Any updates on Next G???

Led to believe that the LG ones are the only ones where there is provision for direct connection to an external aerial.

Others state that current CDMA broomstick aerials fit the NextG frequency and can be connected. Hope this is correct.

Telstra site has blue ticks on a couple which are claimed to better suit rural use.

I also have to upgrade my CDMA and find all the advertising is about all the junk services you get for a price rather than phone service.

The Nokia 6120 will soon have a cradle avaliable so it will be possible to use it with an external antenna,though it will be an after market product. This is what i'm waiting for.

From what I can work out, Telstra is going into the next marketing stage for Next G.
Initial sales have gone, and sales are dropping.
So some of the special deals are being sharpened, and other hype abut CDMA closing down soon is being pushed, even though the government has not replied yet as to the close off date for CDMA from what I can glean.

Just had a tesltra rep ring me and offer Next G on a $20/mth plan uncluding $20 of calls, free telstra phone, and since we are telstra on the home land line, free $50 worth of calls a month on the home phone.
Told me CDMA will be gone as of Jan 2008, I have my doubts, but most probably could be some time in 2008.

We have 3 CDMA phones, so watching with interest.

Have heard various reports as to cover. Bit patchy.

Signman

I have had a Nokia 5140i tradesman phone for a couple of years. Previously I found I was often damaging phone by dropping, etc. Current phone is much more rugged there's no doubt. It still has a few whistles and bells I never use, but not as much as a lot of other newfangled phones I see. My main beef with mobiles is they are all getting smaller keys closer togeher, but our fingers aren't getting any smaller. I sure would be keen on a rugged "tradesman" phone with bigger keys.

Cheers

Phil

We have just returned from a 16500km round trip to WA via Bathurst,Melbourne. Adelaide,Tanami,GRR Perth. Ceduna, Coober Pedy and Birdsville, and found our TU550 with Car antenna worked well.
Almost every day we had some contact with home and family,either voice,e-mail or text.
The only exception was the leg between Coober Pedy and Quilpie in QLD. ( also had satelite phone but not used)

We also had a optus mobile It only worked in the bigger towns.

I think when telstra up the signal strength on the towers the service will silence all the critic's

Just my experence with next g !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Recently aquired the Samsung A412, one of the ones recomended for difficult reception areas (blue tick). Full car kit
available but will test out before going that way. Seems to work fine so far with limited use. Was spraying at Childowla yesterday,
not a sausage out there but cdma with car kit didnt work there
either. Phone was $0 on a $20 plan with $20 calls (Telstra).
So far so good.....oldbaz.

I would proceed slowly if I was you. We were in a poor reception area on the weekend with a cdma Nokia, a NextG Motorola and a NextG LG 500. The cdma had 2 bars of service, the Motorola 1 bar falling in and out, and the LG zilch. It would appear the only reason the LG and Samsung have the blue tick is because they have external aerials available. That is ok if you only use one car - we don't, and want to be able to use mobiles in multiple vehicles, motorbike and even on a horse!

I complained to Telstra, and they are going to loan us the new Nokia (6120?) soon as it becomes available as said they are getting good reports on it. Telstra shops will give you trial phones as NextG is so patchy so far.

Either the phones available now are not up to scratch, so waiting as long as possible may mean better ones come on the market. Or else the NextG network might be wonderful for anyone who wants to video conference and use very expensive internet - but not up to scratch for making a simple phone call!

I have noticed my LG 500 only holds charge for 2 days - this would appear to be because it doesn't have good service. Oh to go back to the good old days when phones were phones!

Hope this helps.

I would ask for a handset that supports an external aerial/antenna as this comes in handy if you are on the cusp of reception somewhere, makes all the difference. Depends on what you want from the handset, I use a PDA Imate Jasjam and with Next G it delivers me broadband internet access, camera, video fucntion, email etc etc. It has become my travel companion for weather forecasts, internet, email and phone. It is also available as the HTC Titan or Dopod 838 Pro.

Do not changeover from CDMA to NextG. Telstra are still having problems with reliable connectivity of the network. Keep your CDMA phone until they have proven that NextG service works. Comparing the CDMA and NextG service has shown that the existing CDMA is far superior in range and reliability. Most CDMA customers are probably getting sick of the misinformation and the constantly annoying SMS messages advising of service shutdown in Jan 2008. I will probably stay with CDMA until its closure and then see what the other carriers have to offer.

Regards Zodarp

Hi Signman,

I recently upgraded my CDMA Nokia 6225 for a Nokia 6120 and have had a very positive experience.

Apart from the myriad of extra features, the phone camera is quite reasonable and battery life is great. Also, it has quad band GSM built in, so is great for travelling overseas for different networks - somthing I couldn't do with CDMA.

As for reception, I am getting as good or better reception with NextG without a carkit (still awaiting delivery) compared to my 6225 with carkit (which was better than my CDMA Kyrocera with carkit).

NextG will only get better as CDMA power is wound down and nextG ramped up. I was skeptical at first but am now sold on nextG (but gotta admit, have only been down south of WA and not back up North yet).

Cheers

Captain

New Tradies handset (Blue ZTE thing) has been withdrawn from sale indefinately.............

I have a LG tu 500, I also have a 6.5 db areal and it works fine at Jim Jim Falls camp ground, in fact I have an areal set up on my camp trailer and one on my car as we speak my wife who is out there at the minute rang me 10 minutes ago reception is fine.

For the record Jim Jim camp ground is 65 km from the nearest tower.

It has worked fine for me for the last 8 months and both phones I have are on 24/7 as business phones.

Cheers Steve.

Hi Signman

Friend of mine in country victoria just got talked into a 6120 on a $20 plan via a cold call.
After he recieved it I told him about blue tick external aerial connection.

After discussion with Telstra they took it back as they had not properly advised him of options and supplied the 550.

It was on $40 plan but they agreed to give it on a $30 plan.

Still in discussion over what if any re-stocking fee will apply.

Robin Miller

I have just received a flyer from Telstra that makes me an Exclusive Offer, I have a prepaid CDMA phone.
They are offering a choice of 3 phones 2 Telstra and the LG500 all are available with optional carkits, but the small print says that the 2 Telstra phones are not recommended for handheld use in rural areas - DAMN - does that mean I have to hook up a battery to the saddle?

eerfree

Another vote for the 6120, I changed over from the first Kyocera CDMA that worked faultlessly from day one on the CDMA.
While the 6120 does have lots of 'extra' features it has worked well and pulls in a signal as a handheld in spots where the CDMA with full car kit and high gain antenna had none! Very clear calls too!
They will give you a deal and incentives to change over, just keep pushing!