Frank Slootweg wrote:

N.B. An added complication is that I have to prepare, configure, etc.
this stuff at home in The Netherlands, *without* the phone, NextG
network, etc., because I can only buy the phone on arrival in Oz. And
once I am in Oz, I have no (other) Internet access, so I can't lookup
things on the web before the mobile Internet connection works, Catch-22.

Has your current phone got bluetooth? If not, can you borrow a bluetooth
phone? If so, you can try getting it to work using that phone. Even
without 3G connection, the principle's the same for GPRS. The dial
string might be different with Telstra's network, but at least you'll be
able to find out if you can get it to work.