Prepaid data in Australia

[obsidian]

Hello everyone,

my sister is going to Australia for her honeymoon next month, and she's looking for some affordable prepaid data. She and her husband are gonna travel around the continent for three weeks, so coverage is one of their top priorities. Basic usage is surfing, e-mail, Facebook and Skype to keep in touch with Italy. Nothing bandwidth intensive (hope they don't use too much YouTube, though ).

I took a look at Telstra, most people say it is the best in terms of coverage/speed, but pricing is pretty steep:

Pre-Paid Mobile Broadband - Rates - Telstra

Three has an interesting offer, but what about coverage and roaming?
Then there's Vodafone, their offer is good as well.

Also, I can provide my sister an unlocked Huawei E1550 usb stick, so maybe they can save some money, but it only supports 3G 2100Mhz network, could it be a problem? What do you suggest?

Thanks in advance.

[obsidian]

Anyone?

[inquisitor]

Originally Posted by obsidian

Also, I can provide my sister an unlocked Huawei E1550 usb stick, so maybe they can save some money, but it only supports 3G 2100Mhz network, could it be a problem? What do you suggest?

In Australia UMTS2100 is only used in urban areas for capacity extension. For comprehensive 3G coverage you need a device supporting either UMTS850 (for Telstra) or UMTS900 (Optus and Vodafone). Afaik Telstra have the best 3G coverage.

[Stu]

That matches my casual research. For Australian prepaid issues, I often use Whirlpool Forums.