3 mobile coverage

I'm the same.
Three roams on the GSM Network NOT the Next G Network so fairly limited once out of major towns and cities.

I use a Telstra Next G Pre Paid for the more isolated places.

The 3 network now roams to NextG also.

You must have a phone capable of the NextG frequencies for this to work - your existing 3 phone won't roam to NextG.

Hi Mike,,
I'd check out that again.
Granted, some resellers 'claim' 3 romas to nextG- but this is not correct...
Cheers

Yeah I heard Three was negotiating with Telstra to access the Nest G Network but had not yet been successful in those negotiations as yet??

Would be interested if you could confirm your info Mike.

Cheers

From http://www.three.com.au/cs/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=Three%2FPage%2FThreeLayout&cid=1221530796538

"When you’re outside 3’s Broadband Zone, 3 customers with a mobile or modem capable of accessing 3G roaming Zone may roam (or start using) parts of Telstra's 850MHz 3G network"

Is it that hard to go to 3's website ?

"may roam" ...."parts of"....Sounds a bit iffy to me !!

I have a Telstra 165i with a little aerial you pull out someone I know who works for Telstra said this phone (although cheap Chinese ) works very well however I haven't been in Central Aust with it yet but it certainly beats my mates phone who is also with Telstra. Ask about it at a Telstra shop it certainly has very good range. My mate bought an external aerial for his phone attached to his vehicle & he really doesn't think it's worth the $$$. But that's his opinion.

I was told by a marine electronics guy that cos the transmitting power of a next G/GSM/ CDMA is only around .5 watt, it doesnt matter whats more than about 1 or 2 meters up the aerial cable

It's a shame he knows nothing about transmission and propagation of radio signals.

I know this may be a bit off topic, but if I held my phone as high as an aerial, will it get as good a signal as if I had it plugged into that same aerial ???

Probably not as I would think its the length of the aerial and whats inside that governs reception rather than how high it is.

After all a Next G aerial isnt much higher than the roof of your car.

I did however see a guy broken down near Newman, standing on the roof of his car talking on his mobile.

Probably right on the outer fringe of reception.

Those great big wanker aerials you see on utes have the same amount of gain as a smaller multiband.

I was about 45k north of Carnarvon when my phone rang Pulled it out of cradle and it nearly dropped out.

Put it back in and turned on loudspeaker and talked all the way in.

Had an RFI multiband aerial connected to the cradle with a Nokia 6120.

Now have an Iphone and cradle and same aerial.

feel free to explain Mike

"cos the transmitting power of a next G/GSM/ CDMA is only around .5 watt, it doesnt matter whats more than about 1 or 2 meters up the aerial cable"

- the gain of an aerial is constant, regardless of transmit power. If it has a gain of 3 db there will be an effective doubling of power, whether it's used with a 1 watt transmitter or a 100 watt transmitter.

And Century Mine at Lawn Hill also has Next G.


.

"You need a good ground plane to be able to transmit. "

- No, most Mobile Phone antennas are totally independant of a ground plane

See Stevie1947's post above.

3 have only recently decided to roam to NextG - only recent models are technically capable of roaming to NextG.

Very poor coverage at Dingo Beach....sounds like the difference between phones rather than 3 coverage issue (using NextG network).

1 Tower miles away (towards the highway), shielded by the small hill at Dingo Beach, makes for no coverage in much of the town.....locals aren't happy for obvious reasons.

Andrew