For those interested & haven't seen anything as yet - Telstra's launching their 3G mobile service on Sept 5th.. Can't say what specific plans/pricing etc are going to be (apart from the special 3g data packs that'll be available.. Might be some suprises in store price-wise... wait & see), but despite what the media's been saying, it's going to be a big launch..

The only handset I've seen thus far was the Sony Ericsson K600i - tis a nice little phone, was very simple to get setup to use as a modem for one of our laptops + video calling was a breeze and ran as well as I guess it's meant to (but I've never picked up a 3 phone to make a video call before, so I can't compare too well). Inter-network vid calling already works - so you'll be able to make video calls to people on 3 (and vice versa) from launch (that said, it'd be a worry if you couldn't, seeing as it's using the same network!). Haven't seen the other phones we'll have on launch - The Motorola V975, Samsung Z500 and the i-mode NEC N600i - but hopefully I'll get some hands on with them closer to the launch date..

meh.. sounds like some sort of advertising spam troll thing post, but hey - I'm excited about the whole thing & am looking forward to getting my hands on one of the handsets for a decent play with it all..

Just an interesting note, telstra is initialling launching on the hutch network, which they now own half of. Their towers are due to be completly upgraded by december nation wide.

Its great to see another provider get into the market, video phone is finally going to take off :)

now I can see obes's mum when she talks dirty to me.

And being telstra, its gonna be dirt cheap and we'll all be scratching our heads trying to figure out actually how telstra is making any money on the exercise...



...not.

Semi-related post: Read Whirlpool about Telstra's wireless internet offerings.

It's no secret we're in partnership with hutchy/3 with the 3g towers, but let's face it - 3G is a very very expensive exercise & costs heaps more to roll out than conventional GSM.. As for call pricing etc - wait and see.. Remember tho, that Telstra will never be the cheapest Mobile carrier around (unless we buy/blow up all the competitors), but from what I've seen I think it's a step in the right direction price-wise..

Which part of the wireless internet offerings? I'm in the area that supports the current CDMA based "Mobile Broadband" stuff... Bigpond's launching a service that also uses the CDMA network as well, however will be structured and priced differently (the largest difference being that Mobile Broadband allows phonecalls etc.. The Bigpond version of it will be just for data-only). I'm a fan of our Mobile Broadband offerings and realise that whilst it's priced a little high at the moment, it's great for those who can't get conventional broadband or wireless services or are grey nomads..
(and as a side note - World of Warcraft runs very nicely across it!)..

video calling is s*** anyways... even though i get it free every now and then through 3... its just so meh.

sms and just normal voice calls is all i need.

videocalling is for asian girls to show each other what they're about to buy and give advice over videochat

What is this mobile broadband that you talk of? Will it allow me, in the middle of nowhere, unable to get cable or adsl, finally have access to some kind of broadband? Or is it just something for mobile phones?

its probably cost a f***load to use broadband net through mobile phone towers wouldn't it? Also will be interesting to see how Telstra goes now that the Ziggy fag left that company is in shambles

I hope this will let me watch small, s***ty movie trailers and sports clips on a 100pixel screen!

That pretty much sums it up khel - it's via 2 cdma based devices we've got (The Maxon Minimax or the Sierra Aircard 580) - they use the CDMA1x/EV-DO network for wireless access... 1x speeds are alright - around 72-144kilobits/sec, but if you're in an 1xEVDO coverage area it'll hit speeds of 300-600kilobits/sec (and is capable of bursting higher).. The basis is - whereever there's CDMA coverage, you'll be able to get an internet connection..

http://www.telstra.com.au/smallbusiness/wireless/office.htm

Is the Mobile Broadband page, but that's offered through Mobilenet... as mentioned on Whirlpool, Bigpond are coming to the party with their own version of it, which will use similar devices but have a totally different pricing structure..

darkjedi, you seem to know your shizzle, do you work in this area or just really interested?

The former - I'm in telstra's Wireless data support area, so I get to play with these all day at work (along with Blackberrys, 3g stuff & anything else data-related that uses our mobile network)..

ts probably cost a f***load to use broadband net through mobile phone towers wouldn't it?

It's not cheap, put it that way - The current offerings we have do look expensive when placed next to a comparable ADSL/Cable plan, but when compared to what data via the mobile network currently costs and it's not so bad..

Look at it this way - you're out in the middle on nowhere... Your phoneline can only do dialup at around 28.8k or so and there's no chance of getting ADSL this side of next century. Suddenly this isn't such a bad option.. Same goes for the gray nomads (You know - retirees running around Australia in their campervans etc?) - We've had a lot of takeup of this solution from them as well because it gives them fast Internet access to send/receive e-mails & maybe do some Internet Banking whilst on the road.. And it's literally as simple as "install software, plug in device, away you go" so it's infinitely easier than setting up a Mobile Phone as a modem..

Quick, distract the public with a bright shiny object...

darkjedi how is telstra going to market this to consumer if its so expensive or is it business primarily

3g? I never said it was going to be expensive?

Sounds interesting. Please keep us posted