Both Telstra and BigPond (yes, they are the same company I know – but they have different product offerings) advertise support for wireless broadband on OSX computers using their NextG infrastructure (their name for HSDPA).
My concern here is that there is no real “support” behind their offering. Yes, there is software that is available for OSX to run that allows you to connect to their network – but that is the extent of it. None of their support staff offer telephone support for the product – with the response I got today (and I quote) “I hate Mac OSX”…
The reason I am so thoroughly unimpressed with all of this is that I have a reminder that comes up when I connect at the moment – telling me to upgrade the firmware in my modem. The biggest draw of the upgrade is this:
Great news: your BigPond Wireless Broadband device can now go even faster – and it won’t cost you any extra!
The page is obviously specifically for OSX users – as the link URL ends in “osxoption_pccard.html”. On clicking the link on the page to get the download instructions you are taken to a page which says:
If you have a MAC
Currently, we don’t have a Mac OS firmware upgrade application. We’re working with our vendors to develop one shortly.
If you have access to a Windows computer, then you can upgrade your firmware as follows:
It then details the windows upgrade procedure…. very helpful.
At every turn with this device, I run in to a brick wall. There really is no support at all for the card beyond a piece of software that may or may not work on your computer – and if it does not – you are on your own.
In short, Telstra’s NextG is not supported on OSX at the moment, and they have no right to advertise it as such.
