Accessing the Service
What you need
It's easy to connect to and use the Telstra Wireless Hotspot Service. You need two things:
There are six ways of paying to use the Telstra Wireless Hotspot service. The valid payment methods are via:
- Telstra Post-Paid mobile account
- An Approved Credit card
- Telstra PhoneAway card (Fly Buys customers excluded)
- Telstra Wireless Hotspot Prepaid card / Telstra Wireless Hotspot Day Pass
- Telstra BigPond service (excluding BigPond Pre-Paid Dial-Up accounts) or
- Telstra Mobile Broadband PC Pack account#.
These options will be made available on the login screen once you are in a Telstra Wireless Hotspot location.
Option A - Pay on your Telstra Mobile Phone Bill
All Telstra Mobile Post-Paid accounts (excluding pre-paid) are eligible to use Telstra Wireless Hotspots, including Telstra post-paid and CDMA post-paid customers. You can pay for one log-in session at a time and have the charges appear on your mobile telephone bill.
Option B - Pay on your Approved Credit Card
If you prefer to use your credit card or do not have a current Telstra mobile account, Telstra PhoneAway card, or Telstra Wireless Hotspot Prepaid card, it is still easy to access this service.
Telstra accepts most major credit cards including: Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Diners Club. The charges will appear on your credit card bill. Just follow the prompts after you select the credit card payment option. You will be able to buy usage time for one log-in session at a time and any unused time will be forfeited.
Option C - Pay using Telstra PhoneAway or Telstra Wireless Hotspot Prepaid cards
All Telstra PhoneAway customers (Fly Buys customers excluded) & Telstra Wireless Hotspot Prepaid card customers are eligible to use Telstra Wireless Hotspots. The charges will be deducted from stored credit on your card.
Option D – Pay using a Telstra Wireless Hotspot Day Pass card
Telstra Wireless Hotspot Day Pass card customers can access the Telstra Wireless Hotspot service for up to 24 hours use of the service. The Telstra Wireless Hotspot Day Pass card expires at 11.59pm on the day after you first use the card to access the service. Also, no new sessions will be accepted after 11.59pm on the date printed on the back of the Telstra Wireless Hotspot Day Pass card
Option E – Bill to your BigPond Account
As a Telstra BigPond customer you can access your BigPond Internet service while you're out on the road through Telstra Wireless Hotspots and have your usage billed to your BigPond account (excludes BigPond Pre-Paid Dial-Up accounts).
For more information visit www.bigpond.com
Option F - Bill to your Telstra Mobile Broadband PC Pack Account#
Existing Mobile Broadband PC Pack subscribers will be able to access the Telstra Wireless Hotspot service and have the charges billed to their Telstra Mobile Broadband PC Pack account#.
# PC Pack plans are no longer available to connect to from 22nd February 2007 If you already have an existing Telstra service, you can combine your Telstra Mobile Broadband PC Pack service onto your existing Telstra account.
A Wireless LAN enabled device.
Your computer hardware should detect the wireless signal. If your computer has not detected the network, you may need to launch the wireless LAN software on your computer.
Telstra Wireless Hotspots are accessible by Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b or 802.11g, a wireless transmission standard) enabled laptops or PDAs.
Some of the latest PCs, such as Intel Centrino, come with a Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) capability already installed and ready to use. If your laptop doesn't currently have a Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) card, you can still take advantage of Telstra Wireless Hotspots by purchasing a Wireless LAN card. These are available from Telstra Shops or from Telstra Shops Online. If you have a Nokia D211 Card or Belkin wireless LAN card and are having difficulty configuring them, please refer to our detailed instructions:
If you are having difficulty authenticating via your Telstra mobile, Telstra PhoneAway card or approved credit card, please refer to the browser configuration guide.
How to connect
Access is simple, fast and convenient once you have the right equipment and have an eligible payment method described above.
1. Ensure that you are in a Telstra Wireless Hotspot location and your wireless device is enabled.
Look for the Telstra Wireless Hotspot logo, at one of the locations listed.
2. Select (or enter) "Telstra" as your network name (SSID)
Your computer hardware should detect the wireless signal. If your computer has not detected the network, you may need to launch the wireless LAN software on your computer.
