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Telstra’s Gateway Frontier switches between 4G and fixed line broadband

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Get online in minutes with Telstra’s Gateway Frontier Modem Router.

Like most ISPs, Telstra will provide a modem-router for its home broadband products. Unlike most ISPs, however, Telstra has a long history of offering up modem-routers that are specifically branded Telstra products, even if it does outsource the actual manufacturing to other parties. If you’ve got a Telstra cable connection, for example, the chances are high you’re rocking a Netgear-branded modem-router, even if the label says Telstra.

Telstra announced in August last year that it would bring a hybrid 4G modem router to market in 2017. The Telstra Gateway Frontier is now on sale for customers on Telstra’s ADSL, Cable and NBN plans. It’s a Dual band 802.11ac router with MU-MIMO, 2 USB 3.0 ports, 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports and NFC capabilities.

The basic idea behind the Telstra Gateway Frontier is that it will allow customers to simply receive the modem and fire it up to connect to 4G services while they wait for their fixed line connection to be finalised. 4G data used while setting up or if the fixed line is down is simply counted against your monthly usage quota, the same as your fixed line usage.

One important caveat here relates to the 4G speeds you will get. Telstra is in the process of launching Gigabit 4G LTE, but don't expect that from the Gateway Frontier. 4G speeds will be limited to 6Mbps down and 1Mbps up.

If your fixed line connection goes down for some reason, then you can fall back to 4G. 4G isn't entirely bulletproof, with Telstra's network suffering a major outage event just recently, but it's a good fallback position nonetheless.

The Gateway Frontier is available from today, with pricing in the initial launch period up until 27 March 2017 coming in at $216 if purchased outright as an existing Telstra broadband customer, or $9 per month as a hardware repayment over 24 months when bundled with a Telstra ADSL, Cable or NBN plan.

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