This was posted 5 years 2 months 4 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

Related
  • expired

Optus Alcatel 4G Wi-Fi Modem + 14GB Data $25.00 @ Officeworks

650

One of the latest Optus 4G wifi modem (Another one is Huawei E5577: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/428982)
This is the most frequency support device on market if unlocked, not only support 4G 700MHz, but also Vodafone 4G 850Mhz and Telstra 3G 850MHz
Unlock code from eBay seller: $8.00

Spec:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NceMrDQ0SP4
* Cat4 150Mbps download
* 15 devices support
* Come with 14GB data before 04/02/2019 and 4GB data after it.
* 4G LTE: B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B28 700/900/850/1800/2100/2600MHz
* 3G: B1/B3/B5/B8 850/900/1800/2100MHz
* 2.4GHz wifi

Cons: No external antenna port

Compare to the other deal Huawei E5577:
They are very similar in hardware feature, but
* This Alcatel modem has unlock solution
* This ALcatel support 3G 850MHz and 4G 850MHz, which Huawei E5577 not support. So this one should work better than Huawei E5577 with Telstra and Vodafone sim if unlocked.
* This Alcatel comes with a wall charger.

Related Stores

Officeworks
Officeworks

closed Comments

  • Will this be better then Vivid wireless modem?

    • Is the Vivid the Huawei B315? If so, than no both are CAT4.

      • Ah ok

        I thought b315 bands were locked and I can only get like 10mbps where I live

        • AFAIK the sim is provisioned to use band 40 and capped at 10mbps, not the modem. I got a free Optus E5186 modem the one included with their Home Wireless Broadband plans which is also capped at 12mbps, put another Optus sim card in it and got 70mbps+.

          • @adr8: Yeah I got Optus Home Broadband now too.

            Just think if I get this one it might have better bands

            Might be able to data share hopefully so don't need to put simcard in each time I swap over

    • +2

      They are different kind of products. So depending on how you want to use them.
      Technically they are both 150Mbps cat4 devices
      the main differences
      * This alcatel one is battery drive portable device, Vivid one need power supply
      * This one is wifi and USB connection. Vivid one is wifi, USB and cable connection
      * Vivid one can connect to external antenna

  • cat4 devices…

    • All mobile broadband modems under $100.00 are cat4 devices with 150Mbps download.
      This covers almost all 4G prepaid modems on market including:
      Telstra ZTE MF910 series, Vodafone Huawei R216, Optus Huawei E5573, E5577, ZTE MF920v etc

      • where all other devices? There are now cat 18 devices available but yet we are still seeing these cat 4 on the market with words "latest" (addition to the range)

        • Yes it is a bit crap, but they are selling them for a very low price. The modems with the latest chipsets are >$500.

          I would have thought they would be up to CAT6 by now, but really the major difference would be with Carrier Aggregation.

  • +1

    4GB start-up data for use within Australia within 28 days.
    + 10GB bonus start up data on activation of new SIM with selected Prepaid modems until 04/02/19

    So, if you don't activate it before 4/2/19, then it could just be 4GB.

    • May I know where did you find this information from? Thanks

  • +5

    Can’t wait to finish contract with Optus. Jus saying

  • +1

    How long is the data valid for? Need something with 12 months validity 1GB+ per month for an iPad fitted in a Kiosk.

  • Anyone know when the deal expires?

    • Read netsurfer’s comment 3 posts above. Very limited stock in stores.

  • What is "Limited Stock" does this mean they dont know?

    • +1

      For a specific store? May mean 3 or less.

  • +19

    Stock level as below, less than 3 might need to call to confirm with the store.

