Mobile Broadband outback?

Following post 42433 decided to upgrade to Next G. I hate phones and Telstra even more but we followed Davoes path, it took a while to get there. Not sure if a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and only time will tell. Given that I only had the last phone for 2 years and I think that is pretty unreasonable I want to make sure I get the max usage out of this one before they change the system to Ultra G or whatever.

Had an analogue for ages, then a CDMA for ages and decided to upgrade to get a car kit and arial just on 2 years ago. Did I tell you I hate Telstra.

Kind regards

I did that on two cars (4b and wife's ride ) , so i hate telstra twice as much.

your aerials should be able to be made to work with NextG and if you are on a plan, Telstra will have to find a way to switch you over, including - I would think - the investment you had made in a car kit ... put the onus back on their anus.

Andrew

I'm interested in your setup. I was in a Telstra shop asking to exactly what you are and they said I couldn't. I had to buy a phone (not free, $600) and a seperate card for the laptop ($299 plus $29/mth for 24 mths). Apparently I can use the phone but the data charge would be about $5 a megabyte!

I am intersted in switching as my CDMA plan is about to run out and we will travel for 4 months this year and would like email access with the laptop.

Did you deal with telstra direct? or another phone type store?

Any advice appreciated.

Tez

I dealt with Telstra direct ... I'll give you the drum. This 3 or so months ago.

I was on a CDMA phone - I had a call from them asking if I was happy. I said it annoyed me that just because I was on CDMA I couldn't have a cap arrangement like I used to have with Voda and thus my calls were getting obscene some months.

They said, sorry that's the way it is one too many times, and I kept at 'em and the guy said, we do do caps on Next-G - I could upgrade you to Next-G for free and put you on a plan.

I said, tell me more. By the end of the deal (it took them 1 hour to explain all the ins and outs, and to set up for me to get a new phone and to agree to a contract as basica as it was), and I was on a $79/month cap. One question was do I want a data pack - I said, not really - I will just use it casually, thinking I would be using the browser on the phone occasionally.

Well, the phone arrives, with a data cable so I try it out - works a treat. I was away on business and had a lot more business going on, so I connect up and use it for about 3 hours - I had been told the cost is "usually between $1 and $2 per minute". Okay I thought, this is good everything is going fine.

Bill comes and knocks me off the chair - $600 worth of data usage (photographers use a lot of GB when it comes fast). I call up Telstra and say, this is not that good - 10x what I was thinking - 5x anyways, and this is just raping me.

Guys goes away and comes back and says, okay - we'll scrub that part and put you on a data pack - I went for the $49 pack which gets added to the phone usage. It is somewhat described here: Site Link although I am on business plans and the $49 is lots more GB and lots less per MB. I can turn it on and off without a problem - no plan for this part of it.

Call before your CDMA plan runs out too ...

I hope that helps
Andrew.

Exactly what I needed to know, Thanks Mate! And fast!

Cheers

Tez

Andrew, toninght I had two of my best ever phone calls to Telstra personnel in regard to this area of Next G connection. I have been looking at two way satellite for my internet access or something like Next G by a modem that I can take with me. I reckon they were teriffic tonight on this issue. One even called me back when the call dropped out. I though I had lost it!

If I go to a Next G modem say the USB one I am committed to using the data rate which is higher than many for broadband. If I go to one of the newer satellite providers I can get enhanced satellite speed, say 512/256 quite cheaply $49 a month for a gig. Tried the activ8me home phone today 7 cents a minute for STD and to mobile calls and no latency to notice. Thing is for me, or say any of us travelling we need access. The plan you mention can cover that on a phone rather than a specialised modem.

This is the business page for plans of access Site Link and offer a lot more information.

One of the things I found out was to NOT go onto Global Roaming for data as it is a huge rate.

The second of the two people got me connected on the net through the phone as it appears the laptop software needs reinstalling. She was switched on pretty well. I was truly impressed, mind you she noticed I knew where it was all going.

Yes - I had a client on a tour with me from Switzerland a few weeks ago - money was not her issue, but she was blindly using Telstra data (GSM) like there was no tomorrow ... I can't imagine how many swiss francs or Euros she would have been up to.

The complexity of mobile phone contracts, bundles, packages, options, tarrifs - you name it, is getting so out of hand, it is just about impossible to remember all the things they could charge you for.

At least Telstra's customer service seems to be improving no end of recent months ...

Andrew

OT...Did you receive my email?

Cheers

Hairy, think you were misinformed. This is Telstra tonight for Alice Springs for Next G. I don't expect it has changed since October and the launch.

I have the same phone purchased it cheap off ebay and it costs me $35 a month to run. Can you explain what is invoved in conecting it to a PC for emails internet, and do you need a special lead?

cheers

Pgw, i think the quality of phone varies a bit. The Telstra branded one doens't seem to work as well as the others like the LG and Samsung. Talking to the company IT guy today the Jasjam Next G phone seems to lock up with a bug - or at least the guy who has one has it happen often. The point in telling you that, ist that they are all different in their capabilities.

I posted the pics last month of the coverage maps from Leigh Creek so here they are again. Firstly CDMA

and then Next G

These are for the North Flinders where you are talking about. I know which one I would chose, and this is before they boost the power as they are due to soon. Some are out to 200 kms in the last couple of weeks with the boost

Pgw, on the right of each of those is Broken Hill coverage I believe. I just tried to get equivilent scale in each. The darker colour is hand held range, the lighter orange is external antenna for fast data.