TPG Exclusive offer: Home Wireless Broadband trial

[drbob]

Which areas are being offered to join this trial?

I received an email from tpg offering to join this trial with first month free and as a current TPG customer, $49.99 per month for up to 20Mbps and unlimited downloads and no contract and no other fees, free modem.

I initially ignored the offer and tried to brush off the lady that called me the next day saying that I need to have port forwarding and this service does not support this. After saying no to the same lady when she called me this morning, I had a talk with one of my sons who used to host games with his friends and found out that he has not been doing that for a while. So, I arranged to have TPG call me again to arrange a switch to the "Home Wireless Broadband". I am now waiting to receive the modem and try out the wireless service and see how it compares with NBN at 12Mbps. If the experience is positive, I'll keep it (after all, I like saving money!), if not, I'll cancel and switch back to NBN within seven days. What are people's experience with this service?

Robert

[drbob]

Today I have received a message(SMS and email) advising me that the hardware(modem probably) has been dispatched.

Meanwhile, I logged in to the newly created account (not sure why I was given a new account (new id and password) in addition to the existing one??) and changed the temporary password. While I was there, I noticed that the contact email was not the one that I wanted to use and proceeded to change that too.

Now I cannot log in to the new account! I keep getting, "Error: Invalid details used. Please check and try again."

Can someone please help me with that? I can still  go to the new account by  logging in to my other account and clicking on "Click here to manage your other services".

[drbob]

Never mind about helping with the password. I clicked on "Forgot your password?" and was sent a link to login with a new password.

[drbob]

I have just received the Vodafone Hub hardware and I am now waiting for a message from TPG to power it on.

[drbob]

I have just received an email from TPG advising me that my TPG Home Wireless Service is ready for use. Meanwhile, the dashboard on my account reports, "We have established your connection and testing is underway. Please make sure your Home Wireless modem is plugged in and turned on so testing can be completed."

[drbob]

I have attached the two antennae shipped with the box and after placing the Vodafone Hub close to a window (60cm), I have powered it up. The power lights turns green, as do the 2.4GhZ and 5GHz lights. No lights at all on 3G/4G Signal strength.

[drbob]

I have been able to  login to the Vodafone hub via an ethernet cable using a laptop. The WWAN status shows "Connect waiting..." and still no lights on the  signal LEDs. It looks like I may require technical  assistance. If any moderator is reading this, please advise what I should do next.

[drbob]

According to the unit:

Signal Intensity: -77dBm

Network status: Disconnected

Access Technology: LTE

RSSI: -92 dBm, RSRP: -109 dBm

[drbob]

I was about to "call it a day" and powered down my  laptop and switched off power at the wall - and realised that I had powered off the Hub instead! So, I turned power back on the Hub and waited for the LEDs on the Hub to turn back on: first power LED turn on RED, some time later this turned GREEN. Then the green LED for 5G turned on, followed by the green LED for 2.4G. Still, no luck for 3G/4G, nor the signal strength LEDs.

I moved the Hub around a bit (limited by the length of the DC power cord from the adapter), no change. I then decided to remove one of the antennae with no change; it was when I was unscrewing the second antenna that I saw the 3G/4G LED turn on, followed by two of the signal LEDs! A wonderful sight! Complete removal of the two antenna left the 3G/4G LED on, together with one of the signal LEDs. Re-attaching the two antennae left the LEDs on but with only one signal LED. The Hub reports:

Signal Intensity: -79dBm (weaker signal!)

Network Status: Connected

Access Technology: LTE

RSSI: -90dBm (stronger signal)

RSRP: -111dBm(weaker signal)

A complete mystery as to why the signal LEDs turned on with lower signal from the mobile tower! Unless of course, engineers at TPG had turned on something while I was playing with the hardware?!

Anyway, long story short: I am now online using the TPG Home Wireless Broadband service (to make sure I have turned off the NBN modems).

As promised, the service was delivered within 2-5 business days in metro areas!

With only one signal LED on(weak signal) I'll test the service over the following seven days and decide whether to keep it or switch back to NBN.

I am grateful to TPG for reaching out to me and making this offer to save me $10/month over my current NBN service!

[drbob]

Download speed at 14:35

www.speedcheck.org:  Download speed Upload speed  latency

                                     20.28                   4.74                 606ms

                                     23.69                   4.73                 74.6

                                     19.81                  4.75                 77.6

www.speedtest.net:      15.34                  1.99                 19      KernWi-Fi Pty Ltd

                                     15.83                  1.99                 20

Telstra:                         17.8                       1.9                188

                                    17.8                       1.9