Mobile reception

River rob · Member

Mobile reception

Desert Dweller · Guru

In a word TELSTRA, not perfect but the best available. A UHF radio comes in handy wherever you might be, we wouldn't be without one. If you've got money to burn buy a satellite phone.

wauri · Veteran Member

I traveled with Optus Phone a couple of years ago
I believed their map
Ha

Only worked at the major centers like Katherine so I would also suggest Telstra

brickies · Guru

Travel with Optus and wife Telstra soon has you more out of major centres it Telstra for sure .

Explorer · Guru

River Rob Hi, Telstra as others have said but don't fall for the trap of Telstra resellers as I did. Telstra do not supply their full service to resellers. A CB can be handy.

Regards Mike.

River rob · Member

Thanks for the advice Mike

i think we will invest in a uhf radio and a Telstra prepaid phone

River rob · Member

Thanks everyone for your advice

Might get a UHF radio and the pre paid Telstra phone.

blissonwheels · Senior Member

As others have said Telstra you are best to look on line and see where the nearest Telstra owned and staffed shop is nearest to you for the best results or do it over the phone with them.

Cheers,

Thomas J.

Crustie · Member

There is a Telstra shop at Nowra Fair :)

Chris

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

UHF is useless as a safety devise. Consider it no more than a convenient method of talking to someone else that you see on the road, if they happen to be on the same channel or scanning. The likelihood of effecting an emergency communication should not be relied upon.

The cheapest and surest method of getting assistance in an EMERGENCY is to purchase a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon).
www.gme.net.au/catalogue/emergency-beacons-and-safety/mt410gaus
$350 for 7 years protection and no annual costs is the best insurance you will ever find.

Cheers,
Peter

aussie_paul · Guru

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
UHF is useless as a safety devise. Consider it no more than a convenient method of talking to someone else that you see on the road, if they happen to be on the same channel or scanning. The likelihood of effecting an emergency communication should not be relied upon.

The cheapest and surest method of getting assistance in an EMERGENCY is to purchase a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon).
www.gme.net.au/catalogue/emergency-beacons-and-safety/mt410gaus
$350 for 7 years protection and no annual costs is the best insurance you will ever find.

Cheers,
Peter

So very true Peter.

Aussie Paul. smile

Bruce and Bev · Guru

I agree with Peter about UHF - its only of use when the signal is in range with another radio or there are heaps of repeaters (and theres not a lot in NT)

You can rent satellite phones, rather than buy one.

We bought a PLB which we carry when we go walking through the bush or wherever and BFC are selling them for about $180 (and made in Australia). Theyre about the size of a large cigarette packet, lightweight and the operating system is run by the Federal Govt. They claim to find you anywhere in the country within 1-2 hours by satellite triangulation and overflying commercial and RAAF planes. Then the rescue process starts - depending on where you are and the weather - that could be within hours or up to a day or so

Telstra is the one who provides the best coverage nationally, followed by Optus. We have a pre-paid Telstra "Dave" smart phone which is not only "waterproof", but you can plug it into a cable and power it through your vehicle and have an external aerial fitted - this arrangement gives far greater coverage. We have it as a pre-paid and when in the city, keep the SIM card alive by paying $10 every 3 months, then when we're in Telstra only country, we buy more credit on-line or at a Servo.

When we're in areas that Optus have coverage for, we use their phones as pretty much all the other Telcos are cheaper than Telstra

jules47 · The Happy Helper

We travel permanently - wouldn't be with anyone other than Telstra - even if you have no reception, you will find often messages come through, sometimes int he middle of the night, or a couple of hours later. Telstra has some good pre paid deals - I pay $30 month - get $250 of calls, and free calls to any network from 6pm to 6am - 7 days a week - called Encore. Works for me. We also have another prepaid that we put $20 on, lasts for 60 days, just in case we are going in different directions, but may need to contact each other.

Dunmowin · Guru

'Telstra is the one who provides the best coverage nationally, followed by Optus. We have a pre-paid Telstra "Dave" smart phone which is not only "waterproof", but you can plug it into a cable and power it through your vehicle and have an external aerial fitted - this arrangement gives far greater coverage."

When you look for a phone, make sure it has the rural tick - the coverage on this hardware, apparently, has better coverage than those phones that don't. Also, make sure you have the ability to plug in an external aerial. We have been travelling with a Telstra blue tick (rural) phone for coming up to five years, with an external aerial on both van and 4wd. There have not been too many places that we have been out of range for too long.

Hylife · Guru

There are only three mobile telephony carriers in Oz.

Telstra, Optus & Vodaphone.

Vodaphone only cover eastern seaboard capitals of Bris, Syd & Melb and then roam onto the other 2 at twice the call and data rate, only in major regional centers. No coverage outside large regionals at all where they have no arrangements in place with Telstra or Optus, so forget them.

Telstra as the Telecommunications Gaurantee provider (recieve a flagfall amount from every call regardless of provider) will be everywhere there 'should' be mobile coverage, but that 'should' isn't necessarily everywhere.

In most places that Telstra has coverage so does Optus, but perhaps not the range from Optaus, as phone towers are often shared by them both in small localities and the equipment required for extended coverage comes at a higher cost. This means the commercial viabilty of extended range is not worth it for any carrier, either Telstra or Optus, but Telstra has no choice as it is paid the gaurantee revenues to make sure an appropriate range is available. If they were given the commercial choices of Optus, Telstra would be no better.

As for data coverage, almost everywhere other than capitals and cities, it is marginal, slow or non-existant. There is no communications gaurantee legislation provisions requiring mobile data access in Oz and the entire network is shared by voice and data so voice gets priority every time unless you are very close to the tower.

