Mobile broadband

The new Ultimate Mobile Wi-Fi allows you to connect up five devices wirelessly to Telstra's mobile broadband network and boasts DC-HSPA connectivity of up to 42Mbps  — although Telstra conservatively rates it as capable of between 1-20Mbps in DC-HSPA areas and a touch slower in standard 3G areas. In our tests across NSW and South Australia, we got a wide variety of figures — from as low as 1.15Mbps in Wagga Wagga to a high of 21.7Mbps in Glenelg.

Optus’s subsidiary Virgin has offered a pocket Wi-Fi 3G modem for some time now, but the Optus Mini WiFi Modem (a rebadged Huawei E583C) is the first directly Optus-branded product in the portable router market. The mirrored-screen finish on the front of the modem makes it very difficult to read the OLED display in direct sunlight. The Mini WiFi Modem supports up to five devices, charges via mini USB and can offer storage via microSD card. It’s also possible to use the mini USB connection to make the modem a USB-attached model if you had a system that lacked Wi-Fi connectivity.

The Telstra Prepaid Mobile Broadband Hotspot is pitched at the prepaid market and comes with 5GB of data to use over a 90-day period. This is undoubtedly to get you hooked on data, as a further ‘up to 6GB’ recharge will cost you a cool $100, nearly matching the cost of the hotspot itself. Telstra’s first wireless hotspot device, it's a rebadged ZTE MF30, a simple little battery-powered router with blinking lights to indicate basic status issues. The web-based interface is likewise simple and locked down to Telstra’s Prepaid, NextG Mobile and Business Mobile Broadband SIMs only.