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Mobile Broadband Telstra USB dongle

#1 User is offline   Peter 

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Posted 18 March 2011 - 09:45 PM

On the advice of a Telstra Shop employee I purchased a Telstra Turbo Next G device to have mobile broadband on my Mac Book. It works perfectly and simply on my Windows notebook but has never worked on the Mac! Hours spent back in the shop and Telstra decided it was a Mac problem. Forever talking to some one overseas and it was decided it was a Telstra issue. Can someone recommend a USB device which will give me mobile broadband on a Mac?
Peter
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#2 User is offline   mickdevlin 

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Posted 19 March 2011 - 04:26 PM

The Vodafone modems work, as should the similar modems from Optus. FYI, the modems from Telstra also work on a Mac as I have seen several of them used with Macs (ie salesman/tech is an idiot.)
Mick
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#3 User is offline   BrianB 

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Posted 19 March 2011 - 04:50 PM

I have a Telstra modem from work and it works perfectly on my Mac. it's not a problem with the Mac at all.

just make sure you have the latest, 'Telstra Next G Turbo Manager' installed and it should work.

Whoever told you it's a Mac issue is a big Shmo....
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#4 User is offline   gazza 

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Posted 19 March 2011 - 06:39 PM

There is absolutely no reason why a Telstra modem can't work with a Mac (as long as there isn't a technical problem with it!) The Telstra employee just doesn't know how to use Mac network preferences! The only configuration apart from choosing the dongle in Network prefs is to set up the security password - I presume the Telstra Modem comes with at least basic WEP password security. Once you get it up and running change the security level to the safer WPA2.

You don't mention in your profile where you live. If you can visit an Apple store with your MacBook and modem the Genius Bar guys will set up your network in an instant (don't forget to make an appointment online first!)

As a matter of interest I have a Virgin MiFi modem which works perfectly with all my Apple gear AND would also work perfectly with Windows. These days all modems should come complete with instructions for both Windows and Mac, mine certainly does, and I would imagine that Brian's and Mick's do too.
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#5 User is offline   mickdevlin 

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Posted 19 March 2011 - 08:07 PM

The modem should also come with software. Follow the instructions supplied with the modem as per Gazza's advice and there won't be a problem.
Mick
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#6 User is offline   bitingmidge 

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Posted 19 March 2011 - 10:09 PM

Peter,

I've been using a Bigpond mobile service for a couple of years, and an SFR one in France, both are flaky at times when it comes to setting up the proprietary software.

Both needed the lastest versions before anything would happen and I suspect this will apply to you too, so download from

http://www.telstra.c...manager-mac.dmg

Now read this PDF document for instructions:

http://www.telstra.c...uctions-mac.pdf

If that fails, download a trial version of Launch2Net and see what you can do. Launch2net isn't cheap, but it could well fix your problem.

One of the quirks I have from time to time with the Bigpond version, is that it just hangs in the "searching" mode, and doesn't connect to anything. I can't tell you how I discovered this, but if you toss out the disk image that appears on your desktop it'll all just do what it's supposed to do!

Cheers,

P
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