Mobile phones in Australia
 

Hi All,

Does anyone have advice on the best mobile phone deals for use while in
Australia for a few weeks? Most of the calls will be to/from the UK though some
will be to/from Australian landlines and mobiles. Some of the UK calls will be
quite long - around an hour.

A fair bit of the time will be spent in country areas of NSW and Queensland so
network coverage will be a consideration, though not over-riding if there is a
big cost penalty. I appreciate that there are extensive no-coverage areas on
all networks.

A package including a phone is attractive as it eliminates possible
non-compatibility between phone and sim card. I don't need to know the phone
number before leaving the UK so picking something up on arrival in Australia
would be fine.

Norman
--
Derbyshire, UK

Mobile phones in Australia
 

A gsm pre-paid sim card can be purchased in any supermarket for $2
(Vodafone), up to $15 (with included credit). Additional credit can be
bought at supermarkets, servos, newsagencies etc

The three gsm carriers have reasonable coverage. They are Telstra, Optus and
Vodafone (all other retail offerings use one of these 3 carriers). I use
Vodafone - simply because their rates are best for my usage pattern.

The best coverage is NOT a gsm service. It's Telstra's NextG service. A
phone and connection can be bought at any Telstra booth or shop from about
$100AUD. All larger shopping malls will have a Telstra shop or booth.



"Norman" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

Does anyone have advice on the best mobile phone deals for use while in
Australia for a few weeks? Most of the calls will be to/from the UK though
some
will be to/from Australian landlines and mobiles. Some of the UK calls
will be
quite long - around an hour.

A fair bit of the time will be spent in country areas of NSW and
Queensland so
network coverage will be a consideration, though not over-riding if there
is a
big cost penalty. I appreciate that there are extensive no-coverage areas
on
all networks.

A package including a phone is attractive as it eliminates possible
non-compatibility between phone and sim card. I don't need to know the
phone
number before leaving the UK so picking something up on arrival in
Australia
would be fine.

Norman
--
Derbyshire, UK

Mobile phones in Australia
 

The three gsm carriers have reasonable coverage. They are Telstra, Optus
and Vodafone (all other retail offerings use one of these 3 carriers). I
use Vodafone - simply because their rates are best for my usage pattern.

I have to disagree here. Our experience in going to rural Queensland is that
our Optus & Vodaphone GSMs often didn't have coverage even in reasonalble
large towns, and the locals were all using Telstra. But yes Telstra tends to
be more expensive -- you get what you pay for, I guess. If you want to
maximise coverage, it's got to be Telstra.

Kerry

Mobile phones in Australia
 

Kerry raymond wrote:

The three gsm carriers have reasonable coverage. They are Telstra, Optus
and Vodafone (all other retail offerings use one of these 3 carriers). I
use Vodafone - simply because their rates are best for my usage pattern.

I have to disagree here. Our experience in going to rural Queensland is that
our Optus & Vodaphone GSMs often didn't have coverage even in reasonalble
large towns, and the locals were all using Telstra. But yes Telstra tends to
be more expensive -- you get what you pay for, I guess. If you want to
maximise coverage, it's got to be Telstra.

Kerry


Thanks to all who replied. You have given me some targets for further research.


--
Norman
Derbyshire, UK.

Mobile phones in Australia
 

If you intend to travel in remote areas, Telstra Next G offers the best
coverage, They offer some phones which are recomended for rural areas.
However large areas of outback Australia have very few inhabitants and do
not have any mobile coverage.

Bob


"Kerry raymond" wrote in message
...
The three gsm carriers have reasonable coverage. They are Telstra, Optus
and Vodafone (all other retail offerings use one of these 3 carriers). I
use Vodafone - simply because their rates are best for my usage pattern.

I have to disagree here. Our experience in going to rural Queensland is
that our Optus & Vodaphone GSMs often didn't have coverage even in
reasonalble large towns, and the locals were all using Telstra. But yes
Telstra tends to be more expensive -- you get what you pay for, I guess.
If you want to maximise coverage, it's got to be Telstra.

Kerry

Mobile phones in Australia
 

If you choose a prepaid package avoid Vodafone. Their service is poor
and their coverage is not good.

If you need to make a lot of phone calls back to the UK, the best is if
you use Skype (bring a netbook or another cheap and light notebook with
you).
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

Mobile phones in Australia
 

Alfred Molon wrote:
[...]

