As relative caravan newbies, we are setting off on our first major adventure via the Red Centre and Top End in three weeks time and, having stalked every camping online site and store in Perth, we have finally ticked off on a long list of essential and not so essential items. Only one thing remains and that is getting a new mobile phone deal in place. We are both currently with Optus and would like to reopen the debate on Optus versus Telstra in regards to cost-efficient coverage around Australia, noting that it was a Forum topic about two years when Telstra seemed to have a definite edge. Is it still well worth jumping ship?
Cheers
VanMangler
NeilandRaine said
01:08 PM Feb 28, 2016
Unfortunately Telstra is the most expensive but that is because they have the best coverage.
I am told BOOST are on the Telstra network but I cant recommend them because I haven't tried them. They are a lot cheaper tho.
VanMangler said
01:18 PM Feb 28, 2016
Thanks NeilandRaine, that is kind of what we thought ... just needed a reassuring prompt or two before committing to another (more expensive) plan. Cheers
Phil C said
01:39 PM Feb 28, 2016
Hi VanMangler (love the handle) and welcome to this great forum
We went back to Telstra (kicking and screaming) because they do have the best coverage available at the moment. We know they are expensive and dont offer discount to pensioners or ex service people.
We are off to Perth from Adelaide this week so I will get a better picture of the coverage on that trip and will publish the results here.
Cheers
Radar said
01:44 PM Feb 28, 2016
I have Optus on a very good deal and been we them forever, OK sometimes I don't have service, no big deal I drove transports for 15 years all over the eastern states with out mobile phones and got by without them, just went to a phone box every few days after dinner and rung in.
Our second phone is the other big company, hegging our bets, funny my Optus phone still gets a flogging with use. Yes at times she has more service then me but on the eastern states the no service gap is getting narrower.
Mobile router service which we have both (just the way things happen) her other big company one may have service but because its so busy its a bit hit or miss, as with my Optus one if I have mobile service I have internet.
I would say for the luxury of having one with Telestra and the other with Optus is a good as you will get apart from getting a Satphone which is getting more practical as the phones and plans are getting more accessible with cost.
This how we operate on the eastern side of Australia, hope this helps.
VanMangler said
02:40 PM Feb 28, 2016
Excellent feedback thanks both Guru and Radar. Pendulum appears to be swinging in Telstra's favour, but the idea of having one of each might just make sense. Look forward to the Nullarbor road test. Cheers again.
Onedodger said
03:05 PM Feb 28, 2016
We have been around Oz 3 times and covered a lot of our inland remote areas and Yes the only mobile to have is Telstra even though they are the most expensive.
We use a 4G smart phone (android) and the 4G telstra advanced Modem, plus we have an external antenna on the Vehicle and the van .
It is very rare that we do not have signal.
VanMangler said
04:29 PM Feb 28, 2016
Sounds like you're very well set up, Dodg. I reckon it's a no-brainer now, thanks to the benefit of your experience. Much obliged.
VM
Peter_n_Margaret said
04:59 PM Feb 28, 2016
We have one 'phone on Boost. Boost IS Telstra.
$40/month, unlimited calls (to normal numbers), 3gb/month plus 2Gb every weekend. No carryover month to month.
Cheers,
Peter
Dav4Cris said
05:20 PM Feb 28, 2016
Another vote for Boost. oops better make that another two votes as the other half has her phone with boost too. She has the $20.00 plan as she does not talk a lot on the phone more FB and internet.
Hylda&Jon said
07:18 PM Feb 28, 2016
What we did a few years still seams to still apply. Have one of you on Telstra and one on Optus. We left my wifes Optus one turned off in the drawer till we came across one of those odd places that have Optus and not Telstra (there are a few around) then my Telstra phone was ignored and we used hers. There you go. Easy hey. :)
Baz421 said
07:50 PM Feb 28, 2016
Onedodger wrote:
We have been around Oz 3 times and covered a lot of our inland remote areas and Yes the only mobile to have is Telstra even though they are the most expensive.
We use a 4G smart phone (android) and the 4G telstra advanced Modem, plus we have an external antenna on the Vehicle and the van .
It is very rare that we do not have signal.
We have this also and find it the most reliable overall.
VanMangler said
12:21 PM Feb 29, 2016
Thanks for all the valued advice, guys. It seems the Boost option might be well worth checking out also. Better start doing the rounds now.
