Prepaid SIM in australia

Hello!

Next month I will make a 3 weeks trip to australia (Sydney and Cairns). I
will take my mobil phone with my and want to use it as cheap as I can and
also cheap for my friends to reach me from germany.

As incoming SMS are free fro me, I will tell my friends still to use my
german number. But for all the other things:
- outgoing SMS
- incoming voice
- outgoing voice

I would like to buy a Prepaid SIM in Australia.
I found the following possibilities:
Vodafone
Telstra
Virgin Mobile


Which one can you recommend for my requires?



--

Ciao , Frank.

Frank Knappe wrote:
I would like to buy a Prepaid SIM in Australia.
I found the following possibilities:
Vodafone
Telstra
Virgin Mobile


Which one can you recommend for my requires?

Last time I did this, Telstra were slightly cheaper than Optus and
Vodafone for a pre-paid SIM. They were about $25 against $30 for the
others, and as I expected to receive calls more than make them, the $5
savings swung it for me.

However, it depends on how many calls you plan to make - their websites
give the details.

"Frank Knappe" wrote in message
...
Hello!

Next month I will make a 3 weeks trip to australia (Sydney and Cairns). I
will take my mobil phone with my and want to use it as cheap as I can and
also cheap for my friends to reach me from germany.

As incoming SMS are free fro me, I will tell my friends still to use my
german number. But for all the other things:
- outgoing SMS
- incoming voice
- outgoing voice

I would like to buy a Prepaid SIM in Australia.
I found the following possibilities:
Vodafone
Telstra
Virgin Mobile


Which one can you recommend for my requires?



--

Ciao , Frank.





I find Telstra better than Vodafone.



--------------
Telstra Pre pay sim cards
http://www.poms.co.uk/austsraliansimcard.htm

On Wed, 8 Jun 2005 20:32:09 +0100, "www.poms.co.uk"
wrote:


"Frank Knappe" wrote in message
...
Hello!

Next month I will make a 3 weeks trip to australia (Sydney and Cairns). I
will take my mobil phone with my and want to use it as cheap as I can and
also cheap for my friends to reach me from germany.

As incoming SMS are free fro me, I will tell my friends still to use my
german number. But for all the other things:
- outgoing SMS
- incoming voice
- outgoing voice

I would like to buy a Prepaid SIM in Australia.
I found the following possibilities:
Vodafone
Telstra
Virgin Mobile


Which one can you recommend for my requires?

Ciao , Frank.


I find Telstra better than Vodafone.

--------------
Telstra Pre pay sim cards
http://www.poms.co.uk/austsraliansimcard.htm

I have no idea on the SIMS side, but Telstra's coverage is
better in fringe areas away from the major cities.

Be aware that once you leave populated areas, GSM has poor
or no coverage apart from some major highways.


Cheers, Alan, Australia

They're all similar!!!
Telstra has the widest gsm coverage, though their CDMA service is better in
the 'bush'. Next best is Optus, then Vodafone. All other sellers are just
that - resellers!!! There are only 3 actual carriers.


"Frank Knappe" wrote in message
...
Hello!

Next month I will make a 3 weeks trip to australia (Sydney and Cairns). I
will take my mobil phone with my and want to use it as cheap as I can and
also cheap for my friends to reach me from germany.

As incoming SMS are free fro me, I will tell my friends still to use my
german number. But for all the other things:
- outgoing SMS
- incoming voice
- outgoing voice

I would like to buy a Prepaid SIM in Australia.
I found the following possibilities:
Vodafone
Telstra
Virgin Mobile


Which one can you recommend for my requires?



--

Ciao , Frank.

"A Mate" wrote in message news:42a77e0a$0$10696
Telstra has the widest gsm coverage, though their CDMA service is better in
the 'bush'. Next best is Optus, then Vodafone. All other sellers are just
that - resellers!!! There are only 3 actual carriers.



Even two years ago in TAS the only places where OPTUS mobiles would work
were Hobart and Launceston - at least I saw someone able to use a Telstra
phone in Strahan.

--
Tony Bailey
Mercury Travel Books

Frank Knappe wrote:
Hello!

Next month I will make a 3 weeks trip to australia (Sydney and Cairns). I
will take my mobil phone with my and want to use it as cheap as I can and
also cheap for my friends to reach me from germany.

As incoming SMS are free fro me, I will tell my friends still to use my
german number. But for all the other things:
- outgoing SMS
- incoming voice
- outgoing voice

I would like to buy a Prepaid SIM in Australia.
I found the following possibilities:
Vodafone
Telstra
Virgin Mobile


Which one can you recommend for my requires?

[Nice first name! :-)]

See the "Australian Pre-paid Guide" at this address [1].

Some comments:

First time I used Telstra. Good coverage, but SMS to home (The
Netherlands) silently failed (but was still charged).

The next time I used a Vadofone Red SIM. That is very good value for
money, because it includes 60 free SMS messages and cheap Vodafone to
Vodafone (both in Oz) calls. Coverage is worse than Telstra, especially
in small towns. I.e. you might have Telstra coverage, but no Vodafone
coverage and this Red SIM does not allow you to use Telstra's network.
But since I understand you will have two mobile phones, that should not
be a problem. I.e. have your phone with the German SIM use the Telstra
network and let the phone with the Oz SIM use the Vodafone network.

If you want to keep the Vodafone Red SIM after leaving Australia, you
will have to re-charge it *before* you leave. The manual implies that
you can do that over the Internet, but part of the registration process
involves sending/receiving (I forget which) a SMS message from/to your
Red SIM, but since that SIM does not work outside Oz, you're stuck.

Do not fall for the "national roaming" and "international roaming"
comments in the manual. The national roaming is very limited (only part
of Victoria and Tasmania, IIRC) and international roaming is also very
limited (only countries like Singapore and the UK, but not The
Netherlands and, AFAIR, also not Germany).

So all in all Vodafone Red SIM is very good value for money, but is
rather limited, so you 'should' have another phone+SIM which is more
flexible (but more expensive).

I hope this helps.

[1]
http://www.ausmobile.com/modules.php...artid=9&page=1

"Frank Knappe" wrote in message
...

Vodafone sims are sold in Woolworths Servo's for $2. I've not looked into
what you get along with this though, but I'd be surprised if this includes
any call credit.

"Spammy Sammy" wrote in message
news:1118579401.867780@teuthos...

"Frank Knappe" wrote in message
...

Vodafone sims are sold in Woolworths Servo's for $2. I've not looked into
what you get along with this though, but I'd be surprised if this includes
any call credit.




It dont include any credit



--------------
Telstra Pre pay sim cards
http://www.poms.co.uk/austsraliansimcard.htm