CDMA - Telstra vs Optus in WA.
Submitted: Friday, Sep 03, 2004 at 11:08
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Member - Jeff M (WA)
Ok so the missus has left work now to have the baby soon. Now she has no work mobile phone I thought we could get her a new phone, perhaps a CDMA so that we can put a car kit and high gain antenna for use in the bush.
My question is:
Is optus as good as telstra with CDMA in WA in the country?
Optus seems a lot cheaper on call rates and seeings as we are really just weekend warriers (not by choice I might add) we would be using the phone 90% of the time in
Perth so paying higher call rates for no HUGE difference when away would seem silly.
On the other hand if optus is mud in the bush I might as
well either spend the extra on the Telstra CDMA or just get a regular GSM phone for her.
And no I don't won't a Sat Phone. (if I wanted to pay $2 per minute I'd drive a V8 range rover! LOL )
And yes I have an HF but I have not thrown the $$$ at it to get VKS-737 frequencies put in it and am not planning to until I know more about Broadband over Power and it's potential interference with the VKS-737 network.
Thanks for any info!
Reply By: Member - Captain (WA) - Friday, Sep 03, 2004 at 11:15
Friday, Sep 03, 2004 at 11:15
Hi Jeff
I am with Optus CDMA in WA and its actually the Telstra network that Optus uses. Even the phone powerup message has Telstra come up. So, simply go with whoever gives you the best deal, as you will be using the same network regardless.
Cheers
Captain
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Follow Up By: Member - Jeff M (WA) - Friday, Sep 03, 2004 at 19:13
Friday, Sep 03, 2004 at 19:13
Thanks Captain, that's good news!
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Reply By: T-bone - Friday, Sep 03, 2004 at 11:37
Friday, Sep 03, 2004 at 11:37
Try
Orange too. Same deal - once you are out of the
Orange network coverage (only in the east coast cities I think), you roam on the Telstra CDMA network. Spent a couple of months travelling around outback SA / WA / NT last year, and had much better coverage with the CDMA phones than we did with the digitals...
BTW, I do drive a V8 Rangie, and I'd kill for $2 per minute running costs! :-)
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Follow Up By: Member - Jeff M (WA) - Friday, Sep 03, 2004 at 12:43
Friday, Sep 03, 2004 at 12:43
ROTFLMAO, I was going to put a 4.8 Patrol first but thought I'd get hammered by deffensive owners!
I knew someone's ears would prick up.
Thanks for the info, it's good news, looks like the CDMA's a goer.
Was totally impressed with Peter from
York's CDMA setup, last time I went out with him he had coverage just about everywhere. Awsome.
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Reply By: Dave from Fraser Coast 4WD Club - Saturday, Sep 04, 2004 at 09:28
Saturday, Sep 04, 2004 at 09:28
unfortunatley, phones (any network) with an external aerial jack are becoming very rare.
apparently we all want cameras and polycrappy ringtones, rather than good coverage.
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Follow Up By: Member - Jeff M (WA) - Monday, Sep 06, 2004 at 10:02
Monday, Sep 06, 2004 at 10:02
Yeah noticed that, we have we found a motorla that suits the car kit and antenna so I'm happy now, thanks Dave!
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Reply By: bruce - Saturday, Sep 04, 2004 at 09:50
Saturday, Sep 04, 2004 at 09:50
Have just got a Hyudai tx60b on the Telstra network ..on $20 mth plan , $10 worth of calls ,.. "my free hr" per day..heard that the the free hr is to end on 8th sept for new connections...the phone can be hooked up to a computer , have not gone into the setting up of it in detail yet but it seems pretty good...probably worth checking out...cheers
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Reply By: Uppy - Member - Saturday, Sep 04, 2004 at 10:11
Saturday, Sep 04, 2004 at 10:11
Hi Jeff,Nothing wrong with the 4800!!!!!!!!,Josie and i use a Telstra no much coverage away from the main high ways
uppy the 4800 lover
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Reply By: stevesub - Saturday, Sep 04, 2004 at 16:06
Saturday, Sep 04, 2004 at 16:06
We have 2 mobiles, a Telstra Pre-pay CDMA for country coverage and a Vodafone GSM on account for normal usage incl international calls and global roaming for when we are overseas (2 or 3 times a year). Will be changing the Telstra CDMA for
Orange or something else when I have used the credit up as Telstra is too expensive (could take a while as the phone is only for emergencies).
Also have a UHF CB and will be getting an EPRIB and a Sat Phone shortly before we do much more in the outback.
Stevesub
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Reply By: Member - Brian (WA) - Sunday, Sep 05, 2004 at 15:55
Sunday, Sep 05, 2004 at 15:55
hi Jeff
I was with Optus once.Was heading out to Yamana 120 km east of
Laverton.
The story is I left a piece of equipment back in
perth. When i found out in
Leonara. Optus would not work or the public call boxes were smashed up to call my mate who
was coming up a week later to bring this part with him. It was in
Laverton
where i found a public phone working. I am now with Telstra CDMA It Works
for me
Brian
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Follow Up By: Davoe - Sunday, Sep 05, 2004 at 20:20
Sunday, Sep 05, 2004 at 20:20
I can confirm that telstra cdma does work in
leonora. and I have been amazed at some of the
places I have been able to get reception with telstra with just a standard kyocera phone.
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Reply By: Member - Jeff M (WA) - Monday, Sep 06, 2004 at 10:08
Monday, Sep 06, 2004 at 10:08
If anyone us interested, Telstra are doing Motorla t730 phones for $0 on a $50 plan, no repayments off the phone it is actually free and you get the car kit for $49, and that's a real car kit, not a cheap crappy pretend one, offer is only valid for today and tomorrow as it is being changed on the 8th.
We have gone this way, the phones are hard to find as they are sold out almost everywhere, however ours is comming in today. Then all it is going to cost is about $130 for the high gain spring base antenna.
We are happy with the call rates vs optus and alike, these are just my observations, not affiliation with Telstra.
So in short, anyone who is interested in going CDMA, do it today or tomorrow and you'll get a good deal.
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