Article on iPhone Plans

Interesting article on the various plans for the iPhone.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/iphone...15.html?page=2

Unsurprisingly, Telstra copped it for having the most miserly plans.

And as the guy says, if you want a phone on a budget then don't even look at the
iPhone. It's expensive to purchase and the plans aren't cheap if you want to
make use of the features that make it a "most wanted" phone.

Like I said in another message, if you don't buy it for its data capabilities,
web browsing and so on, then it'd be like buying a DVD recorder and only ever
watching pre-recorded DVDs on it.


--
A bachelor is someone who doesn't make the same mistake once..

---

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Snapper <[email protected]> wrote

> Interesting article on the various plans for the iPhone.

> http://www.theage.com.au/news/iphone...15.html?page=2

> Unsurprisingly, Telstra copped it for having the most miserly plans.

> And as the guy says, if you want a phone on a budget then don't even look
> at the iPhone. It's expensive to purchase and the plans aren't cheap if you
> want to make use of the features that make it a "most wanted" phone.

> Like I said in another message, if you don't buy it for its data
> capabilities, web browsing and so on, then it'd be like buying a
> DVD recorder and only ever watching pre-recorded DVDs on it.

Nope, nothing like. Its still much more portable than a laptop and
works fine over wifi instead of the stupid expensive NextG system.

Rod Speed wrote...

> Nope, nothing like. Its still much more portable than a laptop and
> works fine over wifi instead of the stupid expensive NextG system.

WiFi isn't as wide ranging as the NextG (or any other provider's 3G) network.
You may be able to drop into Maccas but depending on your carrier and your plan
you still have to pay for it.

I asked the question a while ago about free wifi hotspots. I was told "good luck
finding any".



--
The only difference between the wingnuts on each end of the
political spectrum is *which* civil rights they think we can do
without

Snapper <[email protected]> wrote
> Rod Speed wrote

>> Nope, nothing like. Its still much more portable than a laptop and
>> works fine over wifi instead of the stupid expensive NextG system.

> WiFi isn't as wide ranging as the NextG (or any other provider's 3G) network.

Sure, but for many of us, its wide ranging enough and
it will certainly become more wide ranging in future.

> You may be able to drop into Maccas but depending
> on your carrier and your plan you still have to pay for it.

> I asked the question a while ago about free wifi hotspots.
> I was told "good luck finding any".

Thats overstating it. And there will be a lot more in future too.

"Rod Speed" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Snapper <[email protected]> wrote
>> Rod Speed wrote
>
>>> Nope, nothing like. Its still much more portable than a laptop and
>>> works fine over wifi instead of the stupid expensive NextG system.
>
>> WiFi isn't as wide ranging as the NextG (or any other provider's 3G)
>> network.
>
> Sure, but for many of us, its wide ranging enough and
> it will certainly become more wide ranging in future.
>
>> You may be able to drop into Maccas but depending
>> on your carrier and your plan you still have to pay for it.
>
>> I asked the question a while ago about free wifi hotspots.
>> I was told "good luck finding any".
>
> Thats overstating it. And there will be a lot more in future too.
>
Bull-****. Telstra have not put in any new ones recently. The existing ones
were such a flop that Telstra have ended up giving free access at all Qantas
Club lounges now, because nobody would use it and at least now they get some
free advertising when u log-in


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Rod Speed wrote...

> > I asked the question a while ago about free wifi hotspots.
> > I was told "good luck finding any".
>
> Thats overstating it. And there will be a lot more in future too.

Hope so.

The other week, down the street, missus is in a shop. I get out my PDA which has
wifi. It picked up two networks, one of them unsecure. I logged into it. I was
able to browse but it was slow and some sites didn't work. It might have some
firewall protection, perhaps.

There was another one more recently. I recognised its name as being from a local
computer shop. It too said it was unsecure but I couldn't connect to it. Not
sure if I was doing something wrong. Might've been. I was in the pub waiting for
my meal and I'd been playing pool with workmates in the bar...

"Snapper" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Rod Speed wrote...
>
>> > I asked the question a while ago about free wifi hotspots.
>> > I was told "good luck finding any".
>>
>> Thats overstating it. And there will be a lot more in future too.
>
> Hope so.
>
> The other week, down the street, missus is in a shop. I get out my PDA
> which has
> wifi. It picked up two networks, one of them unsecure. I logged into it. I
> was
> able to browse but it was slow and some sites didn't work. It might have
> some
> firewall protection, perhaps.
>
> There was another one more recently. I recognised its name as being from a
> local
> computer shop. It too said it was unsecure but I couldn't connect to it.
> Not
> sure if I was doing something wrong.

A lot of major corporations set up their wireless networks that way. Open
access on the access point but you have to connect to their VPN to get
beyond the router. It's a lot safer to do it that way, as they can enforce
their own authentication methods and encryption standards that aren't
generally available with WEP or WPA/WPA2.