    ACT OP3002331
    Braddon 3
    Fyshwick 1
    Greenway 2
    NSW OP3002331
    Alexandria 4
    Bathurst 3
    North Sydney 1
    Blacktown 2
    Bondi Junction 1
    Carlton 1
    Castle Hill 3
    Chatswood 3
    Clarence St, Sydney 1
    Dee Why 1
    Dubbo 2
    Five Dock 1
    Gregory Hills 1
    Greenacre 3
    Hornsby 3
    Hoxton Park 3
    Hunter St, Sydney 1
    Kotara 2
    Lewisham 2
    Lismore 3
    Liverpool 3
    Mittagong 2
    Mosman 3
    Mulgrave 3
    Orange 1
    Port Macquarie 2
    Rutherford 5
    Tamworth 2
    Taree 7
    Taren Point 4
    Tuggerah 3
    Wagga Wagga 3
    Warners Bay 2
    Wentworthville 1
    West Ryde 2
    NT OP3002331
    Stuart Park 2
    QLD OP3002331
    Brisbane 1
    Browns Plains 1
    Bundaberg 4
    Capalaba 3
    Upper Mount Gravatt 2
    Gladstone 2
    Hermit Park 4
    Loganholme 1
    Mackay 3
    Maroochydore 1
    Nerang 2
    Noosaville 1
    Rockhampton 6
    Southport 3
    Strathpine 4
    Toowoomba 4
    Underwood 1
    Virginia 2
    West Burleigh 2
    Woolloongabba 1
    SA OP3002331
    Croydon 1
    Gilles Plains 1
    Keswick 3
    Noarlunga Centre 1
    Parafield 2
    TAS OP3002331
    Hobart 3
    Invermay 2
    VIC OP3002331
    Airport West 1
    Altona North 3
    Ballarat 1
    Bayswater 2
    Bendigo 5
    Bourke St, Melbourne 1
    Box Hill South 3
    Bundoora 2
    Caroline Springs 2
    Chadstone 2
    Chirnside Park 1
    Coburg 2
    Cranbourne 3
    Dandenong South 2
    Elsternwick 1
    Epping 3
    Ferntree Gully 1
    Frankston 2
    Geelong 1
    Glen Waverley 3
    Highett 1
    Keysborough 2
    Maribyrnong 4
    Mildura 3
    Mornington 1
    Narre Warren 3
    Pakenham 1
    Richmond 2
    Ringwood 6
    Russell St, Melbourne 2
    Shepparton 3
    South Melbourne 3
    Taylors Lakes 3
    Traralgon 1
    Vermont South 1
    Wangaratta 3
    Waurn Ponds 1
    Wodonga 2
    Yarraville 1
    WA OP3002331
    Albany 1
    Bunbury 2
    Cannington 1
    East Victoria Park 3
    Fremantle 2
    Perth 3
    Joondalup 2
    Malaga 3
    Mandurah 1
    Morley 1
    O'Connor 1
    Subiaco 1
  • +14
    • Does it work? What happen after unlock?

    • Thanks OP and obiwank for eBay link.

    • Thanks for the link. I unlocked it and now using Lebara sim card.

    • Thanks!

      took a bit over 3 hours to get the code.
      the unlock code worked with Lebara sim. (I just used my mobile phone sim to try it out)

      There's also GST of US10c added on top, so it was US$1.09

    • unlock works? i want and need 4g modem for all sims…

  • Sorry to ask, but if I get it unlocked can i use any sim card (phone prepaid plans) or does it have to be prepaid broadband plans? Thank you in advance.

    • +1

      Any SIM with DATA should work. You will loose your voice Channel obviously. But really good for emergencies when your home broadband goes down, just put in your Phone SIM with the enormous data as backup

      More info here: https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2713522

      • yes buddy ..my net is down right now and currently on kogan using tablet as for hotspot.

    • Yes but not with Telstra 700Mhz (B28). They don't permit third party devices to access this frequency.

      • I think you are wrong. My Kogan 4G LTE router connects to Telstra on B28.

    • Thank you all for the response and received it yesterday and works perfect.

