R.I.P. Unwired in Sydney

When I moved into my current apartment around a year ago, I didn't want to commit to a 12/24 month ADSL contract and at that time the Aussie pre-paid 3G offerings were not worth considering. I opted for Unwired and after a couple of days of moving their "wabbit" modem around, I eventually got an "Ok" service by taping it to the inside of my lounge window and using a Wi-fi router. The metal tray in the picture is there to try and stop it hunting between the two antennas in the modem as that disrupts any data through-put.

This arrangement has done the job and has even allowed the occasional VOIP call when the humidity/tides/moon phase etc have been just right for an optimum connection.

In the last week however, the service has diminished to a point where it isn't usable anymore. The modem shows "connecting..." for anything between 5 minutes and 5 hours before allowing a couple of minutes of traffic.

I'm not sure what the problem is but am moderately sure nothing has changed on my side. For the few brief minutes per day when I get service, the signal strength is what it normally was.

So, anyone on the northern beaches who is considering Unwired ... DON'T! I will go shopping on the weekend and see what I can find in the way of 3G modems and reasonably priced plans.