Upgrading to NextG - A Painless experience !

Submitted: Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 10:51
ThreadID: 56748 Views:2345 Replies:7 FollowUps:4
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Like many no doubt I have hung onto my beloved Kyocera 3245
pre-paid until almost the death knell.

After a fair amount of investigation I have just recently changed
over to a black Samsung A411 prepaid NextG thru Telstra in what I have to say was a completely painless experience.This is the blue tick country version that takes an external aerial.

The entire process took under 10 minutes, including adding my
existing credits to the new account.
The same phone number is preserved.

The cost is apparently standard country wide at $134.10 for a CDMA change over which is lower than the straight purchase price of $149 without a changeover.

With this you get $10 credit and 6 months extra life.

I still do the cheap thing and buy $5 recharge vouchers which
give 2 weeks extra life.

Had I been able to keep the 3245 for another 6 months this would have cost another $66.

Hence the real cost of changing from a 3yr old phone with weak battery to a new phone has been $134-$66-$10 or $58.

In addition the current option of cheap overnight and weekend calls (no-longer available) has been preserved.

The phone itself has a number of pluses and minuses, and I would
probably not have brought a flip phone except that I have got
the excellant Nokia 6120 ($295) for other family members and even they have found the small key pad harder to use than expected.

In actual use though, once you open the phone you are presented with large easy to see and use numbers and a screen which can display large text for entering a phone number.

The phones performance appears to match that of the CDMA one and our Nokia 6120 but this will require further testing to validate.

All in All a throughly painless process.


Robin Miller
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Reply By: Voxson - Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:22

Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:22
Yeah DITTO.
I just converted my digital simcard straight over to NextG in 10mins also.
I bought a phone the same as yours and away i went.
The alarm is great,,, ssoooooooooooooooooo LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD.
AnswerID: 299153

Reply By: Redback - Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:28

Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:28
We have done the change over, but only with the one phone so far (family has 3) we got the LG pre-paid with the rural pack, good phone and we have been testing it against our old CDMA phone in various locations, High Country, Rural NSW and so on, it's much of a muchness in performance between the 2.

We will get another one soon and instead of a 3rd NextG phone, my new phone will be a SAT phone for my use, i don't use a mobile very much, in fact i don't use up $25 in 6 mths.

So yes a painless change over as you say.

Baz.
AnswerID: 299156

Reply By: Robin Miller - Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:40

Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:40
Hi Guys

An off line response has promted me to add that this phone is locked to Telstra and you have to pay to get it unlocked.

You may ask why bother , but with our unlocked 6120 we use 2 sim cards and numbers , Optus for cheaper calls most of the time and NextG on a $30 1yr long life plan for when we need the extra range.

Robin Miller

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Reply By: Shaker - Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 13:17

Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 13:17
I have the Samsung A412 which is the same phone, cost me $63.00 brand new from ebay, after months of frustration with other "better" phones, such as the LG TU550 & the Sony Ericsson Z750i, I have found it to be an extremely good, reliable phone, the only thing that I have found is that the external speaker is too quiet to use in any situation, other than a "soundproof booth".
AnswerID: 299176

Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 22:19

Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 22:19
"the only thing that I have found is that the external speaker is too quiet to use in any situation, other than a "soundproof booth".

Hi Shaker, try setting the phone on "outdoor" setting, much louder.

Cheers

D


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Follow Up By: Shaker - Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 23:03

Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 23:03
Thanks, I will try it.
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Reply By: Member - Stephen L (SA) - Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 13:22

Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 13:22
Hi Robin,
You have made a very wise choice, well done.
They are a great phone and where we live, out perform other phones in the same price line. We have 2 A411, so I know how good they are.

Cheers

Stephen

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AnswerID: 299177

Follow Up By: T-Ribby - Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 18:14

Friday, Apr 18, 2008 at 18:14
I added an A411 to my stable of Nokias. It just get used for txt phone and as a modem. The camera is pretty low-spec but other than that it is a good phone at a reasonable price. I spent a bit more and got a 9db external thru-the-glass antenna and patch lead. Sofar it is as good as the CDMA phone it replaced.
cheers
T.R.
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Reply By: Member - Peter D M - Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 at 08:14

Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 at 08:14
hi robin,
i have bitten the bullet as well, but on recommendation went for a telstra 165. always had a prepaid cdma in the glove box for extra coverage. i had a good communication package with optus so only after the pre paid.
when away divert to the cdma.
on thursday bought a telstra 165 on ebay for $262.00 locked to telstra, spoken to my local telstra shop and they will sim it and transfer credits and features on wednesday.
as for recharging i buy them off ebay. this time looking at $100 of calls plus 26 weeks extension of access for $50. i dont know how they do it but have done it a few times and the credits come through.
also will most probably add an aerial from a patch lead.

regards peter
AnswerID: 299265

Follow Up By: Mainey (wa) - Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 at 16:48

Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 at 16:48
Peter,
I just hope you don't mean the Chinese (TZE??)165 "Country Wide" phone...?

Do a "search" for user results, even the Telstra Country Wide" reps refuse to use them in the Mid West !!

Mainey . . .
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Reply By: Robin Miller - Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 17:58

Sunday, Apr 20, 2008 at 17:58
WOOPS ! - not quite painless after all, I find out that they did not carry over the cheap weekend rate calls I was on after I Make an $8 7min call thinking it would cost < $1.

After some discussion at a different Telstra shop I switched the pre-paid phone to the $1 a 5min call regime and they refund the overcharge.

Fair enough but a complete waste of everyone's time.
Robin Miller

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