It can be quite easy to rack up hefty Internet and data download charges on a mobile phone, and on top of that the time taken to pull up web pages can be slow at times as well. A Canadian company called DataWind claims to address these issues with its new Pocket Surfer 2 portable-Internet device.

The other benefit is cost, says Kopke. The $399 price for the device covers 20 hours of Internet surfing time per month for the first year. Or if you need more time, you can pay about $20 for unlimited access per month. After the first year, the company is looking at an upfront usage fee of $50 for the year, though Kopke says they are aiming to make it zero.

"Unless you're using a laptop, no other mobile product can surf the Internet so easily – it is too slow and very expensive. Australians want a desktop experience on the go, and the country has a high percentage of people using the Internet, but people are also paying one of the highest rates in the world for it.

"We may not be a well-known company in terms of branding, but our product delivers a great user experience [for online surfing], and for free. It is also supported by mass retailer Dick Smith," said Kopke.

The Pocket Surfer 2 has additional features, such as 25GB of online storage, remote access to a desktop and an email client.

The product is the successor to the Pocket Surfer 1, which was more like a Bluetooth accessory, and, Kopke admitted, was a hard retail sale. "But we put the lessons learned from that into this new device, and we believe it is now a very easy retail sale."

See: www.pocketsurfer.com. au and stay tuned to SmartHouse, for a full review.