best option for mobile?

coming to australia for three months, I wonder what the best option is:

Use my normal mobile number, or subscribe to an australian provider:
vodaphone, telstra or optus and sign up for a three month plan, or Use a
prepaid australian card.

We plan to stay in Queensland-gold coast.


Thx for the help!

Max

maxi wrote:
coming to australia for three months, I wonder what the best option is:

Use my normal mobile number, or subscribe to an australian provider:
vodaphone, telstra or optus and sign up for a three month plan, or Use a
prepaid australian card.

We plan to stay in Queensland-gold coast.

That depends on for what you want to use it for. If you only want to
use it for emergency contacts to/from home, i.e. Belgium, it is probably
best to just use your current (I assume Belgian) provider. That is what
we do with our Dutch Vodafone mobile phone. I only use it for SMS text
messages (EUR 0.75 per sent message, receiving is free), especially
because of the time-difference (i.e. do you want to wake your
friends/family, or be woken, just to say hello?). *If* we want to call,
we use a pre-paid card for a normal, i.e. phone-'booth', telephone. We
use Telstra's Phone Away card because it is very flexible (free call-in
number everywhere) and has a voice-mail box, so not only can you call
people, but people can leave a message for you, even when you are out of
mobile range (which doesn't take much in Oz). When you call-in, you will
hear if there is voicemail, i.e. checking for voicemail is free,
listening to voicemail is a normal charge. Telstra's card is not the
cheapest, but as I said very flexible. If you want to call a lot, then I
advice to *also* get one of the cheaper less flexible ones.

One year I bought a pre-paid SIM for my mobile phone, but I don't do
that anymore for the reasons given above and the fact that SMS to The
Netherlands *silently* (i.e. no error) failed and was *charged* (this
was the Telstra Communi8 SIM). So I had to swap SIMs all the time, which
was a major pain and not worth the effort.

If you want the convenience of having a mobile phone, buy a pre-paid simcard
on arrival - typically $20 including $20 calls (I prefer Vodafone - but
there's little difference really for the Gold Coast). Anyone from home can
call you easily (no charge for incoming). If you want to call home -
consider a callback service. They're all in the US - but we used one for
travel in Canada, Ireland, Italy and Turkey last year - buying a sim in each
country (Bloody Canada - their gsm services are pathetic). Very cheap. Very
convenient. Do a Google - there are several!!

Have Fun!!



"maxi" wrote in message
...
coming to australia for three months, I wonder what the best option is:

Use my normal mobile number, or subscribe to an australian provider:
vodaphone, telstra or optus and sign up for a three month plan, or Use a
prepaid australian card.

We plan to stay in Queensland-gold coast.


Thx for the help!

Max

Telstra has by far the biggest network for both GSM and CDMA. If you plan to
do alot of travelling then I recommend Telstra CDMA - by purchasing a
pre-paid phone with minimal credits for around AUD200. This phone will work
in far more locations than any GDM phone but it will not take your sim card.

Broosta
www.ozcampsite.com


"maxi" wrote in message
...
coming to australia for three months, I wonder what the best option is:

Use my normal mobile number, or subscribe to an australian provider:
vodaphone, telstra or optus and sign up for a three month plan, or Use a
prepaid australian card.

We plan to stay in Queensland-gold coast.


Thx for the help!

Max

Maxi,

The key question is whether " We plan to stay in
Queensland-gold coast." means exactly that, or whether it
means you will be based on the Gold Coast and spend a lot of
time elsewhere, especially in non-urban areas, outside SEQ.

I live on the Gold Coast and GSM and CDMA both are fine
here. However if you go far west at all, not so, and CDMA is
the way to go. As there is more competition in the GSM
market it tends to be better value.

wrote:

Telstra has by far the biggest network for both GSM and CDMA. If you plan to
do alot of travelling then I recommend Telstra CDMA - by purchasing a
pre-paid phone with minimal credits for around AUD200. This phone will work
in far more locations than any GDM phone but it will not take your sim card.

Broosta is quite correct, should you plan to spend a lot of
time away from the Gold Coast itself.

However if not, just bring (suitable frequency) phone and
prepay or Noplans a SIM or buy a cheap GSM phone/prepay
combo . They are available at most tourists areas,
supermarkets even some service stations. You can get prepaid
GSM phone/sim packs for 100 aussies including 25-30 bux
worth of calls,

Cheerz Mark.