older V model without a screen), but the battery was swelling badly and popping the case open and I broke one of the antenna connectors off the board using an external antenna… Since I use a modems a lot on the road I lashed out and paid $120 for the better 4GX (non-plus) model, it seems to be quite a bit better in low reception areas and significantly faster)
Swelling batteries can cause a lot of damage!
Glad the replacement modem works well on FREE Boost. Really need full Telstra network where you go!!
Had that problem with a Motorola phone just out of 1yr warranty. Screen popped out!
Complained - replaced free.
3yrs later battery won't hold charge.Could open up 5yr old phone to replace internal battery cheap…
But got FREE unlocked g62 5G Motorola mobile with Telstra Plus points (earnt in Deals here).Now in use on USB power as 4G+ household wifi with FREE Boost😄
@INFIDEL: I abused it for around 4 years before the battery started swelling, it did pretty good considering…. The way I used it was probably a little abusive, plugged in charging 24/7 in the campervan while on the road… In remote areas with low reception it would get stinking hot, especially with high ambient temps… At times I'd put it in a drybag with a power-bank and hoist it up a tree with a rope to get better reception, lol ..
This year when it started swelling badly I would turn it off while away from the van and sit it in the sink just in case the battery ruptured, lol …
The new 4GX MF985T model I bought doesn't seem to get as hot, when it's plugged in all the time it only charges the battery to 70% which will be a lot kinder on the battery…
@FLICKIT: You went to extremes to get reception😄
Not surprising given the remote areas where you travel.As with all battery powered devices, leaving it permanently powered can cause over heating & swelling. Adding high outside temperature wouldn't improve battery health.
Just noticed my Boost SIM expired yesterday, shows as expired on Boost app, but is still operating📱 Posting using it.
Not that its any gain - just unusual.
Have 5 profit making Boost SIMs waiting to activate.@INFIDEL: I had a Boost sim that did that after they had an outage in Sept, activations recharging, and the app were down for a couple of days and the sim expired in that period, the SIM worked for a good week or so past the expiry date with unlimited data, when it lost reception and reconnected it expired, lol … I assume they did something so people wouldn't be left handing while the outage was going on and they couldn't recharge and such…
@FLICKIT: Will keep using & see when it stops working😄
Seems unlimited Data. Certainly has exceeded included data!
Just need to keep in phone so service does not stop.It's on my main number, so was concerned I would only receive incoming calls & couldn't ring out.
Happy about my first extended Boost use😉
@FLICKIT: for the car i have a usb dongle modem, no battery, acts as wifi hot spot, they are designed to be run for extended periods e.g backup for wirelesss routers, all day in laptops, etc.
Confirmed working with Boost. I've been using it with the profitable SIMs for months. Boost with profit after cash back
savage
garden.
Has anyone got one of these? The reviews seem to indicate poor battery life and potential issues with maintaining connectivity. Keen to hear how people have found these.
This is my backup device and I don't really notice poor battery life (maybe 4-5 hours running time?). In saying that I always have powerbank together with this, so I can charge it.
I have also bought unlock code from ebay and been using it when travelling.Edit: sorry I actually have the previous model - MF910V so not sure if this one can be unlocked
My experience with the 'MF910V' is much the same… Battery life is very dependent on reception, in fringe areas it will chew through the battery, if you have good reception it will last significantly longer…
I used this as a modem for my phones’ Apple Music, podcasts etc. on long trips (I try to avoid using my work phone data for personal data use.) when on long trips in rural areas.
Unplugged I was lucky to get about four hours.As I recall I paid $39 for this a couple of years ago and then had to buy data on top.
Connectivity is great. Battery is okay but it can run off a power bank easily if required. You need to log in to the admin web portal to change the settings to allow more than 10 connections.
Has anyone confirmed Boost sims work in this?
I would also like to know if Belong SIMs work in this.
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Metro trains, this deal is for you.