evila

Hi everybody...

I am trying to plan my trip and settlement to Melbourne for May 2004, and would like the opinion about which carrier would you choose and (most importantly) why...

It is easy to decide based on price and conditions from the websites, but (as happens here) local reality may be different.

Any opinion is regarded...

Cheers...

Enrique.-

bondipom

For low usage people you cannot really go to wrong with www.virginmobile.com.au . They use the Optus network and in 18 months of use I cannot fault them. No idea what bush coverage is like but you might not need that.

NoodleSYD

Virgin are certainly good... Australia has phone number portability - meaning that whatever number you start with you can keep and move around from network to network. You are probably best off with a pre-pay or pay as you go initially rather than signing up to a contract. If your usage is high you can always move across to a plan later on, or change networks easily if the coverage doesn't suit you.

evila

Do the number portability also applies to prepaid numbers? Can I switch from prepaid to plan without losing my number?

Thanks in advance for any advise...

annalooby

Bush coverage for Vigin is non existent. Mind you - its the same for all the other digital networks - unless you hike to the top of the nearest hill each time you wanna make a call - nuffin much happens.

If you're gonna go bush you need a CDMA (??is that right??) I think. Although I dont have one I could see it'd be essential for travelling around -I only occasionally go off the beaten track and the rest of the time I just plan on jumping out in front of a Road Train if I ever break down!:scared:

annalooby

Nope - you'll have to have a new number for prepaid.

And you'll probably have to pay to unlock your old phone as well if you wanna use that. I was on Virgin in Uk - transferred it over here in perth cos I thought it'd be easier - boy was I wrong -they make you pay a fee and wait for a week before connection cos although it's Virgin - it's not the same company. Then we came up to Gero and the bloody thing didn't work anyway. In the end I gave up and binned it completely!

NoodleSYD

Wellll i think it's network dependent. I was Vodafone pre-pay which turned into Vodafone no-plans... which turned into a Telstra contract and I kept the same number with all three. That was just my experience, different netowrks may have their own policies.

Apart from farmers I don't know anybody who's gone CDMA, certainly nobody in the major cities where gsm coverage is pretty comprehensive.

annalooby

OK - praps it was just me? They must have seen me coming...


[/QUOTE]
Apart from farmers I don't know anybody who's gone CDMA, certainly nobody in the major cities where gsm coverage is pretty comprehensive. [/QUOTE]

Thats it - rub it in. The only people I know ARE farmers.....depressed now

bondipom

Surely you cannot port numbers across countries.

NoodleSYD

Well they're wonderful people farmers... I was up in Brisbane doing a story about Sugar last week and they were all very helpful. Unlike the "'im's worryin' moi sheep" variety from back home...

As for porting, (different post) it's just within Australia.

For an impenetrable guide to Australian mobile (and local) number portability the Australian Communication Authority provides fact sheets. like this:

http://www.aca.gov.au/consumer_info/...eets/fsc32.htm

Pollyana

Telstra works best out in the sticks in the Kingaroy area - its the only network we can get coverage with a phone for the Bloke's mum.

MrsDagboy

Reminds me of earlier this year when we were up at Yepoon (half way up Qld coast for those who dont know), driving along & called my aunt on Dagboys Telstra powered phone. Half way through the conversation Dagboy points to a billboard on the side of the road which reads "Telstra - improving network coverage to country Australia. More coverage in country areas than any other network" whereby my bloody phonecall dropped out! Great improvement LOL.

bondipom

Its great because the work mobile is on telstra. Terrible when you are on call in the country side.

evila

I´m not planning for much bushing, so i´m more intrested in Urban quality as well as services.

Also, I have lately found out many operators that end up being other one (hidden optus?), does any one know any of this ad why do they use different names (3, Simple, etc).

Thanks for all comments.