CDMA phones

That sounds like a great idea, how much was the antenna and did you fit it yourself. What sort of range do you get out of town?

John

Just as a point of interest Luke, do the call costs vary to the user if the telstra towers are used when the Orange ones die out?
I am a telstra digital customer at the moment, thinking of changing to Orange.

Cheers
waynepd
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Luke thanks for your advice. I was worried that the orange coverage around Melbourne wasnt good (do you use a car kit). The call rates are the cheapest Ive found - 15c per 30 secs and lots of bonus things (on the business plan). Waynepd check the Orange web site for pricing - www.orange.net.au.

Hi,

I don't use a car kit - just the handset which is a Hyundai HGC-610E. I guess a car kit would give you even greater coverage in country areas but in the city I've never wanted or needed it.

Yes, if you roam outside the Orange network onto the Telstra CDMA network the costs do change. Check with Orange for the exact rates, as I'm not sure exactly what the roaming rates are.

The call rates whilst on the Orange network are somthing like 30c for a ten minute call to ANY landline in Australia! 24hrs a day seven days a week. I think my mobile to mobile call costs are about 18c per 30 seconds which is also very cheap.

Since switching from Optus GSM to Orange CDMA I've found coverage to be far superior, and without changin my call habits I'm saving between $30-$60 a month!

The ONLY downside that I can think of to switching to CDMA is that the handset choices are somewhat limited as you have to get a CDMA phone. Although unless you absolutely need the latest Nokia with built in camera and games this isn't an issue. The Hyundai handset I have is very functional, very small, and has a few handy built in functions like calendar/scheduler/calculator/stwopwath/WAP etc. My only negative thought about the handset is that the battery life of around 2-3 days between charges could be a little longer, alhtough this issue is largely alleviated if you van get them to throw in a free car charger to keep it topped up :)

Cheers,

Luke.

Luke, whats the coverage like around Melb, especially in the suburbs with Orange. Mate at work reckons his drops out all the time in the city and cant get coverage in buildings.

I've found the coverage around Melbourne to be great.

I never have in building issues...maybe it could be a handset issue?

I often have coverage even in Melbourne where my GSM friends haven't - good examples are fishing in Port Phillip bay/Western Port, and around the northern suburbs - esp near Yarrambat.

Cheers,

Luke.