Pre-Paid Mobile Broadband in Australia

Telco	Telstra	Optus	Vodafone/Three	Virgin Mobile
SIM Starter Kit	$29 with dongle	$30	$29	$10
Data	1GB	1GB	3GB	300MB
Expiry	15 days	30 days	30 days	30 days
Online Activation	Secure	Forbidden	Not Fully Encrypted	Secure

Aztech 3G Mobile Broadband Wireless Router

Aztech has launched its 3G mobile broadband wireless router HW550-3G at a very affordable price of $99 with 2 years warranty. This beats the pricings of other 3G wireless routers.

In addition, it is a 4 port wireless N (300Mbps) router with print and storage servers function. Even though it supports WPA2, it is not Wi-Fi certified. I've tested it working with Huawei E169 and E220 USB modems. You can even use a USB hub to connect a printer and 3G modem together.

You can change password, upgrade firmware and it has the important features and good to have features. But, MAC address filtering is only partially configurable with the latest firmware 201.106.1-032.

3G Wireless Router

Having a mobile broadband 3G USB modem is good enough for one user. But if you need to share with other users, then you'll need a 3G wireless router which is more expensive than a wireless router. D-Link DIR-451 costs $299 whereas Zyxel NBG412W3G costs $229.

Zyxel 3G router is Wi-Fi b/g certified with WPA2 and is compatible with Huawei E169, E170, E220 & E270 USB modems. You can disable remote management, change password, upgrade firmware and it has the important features and good to have features. It comes with 3 years warranty and you can even check your warranty period online.

ADSL Modem/Router

For ADSL modem/router, it can be set in bridge mode for use with another wired/wireless router.

Model	TP-Link TD-8817 Modem/Router	Shiro DSL805EU Modem/Router	Linksys AM300 Modem
Speed	ADSL2 12Mbps ADSL2+ 24Mbps	ADSL2 12Mbps ADSL2+ 26Mbps	ADSL2 12Mbps ADSL2+ 24Mbps
Firewall	SPI NAT	SPI Denial of service attack protection NAT	SPI with Denial of Service attack prevention NAT
USB support	Windows 9x/ME/2000/XP/Vista	Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP Mac OS 10.2 & above	Windows Vista 32/64-bit
Upgradeable firmware with Web-based configuration	Yes	Yes	Yes
Power Consumption	9V 0.8A	9V 1A	15V
Price Warranty	$39 3 years	$48 1 year	$47 1 year

Huawei E169 3G USB Modem

Got this modem when I sign up for mobile broadband. It's slow to install on Acer Aspire One with MLC SSD but in the end it works.

You just have to make sure all the drivers are installed first. If there is any prompts about New Hardware Found messages, just ignore them until all the drivers are installed. After installation, check Device Manager as shown to ensure you can see Huawei modem.

Telstra Next G Pre-Paid Wireless Broadband

In Australia, you can purchase a Telstra Pre-Paid Wireless Broadband Starter pack for $149 which includes everything you need to get connected including a USB Modem and $10 included credit (equivalent to 75MB) with 30 day expiry. The modem can be unlocked by paying a network unlocking fee.

1. Buy the starter pack at Telstra shop
   
2. Call 125 8880 to activate
   
3. Manage account online
4. Re-charge using re-charge card available from Woolworths.
   

3 Mobile Broadband Prepaid

In Australia, you can purchase a minimum AUD$15 voucher with 3 SIM card for mobile broadband if you already have a Huawei E220 USB modem or you can buy 3 Internet Key E160G modem at AUD$129. This modem can be unlocked by paying a fee of AUD$99.

1. Buy the voucher at 3, Woolworths, Coles, Kmart, Target, Big W or Dick Smith store
   
2. Activate service online
3. Manage account online
   
4. Re-charge online using voucher
   

Mobile Broadband Modem

All modems are white in color.

Model	Huawei E169	Huawei E180	ZTE MF628
Size	72.15 x 25.70 x 12.20mm less than 40g	80 x 26 x 10mm	69 x 27 x 12mm
Speed	Download up to 7.2Mbps	Download up to 7.2Mbps Upload up to 5.76Mbps	Download up to 7.2Mbps Upload up to 384kbps
Download Firmware	Yes	No	No
Built-in MicroSD	No	Yes	Yes
OS Support	Windows 2000/XP/Vista Mac OS X 10.3/10.4/10.5	Windows 2000/XP/Vista Mac OS X 10.5	Windows 2000/XP/Vista Mac OS X 10.5

Optus Pre-Paid Wireless Broadband

In Australia, you can purchase a minimum AUD$30 voucher with Optus SIM card for pre-paid wireless broadband if you already have Huawei E169 or E220 USB modem. Alternatively, you can buy the pre-paid bundled starter pack for AUD$199 and receive an Optus E169 USB modem, SIM card and 1GB of data.

1. Buy the voucher at Optus, Woolworths, Coles or Dick Smith store
   
2. Activate service online
3. Check your available data balance and remaining SMS by sending the word ‘balance’ via SMS to 9999. You will receive a replay SMS confirming your available data allowance and how many free standard SMS you have remaining.
4. Re-charge online using voucher
   

Your first 30MB of usage per day will be charged at 10MB. The downside is that usage after this will be counted in 10MB increments or part thereof and includes both uploads and downloads.

Huawei E220 USB Modem

I tested Huawei E220 USB modem (Hardware version CD33TCPU & firmware version 11.117.09.00.00).
This works well with Eee PC running Xandros Linux or Windows XP SP2 providing broadband internet access on the go whenever there is GPRS/3G/3.5G coverage. Also, Windows Vista is supported. You can choose your plan of up to 512 kbps, 1.8Mbps or 3.6Mbps.
Huawei provides a utility Mobile Partner to monitor the usage as shown so that you won't exceed any download or upload limits.

Shiro DSL805EU

My customer's ADSL modem just died today. At one shop, the replacement options are

• Shiro DSL805EU ($59) - ADSL modem & router
  
• Linksys AM300 ($69) - ADSL modem
  

Shiro also has another model DSL805E - ADSL modem but this is not available. I was thinking of getting the cheaper option - Shiro but I need to confirm whether it will work with another wireless router. Both the sales and support staff confirmed that it will not work if there is another router in the network. As I know you can configure a router to act as a bridge, I went ahead and bought the Shiro.

After logging into the router, I managed to configure it to act as a bridge and it worked with the Linksys wireless router. That goes to show that whatever the sales or support staff says may not be entirely true.