  • +4

    This is the Model sold:
    MW41CL Supported Bands:
    FDD LTE: Band 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 28 compatible with Band26
    TDD LTE : Band 40 compatible with B38
    UMTS Band 1, 3, 5, 8

    And here are the list of AU Operators:

    2100MHz (B1) FDD (0000000000000001) – Telstra (a handful of sites), Optus (Darwin, Tasmania) ******COMPATIBLE*******
    1800MHz (B3) FDD (0000000000000004) – Telstra, Optus, Vodafone ******COMPATIBLE*******
    850MHz (B5) FDD (0000000000000010) – Vodafone ******COMPATIBLE*******
    2600MHz (B7) FDD (0000000000000040) – Optus, Telstra (TPG have a license but have not announced plans for it.) ******COMPATIBLE*******
    900MHz (B8) FDD (0000000000000080) – Telstra (a handful of sites, utilises spectrum previously used by 2G) ******COMPATIBLE*******
    700MHz (B28) FDD (0000000008000000) – Telstra, Optus ******COMPATIBLE*******
    2300MHz (B40) TDD (0000008000000000) – Optus (Vivid wireless spectrum, metropolitan area), NBN (regional area including Gold Coast) ******COMPATIBLE*******
    3500MHz (B42) TDD (0000020000000000) – Optus, NBN (Both trials at this stage)

    • NOT compatible with Telstra 700Mhz (B28). It's not a Telstra sourced device.

      • But phones can?

  • What it can do before and after unlock?

  • Temporarily out of stock atm @ Alexandria Officeworks

  • Can anyone who purchased this take a speed test please? I’ve bought a lot 4G modems, different brands, different models, but all of them have much slower connection at the same location with the same SIM card compared with my iPhone

    • +1

      It's because these modems are CAT 4, whilst the iPhone you have will be doing channel bonding.

      The more expensive 4G modems, like the Nighthawk M1, AC800s and a few of the Huawei modems are higher CAT - 9 or 11 or something like this.

      The one on special here is a CAT 4 modem, so only has a max of 150mbps, and can't bond channels to increase speed.

  • I dont get with cons of No external antenna port? Can somebody explain what are the uses and benefits.

    Also is click & collect same? I dont see online any mention of sim card with 14GB of data?

    • +2

      Having a antenna port just means that you can (try to) improve your reception by plugging in an external antenna that you can position in a place that you may not want/be able to place your device (ie out a window or in the roof).

      • Further to this if you want extra reception in a car you can buy an external antenna install it up high somewhere (magnetic mount on the middle of the roof or a long whip antenna on a bonnet or bull bar mount like a cb aerial) then use calling over WiFi to give you much better reception than any mobile phone.

        Good industrial grade gear (Cisco or cradlepoint) cost $500 to $1000 so a cheap solution like these that could work on telstra bands would be good, but I'm yet to find one.

  • I don’t see any store with stock atm.

    • I’ve got one from Target today with same price

  • How does these work? Is it a plan for 25 a month?

    • Modem with 14GB of Optus data included. Use it up and then prepaid top it up. You can just keep the modem for another service which you may have with Optus or unlock and use with Vodafone or Telstra (but not their 700Mhz 4G frequency).

      • The modem does NOT include 14G data. When activating the SIM which comes with the device, Optus gives options to recharge. The one with 4GB data is $30.

  • +5

    Just got mine unlocked with the US provider for 1US dollar. Tested with a Lebara Sim with 60Mbps Down 20Mbps Up

    • Link or pm link please

      • +3

        Link was posted in this comment.

    • Could you please share the link?

      • +3

        Link was posted in this comment.

  • Can we use it in car? Sorry i am not sure about this.

    • +1

      Yes. It’s a battery powered wifi hotspot that uses a SIM card and mobile phone network.

      • +1

        Thanks for the reply.

  • can anyone supply it in Bulk?

  • Slightly off topic… can anyone recommend the best 4G USB modem with best band support for Optus? Looking to add automatic backup connection to my home NBN HFC (which has more outages than Telstra Cable) via my pfSense router.

  • Got this today. Go to activate sim, no option for the 14gb.. have to choose 30 dollar mobile broadband plan

    • -1

      The extra 10GB is added after you have signed up (before 04/02/2019)

    • +1

      same here. I got this today, 30 dollor plan is the cheapest one.

    • Unlock the modem and look for another provider. Put the Optus SIM in the bin or drill a hole on it and wear it as a necklace

      Compare DATA only plans here:

      https://www.whistleout.com.au/Broadband/data-sim-plans-for-i…
      https://www.finder.com.au/broadband-plans/mobile-broadband

      • What's so bad about Optus? I got 500GB for $80/month.

        Looking at those two websites - I can't find a plan that matches or is better then what I've got?

