i just had a look at T and O and T gives a coverage map https://www.telstra.com.au/coverage-networks/our-coverage

O makes it difficult and wants me to put in codes i don't have.

i guess T has the better coverage?

i think it will be a laptop. get a bigger screen for less money. and T instead of O.

update: after this thread we had planned to go around and check out laptops in different stores.....for the next few weeks

we did the opposite.

we walked into  jb store and saw a laptop for $300. a demonstration model with a 14 inch screen. since we only wanted something simple and the jb guy said that he  (was in fact a telstra guy) could put the dongley thingo onto it and make it all work we abandoned our initial plan to look around before we commit to something and went all go for it and bought it.

i did look at laptops on the net before and saw a pretty blue one for about $300 which we saw in the shop and was about half the size of the laptop we bought (and the same price). i also liked the GREEN one for $650 but i don't wanna pay $300 just for the colour.

good purchase.
Now that you have your laptop, and internet dongle all set up.. just remember, that while travelling through the bigger towns, McDonalds and some of the bigger cafes have free wi-fi. Actually some caravan parks do too.... so if you do find you have access to free wi-fi, then use it instead of using up all your internet data.
Save you a little $$ in the long run.


Have fun on  your travels. I would love to do what you're doing.

If using public wi-fi, I would read up on how to stay safe as it is easy for hackers to hack into your computer.  Just google "using public wi-fi", and I wouldn't log into my bank account when using public wi-fi.

Does a $300 laptop have wi-fi?

It sounds like they were organisong a wi-fi dongle for them.  No computer has built in wi-fi.  You need a dongle, modem, etc. to have wi-fi.