If you need to make a lot of phone calls back to the UK, the best is if
you use Skype (bring a netbook or another cheap and light notebook with
you).

And how would that help?

You still need an Internet connection. That Internet connection is
either non-mobile (i.e. Internet-cafe, wireless hotspot, etc.) or mobile
(i.e. via a mobile phone/modem). If non-mobile, then you might as well
use a normal (non-mobile) phone and a pre-paid calling card. If mobile,
the charges (per MB) will still be rather to very high.

A callback scheme may be cheaper. I.e. you call your provider, your
provider sees it's you, disconnects and calls you, so there is no
outgoing mobile charge. Next you 'tell' your provider to connect you to
number X, so you only pay what your provider charges. I have no
pointers/URLs for this, but if you Google this group, you should be able
to find some.

Yet another alternative is comfi's SMS-Call or WEB-Call. I haven't
used either, but have looked in detail at their SMS-Call, and it looks
very nice. For details, see http://www.turbocall.com.

Mobile phones in Australia
 

In article me.nl,
lid says...
Alfred Molon wrote:
[...]

If you need to make a lot of phone calls back to the UK, the best is if
you use Skype (bring a netbook or another cheap and light notebook with
you).

And how would that help?

Many hotels now offer free WLAN access in the room.

You still need an Internet connection. That Internet connection is
either non-mobile (i.e. Internet-cafe, wireless hotspot, etc.) or mobile
(i.e. via a mobile phone/modem). If non-mobile, then you might as well
use a normal (non-mobile) phone and a pre-paid calling card.

No idea how much prepaid billing cards cost, but Skype calls to Europe
cost 2 cents/minute. Hard to beat that.

Since you will need Internet access when travelling for emails and other
stuff in any case, it would seem logical to use skype or other VOIP
providers.

A callback scheme may be cheaper.

Cheaper than 2 cent / minute?
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

Mobile phones in Australia
 

Alfred Molon wrote:
In article me.nl,
lid says...
Alfred Molon wrote:
[...]

If you need to make a lot of phone calls back to the UK, the best is if
you use Skype (bring a netbook or another cheap and light notebook with
you).

And how would that help?

Many hotels now offer free WLAN access in the room.

But, unless stated otherwise, it's unlikely that the OP is (only)
staying in hotels. And even if he does, if he has to pay in only one or
a few of them, the other options are probably already cheaper.

You still need an Internet connection. That Internet connection is
either non-mobile (i.e. Internet-cafe, wireless hotspot, etc.) or mobile
(i.e. via a mobile phone/modem). If non-mobile, then you might as well
use a normal (non-mobile) phone and a pre-paid calling card.

No idea how much prepaid billing cards cost, but Skype calls to Europe
cost 2 cents/minute. Hard to beat that.

2 *what* cents? If 2 Euro cents, then pre-paid calling cards are a
wash, i.e. about the same price. If AU$ cents, then they're just a bit
more expensive, 2.3 US$ cents. However they are much more versatile,
because they work from *any* phone.

Since you will need Internet access when travelling for emails and other
stuff in any case, it would seem logical to use skype or other VOIP
providers.

A callback scheme may be cheaper.

Cheaper than 2 cent / minute?

I don't know. I said I don't have pointers/URLs, didn't I.

And why did you silently snip the third option? Because it's too cheap
to fit with your agenda?

Anyway, there is no "one size fits all", i.e. also not in this area.
We give the OP several options and he takes his pick(s).

FWIW, on *my* upcoming trip to/in Oz, mainly in outback areas, I will
have two mobile phones/SIMs and two pre-paid calling cards, and I will
use the most fitting solution per situation.

Mobile phones in Australia
 

In article .nl,
lid says...

2 *what* cents? If 2 Euro cents, then pre-paid calling cards are a
wash, i.e. about the same price. If AU$ cents, then they're just a bit
more expensive, 2.3 US$ cents. However they are much more versatile,
because they work from *any* phone.

At the level of 2 cents/minute calls are so cheap, that they are
essentially free. Unless you spend hours on the phone it will be hard to
spend more than a few Euro on phone calls.

And why did you silently snip the third option?

I have no idea what that thing is, which is why I didn't comment on
that.

Because it's too cheap
to fit with your agenda?

What agenda? Besides at 2 cents/minute calls are already so cheap to be
effectively free, unless a few Euros of money spent on phone calls has
any meaningful financial impact on you.
By the way, if your counterpart is also using Skype the calls cost 0
cent/minute.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe