Thread: Land Rover Mobile Phone

Originally Posted by dullbird

further to that point i was on telstra next G and couldn't get service most of the way through the top end where as ian did on TPG, I have since changed as I thought the service coverage on telstra was bollocks

Something doesn't add up here.

Whether you love Telstra or not the their NextG network has got coverage in rural Australia that the other carriers do not. This is different to 3G which might be what you had. Mobile Phone carriers have 3G networks which have coverage (data & voice) in major or capital cities only but is basically useless anywhere else. Even GSM gives phone coverage in most towns and on major highways (but useless data coverage, which is why they invented 3G in the first place).

TPG is not a phone carrier but is an Internet Service Provider, and a reseller of other company's products. In the case of their mobile service they are an Optus re-seller. The data coverage, via mobile, unless your'e talking about verrrrrrrry slow GSM data (about 16Kb/s) is on Optus's YesG network which is a joke. This network has very limited coverage in the top end. Darwin, Jabiru, Tenant Crk, Adels Grove (near Lawn Hill NP), Mt. Isa, Alice Springs, Yulara, Longreach and Charleville. And the coastal strip from Brisbane to Cairns. Compare the coverage maps from both carriers. There is no comparison.

What is good news is that Telstra now allows '3' to roam onto its NextG network. Vodaphone and '3' are about to become one company so I assume that their customers will soon have this benefit too. So perhaps non Telstra mobile users will now be able to have good (comparatively) phone comms. in the country. About time.

I reckon you must have had a 3G phone, or maybe a crook NextG one. Telstra's agents even sold them to country people in the early days of 3G extolling the virtues of good phone and data coverage. Unfortunately they didn't work outside of the metro areas and had to be replaced.

Not trying to baffle you with BS, but compared to the opposition (realistically none), in rural Australia NextG rocks.


Deano.

Originally Posted by DeanoH

Vodaphone and '3' are about to become one company

Deano.

Is that right, Deano?
I'd be keen to read/hear more on that.
Should be the best of both worlds there for the general phone user....

Cheers,

..:: KIEREN ::..
2000 Disco II Auto V8
Object Of Mass Consumption
AussieAubs Disco Page

ok well i'm looking at my sim card now that I took out when I swapped services. its a light grey sim with NEXT G network written on the back......and I'm not joking for most of the way around the top end I failed to have coverage!!...maybe it was my phone and not compatible as I never got a phone with it, but they assured us it would work on the phone I had when we asked before taking out the mobile plan.

....I can tell you Ians phone worked in mount Isa it also worked fine in darwin it kind of worked in mataranka but was a bit off and on.....and we had coverage in alice springs also.....and we had coverage 50/100k out of these towns
we even text dale at the begining of the bullman track on it..i'm sure he will confirm

how ever I lost coverage coming out of longreach!! and was in and out of coverage for the rest of the top end trip...and deffinatly more out then in.

Originally Posted by AussieAub

Is that right, Deano?
I'd be keen to read/hear more on that.
Should be the best of both worlds there for the general phone user....

Cheers,

..:: KIEREN ::..
2000 Disco II Auto V8
Object Of Mass Consumption
AussieAubs Disco Page

Read this in one of my Computer magazines a month or so ago. Also went with #1 son to transfer his mobile from my Telstra account to his own '3' account and was told the same by the '3' rep.

Originally Telstra (under Sol) swore that they would never 'wholesale' NextG to its competitors as they were forced to do with GSM. But when 3G came along Telstra didn't buy any spectrum but came to an arrangement with Hutchinson/Orange/3 (all the same thing) to use theirs. I reckon this could be the favour returned.

Deano

That would be right just after I get a new bloody phone too

I was looking at the Hummer phone and thought to myself I would never be able to live it down.

Now Landy bring one out

Originally Posted by dullbird

ok well i'm looking at my sim card now that I took out when I swapped services. its a light grey sim with NEXT G network written on the back......and I'm not joking for most of the way around the top end I failed to have coverage!!...maybe it was my phone and not compatible as I never got a phone with it, but they assured us it would work on the phone I had when we asked before taking out the mobile plan.

....I can tell you Ians phone worked in mount Isa it also worked fine in darwin it kind of worked in mataranka but was a bit off and on.....and we had coverage in alice springs also.....and we had coverage 50/100k out of these towns
we even text dale at the begining of the bullman track on it..i'm sure he will confirm

how ever I lost coverage coming out of longreach!! and was in and out of coverage for the rest of the top end trip...and deffinatly more out then in.

It could be that your phone was not a NextG phone. And yes I'm sure the salesperson assured you that it would work on your phone. What they didn't tell you was that it wasn't working NextG. Your NextG SIM will work in your non NextG phone. Very crafty these phone sales people. we had the same thing here in Gippsland. Telstras agents sold NextG services into the country with 3G phones. Motorola's from memory, which had to be replaced.

The list of towns in which Ian's phone worked looks very much like Optus's 'YesG' coverage area.

Deano

Originally Posted by DeanoH

It could be that your phone was not a NextG phone. And yes I'm sure the salesperson assured you that it would work on your phone. What they didn't tell you was that it wasn't working NextG. Your NextG SIM will work in your non NextG phone. Very crafty these phone sales people. we had the same thing here in Gippsland. Telstras agents sold NextG services into the country with 3G phones. Motorola's from memory, which had to be replaced.

The list of towns in which Ian's phone worked looks very much like Optus's 'YesG' coverage area.

Deano

well the very crafty sales people lost a sale so not so crafty.....

yes but we were actually very surprised at some of the areas we were in that his phone worked in........hence why I changed, we were very pleased at the coverage he had and the cost was much lower than telstra

Ooh, a subject that really gets me going, Testra's premature release of Next G

A lot of us in this part of the bush went GSM through Optus after CDMA was canned, and ended up with far better coverage than all the Next G users for about 9-12 months.
A lot of friends became stuck with inappropriate phones too, and Telstra were incredibly reluctant to swap them for 'Blue Tick' ones.
Sometimes downright threats to go to the ombudsman was the only way to get a suitable phone. Great PR Telstra.....