--
Kwyj.

thegoons <[email protected]> wrote
> Rod Speed <[email protected]> wrote
>> Snapper <[email protected]> wrote
>>> Rod Speed wrote

>>>> Nope, nothing like. Its still much more portable than a laptop and
>>>> works fine over wifi instead of the stupid expensive NextG system.

>>> WiFi isn't as wide ranging as the NextG (or any other provider's 3G) network.

>> Sure, but for many of us, its wide ranging enough and
>> it will certainly become more wide ranging in future.

>>> You may be able to drop into Maccas but depending
>>> on your carrier and your plan you still have to pay for it.

>>> I asked the question a while ago about free wifi hotspots.
>>> I was told "good luck finding any".

>> Thats overstating it. And there will be a lot more in future too.

> Bull-****.

Fact.

> Telstra have not put in any new ones recently.

Telstra has always been, and always will be, completely and utterly irrelevant to that.

Hordes of motels etc have them now, lots of them in some
places like the US, and even some councils have them here too.

> The existing ones were such a flop that Telstra have ended up giving free access at all Qantas Club lounges now,
> because nobody would use it and at least now they get some free advertising when u log-in

So, like I said, there is more free wifi, ****wit.

Snapper <[email protected]> wrote
> Rod Speed wrote

>>> I asked the question a while ago about free wifi hotspots.
>>> I was told "good luck finding any".

>> Thats overstating it. And there will be a lot more in future too.

> Hope so.
>
> The other week, down the street, missus is in a shop. I get out my
> PDA which has wifi. It picked up two networks, one of them unsecure.
> I logged into it. I was able to browse but it was slow and some sites
> didn't work. It might have some firewall protection, perhaps.

Yeah, I've found heaps around my area.

And most of the motels etc have them too.

At least one council area too, forget which one.

> There was another one more recently. I recognised its name
> as being from a local computer shop. It too said it was unsecure
> but I couldn't connect to it. Not sure if I was doing something wrong.
> Might've been. I was in the pub waiting for my meal and I'd been
> playing pool with workmates in the bar...

thegoons wrote...

> Bull-****. Telstra have not put in any new ones recently. The existing ones
> were such a flop that Telstra have ended up giving free access at all Qantas
> Club lounges now,

What about us plebs who can't afford to enter the QCLs....

With a typical hotspot what would its range be?

Getting back to Telstra, it's offering free wifi for its iPhone customers, isn't
it? If so, what about those who have other phones that have wifi? What's the
deal for them?

In one of the articles that I read last week the guy was saying that if Telstra
offers any special deals for one of customers and nothing for another lot, then
it would have a riot on its hands. Thing is, from what I've seen so far the
iPhone's data plans seem to be the same as what I have available for me. So
maybe that prediction has failed to materialise. But then there's the hotspot
thing. But if no-one's using it now and it's only limited to say Maccas and
QCLs, who'd bother?

Can you use an iPhone or indeed, any mobile that has wifi as a wifi modem to
connect your laptop to the 'net (assuming that it doesn't have wifi itself)? And
is Telstra's wifi available to all and sundry or just Telstra customers?


--
Handle every situation like a dog would. If you can't eat it or hump it, then
piss on it and walk away..

Snapper <[email protected]> wrote
> thegoons wrote

>> Bull-****. Telstra have not put in any new ones recently.
>> The existing ones were such a flop that Telstra have ended
>> up giving free access at all Qantas Club lounges now,

> What about us plebs who can't afford to enter the QCLs....

You get to whistle dixie, or do without, or like it or lump it.

> With a typical hotspot what would its range be?

The better ones are very decent, like entire big buildings etc.

> Getting back to Telstra, it's offering free wifi for its iPhone customers, isn't it?

Nope.

> If so, what about those who have other phones
> that have wifi? What's the deal for them?

> In one of the articles that I read last week the guy was saying
> that if Telstra offers any special deals for one of customers and
> nothing for another lot, then it would have a riot on its hands.

Pure fantasy.

> Thing is, from what I've seen so far the iPhone's data plans
> seem to be the same as what I have available for me.

Yep, but thats not wifi.

> So maybe that prediction has failed to materialise.

Yeah, usual mindless silly stuff.

> But then there's the hotspot thing. But if no-one's using it now
> and it's only limited to say Maccas and QCLs, who'd bother?

Those who want to use the iphone out of the country for starters.

Thats obviously going to interest those who dont want to pay high
data charges when roaming, most obviously when in the US etc.

> Can you use an iPhone or indeed, any mobile that has wifi as a wifi modem
> to connect your laptop to the 'net (assuming that it doesn't have wifi itself)?

Not the iphone, thats another thing thats badly crippled with that.

Yes with other phones like the N95, but there isnt a lot of point in doing
that since its so easy to add a wifi stick to a laptop that doesnt have wifi.

And its better to have wifi built into the laptop anyway, because
you get much better non directional use of wifi when the antennas
are built into the laptop lid, particularly with the lower power wifi
like what most have in their own routers etc.

> And is Telstra's wifi available to all and sundry or just Telstra customers?

Just those who pay for it in general. You dont have to have bought the hardware from Telstra tho.