Bevandy2 · Senior Member

I have used Telstra prepaid for years, no complaints, and at present just have an el cheapo $50 phone, it does the job, not into all the bells and whistles, I use the lap top for that.
We do Katherine every year from the Sunshine Coast (family) and get a signal in pretty much every town/village, some places are a bit iffy, like Threeways, but most places are good.

As for UHF, I think some miss the point, they are an excellent safety tool for dealing with the truckies. You don't want to be gas bagging with "Margie and Henry" on Ch18 when you have a truck on your tail, stay on Ch40 as you travel, and when a Big Mack looms up in the rear vision mirror identify yourself, (I just tell them this is the Jayco) and let them know to go past when ready, and that you will drop back for them as they come alongside, to let them in, then if it's a road train, tell them when they are clear and it's safe to pull back in.
Believe me, they appreciate it, and it generates good rapport with the big guys. You have to learn to drive with the mike in one hand, and maintain your speed until he comes alongside.

MOLLUSCAN · Senior Member

I have Telstra Freedom Plus. $40/month gives me unlimited calls to any phone, unlimited messages and 6 Gb of data. 3gb daytime, 3Gb at night. Unused data rolls over to next month. I love it! For the first time I never run out of data and don't need to worry about how many calls I make. Also $350 to use OS.

villatranquilla · Guru

Telstra blue tick is the only way to go. You can use a Telstra sim card (large sim with switched on global roaming) in a sat phone - so you could buy a second hand one with no need for a contract

RosieW · Guru

jules47 wrote:
We travel permanently - wouldn't be with anyone other than Telstra - even if you have no reception, you will find often messages come through, sometimes int he middle of the night, or a couple of hours later. Telstra has some good pre paid deals - I pay $30 month - get $250 of calls, and free calls to any network from 6pm to 6am - 7 days a week - called Encore. Works for me. We also have another prepaid that we put $20 on, lasts for 60 days, just in case we are going in different directions, but may need to contact each other.

We do the same thing. Were with Virgin (Optus) but gave them the flick in the Mary Valley (QLD) as no reception for the most part. Telstra plan I am on gives me $700 national calls/texts, $200 international calls/texts for $30 a month. He is (was) on a 12 month plan (cost $60) but that expired in December. We keep his phone alive (which we have for the same reasons as you Jules) by me sending him a couple of dollars credit every week.

Dav4Cris · Senior Member

For those who want Telstra coverage but at a better price, then you should look at Boost Prepaid, costs you $40.00 per 30 days for unlimted phone and text anywhere in Australia. It is the jetstar version of Telstra. I have been on it for over 2 years now and no problems, I get 3 Gb of download per month plus a extra 2 Gb each weekend. My wife is on the $20.00 plan which is good for her as she does not use the phone a lot, more the smartphone user with FB and other apps.
It uses the full Telstra coverage and is now 4G in the towns that have 4G

Nomad_Nev · Veteran Member

This is the PLB that i have been looking at, i have mheld one in my hand and they come across as really good quailty, also it has the GPS option,

www.chsmith.com.au/Products/McMurdo-Fastfind-220-PLB-with-GPS.html

If you can you realy want the GPS option, when you trigger it, it takes a GPS reading and sends your location directly to the satelite, so no triangulation needed they have you down to a few meters immideately.

JackieP · Senior Member

TELSTRA is definately the carrier you need to be with BUT its not only the carrier but the phone your SIM card goes in. The phone needs to be blue tick rated as i found out in central Qld. I had a SAMSUNG phone that was unlocked so purchased a Telstra card and put it in that phone....worked great in big towns but didnt work in the outback regions so went to a T shop and found out about the blue tick. Since getting the appropriate phone have had great coverage ( about 95% through NT )

Hylife · Guru

+1 on the blue tick, a grading system used by all mobile carriers.

Not all phones are created equal with regards to range and many popular smart and non-smart phones are way down the bottom of the suitability list.

River rob · Member

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Have found a Telstra prepaid phone called the 4GX Buzz, it has the blue tick, its $99 and reviews say it's a good for the price.

We will get one before we head off !

thanks again to everyone.

smile

Casualkev · Senior Member

I don't understand the need to have constant contact with the outside world especially when most of us are on the black stuff 98% of the time and if your worried about safety a PLB would be a safety blanket I suppose, but two different phones a UHF & a PLB? And as you all know when travelling and your in a bind 99% of people go out of the way to help.I just find it very insecure bordering on paranoia.

Kev

River rob · Member

Kev
Not that interested in your thoughts and not sure why you even bothered to comment.
But just for the record........
I don't need to have constant contact with the world and I'm not looking for safety devices!
I would just prefer to have mobile reception rather than not have mobile reception!

Casualkev · Senior Member

Just trying to point out that unless your sending and checking sms every 5 minutes that a phone either optus or telstra will suffice unless your doing a lot of offroad!

And cheers to you as well River robe

Kev

Kal · Newbie

I'm a tele worker who needs reliable telstra mobile phone reception and at least some wireless data to keep the wages coming in.
I'm trying to work out whether it would be practical to travel around the top end of Australia (Gold Coast to the centre up to Darwin and across then down to Perth)
I don't have to work on weekends so could always make some difficult parts of the journey on weekends.

Am I dreaming or do people think I'd get the mobile tower reception I'd need?
Happy to buy a car based external antenna if required.

Thanks in advance

Ris · Member

We are thinking about getting a UHF radio because most of that phone coverage is bad out there, we don't want the UHF radio drilled in
To our dash board...

-- Edited by Ris on Wednesday 18th of January 2017 08:33:47 PM