It also appears that I need to do something creative with my forum profile (there is a funny story behind the VanMangler handle, PhilC; if I bump into you on the road, we will need to set aside some quality social time to recap!)
Geeco said
02:55 PM Feb 29, 2016
We travel mainly east coast with the odd trip into the back blocks of the eastern states. Both our phones and wifi modem are with Virgin. Virgin is owned by Optus and as such uses the Optus network. I am of the opinion from everything. I have read and a review of the coverage maps Telstra has superior coverage but at a serious cost differential. I am prepared to accept some no service areas to allow a serious saving on plan fees. My 4g modem is $35/ mnth for 12GB. Phones are $20/month for $200 calls plus 500Mb data. I read recently that due to Telstra still having some Govt commitments they have to have a bigger radius from each tower than Optus who often use the same tower but with a lower signal strength as they are not required to meet the same arrangements that Telstra has with their partial ownership by the Govt. I can not personally justify the additional cost of the Telstra product.
Hope this assists with your decision process. Cheers, Gary C.
Pete49 said
11:16 PM Feb 29, 2016
We are with Virgin/Optus as well and don't miss Tel$tra at all. Gaps in coverage? so what, Tel$tra has them too. I have a sat phone from when I used to go bush (real bush) but honestly what's the big deal with coverage? surely you can survive a couple hundred kilometres without having to contact people, farcebook et al. or even shock horror a day or two. The world keeps moving whether we've got coverage or not. Travelling isn't about phone coverage, its about fun & travel
Pete
TommyG said
11:49 AM Mar 1, 2016
Onedodger wrote:
We have been around Oz 3 times and covered a lot of our inland remote areas and Yes the only mobile to have is Telstra even though they are the most expensive.
We use a 4G smart phone (android) and the 4G telstra advanced Modem, plus we have an external antenna on the Vehicle and the van .
It is very rare that we do not have signal.
Baz wrote: We have this also and find it the most reliable overall.
We agree and have a similar setup but use a Telstra 4G wifi device.
I don't consider the Telstra mobile ph excessively expensive @ $25 month, with pensioner discount and I can recharge my wifi device for $140 lasts 2 years but only 16Gb so I sometimes have to recharge after about 10 months, if on the road for that long. When at home I use NBN.
Geeco said
02:59 PM Mar 1, 2016
Thomas, Telstra is not cost effective if you use 12GB a month rather than 16GB a year.
RosieW said
05:59 PM Mar 3, 2016
Phil C wrote:
We went back to Telstra (kicking and screaming) because they do have the best coverage available at the moment.
We did the same. With health issues in the Mobile Madhouse, and aging parents/feral kids about the place, we need the best cover available.
We went pre-paid. $30 a month, $700 calls/sms Australia wide, $200 for international. That includes 13, 1300 numbers. Not sure on 1800's. There's data there too, 1.5gb a month I think.
Exxy, but we have coverage. At Imbil, nothing but Telstra would work, at Tin Can Bay Optus worked, but only about 60% of the time, and not at all on the road to Gympie. At Rainbow, we had no cover with Optus.
So Telstra is the way to go. Unfortunately for the bank account.
Baz421 said
08:04 PM Mar 3, 2016
Pete49 wrote:
what's the big deal with coverage? surely you can survive a couple hundred kilometres without having to contact people, farcebook et al. or even shock horror a day or two. The world keeps moving whether we've got coverage or not. Travelling isn't about phone coverage, its about fun & travel
Pete
Well my mother wasvery sick in hospital and we were at Lake Eyre,,, see the problem??? She died 2 weeks later, but we made it home as we had contact at Marree.
BruDi said
03:17 PM Mar 5, 2016
We're with Telstra, found it has good coverage. Because we do a lot of remote travel we also have a satphone. The main purpose for that is for emergencies when mobile coverage doesn't work.
Di
VanMangler said
03:50 PM Mar 5, 2016
All good advice and info, thanks everyone. I guess we need to suck it and see. Which means we will probably see how bad our Optus coverage really is on our maiden voyage and use that as a yardstick for the future.
Cheers all.
Santa said
06:18 PM Mar 5, 2016
If you want coverage and reliability use Telstra, if your looking to economise go with the cheapest.
