ZTE-165 Telstra country phone.

Submitted: Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 20:43
ThreadID: 55991 Views:7227 Replies:5 FollowUps:16
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Gday,

Are there many people using them with any success?. They have been out a while now and I have not read of any major complaints. Have zte got it right on this one? It is time for an upgrade and seriously considering this phone.

David
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Reply By: Member - AJB (VIC) - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 20:52

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 20:52
Have had one for a couple of months now. No dramas. Good coverage, heaps better than the Samsung it replaced, (the samsung was not blue tick). Battery life is good. Physical size suits me but most people prefer flip type phones
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Follow Up By: Member - David.M.C - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 20:58

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 20:58
Im only wanting a phone with the best coverage. Dont care much for fancy ringtones, cameras or the way it looks. Send, end and sms is all i need. This one would seem to fit the bill. Cheers
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Follow Up By: Member - AJB (VIC) - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:04

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:04
I live in East Gippsland and it works here quite well. It was the only one that would work at home! I was told that they had issues with their previous phones but took the punt. So far so good, but I said the same thing about a Nissan once!
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Reply By: Member - Derek L (QLD) - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 20:59

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 20:59
Hell yes I use to get them supplied to me for work. I spend alot of time working out in western qld and they are crap. The antenna are very weak even the pull up type. If you want a reliable phone to work in remote and not so remote areas get the Nokia 6120 Next G Classic. I have alot of customers that have had them all as well and the most popular out west is the 6120 because it works.

Best of luck with it.
Derek
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Follow Up By: stocky - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:14

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:14
Thats interesting considering they are *specifically* NOT recommended for country use - good to here some feedback :-)
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Follow Up By: Member - David.M.C - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:18

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:18
Gday Derick, It must be a luck of the draw thing hey. I have read mixed reports on them also. Samsung and LG are getting mixed reports as well. Its got me buggered. Is your 6120 and was your 165 in carkits??
Cheers David
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Follow Up By: Crackles - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:39

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:39
Interesting Derek your findings are so different to our company. We too are supplied with both phones as an option & find the 165 slightly superior in coverage (NE Vic) when the antena is extended gaining an extra bar in most locations. Surprisingly we have had only a handful of minor software issues with the Nokia (Early on) & to my knowledge no problem with the Telstra phone at all. The pull out antena works fine & around here is barely required anyway. The plastic belt clip is handy too minimising scratches on the screen, something the Nokia suffers badly from when used in the field. Having used Nokia phones before I do prefer the layout better but the tiny buttons are hopeless being far too easy to hit the wrong key & for this reason alone I wouldn't get one.
On the Easter High Country Trip we had service on top of most hills & I'd say was as good or better than the CDMA network even connecting the computer to the internet up near Lovicks Hut.
Both have been good phones, office staff generally choosing the Nokia, field staff going for the ZTE.
Cheers Craig..........
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Follow Up By: Member - Derek L (QLD) - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:42

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:42
The Samsung and LG are hopeless as well I have been with someone who has had both. We were both standing in the river bed of the Bollonne River out at St.Goerge and when he had his Samsung he would have to walk up the top of the bank to get service. Now with the car kits I don't use a car kit just straight off the phones antenna and a blue tooth kit. But if you are unsure of my experiences with Next G phone use in very remote regional areas why dont you call up a Telstra shop in a regional area. Don't worry about blue ticks that is just a market ploy by telstra that just means that they get them cheaper so you buy 1 and they make more money out of you.
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Follow Up By: Member - David.M.C - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:51

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:51
Good point Derick. I might get some real answers from telstra regional shops. Telstra Shops in city areas have not got a clue.
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Follow Up By: stocky - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:04

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:04
F165 seems to be doing the job - thats feedback to us from clients
Everyone was very wary of them being ZTE but...
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Follow Up By: RosscoH - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 23:39

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 23:39
Go with the Nokia 6120, just replaced an LG TU550 and the Nokia is lightyears ahead, anybody want a cheap LG Car Kit, brand new never been out of the box, got the new phone before I got the car kit fitted.

