Vodafone The steady march of 4G progress is continuing across Australia with news that Vodafone has switched on its low-band spectrum, known as 4G+, in parts of New South Wales and Queensland. The major telcos have been transitioning into low-frequency spectrum in a bid to offer customers greater coverage indoors, thanks to its ability to …

Image by Cameron Adams, CC BY-ND 2.0 The City of Perth has expanded its free public Wi-Fi network across the CBD, joining the likes of Canberra and Adelaide in offering wireless internet access to visitors and workers in the centre of the city. After rolling out the first stage of its public Wi-Fi network build — a move that saw …

Melbourne now has access to Telstra’s 4GX network.Image by Alan Lam, CC BY-ND 2.0 Telstra customers in Melbourne are being promised “extreme speeds” on “one of the world’s fastest mobile services” with the announcement that the telco’s 4GX network has been switched on in the city. 4GX, as Telstra has officially branded its 700Mhz spectrum, is being periodically rolled out …

The Boost Mobile View 5.0. Boost Mobile Boost Mobile is making a strong push into the smartphone space and targeting the budget-conscious youth market with a new device at an aggressive price point — billing its latest smartphone release as the first 5-inch model under AU$100. Targeting younger consumers, the View 5.0 (manufactured by Alcatel OneTouch) is geared towards heavy …

James Martin/CNET Xbox is pushing digital purchasing back into the bricks and mortar world with the announcement that Australians can now buy digital redemption codes for games and content through JB Hi-Fi stores. According to Xbox Australia, JB Hi-Fi stores across the country have started stocking redeemable digital codes “for select game add-ons, season passes, consumables and full game downloads …

FreeviewPlus After jumping on the HbbTV bandwagon early in Australia with a range of compatible TVs, Panasonic has now expanded its offering, confirming HbbTV compatibility for its entire DVD and Blu-ray recorder line-up. Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV has been live in Australia since September, supported by a major marketing campaign from the joint coalition of free-to-air broadcasters known as Freeview. …

The Cash by Optus app in action. Optus Optus has become the first Australian telecommunications company to move into the contactless payment space with Cash by Optus — a smartphone app designed to replace cash and card purchases below AU$100. Similar to other contactless payment services, such as the recently launched ANZ Mobile Wallet app, Cash by Optus utilises NFC …

Sony’s PlayStation TV. PlayStation Sony’s answer to bringing PlayStation gaming out of your living room and into other rooms of the house has finally landed in Australia, with PlayStationTV launching in stores from today — and for a sub-AU$150 price point. While Sony has already established the PlayStation 4 in the market as a complete gaming and content streaming solution …

ABC iView is coming to Xbox One. ABC Xbox Australia has confirmed that ABC’s iView app will be making its way onto the Xbox One to allow users to view the public broadcaster’s back catalogue of programming on the console. However, as with Foxtel’s recent announcement of Xbox One compatibility for its Foxtel Play IPTV subscription service, details on exact …

Telstra’s 24×7 app shows how much data a customer has used. Screen shot by Claire Reilly/CNET Telstra customers will soon be able to get a better handle on their data usage with the announcement that the telco is introducing real-time usage alerts. Text message usage alerts have traditionally taken up to 48 hours to reach customers (the time limit set …