The fastest test results, but the most expensive data packages make BigPond a fall-back only for those with no coverage from other providers

The form of DSL offered by BigPond is ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), meaning that the upload speed is lower than the download speed.

Significant competition from the likes of Optus@Home recently has given cause for Telstra BigPond to devise flat-rate pricing plans that have opened up its cable service to the residential market.

Simple to use and great performance without being locked to a provider.

Cheap plans, good hardware and excellent results in our speed tests make 3 a deserving winner, in our group test against Telstra Bigpond, Optus, Vodafone, Virgin and Unwired.

Good value if purchased with a plan, the telstra’s speed impresses

Slow speeds and a high price make this an underwhelming offering

No excess data charges, a free modem and a good software package make virgin worth a look

The Treo Pro finally brings Palm's flagship smartphone into the modern age. It's available exclusively from Telstra on Next G, and unlike its cousin the Centro it comes with WiFi.

Good value, but without the decent performance or the feature set of our current award winners this time

The Ultimate 9502 is a heavy, chunkier unit that boasts some useful improvements over its predecessor, including classier Foxtel Mobile viewing thanks to better resolution.

Wireless technology is brilliant, but has been thwarted by the difficulty of implementation and the need for additional hardware to replace existing products. The Minitar MN54G4R takes care of all of this, combing a dual band 802.11b/g wireless access point, USB print server, router, SPI (stateful packet inspection) firewall and four port LAN switch into a single tiny unit.

If all you want is a simple Web page generator, then a template-based, wizard-driven Web designer such as Web Easy Millennium is all you need.