standard & premium plans explained

[crcjetty]

just wondering if anyone could explain the differences between the standard & premium plans. i am on the standard S5 at the moment but my signal strength is weak & i am getting a lot of drop outs. would going to a premium plan help solve this?

thanks......

[Dazzled]

It's hard for me without getting geekish about layers, but all services use your local Optus transmitter. After that it is a matter of routing and capacity; for the premium services, Exetel, as explained once by ForumAdmin,

is not ‘reselling’ the Optus service .... but is Optus' first wholesale partner to use a Layer 2 connection which gives Exetel ‘control’ over many aspects of the HSPA services.

. Other types of wireless service which Exetel added later are retailed Optus services. This page of the wiki may be of interest: http://exewiki.exetel.com.au/index.php? ... _HSPA_-_3G

Re the local strength problem, what device are you using?

[crcjetty]

thanks for your reply. i am using a Huawei E583C

[Dazzled]

It's a quick device, but I don't think it has an antenna port for experimentation - does it? You can find Optus 900/2100 3G transmitter locations at http://cellsite.nudge.id.au/ (scale down from Melbourne until Australia appears, and zoom in) or, for the latest official word, at the ACMA site, http://web.acma.gov.au/pls/radcom/regis ... dispatcher and following pages. There are a couple around Maroochydore. The idea is to locate your 3G modem to optimise direct line of sight to a transmitter, and avoid wet forests and steel roofs and walls in particular. It may need to be next to a window or up high. When experimenting, don't change spots too quickly, as "bar" indicators do not update instantaneously.

If the local transmitter is overloaded though, you can't do much yourself. The Layer 2 services are meant to remove contention thereafter.

[crcjetty]

thanks again for your help. the modem does have a connection for ext antenna & i have just ordered one. it is rated at 14DBi so hopefully i will get a better signal.