Mobile broadband

We’re getting ready to go away for a little while. So I’ve fired up the notebook I take with me when travelling.    As usual, it takes time to catch up on the updating that it’s missed out on, even though it’s not very long since I last used it (when we were away for a few days).  And inexplicably, it resulted in a spate of “unrecognized activity” emails from Google/gmail.  If only Google took privacy issues as seriously at their end as they do at the user’s end.

A bigger concern is that the accommodation (holiday rental house) makes no mention of providing wi fi or other internet access.    It’s a long time since we haven’t had access to wi fi while away, but that’s because we haven’t stayed at private accommodation since we were at Lorne last year. 

The easiest internet option is to use my phone as a hot spot, but that comes at a relatively high cost on my phone.    I spent some time seeing if I could “unlock” my phone so as to use a different provider, but with Telstra, nothing it seems is quite as simple as making a phone call  (so this is still “work-in-progress”).  In the meantime, I’ve paid $2 for a Telstra SIM so I can set up an different account with Telstra (for “data-only”) if I need to go that way.   A Telstra data-only plan wouldn’t provide data at cheapest rate around, but it’s a fraction of the price of data on my normal account.   

But I’ve also  located my trusty Vodafone USB modem.   Vodafone aren’t my favourite network (at holiday destinations, it can get congested at busy times), but unless we need to stream movies or attend Zoom meetings, it should be OK.  Catch?   When I tried to use it, it told me the account had been “de-activated”.     This wasn’t a real surprise, because last time I added funds to the pre-paid account was more than a year ago, and I was once informed that SIMs “die” if they’re not used for 6 months.   However, a call to Vodafone (answered immediately I navigated the slightly complex menu) told me that by just a few days I was still within the grace period.  Sometimes things do indeed fall the right way!    So, I made a top-up of the minimum account, and, yes, seemingly we’re back in the land of being “activated”.

So, hopefully one way or another we’re going to be able to remain in contact!