Thank you for your interest in Wi-Sky broadband internet. If we have not answered your question below, don’t hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to clarify any details you may need.
Can I get the Wi-Sky service?
Wi-Sky has specifically designed our broadband network to meet the needs of local rural communities. Our NSW operations commenced at Coolac, NSW and we operated within the Gundagai shire and surrounds before extending our coverage into the adjacent Cootamundra and Tumut shires. Today we have expanded considerably and have networks covering
Wi-Sky Queensland operations commenced in Richmond, Queensland and our coverage has grown to include the Flinders, Winton, McKinlay and Cloncurry shires. View information on Wi-Sky Queensland >
We are constantly adding new towers across NSW and Queensland to extend our coverage. If you have line of sight to any of our towers, connection can be relatively straightforward. If line of sight is not initially possible, we do have options to extend the signal and connect your location. To gain an overview of our service area please view our coverage map or contact us directly to discuss how we can help you get online.
How do I know whether Wi-Sky will work where I live?
Firstly we encourage you to Check your Location and submit an expression of interest for the Wi-Sky service. Jock or Pat (NSW operations) or William (QLD operations) and we will run a “path-check” to determine whether your geographical location can be accessed from our existing infrastructure. We will need to be able to pinpoint your location on mapping software.
For people who can provide a numbered street or road address, we can normally pinpoint your location using just your address. For people whose residences are not located immediately adjacent to a gazetted street or road (eg. rural residences on farms), we will need your geographical coordinates.
Geographical coordinates can be easily obtained using an iPhone – directions on how to do this are provided – this can be very handy in helping us pinpoint your exact location.
Alternately don’t hesitate to contact us and we can assist.
Line of sight is critical and often best verified by a site visit. This way we can consider sheds, trees etc that may block access. Please contact Wi-Sky for more details.
What’s involved with installation?
For the case where your residence has a clear line of site to one of our existing towers, connection to Wi-Sky is relatively quick and simple. One of our installers will come to your property at a convenient time and mount a small antenna on your roof top. The antenna is cabled down to a wireless router located within your residence. The antenna is aligned with one of our local internet access towers (often located on top of a nearby hill or an existing structure). The wireless router is included as part of the installation fees.
For the case where our existing infrastructure is unable to reach your location directly, we offer a range of potential solutions to get you connected. We can discuss the various options with you should this be required.
How does Wi-Sky’s internet service compare with the NBN Sky Muster service?
Wi-Sky’s broadband internet service is via a land based, high speed private wireless network. This network has a high speed data link directly back to Sydney. This link is not subject to normal congestion issues often suffered by the major carriers.
The NBN Sky Muster is a Satellite based connection service currently being rolled out to rural and regional areas. There are a number of well known issues with satellite connections:
- satellite services suffer from a typically high ‘latency’ issue (a slow response time after clicking the mouse, and during upload/download of data packages) – the slow response times are the result of the very large transmission distances between land based infrastructure and the satellite. High latency means frustrating delays whilst browsing the internet, streaming data, making voice calls, etc.
(Wi-Sky service is not served via satellite and is not affected by these latency issues) - due to likely congestion issues in the future, the NBN Skymuster plans are already imposing significant data download limits, with restrictions on the timing of data downloads to often inconvenient hours eg 1am – 7am
- charges and/or shaping is usually applied to satellite broadband plans once users exceed their allocated monthly data limit
(Wi-Sky offers unlimited downloads).
How does Wi-Sky’s internet service compare with mobile broadband plans?
Mobile broadband internet plans are reliant on the existence of a good mobile signal strength from your local mobile phone provider. As most regional people are well aware, mobile coverage within regional areas is often very poor, and in many localities non-existent, across regional areas.
Even in the event of a good mobile reception local to your residence, mobile internet services tend to be:
- expensive (typically charging the highest cost per unit of data)
- restrictive in terms of the quantity of data you are allowed to download
- often congested, particularly during peak usage periods
- subject to shaping and excess data usage charges – (shaping is the deliberate slowing of your connection once you have exceed your monthly download limit).
I am having trouble sending emails after changing from my old internet provider to wi-sky – how do I fix this issue?
In certain cases some of our clients have experienced difficulty sending emails following changeover from their previous internet service provider. A message may come up on your device noting that the device cannot send mail and/or that the the connection to the outgoing mail server has failed.
For this case we suggest the following:
- go to the email settings on your device
- write down your current outgoing mail server address (just in case you need to revert to original settings!)
- try updating your outgoing mail server to: smtp.wi-sky.net.au
In most cases we find that this will fix the issue and you will be able to send emails from thereon.