Telstra ZTE 165i mobile phone

Glad to know that you enjoyed yourself in the Hunter. So the phone reception. That would have more to do with the network rather then phone?

G'Day Austin,
We actually live not far from Cessnock, trust you enjoyed the concert.
We live in a rural situation here & have had trouble for years getting mobile phone reception at home. About 16 months ago Telstra starting pushing their phones that had the 'blue rural tick'. I thought anything would be better than the phones I had.....so of to the Telstra shop & purchased two new phones with the blue rural tick, I wont bother telling you what brand they where, but they where only marginally better than the phones they replaced....somewhat disappointing. This was about the time Telstra were have a lot of problems with the new 3G service. After several phone calls to Telstra, I had a (landline) & visit from their area manager. He came out to the property & we drove around the property testing reception/signal strength. Out of all the phones he had the best was the ZTE165 !! Mr Telstra organised a FULL refund & cancellation of the two contracts I had taken out two months previously.
When I called at the Telstra shop to pick up my 2 new ZTK's I expected they would take back the 2 'old' phones...no they didn't ask for them so I kept them....why not.
My wife was overseas last year, she had her phone with her & some how managed to loose the cover that goes over the battery, of I go to Telstra to try & get a replacement cover. Mr Telstra says that it isnt a serviced spare part, so I dropped an email to ZTK in Melbourne & by return mail I received a brand new cover free of charge...hows that for service.
Our ZTK's have given us great reception & increased coverage....even more so when we connect it upto the external antenna on or 4wd.
The ZTK isnt the smartest or best looking phone around, BUT it certainly works the best of ANY phone I've ever used.
My dear wife recently,(bless her cotton socks) she says misplaced her ZTK (I say she lost it) so I got a new sim card for one of the previously replaced phones & now she is back 'on the air'. Having the two phones together side by side the ZTK constantly has one or two more bars than the the Samsung (oops I wasn't going to mention the brand).

Regards
Tony H
Hunter Valley

For all the grumbling we (myself included) did about the closure of first Analogue and then CDMA, I have to say that the Tel$tra Next G coverage, in this region at least, is superb. I'm using a non-blue tick Nokia because I couldn't stand the look / bulk of the ZTE but have heard many reports of how good they are. Have had many bad experiences with the other brand you mention, and Telstra replaced mine on similar grounds to yours - cancelled the contract and invited me to enter a new one on a new phone. Just asked me not to whine about the new one if I didn't buy a blue-tick jobbie.

Hi Austin,

I have to agree that this particular phone works well, even though the grown up kids in the family tease me about 'the brick' I carry around now!(It is not a trendy looking phone!)

I replaced my samsung which sometimes dropped out when making phone calls from home with the ZTE165i when the Samsung ran out of contract in Feb and havent had a problem since. The signal at home has deteriorated during the last few months instead of improving which is weird.

Havent tested the ZTE away from the east coast yet, but have just returned from a quick trip to Coffs H from Ulladulla and had no problems (as you would expect).

Leaving next week for nearly 6 months away to the west from here so will be much better able to comment on its coverage when we return in late august.
Regards,
Heather G

I have one of the new ZTE 165i phones also - Im very impressed with the coverage it has - much better than the previous 3G flip phone I have (now my wifes phone :-) ).
there are a coupe of places in Perth I drive to and from work through, that I loose reception and drop out the call, but the 165i doesnt loose reception (or drop the call) in the same places, so Im happy.
The antenna section makes it a bit more awkward when its in your pocket of your pants ( are u glad to see me or is that a phone in your pocket).
as mentioned previously, it isnt a feature rich phone when compared to the smart phones, but the better coverage capability makes it better for what I want it for.
I'm yet to find a GPS program for it to make use of the AGPS that has.

regards
Bryan

I live about 10km out of Cessnock and the only coverage we have is Telstra (Next G or 3G or whatever), and we get 3 bars of signal but it all works well. My son has Telstra (or Bigpond) Wireless which also gets about 3 bars but works well for him.

I have the Samsung phone with the little antenna and it has been good here and quite a few other places I have travelled, and am happy enough with it. I did have a ZTE beforehand and it was OK as well.

As an aside ... I also went to the EC concert at the Hope winery. Fantastic. Luckily for me it was not far away so I did not have to travel as far as you did.

Cheers
Jack