# Unwired

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**Unwired** Australia Pty Ltd was an Australian company dedicated to fixed wireless telecommunications network offering carrier grade [Internet](/source/Internet) services. They provided coverage in [Melbourne](/source/Melbourne) and [Sydney](/source/Sydney). As of 8 March 2010 Unwired had 52,320 customers and 97 employees. The technology used by Unwired was provided by American manufacturer [Navini Networks](/source/Navini_Networks)[1] and Venturi Wireless Solutions.

Unwired utilised a wireless network similar to [WiMax](/source/WiMax), using base towers that broadcast a microwave signal, offering speeds of up to 1024 kbit/s. The Unwired network was the first data only network providing Internet services in Australia.

Unwired customers used external modems to connect to the wireless network. Unwired technology was portable, but not mobile - the technology does not operate well while the receiver was in motion. The network operated at 3.5 GHz within a spectrum exclusively reserved for use by Unwired. Unwired offered free technical support 7 days a week plus public holidays.

[Optus](/source/Optus) bought out Unwired and shut down the Unwired network at midnight on 28 February 2013.

## Corporate acquisitions

The [Seven Network Limited](/source/Seven_Network_Limited)'s subsidiary Network Holdings acquired Unwired in 2008[2] for a reported $127 million. Seven Network Limited owns 50% of the [Seven Media Group](/source/Seven_Media_Group) which owns the [Seven Network](/source/Seven_Network). At this time Unwired CEO David Spence left the company. Unwired was later consolidated into Seven's wireless broadband division, Vividwireless which was based in Perth.

Australia's second largest telecommunications company, Optus, announced in February 2012 that it would buy Vividwireless from its parent Seven Group, for a total cost of $230 million. Optus said this would create a new 4G mobile broadband network in Australia.[3][4]

## Closure

Optus shut down the Unwired network at midnight on 28 February 2013 so that the [spectrum](/source/Radio_spectrum) can be used for its [4G](/source/4G) network. Subscribers had to migrate to another internet service provider.[4][5] Prepaid subscribers were given a refunds on remaining credit and pro-rated refunds on unused data.[6]

## See also

- [iBurst](/source/IBurst)
- [Austar/Unwired Alliance](/source/Austar#Austar/Unwired_Alliance)
- Venturi Transport Protocol
- [Exetel](/source/Exetel)

## References

1. ["Attractions of testbed Oz"](https://web.archive.org/web/20060821155300/http://pba.com.au/index.php?page_id=154). PBA. Archived from [the original](http://www.pba.com.au/index.php?page_id=154) on 21 August 2006.

1. [Seven Network Limited Annual Report 2008](http://www.sevencorporate.com.au/_uploads/documents/SNL%20AR08%20FINAL%20260908.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20090205010315/http://www.sevencorporate.com.au/_uploads/documents/SNL%20AR08%20FINAL%20260908.pdf) 5 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine

1. ["Optus buys Vividwireless for $230million"](http://delimiter.com.au/2012/02/20/optus-buys-vividwireless-for-230m/). delimiter.com.au. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2012.

1. Taylor, Josh (20 February 2012). ["Optus buys Vividwireless for its Spectrum"](https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/networking/optus-buys-vividwireless-for-its-spectrum/). zdnet.com.au. Retrieved 11 December 2012.

1. O'Shea, Dan (7 November 2012). ["Australia's Optus to shutter Unwired WiMAX network in 2013"](http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/australias-optus-shutter-unwired-wimax-network-2013/2012-11-07). fiercebroadbandwireless.com. Retrieved 11 December 2012.

1. Unwired. ["Network Closure FAQs"](http://www2.unwired.com.au/networkclosurefaqs). Retrieved 8 May 2013.

## External links

- [Official website](http://www.unwired.com.au)
- [Unwired Message Board](http://forums.unwired.com.au/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Unwired](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unwired) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unwired?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.