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#1
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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 |
#2
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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 |
#3
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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 |
#4
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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. |
#5
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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 |
#6
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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 |
#7
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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. |
#9
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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. |
#10
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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 |
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