As relative caravan newbies, we are setting off on our first major adventure via the Red Centre and Top End in three weeks time and, having stalked every camping online site and store in Perth, we have finally ticked off on a long list of essential and not so essential items. Only one thing remains and that is getting a new mobile phone deal in place. We are both currently with Optus and would like to reopen the debate on Optus versus Telstra in regards to cost-efficient coverage around Australia, noting that it was a Forum topic about two years when Telstra seemed to have a definite edge. Is it still well worth jumping ship?
Cheers
VanMangler
I am told BOOST are on the Telstra network but I cant recommend them because I haven't tried them. They are a lot cheaper tho.
We went back to Telstra (kicking and screaming) because they do have the best coverage available at the moment. We know they are expensive and dont offer discount to pensioners or ex service people.
We are off to Perth from Adelaide this week so I will get a better picture of the coverage on that trip and will publish the results here.
Cheers
I have Optus on a very good deal and been we them forever, OK sometimes I don't have service, no big deal I drove transports for 15 years all over the eastern states with out mobile phones and got by without them, just went to a phone box every few days after dinner and rung in.
Our second phone is the other big company, hegging our bets, funny my Optus phone still gets a flogging with use. Yes at times she has more service then me but on the eastern states the no service gap is getting narrower.
Mobile router service which we have both (just the way things happen) her other big company one may have service but because its so busy its a bit hit or miss, as with my Optus one if I have mobile service I have internet.
I would say for the luxury of having one with Telestra and the other with Optus is a good as you will get apart from getting a Satphone which is getting more practical as the phones and plans are getting more accessible with cost.
This how we operate on the eastern side of Australia, hope this helps.
We have been around Oz 3 times and covered a lot of our inland remote areas and Yes the only mobile to have is Telstra even though they are the most expensive.
We use a 4G smart phone (android) and the 4G telstra advanced Modem, plus we have an external antenna on the Vehicle and the van .
It is very rare that we do not have signal.
VM
We have one 'phone on Boost.
Boost IS Telstra.
$40/month, unlimited calls (to normal numbers), 3gb/month plus 2Gb every weekend. No carryover month to month.
Cheers,
Peter
What we did a few years still seams to still apply. Have one of you on Telstra and one on Optus. We left my wifes Optus one turned off in the drawer till we came across one of those odd places that have Optus and not Telstra (there are a few around) then my Telstra phone was ignored and we used hers. There you go. Easy hey. :)
We have this also and find it the most reliable overall.
It also appears that I need to do something creative with my forum profile (there is a funny story behind the VanMangler handle, PhilC; if I bump into you on the road, we will need to set aside some quality social time to recap!)
Hope this assists with your decision process. Cheers, Gary C.
We are with Virgin/Optus as well and don't miss Tel$tra at all. Gaps in coverage? so what, Tel$tra has them too. I have a sat phone from when I used to go bush (real bush) but honestly what's the big deal with coverage? surely you can survive a couple hundred kilometres without having to contact people, farcebook et al. or even shock horror a day or two. The world keeps moving whether we've got coverage or not. Travelling isn't about phone coverage, its about fun & travel
Pete
We have been around Oz 3 times and covered a lot of our inland remote areas and Yes the only mobile to have is Telstra even though they are the most expensive.
We use a 4G smart phone (android) and the 4G telstra advanced Modem, plus we have an external antenna on the Vehicle and the van .
It is very rare that we do not have signal.
Baz wrote: We have this also and find it the most reliable overall.
We agree and have a similar setup but use a Telstra 4G wifi device.
I don't consider the Telstra mobile ph excessively expensive @ $25 month, with pensioner discount and I can recharge my wifi device for $140 lasts 2 years but only 16Gb so I sometimes have to recharge after about 10 months, if on the road for that long. When at home I use NBN.
We did the same. With health issues in the Mobile Madhouse, and aging parents/feral kids about the place, we need the best cover available.
We went pre-paid. $30 a month, $700 calls/sms Australia wide, $200 for international. That includes 13, 1300 numbers. Not sure on 1800's. There's data there too, 1.5gb a month I think.
Exxy, but we have coverage. At Imbil, nothing but Telstra would work, at Tin Can Bay Optus worked, but only about 60% of the time, and not at all on the road to Gympie. At Rainbow, we had no cover with Optus.
So Telstra is the way to go. Unfortunately for the bank account.
Well my mother wasvery sick in hospital and we were at Lake Eyre,,, see the problem??? She died 2 weeks later, but we made it home as we had contact at Marree.
Di
Cheers all.
If you want coverage and reliability use Telstra, if your looking to economise go with the cheapest.
You generally get what you pay for.