A new service launched by Laptop Connect allows businesses to rent a USB modem for $11 a day for a three-day minimum. Rates fall for longer hires, down to $5 a day for a full month.
The modem runs on Telstra’s Next G network.
“We want our customers to have the best chance of getting the best connection, no matter where in Australia they travel,” Laptop Connect director Jennifer Bridges says .
The modem is rated at Next G’s peak speed of 7.2 megabits per second, which can deliver about 4Mbps in the real world, although average speeds tend to hover around 2Mbps-3Mbps.
The modem also comes with a daily data allowance of 140MB, but Bridges says this isn’t enforced strictly. “There’s 1GB per week on the modem and this is applied pro-rata, so you can use more on one day than the other. People don’t have to worry about going a bit over the limit. We try and make it as flexible as possible.”
However, excess downloads beyond a reasonable or “fair usage” amount are charged at 25 cents a megabyte.
Bridges says the average hire period is one week, which costs $9 a day and is most popular with small businesses whose staff need to travel interstate.