        • +1

          You must have a HOME wireless broadband, not MOBILE Broadband

          https://www.canstarblue.com.au/internet/home-wireless-broadb…

          Home wireless broadband comes with certain caveats:

          https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2681747

          • @ob1wan: The WBB Plan that gets you 500GB for $80/Month - is not restricted to 5/1 or 12/1 - It's on 4G Speeds - I have it and I'm getting somewhere
            between 20-30 up.

            • @BLAIL: Thanks, still I do not think you can use the SIM on another device other than the provided modem, can you?

              • +1

                @ob1wan: Any Unlocked 4G Modem should support the SIM. you could also buy the AC800S outright from an Optus Store & this SIM will work if activated.

                AC800S is CAT 9. I have both E5573 and AC800S - and get 45-60mbps when
                using the AC800S.

                Edit: Apparently it's CAT 11 according to Optus website.

    • Same - only saw the $30 plan come up, although the packaging never mentioned anything about an inclusive 14GB (versus the E5577 at Post Office that had a sticker). Still $25 for a unlockable modem is good in itself.

  • +1

    You can use this modem without inserting the battery. Just connect micro USB to power adapter.

    • Awesome, this is such a useful comment - many thanks :)

  • Just wondering which store still has stock? Thanks

    • Now Target sell it same price at $25.00

  • -2

    just curious what people are using this for nowadays?

    im got one cuz fomo and i might need it at some point * tosses it in the pile with the other random purchases *

  • Can this be used with Kogan mobile sims?

    • yes after unlocking, it should work with any simcard

  • Does anyone know how to change the nat setting on this modem

  • How do you unlock it - I purchase a unlock off ebay but do I just put in a sim and have to input a code afterwards?

    • With the ebay purchase you need to send the seller you IMEI number.

      They need that to produce the unlock code.

      Send the seller a message with those details. Once the unlock code is received, yes you just put another carrier SIM and login to the Admin page, it will ask for the code.

      • Have the NUK, but it doesn't appear to be prompting to enter it, just sits at Invalid SIM :(

        EDIT: Tried with a different Telstra SIM and it worked fine.

  • +1

    After going through this, I think it needs some explanation as to the value of the included and free data. For $25 you get the 4G modem and a SIM card. When you go to activate it you are prompted to choose a prepaid plan, of which the $30 w/ 5GB for the month is the cheapest. You are then given the option for auto recharge and are asked for payment details.

    Choose the $30 plan and don't choose the auto recharge. You will be charged $0.01 and when you check your balance on the device via SMS to 9999 with the word "bal" you will see you have 14GB of data that expires in one month. 4GB of Mydata and 10Gb of Mydata bonus.

    I guess the $30 only gets charged when you go to recharge at the end of the month. At which time hopefully you will have unlocked the SIM and chosen a different provider with better value.

    • +1

      You can also choose to tick the box that says you have no credit/debit card or paypal - so they have no CC details to charge at the end of the month.

  • maybe a strange question but I have to ask:
    many Optus prepaid SIM cards have a condition "tethering and downloads not permitted" - what does it really mean?
    can I use such SIM card in a modem?

  • quick question! "before 04/02/2019" means included 04/02 or by 03/02?

  • brought this modem and the unlock code for US$0.99: link above, waiting for the code now..at the start i just follow this procedure… 2 Will send you the unlocking code 3 Simply insert other network sim then to input the unlocking code . Do i need to install the Link apps first?

    i got no home phone+Internet at home right now and force me to use phone as Hotspot for net…really need to get this 4G modem working with Kogan Sims and among other non-optus sims.

  • I'm finding difficulty in setup and unlock..
    I see option to connect to wifi Optus_7204 but asking for the key which i dont find anywhere before login to the ip address, otherwise I'm not able to connect to the page for entering unlock code.

    Somebody throw they experience please

    • Don't have this particular modem but it's asking for the WiFi key which will be on the back of the modem, might have to take the back cover off to see it.

      The unlock code can only be entered when you insert a sim from another carrier. It should then ask you for the unlock code

  • How does this compare to Huawei E5573?

Login or Join to leave a comment