Thread: Telstra Next G Blue Tick phones

Originally Posted by crl

I am looking to change my mobile service over to Telstra Next G for its greater coverage. I am trying to find a "Blue Tick" phone that I like for the supposed enhanced coverage these phones provide but I can't help wondering if the Blue Tick is really worth anything or is it just a gimmick?

Any thoughts or experiences?

Thanks in advance,

crl

I have a next G bloody fantastic coverage away from town ,dont know about the blue tick thing or heard of it

Blue tick phones

Google is your friend

Important thing is to get a decent antenna. See recent thread.

Originally Posted by crl

I am looking to change my mobile service over to Telstra Next G for its greater coverage. I am trying to find a "Blue Tick" phone that I like for the supposed enhanced coverage these phones provide but I can't help wondering if the Blue Tick is really worth anything or is it just a gimmick?

Any thoughts or experiences?

Thanks in advance,

crl

I got a Telstra Next G "Country Phone" (branded ZTE) married to an external car aerial when travelling. Whilst phone is cumbersome and "ugly" by trendy standards, it has truly awesome coverage. Good camera and internet (free news/markets financial plus more with Telstra. Don't believe all you hear about Telstra. They really have it sewn up! ...and no, I don't work for Telstra.

I was advised to get the Nokia 6120 (no blue tick at the time) rather than the Country phone when looking for a replacement for my LG (contract was cancelled due to poor reception). I don't bother with my external antenna now as the reception is so good.

I have an external aerial and they really are good. With this aerial you could make calls up to half an hours drive out of towns. It was great for organising your accommodation as you roll into town.

The Telstra network is expensive - but it's very very good.

The blue tick is not just a marketing ploy. It was introduced to try and solve the problem with the number of people complaining that their NextG phone was useless compared to the CDMA phone it replaced. Telstra maintained it was not their network but the phones they were selling (??) and set about classifying which ones were as good as the CDMA ones, and giving them a blue tick.

This does not mean that one that does not have a blue tick is not as good as one that has - it may simply mean they have not tested it, but you have no way of knowing. But one with a blue tick definitely will have long range compared to the average, although they will tend to be larger and less elegant - most of the extra range comes from a better internal antenna!

Best bet for getting the right phone is to talk to a Telstra shop in a rural area and ask what they recommend - no point in talking to one in a city - they are useless for this.

John

I have a Nokia N95 with a car kit and a 9dbi aerial and i get service pretty much everywhere. i live at Mutawintji national park and i get service the whole way from broken hill to when i get behind the hills 130kms from town.

i have a LG TU550 as my work phone and i dont get service until i am 15kms from broken hill with it

So i think it is all to do with the phones.

One of the guys here bought a cheap ZTE prepaid for 100 and he gets amazing service a little bit better than my nokia and it has an external aerialport.



Adam

Even if it is a blue tick I look to see if it has facility for an external antenna ( ie an actual plug in rather than using a transponder cradle ).

Even a small mag base external antenna on the roof will make a huge difference to your coverage.

Next G is the best coverage of all the 3G networks I have to admit - we had both phone and Next G modem for out laptop on a recent trip in central Oz. With the external antenna I got broadband internet along all major roads or near most towns. Telstra make you pay for it though they really need some serious competition in this area!