3. LAUNCH your web browser.
You'll be directed to the Telstra login screen. If this does not happen, please click here for help and troubleshooting. Simply select your preferred payment method, and follow the prompts.
For Telstra Mobile Post-Paid customers (excluding pre-paid):
- select the Telstra Post-Paid Mobile login option
- enter your eligible Telstra mobile phone number
- you will need to read and accept the terms and conditions shown as "Things you need to know"
- you will be sent a one-time login password via SMS (to ensure a password cannot be reused, you'll receive a unique password for each session)
- enter your Password, and you'll be connected - wirelessly, reliably, securely, until you choose to log off, or your session expires
- when you log off, an SMS will be sent to your phone, which will contain session details such as time and approximate charging based on the charges that apply for one log-in session at a time.
For Telstra PhoneAway (Fly Buys customers excluded) & Telstra Wireless Hotspot Prepaid/Telstra Wireless Hotspot Day Pass card customers:
- select the Prepaid Card login option
- enter your 12 digit Telstra PhoneAway or Telstra Wireless Hotspot Prepaid/Telstra Wireless Hotspot Day Pass card number
- you will need to read and accept the terms and conditions shown as "Things you need to know"
- you will then be able to access the service
- a countdown timer will appear in a separate window and will count down the available credit on your card, updated every minute (Telstra PhoneAway & Telstra Wireless Hotspot Prepaid cards only).
For customers paying by an approved Credit Card:
- select the Credit Card login option
- you will need to read and accept the terms and conditions shown as "Things you need to know"
- follow the prompts, entering your eligible credit card details and selecting a session length (and charge)
- you will then be able to access the service.
For Telstra BigPond customers:
- to be able to use the Telstra Wireless Hotspot service, you must first activate your BigPond via Telstra Wireless Hotspot service from your home, using your regular BigPond service to access the appropriate Additional Services pages. Visit www.bigpond.com for more information
- once registered, select the Username & Password login option
- select BigPond from the 'Other Providers' pull down menu and click Submit
- enter your BigPond Username and Password to access the service.
For Telstra Mobile Broadband PC Pack monthly subscribers#:
- enter your Telstra Mobile Broadband PC Pack mobile number
- you will need to read and accept the terms and conditions shown as "Things you need to know"
- you will be sent a one-time login password via SMS to your nominated mobile (to ensure a password cannot be reused, you'll receive a unique password for each session)
- enter your Password, and you'll be connected - wirelessly, reliably, securely, until you choose to log off, or your session expires
- when you log off, an SMS will be sent to your phone which will contain session details such as time and approximate charging based on the charges that apply for one log-in session at a time.
You will be logged off two minutes after you exit a Telstra Wireless Hotspot location, if you have not already logged off yourself. The maximum session length is 8 hours for a Telstra mobile customer, Telstra Mobile Broadband PC Pack subscribers, PhoneAway user, Telstra Wireless Hotspot Prepaid/Telstra Wireless Hotspot Day Pass card user, and Telstra BigPond customers, and 2 hours for a credit card user. Your session will automatically end at this time. If you manually log-off from the service, your session will automatically end at this time.
For security purposes, you will need to re-enter your information each time you enter a Telstra Wireless Hotspot.
Get back to work fast
Dial-up download speeds are limited to 56 kb/s at best, meaning that downloading a 1 megabyte file could take you over 2 minutes. The throughput you can expect from the Telstra Wireless Hotspot service varies according to the individual hotspot location. A 1.5 Mb/s Telstra Wireless Hotspot will allow you to download the same 1 megabyte file in around 5 seconds. What's more, this download speed has the potential to be even faster in major locations such as selected airports and in Melbourne and Sydney CBD HotZones. It should be noted, however, that the actual speed you experience will be subject to various factors such as Internet congestion. Also, speeds may be slowed if your usage exceeds 30MB in 15 minutes.
Easy to install, even easier to use
Accessible by Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11b/802.11g) enabled Laptops or PDAs, Telstra Wireless Hotspots are a convenient means of accessing your critical business information when you need it, and we've made it as simple as possible to get up and running on a Telstra Wireless Hotspot.
# PC Pack plans are no longer available to connect to from 22nd February 2007
