NextG handset with external antenna connection

Hi there Trolute

I have a LG TU 550 next g car kit and 7.5db high gain mast fitted to my ute and found that on our recent trip around corner country that it worked extremely well, we allso had 2 other next g phones with us and found that they rarely had signal.

hope this helps , im very happy with my set up

Grant

Hi Trolute,
In the Flinders Ranges we had a similar experience to Grant M . We had a ZTE phone in a car kit with a broomstick antenna which had greater range than the other Next G phone with no kit and about the same range as the CDMA phone also with no kit or external antenna.
Doug

Hi trolute,
Same as other people, we had a new G phone on the Canning and it was useless.
Regards Paul Klat.

I also have the LG TU550 and am generally happy with the reception, both with and without the car kit. My only real criticism is that the car kit is of quite low quality and a bit fiddly to use, in comparison with other kits that I've had over the years with CDMA and previously analogue.

Other than that, I think it's OK. Telstra has just brought out a new phone ZTE165 I think. It can also have a fully wired car kit with physical antenna connection....worth a look also.

Cheers,

Mark

I use an Imate JasJam and various external antennas , one for the boat and one for the car, they both improve reception and can be the difference between having some reception or none at times. The quality of antennas will vary and so will their s-called gain rating, generally speaking the broomstick antennas directly coupled to your device are best (better than through-glass etc) but speak to your local radio shop for more advice.

Here is one link to the RF Shop, there are many people doing them and can also be bought via Ebay.

http://www.rfshop.com.au/ContactUs/Bloggs/tabid/648/EntryID/12/Default.aspx

trolute,

I have an LG TU500 and bought the proprietary car kit which has an inductive connection to the external aerial on recomendation from telstra and the installer.

I understand there is also an after market kit for this phone which is hard wired.

I had the kit installed professionally with my old CDMA broomstick aerial. I found on a recent trip to Karumba there was only marginal improvement in phone range than without the aerial.

I was expecting better range.

I also compared it against my CDMA Nokia 6255 which I still have and found the CDMA was still better in most places..

I had a TU500 (older model, no direct antenna connection as I understand the 550 now has) and I hated it. Crap reception, and the sound quality of the car kit was awful. (Though I know people who love them and have no problems.)

It sadly died in a tragic trough cleaning incident.

I now have a nokia 6120, and love it. Mainly because I find it has much better reception capability than my TU500 (I can make calls with it in places the LG couldn't). Only downside I've found so far is that the battery only lasts a day or so.