Just through you might need some definitions for happens when you reach your data limit.

Throttling
Throttling maintains your ability to connect to the internet but slows your connection to something similar to dial-up. This can be rather frustrating if you’re mid-month and notice your once fast internet is now barely loading pages.

Shaping
Shaping collects the data packets you are requesting or sending and sends them at bursts to and from the network to minimize the stress on the network. You may get a rather fast burst or nothing at all depending on the requests at that time.

Overage
Last is overage, you maintain your connection and speeds but pay a per kilobyte rate for each kb you sent or request, like pay as you go. For many this is the optimal scenario as you do not find yourself without internet half way through the month if you have reached your allowance, just keep track of your usage and the price you pay.

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Telstra has dropped the price on its Turbo Next G prepaid USB drive and introduced a new $89 model that includes a rotating USB connector so you can plug it in at any angle you fancy (more user flexibility).

Telstra has to date been charging $129 for its (non-rotating) Turbo prepaid USB. The data allocated to this USB has also doubled from 1 to 2 GB.

You can still purchase the $79 non-Turbo prepaid model, but with only $10 the difference, going for the potentially speedier model seems a no-brainer.

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Virgin Mobile is updating its prepaid rates from July 1. Change will result in data increases at the top of the market but some trimming on the cheapest plans.

There’s a couple of new price points ($19 and $79), $1 sliced off the price off most of the mid-tier plans, and an increase in allowances for all the plans between $50 and $100. The cheapest $15 recharge, will now offer 300MB instead of 500MB.

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Telstra has launched a new range of pre-paid mobile broadband plans. The new plans offer much better recharge value and have longer expiry periods.

“With Telstra pre-paid there are no bills or fixed term contracts so it’s a great choice for people who want to keep track of what they’re spending month to month,” Ms Glenice Maclellan, Acting Group Managing Director at Telstra Consumer said.

“We only charge customers for every kilobit of data they use so they can rest assured they’re only paying for what they use within the recharge period, giving them greater control and transparency.”

Recharge prices will from tomorrow be updated to the following. $40 will buy 1GB of data, increased from 300MB, and $60 will buy3GB of data – up from 1GB. Expiry times have also been increased – 3GB & 4GB of data will now expire after 90 and 180 days respectively.

You can check the details out at prepaidplans.com.au

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Seems a new prepaid mobile broadband provider is just about to launch into the market. Planet Prepaid who has been offering prepaid dial up cards for a while now is getting ready to launch their broadband offering.

The offer looks to include 3 prepaid cards offering 1GB for $22 and 30 days, 2GB for $33 and 30 days and 4GB for $63 and 90 days. The USB will be via the Optus network.

No pricing at this stage on the USB stick. Stay tuned for more.

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Optus has just launched a range of new recharge options for its prepaid wireless broadband offer. These include $20 recharge which offers 750MB data lasting for 15 days (includes 50 free SMS), plus the $80 recharge offering 4.6GB which lasts for 186 days and also includes 100 free SMS and finally the biggest recharge offer from Optus yet at $130 for 9.2GB (100 free SMS) lasting 186 days.

You can compare all of the Optus prepaid wireless offers here.

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Prepaid broadband is a great option if you are anti-contracts or just want the luxury of internet when you aren’t at home or work. Telstra’s Prepaid Broadband isn’t considered the cheapest in the market, actually they are the most expensive but their coverage is 2nd to none.
Telstra has announced a new modem for pre-paid wireless customers, costing $179 with speeds of 550Kbps to 3Mbps. There’s also a non-Turbo modem which costs $129.

They both come with $10 of included credit and also offer 1GB of bonus data if you activate before December 31. Telstra also offers to double the data alllowance if you recharge $40 or more before December 31 2009.

Recharge prices are $80 for 3.5GB. Spending $50 gets you 625MB.

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Eftel announces a revolution in ADSL2+ – First-ever genuine zero monthly fee fixed line broadband product – Eftel Prepaid Broadband

Membership fee is just $29* and includes installation of Broadband ADSL2+. Data blocks of 10GB for just $30 each. Now THAT is cheap! NO Monthly Fee! The speed and reliability of ADSL2+ without the commitment! NO hidden fees! NO catches! NO chance of bill shock! NO complications!

Eftel is one of Australia’s most innovative ISPs, investing heavily in new technology and constantly seeking to push the envelope in fixed-line broadband speeds. Eftel’s new Prepaid Broadband product revolutionises fixed-line broadband, removing the monthly fee commitment so that consumers can enjoy the superior speed and reliability of ADSL2+ whilst paying only for the data they want.

Leveraging its national network of super-DSLAMs (MSAN – Multi-Service-Access-Nodes) Eftel has also reduced the installation fees to an absolute minimum of $29, ensuring that there are no more obstacles to great value home broadband.

For the consumer, Prepaid Broadband means amazing value and maximum freedom, with no monthly commitment at all, at the fastest speeds currently attainable on telephone lines.

Members ONLY pay for data, and nothing else. They’re not paying for an idle broadband connection. They’re only paying for data, which is what they really want. Members can use the data as quickly or as slowly as they like, so if they don’t use it one month, then they can use it all the next if they want.

Compare Eftel Prepaid Broadband now.

* Introductory offer for new customers only. Standard Membership fee is $99.

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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.

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