Best Option for Low Usage Broadband (Virgin Prepaid Mobile Broadband Is Ending)

kiitos on 16/10/2017 - 23:08

My mother has been using Virgin's prepaid mobile broadband for a couple of years - around $150 for 15GB for 365 days, I think. She uses a USB 3G dongle connected to her PC.

Virgin is now ending this plan, so I need to find a replacement.

I've found Ovo ($99.95, 15GB, 365 day expiry) or Aldimobile ($95, 20GB, 365 day expiry) would fit the bill (and be much cheaper to boot!) Aldimobile is clearly better, but Ovo would have the advantage of being able to reuse the dongle, as both Ovo and Virgin use Optus. But are dongles locked to carriers like phones anyway?

Are there any other options I'm missing? My mother has very low usage requirements, mainly just checks email and newspapers daily. ADSL setup is likely uneconomical, and NBN is meant to be enabled in their neighbourhood towards the end of 2018.

Mobile

Comments

  • brokenglish on 16/10/2017 - 23:34
    +1

    Telstra Prepaid $150 25GB 365 expiry https://www.telstra.com.au/broadband/mobile-broadband/prepai…

    Optus 4G are OK but higher ping than Telstra, not that you care or affecting you in this situation
    It's possible to unlock the dongle
    How low is your low? Do you know the exact usage? Pay as you go may be an option?

  • kiitos on 16/10/2017 - 23:58
    +1

    Thanks mate. I'll find out how to unlock the modem if it's locked.

    Good idea re: PAYG, I'll check her actual usage over the last year and see if PAYG would be cheaper. Her usage is quite low - say around 1GB per month - but this may be because she knows there's 15GB to spread over one year, so she may be limiting herself. If that's the case, then PAYG wouldn't be as good as the 365 day plans (at least, not for Aldimobile).

  • Wystri Warrick on 17/10/2017 - 00:30

    The dongle may not even be locked, at least on the cheaper ones, I can confirm Vodafone's 3g dongles (that I used to buy for the data) don't require an unlock.
    eBay is the cheapest for unlock codes.

    I'd choose Aldi, $5 cheaper and a extra 5gb, can check Gumtree for unlocked Telstra dongles.

  • DaveD on 17/10/2017 - 07:36

    You will find cheap Telstra dongle on half price at Cole's every second or third week, $15.00 or so..the only thing you need to make sure is if Aldi would work on it ? (Though they are using Telstra network). For Vodafone, there is $5.00 clearance at good guys for dongle

  • kiitos on 17/10/2017 - 20:17

    OK, I'll try my phone's Aldimobile SIM in it when I'm next over, to see if it's unlocked, and I'll look at the Virgin connection control panel app to see if I can change the APN. Then see what I need to do from there.

    So it would seem that sticking with mobile broadband is the best value option compared to any alternative?

    Thanks all!

  • kiitos on 19/11/2017 - 21:13

    To follow up, we have two USB modems from Virgin, one came with the original bundle, and one was sent as a promotion a few years later. Both were locked to Virgin/Optus, but Virgin was only able to find records for the original modem, and so I was only able to unlock that one, which is a shame, as it's older and slower.

    However, after unlocking, Aldimobile works in it fine, and we're just using the existing Virgin mobile connection program on Windows 10 to connect.

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