Help on which Telstra blue tick phone and prepaid plan-

loosecannan · Veteran Member

Help on which Telstra blue tick phone and prepaid plan-

ST391GQ · Senior Member

I got the Telstra Flip....does everything that I want out of a phone...and tough too...with the heavy duty case anyway.

The only gripe I have with it is the ring volume...could be a bit louder I reckon....but SWMBO reckons I,m deaf anyhow.

HTH.

Cheers Keith

Neil n Chris · Veteran Member

We have the Telstra tough max which is an average smart phone but the best thing is it has an external socket for a external aerial which we have mounted on our bull bar. This increases coverage quite a bit, two bars, handy when away from towns etc. It is more effective than the inductance cradle and patch lead set up, the patch lead connects to the phone directly. It is 4g too

Neil n Chris · Veteran Member

.....bought that phone(as above) outright then use my prepaid sim, cheaper than a plan, use $30 month on it and with bonuses etc always have heaps of credit, got the 4g dongle as well and that fits the patch lead on the ext aerial so when camping generally have wireless internet

tonyd · Guru

Not keen on the T96. Very fiddly to use. There are bigger and better phones out there.
Cheers, Tony

NeilandRaine · Guru

I have a $49 dollar Nokia windows phone on a $30 a month pre paid (Telstra). Works fine, however SWMBO has a fancy Samsung

loosecannan · Veteran Member

Good Morning all, thank you for your responses. appreciate them all. Have now some info on which to base a decision. Off to Telstra soon.

Thanks and stay safe and well.

brickies · Guru

Was told once to go to a country Telstra shop rather than a city Telstra shop has they stock the right phone and have better no how of watch needed in the bush .

spida · Guru

blue tick Nokia, pay $100 per year prepaid - top up before the year is out:) Have turned all features off - Telstra was using up the prepaid with their 'WAP Telstra intranet' ( I think thats what it was) and they couldnt tell me what the charge was for. I suspect it had something to do with them roaming looking for me when I was out of reception area (WA). Now just text and calls!

Hylife · Guru

Almost all Nokia phones are Blue Tick.

Nokia got into financial difficulties with the GFC so they sold off the Nokia phone division to Microsoft two years ago so they will now be branded as Microsoft phones.

Great phones with beautiful high resolution screens and amazing Carl Ziess optics used for the camera, but may find many downloadable apps are only made for iPhone and Android (Google) as they have a larger market share. If you have a specific app that you just have to have on your new phone then make sure it is available in a Windows version before you buy.

brickies · Guru

Yes not much use having Blue tick on Optus if you are in the outback or just out of the big city .

Izabarack · Guru

Just bought a Telstra Buzz. It's Blue Tick, smart, good reviews, and 4G. Came with $10 on the SIM. Got 5GB bonus on activation. Good for me as I only got the phone to put Pre Paid data on it. I'll never use the call allowance as I have an iPhone on a plan, as well. Will recharge on Telstra's Freedom pre paid. The Freedom pre paid allows data rollover with the recharge. Currently using the Buzz as hotspot for a couple of iPads and a PC. Doing a good job and will probably get another one to replace the iPhone as it is only 3G capable and the battery life is not so good.

Iza

Sailfish · Member

I bought a Telstra Tough 4 (blue tick) today. Took it and my old Nokia Asha 300 (Virgin network) for a reception comparison drive on the Ophir Rd west of Bathurst NSW. My son was monitoring the reception on both phones as I drove. Well the blue tick phone performed worse overall, sometimes the same but never better than the older Nokia phone. One could argue the difference in the 2 networks but Telstra claims the best coverage and claims the blue tick phones do the best job with that coverage so it's a package deal that they use to back up their claim of providing the best mobile reception in rural areas. However, Fisho friends commonly have no Telstra mobile reception while Optus remains functional in areas like Wyangala Dam for example. So as far as I can see, these Telstra coverage and blue tick claims are not evident in the field.

The reasons for me buying the Tough 4 was primarily for the SMS reception improvement claimed of the Telstra network + blue tick performance + plus external aerial compatibility. The 1st 2 of these proved false and I took a downgrade in camera for this....... I think I will be taking the phone back to Telstra tomorrow.

Ken

Baz421 · Guru

Sailfish wrote:
I bought a Telstra Tough 4 (blue tick) today. Took it and my old Nokia Asha 300 (Virgin network) for a reception comparison drive on the Ophir Rd west of Bathurst NSW. My son was monitoring the reception on both phones as I drove. Well the blue tick phone performed worse overall, sometimes the same but never better than the older Nokia phone. One could argue the difference in the 2 networks but Telstra claims the best coverage and claims the blue tick phones do the best job with that coverage so it's a package deal that they use to back up their claim of providing the best mobile reception in rural areas. However, Fisho friends commonly have no Telstra mobile reception while Optus remains functional in areas like Wyangala Dam for example. So as far as I can see, these Telstra coverage and blue tick claims are not evident in the field.

The reasons for me buying the Tough 4 was primarily for the SMS reception improvement claimed of the Telstra network + blue tick performance + plus external aerial compatibility. The 1st 2 of these proved false and I took a downgrade in camera for this....... I think I will be taking the phone back to Telstra tomorrow.

Ken

Ken why not get external antenna if you want better service remote.

JeffRae · Guru

Wrong

-- Edited by JeffRae on Monday 3rd of July 2017 08:32:13 PM

Mike Harding · Guru

Best to start a new thread on this forum - old threads drop off the bottom and are not visible to many.

I hope you didn't have the two phones close to one-another when testing? Say less than 1m? And. ideally, 5m or more.

Sailfish · Member

Baz421 wrote:
Sailfish wrote:
I bought a Telstra Tough 4 (blue tick) today. Took it and my old Nokia Asha 300 (Virgin network) for a reception comparison drive on the Ophir Rd west of Bathurst NSW. My son was monitoring the reception on both phones as I drove. Well the blue tick phone performed worse overall, sometimes the same but never better than the older Nokia phone. One could argue the difference in the 2 networks but Telstra claims the best coverage and claims the blue tick phones do the best job with that coverage so it's a package deal that they use to back up their claim of providing the best mobile reception in rural areas. However, Fisho friends commonly have no Telstra mobile reception while Optus remains functional in areas like Wyangala Dam for example. So as far as I can see, these Telstra coverage and blue tick claims are not evident in the field.

The reasons for me buying the Tough 4 was primarily for the SMS reception improvement claimed of the Telstra network + blue tick performance + plus external aerial compatibility. The 1st 2 of these proved false and I took a downgrade in camera for this....... I think I will be taking the phone back to Telstra tomorrow.

Ken
Ken why not get external antenna if you want better service remote.

Certainly my intention is to get a car antenna. That's almost the whole reason for getting a new phone, one with an antenna socket. If the phone was all it promises, I'd be ahead of the game before adding the antenna. As it is, it looks like the final result will be below par. In any case most of my outdoor activities take me a long way from a car or anything else but the bush or stream. While I carry a PLB for emergencies, in other circumstances it would be nice to have the best possible chance of reassuring or notify changes in plan.

Sailfish · Member

JeffRae wrote:
Wrong

Easy to say wrong but a test gives actual direct comparison results so if it's wrong, what's your supporting argument?