Am I right in assuming that in areas where you dont have a mobile phone signal on Next G, you wont have any internet signal either?

I would think that statement to be true . Has that is what has happen to us last year when we lost the signal on our Telstra next G mobile we also had no internet .

-- Edited by brickies on Friday 11th of February 2011 06:12:22 PM

Hey Guys, From experience, ingeneral yes that the case if you are with the same carrier for both, however if you have the phone with say Ooptus and the net with Toolstra that may not be the case.... also depending if you have a Next G "Blue Tick" phone or not...I have an Iphone and it sometimes gets minimum signal yet the Bigpuddle Dongle gets a reasonable signal.... I use my UHF antenna(s) 6.5 dB gain in weak signal areas.....you can get the patch leads etc... and a splitter from several places on the net. Hoo Roo Happy Days Grumps

Iphone gee you are up there what is a grumpy one like you doing with that modern gear my yupie kids have them I just have a Myphone, Now why do you need an Bigpuddle dongle when if you have your Iphone with Toolstra you could access the net with Iphone and only have one service you must have a good reason maybe free time after 8 pm. love to know , we have next G mobile and a dongle for our lap top with toolstra , I have been told by my kids how good these Iphone are but the controls are bit fiddle for me like your feed back you maybe the first Grey Nomad with an Iphone the power be with you

It also occurs to me that using a mobile or dongle inside a metal caravan would attenuate its performance in poor reception areas.  As my rig has a large section of the walls canvas I have no hands on experience to confirm this. Others may care to comment.

-- Edited by jimricho on Saturday 12th of February 2011 08:20:36 AM

Yes I have found a problem with using both mobile phone and internet dongle inside the caravan but if I sit at a window I can get a signal. Grumpy is on the right track with an antenna I was at a Brisbane caravan show and Telstra country were giving talk about mobile phones when caravaning he strongly suggest all caravans have antenna for mobile phones when using phone inside your van after that I have noticed most people use their mobile outside their van , he also said to get the best advice call into a country Telstra shop has they are more aware of these sort of problems

We have a fold down 7db antenna attached to the outside of our Pop Top van with it plumbed to the inside where we simply plug in the mobile phone or the net dongle with patch leads.
This then increases our signal strength a great deal.
EG. if outside the van and the mobile shows just the G signal strength then inside and connected to the antenna there is of ten 4 or 5 bar strength.
On some occasions with no signal on the phone and we connect it we can get some signal.
Once camped on the Namoi about 10k from Pilliga we could not get any signal at all until the antenna was up and said phone connected giving us three bars on both phone and net.
So obviously we are pleased as punch with our set up.
All the bits and pieces were purchased form http://www.comnet.com.au/ solutions.
I have nothing to do with this co. just a satisfied customer.

Cheers Dodg.


-- Edited by Onedodger on Saturday 12th of February 2011 03:49:24 PM

brickies wrote:

---

Iphone gee you are up there what is a grumpy one like you doing with that modern gear my yupie kids have them I just have a Myphone, Now why do you need an Bigpuddle dongle when if you have your Iphone with Toolstra you could access the net with Iphone and only have one service you must have a good reason maybe free time after 8 pm. love to know , we have next G mobile and a dongle for our lap top with toolstra , I have been told by my kids how good these Iphone are but the controls are bit fiddle for me like your feed back you maybe the first Grey Nomad with an Iphone the power be with you

---

Hey there brickies,

I have had an IPhone since they first came onto the market here in AU and have never looked back, the simple fact that everything is in one device is awesome, no more PDA and phone etc.. which when I had my own business I carried everywhere.

I love the fact that when I get into the car it connects to the stereo and all calls and music are through it, no more changing CD's, no more searching for radio stations every few hundred K's and I get to listen to what I want to hear, and the camera is quite good at 5 megapixel and it geocaches the images, in otherwords it logs the location of the picture on a google map so I never have to try to remember where I took that amazing picture.

Also a big plus is I if find somewhere I want to know more about I can use the phone browser (safari) to look it up and if they have a phone number the phone recognises it on the web page and to call it all I need to do is tap the number on the page and the phone calls it...no more having to rememer numbers while trying to dial, also the phone supports multi-tasking, so if i am in a call I can use the integral notepad to make notes while talking, great for those centrelink and toolstra calls with receipt numbers..

As for having both dongle and IP4 - The net useage on the IPhone is quite expensive, I get 1.25gB with the phone which I can use by just checking weather and doing banking and chasing up things I see along the road, also while I have a top of the line Navman GPS the live mapping is also quite usefull for those times when the navman just doesn't make that right decision...but it's data hungry. Thelive mpping uses google maps so the satelite view is great for picking out tracks etc...something GPS just hasn't gt hold of yet. Also when the IP4 updates itself through ITunes it takes quite a large amount of download, the files are quite large because they generally reinstall a new Operating Sysytem with each update which is done via ITunes on the laptop.


I have  Bigpuddle dongle which gives me 7gB  (and is shaped afterwards) for about $60 a month and this is easier to use when I get on here while at a van park or somewhere with 240AC. The laptop is much easier on th eyes and the net is so much cheaper in the long run, also apple is not the best at compatability with chats and forums, they are getting better but the phone doesnt support Flash which limits it severely.

As for tethering the phone to the laptop it is quite cost prohibitive, as well know Toolstra, Ooptus and the rest do not make their billion dollar plus profits each quarter by giving us a free lunch... 

Just as a side I do have a Toolstra blue tick tradesman phone for the rougher areas as its dust and water and supposedly shock resistant but I have NEVER needed to use it.

In short....

I love my IPhone , it is my camera, voice recorder, diary, shopping list, calculator, bank teller, net surfer, and a phone..... it is the best $900 I have spent, I bought the phone outright at ths Apple Store and just got a $49 plan with Toolstra.

Hope this fills the information void.

Hoo Roo Happy Days
Grumpster

 

-- Edited by GrumpyOne on Saturday 12th of February 2011 05:01:11 PM

Grumpy you sound like my grandkids and kids your real yuppie , apple sure is good stuff we have a Imac and Ibook using the 7GB wireless plan to great speed using a wireless router to run the 2 at home and just taking the dongle and I book when we hit the road we got the 7 GB a month for $39.95 because we had another Telstra service pay to check with Telstra may be able to save some money having your Iphone with Telstra ,

I don't have any trouble with phone or wireless dongle in my caravan. Signal is strong and clear most of the time. All this techno speak is making me feel positively IT illiterate.

brickies wrote:

---

Grumpy you sound like my grandkids and kids your real yuppie , apple sure is good stuff we have a Imac and Ibook using the 7GB wireless plan to great speed using a wireless router to run the 2 at home and just taking the dongle and I book when we hit the road we got the 7 GB a month for $39.95 because we had another Telstra service pay to check with Telstra may be able to save some money having your Iphone with Telstra ,

---

Hey steady on with the yuppie there brickies  technofile if ya dont mind.......

Yeah I get discounts for home/mobile/adsl as well so I may be paying less but not sure..

Techno speak, where, who what........what you talkin bout CG........ is that sad of me.......


Hoo Roo Happy Days
Grumpster