Cheers RosscoH.
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Follow Up By: Stu-k - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 00:22

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 00:22
I will never buy another nokia after buying 3 e65`s for my company and there all junk so many problems its a joke..nokia have gone bad
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Follow Up By: Bruce M - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 09:56

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 09:56
RosscoH

I'm looking for a new car kit for the TU550; the part number is HFLGTU500. If that is what you have, how much do you want for it and where are you?

Bruce M
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Follow Up By: RosscoH - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 12:24

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 12:24
Hi Bruce,
It is Genuine LG. Give me a ring on 0407 742 361.

Thanks RosscoH.
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Reply By: unimog - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:03

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:03
Yeah, good phone, although mine broke down after a week... Had it replaced under warrenty of course took 3 weeks but ala.
bought it on Ebay brand new of a retailer BRADCORP, couple of hundred dollars cheaper then at the Telstra Shop or other local retailers!!

Bought full Carkit too on Ebay, $119 brand new in the box, of different retailer on Ebay. Telstra Shop is $299....

One thing the Telstra Shop is good for: giving me a loan phone at no charge while the other is being repaired!!! Gotta love that service!!!

Reception: better then flip phone ZTE they gave me on loan...
both are Next G..

Old CDMA Kyocera flip phone died, but around here same same reception wise (evans Head, north coast NSW).

Bulky, but quite tough and good size buttons.

Best thing about this phone?
LOUD RING, when used in 'outdoor' setting, LOUDEST ring I've ever heard on a mobile phone!!! Same with speaker phone, deafening when used in 'outdoor' setting.

good luck
HUGO

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Follow Up By: Member - David.M.C - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:11

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:11
ah ha, Im sold. A phone with a loud ring.
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Follow Up By: unimog - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:16

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:16
Yeah well, you might say that, but how often do you have to pay for message bank recovery call cost just because you didn't hear the bastard ring in time!!

Oh, also get the ring time extended by calling Telstra, they can extend it to a full MINUTE, before the call diverts to messagebank, very handy when you can hear it ringing from half a kilometre away (i'm serious), and you need to sprint 500 metre in 20 seconds???? You must be faster then me...

One minute though, no problem.

LOL, makes people wonder what you been doing when you pick up the phone, huffing and puffing after running 500 metres to answer the phone........
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Follow Up By: Member - David.M.C - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:26

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:26
Im always ringing people back cos i cant hear the bloody thing.

LOL. 500metres in 60. I reckon Cathy would have happily takin that time.
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Follow Up By: unimog - Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:33

Thursday, Mar 27, 2008 at 22:33
I'm sure you can do it if you try, that's only 30 kms per hour.

Can't advice to run the whole hour though, but 1 minute of that will cover 500 metres...

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Reply By: T-Ribby - Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 15:43

Friday, Mar 28, 2008 at 15:43
Hi David.
For your info - accessories for the ZTE-165
http://www.campadelectronics.com.au/zte165.php

ymmv but I've found them to have good prices, good range, good service.

cheers
T.R.
AnswerID: 295254

Reply By: Richard & Leonie - Sunday, Mar 30, 2008 at 21:13

Sunday, Mar 30, 2008 at 21:13
I do not know about the ZTE 165 but I had a ZTE 850 which was useless. Telstra changed it for another useless phone an LG 550. My biggest problem is lack of NextG reception. I can be in my house and not have any reception but friends with anormal Vodaphone get 4 bars. Telstra's answer is to install an external arial and plug it into the phone when I am inside. Great!! I drowned my LG 550 in Pittwater whilst out with friends and bought an LG 500 to replace it (because it was cheap) and it is no worse, and no better) than the LG 550.
Now here is a weird thing. I cannot get recption in my house to make calls. I will however get messages inside the house to tell me I missed a call. I have to go outside to make a call to 101 to retrieve the message. Should I have to pay for the 101 call when it appears the NextG system is faulty?
It also seems to me phones are getting more whizbang features but fail to do what they a basically suposed to do.
AnswerID: 295693

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