New Mobile Phone?

bugger, did a spell check and missed the moobile bit............ meant mobile of course

John,
I bought a Telstra Tough T90 blue tick country phone. It was described as a "ruggedized handset" and it is....been dropped many times, wet, run over with wheel of ride-on mower and it still works. Can get reception in areas other flashy phones can't and can add an antenae as well. Its the old type simple phone (my daughters laugh at my old fashioned looking one). Not sure if this model is still available...but I would see what Telstra has in the "own brand" name that is classified as a country phone. You then have a head start to getting reception in remote areas even without an antenae.
Cheers

G'day John

I'm with Wamuranman on this - had a T90 for 3 years and it certainly copped some abuse and didn't miss a beat. I bought it because I do a lot of country travelling and from all the research I did the T90 had the best reception of all phones. You can also buy a patch lead for them which will give you even more coverage. I have just bought the new model (T54) but don't think it is as tough as the old one and the new position of some of the buttons is absolutely stupid but the phone still has great reception out in the sticks ! Quite a few farmers I know use them. I wanted a phone that didn't take pictures, didn't have internet, didn't have email and all that other crap - just wanted one that I could say hello and goodbye on but the sales staff said that's not possible but this phone is about as basic as you can get !


Happy travelling


Gazz

Choice and the Kondinin group got together and did a test of 20 or so phones and their reception in marginal areas of the country. The information includes reception quality and features such as external antenna etc.

Probably the most difinitive guide to Next G phones and their reception as of August last year. The full article is available if you click it at the bottom of the page below.


Next G phone reception

Have a look at the telstra t54 external aerial plug .But the Bluetooth might not work into your car !!

I wanted the same basic phone with good reception. Went for the T54 and front mount aerial

Don't forget you can also get a Smartphone like an Iphone and use the Smooth Talker Antenna Cradle, I've tested this against Telstra phones with antenna sockets and the reception is the same and determined by the quality or type of antenna.

Was at dick smiths nowra last week,on asking re external phone aerials,was shown a moveable external antennae with magnetic base,run the cable inside the vehicle and the cable connects to the handset via velcro strip(attach a small piece of velcro to handset),does not need a plug and can be used of wide variety of fhones apparently...total cost $65
Might be worth a thought.

G'day John,
I've used the T90 for two years and it is a great simple phone. Coupled to my car kit and 4foot aerial it gets coverage most any where. (I'm a farmer in South Australia.) When I decided to replace worn out (roughly treated T90 with a new tough or "Tradie" phone I discovered I could have a smart phone for same price as new tough phone. Put smart phone in "Lifeproof" case and it is as tough as T90, but with advantages of smart phone!
No external aerial plug though, I'm still working through that one with Telstra...
Cheers
Corrugate

John
I also second the telstra T90, I've got the car kit and broom stick antenna and it gets great reception when bush.
The newer version is now called a Tough 2 and you could use a patch lead to connect to a broom stick antenna if you don't want a car kit.

Murray

Telstra Frontier 4g smartphone has an external aerial. $299. Don't know about a cradle but you can get the patch lead to external aerial.

wizzer

Try the Iphone 3 or 4s they both fit in the same cradle and attach to the same arial, the 4s does have a longer range and better options.

Phil.