In efforts to round up more folks on competing 3G networks who are unhappy with sluggish performance in heavily populated areas, Telstra is offering a more attractive pre-paid Next G broadband service with a new "Telstra Turbo" Next G USB modem and no-contract.

For $89 you get the modem above along with 2GB of data to get you up and running, up from the 1GB that was previously available. There are a good range of pre-paid options available, starting at $20 which gets you 225MB of data with a 30 day expiry (working out to a data rate of 8.9c per MB). If it's more data you require you can get 6GB with 30 days expiry, working out to just 1.6c per MB or for $150 you'll get 4GB of data, but a more flexible 180 days to use it, equating to a data rate of 3.7c per MB.

All in all, much much more attractive, albeit still higher cost than most competitors; but you don't mind that so much when knowing you're on the best 3.5G network in Oz.