Well the phone is in my hand and I have a signal



<<I know... I haven't found the time/date settings yet>>

Ended up going with amaysim....reasonable deal and more importantly easy to comprehend and set up. Pay as you go/90 days/12c per min calls/12c SMS/5c MB data. If it is used as I hope it will cost me less than $50 per year. That's pretty good for a back-up phone (Geez, 6 different numbers to this address now)

(phone companies deliberately make their plans complicated IMHO).

Will see how I go for coverage.

Thanks for all your tips and advice guys.