High Speed Internet Access (HSIA): Mobile Broadband

Pre-Paid Mobile Broadband

Pre-paid wireless mobile broadband offers the flexibility of no contract and no minimum data allowance each month. It means that you're not paying for a minimum data allowance even if you don't use it. This can be ideal if you don't require mobile broadband all the time but travel infrequently and only need it on those occasions.

The downsides are that the rates charged per megabyte are more expensive than equivalent rates on a plan. The flexibility of pre-paid can seem ideal but it's worth working out likely usage and seeing whether one of the cheapest mobile broadband plans might work out more cost effective overall than pre-paid even if there are some months when it isn't used much.

All of the main telcos offer pre-paid wireless broadband so you have the choice of Telstra, Optus, Three, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile Broadband who use the Optus network.

The structure of the deal is similar in each case. You pay for a starter pack which includes a modem and some data to get you going. Then you buy recharge packs of varying amounts of data.

There are some pitfalls for the unwary of course! The data in the recharge packs can expire after 30 days if you don't recharge the account within this period. The rules on this vary slightly by provider.

Popular Pre-Paid Mobile Broadband Deals

Vodafone Pre-Paid >>
	Vodafone have one of the best deals around on prepaid mobile broadband. $99 for the Vodafone Prepaid Mobile Broadband Starter Pack gets you a USB Modem with 1GB of included data. You don't lose data that you don’t use. You can rollover any unused data if you recharge within 30 days of connection or your last recharge. ( The maximum data accumulation is 12GB).

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Prepaid E1553 Internet Key + 12GB >> This is the most flexible mobile broadband pre-paid package available if you use mobile broadband a lot within a 12 month period but that usage is intermittent. The 12GB of data lasts for the whole year so you don't have to worry about expiry. It's ideal for business travellers. The modem is the latest E1553 featuring fast Internet speeds and roaming coverage on the Next G network. Reduced to $199 if you buy online.  Recharge: 2GB $29 (30 days), 4GB $49 (30 days), 12GB $149 (1 year) 

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Virgin Prepaid Mobile Broadband >> Virgin mobile broadband's starter pack is just $129 with 1 GB of data. Coverage is good on the Optus network and there is no 10Mb minimum flag fall charge. Great flexible package if you don't want to commit to a contract.  Recharge: 1GB $30 (30 days), 3GB $50 (60 days), 6GB $100 (90 days) 

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