Best cell phone carrier for around Australia coverage

[Canaust Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Canaust]

Hi

I know that there is no coverage for a lot of the outback, but which is the best carrier for when there is limited signal?

As my signature file says we are coming from Canada next year and will be buying sims to use for the trip.

If we are lucky our old numbers will be available. White Pages still has them allocated to us at our old address, even though we moved to Canada in 2007.

Cheers

Alan

[Guest Close Guest]

Telstra hands down. How long will you need it for?

I use Telechoice on a contract. It's on the Telstra network. Aldi mobile is also on Telstra's network and is prepaid.

https://www.telechoice.com.au/kogan-offers

https://www.aldimobile.com.au/

[Andyfive Member Find all posts View Profile Close Andyfive]

Telstra, from my experience.

[Canaust Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Canaust]

I thought it would be Telstra and even though I used to work for one of the others I will go with the strength & your advice.

Hi AMTS - we will only be 4 to 6 months, so will do it without a plan, but the TeleChoice ones look very attractive.

Cheers

[Guest Close Guest]

Hi AMTS - we will only be 4 to 6 months, so will do it without a plan, but the TeleChoice ones look very attractive.

Cheers

In that case have a look at Aldi Mobile's Value Packs.

[Prado_The_2nd Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Prado_The_2nd]

Short of taking a Sat-Phone (which will work everywhere you have clear-sky access), Telstra is still the best. I've been in rural areas where Optus phones have had no telephone reception whatsoever, but Telstra phones had full phone and internet access.

Not sure what your budget is, but you can buy or hire Sat-Phones. They cost about $750-$1100 to buy, including a phone plan and some calls for 6 months. You can also rent them (eg: http://www.epirbhire.com.au - I just Googled them, I have no experience with these guys). For travel in rural areas, you cannot beat having a Sat-Phone if you want/need to stay in touch.

[BiLLz0r Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close BiLLz0r]

Another vote for Telstra hands down.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Yeah definitely Telstra, its amazing where you pick up service sometimes as well. We have been in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden the phone starts beeping as texts or emails come through, a check of the map reveals a mine that may be not too far away and they all seem to have Telstra Mobile.

Up Cape York when we went Telstra was the only service available on the Cape, none of the others had any service at all, even in the towns.

Cheers Andrew

[DGW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DGW]

Yep, Telstra again by a long way. Have been amazed where you coverage in remote areas.

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

Telstra absolutely. Often its the only carrier available in remote areas, which isn't too far away from metropolitan areas. Also a good choice for mobile interwebs, but data access can be hit and miss in remote areas.

If you're considering a satphone, this is the one to get:

http://www.inmarsat.com/isatphone/

We have just done a bunch of testing at work and this one is head and shoulders above the previous model.

Don't bother with Iridium.

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Ditto TELSTRA.

I have travelled and worked throughout a large percentage of regional WA, central Australia and around the rest of the states (Tassie next year). It's usually Telstra or nothing. Almost all of the remote communities around Australia have Telstra service. There are only a few left without mobile coverage. Even remote mine-sites have a Telstra service. There's even Telstra service along the Trans-Australian rail line. I always laugh when I see tourists and other government service providers wandering around communities with their phones held sky-ward as they search for a signal which is most unlikely to happen with virgin, orange, optus, etc.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Don't bother with Iridium.

We have had an Iridium phone for years, it has never failed to work where ever we have been and wanted to use it!

Cheers Andrew

[photoprado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close photoprado]

We have had an Iridium phone for years, it has never failed to work where ever we have been and wanted to use it!

Cheers Andrew

+1

http://www.clientsat.com.au/iridium-vs-inmarsat/ (no relation, just googled it.)

[Corigator Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Corigator]

In that case have a look at Aldi Mobile's Value Packs.

Not so sure about Aldi Mobile. Their web site says "Medion Australia Pty Ltd. trading as ALDImobile uses part of Telstra’s 3G mobile network." their map doesn't show Cape york or much in the "Outback"

I wasted my money on a Telstra sim for our Simpson trip. They only have 900 Mhz coverage out of town, which my phone didn't have. All the Optus users had good coverage at Birdsville for eg, but I had none. A more modern phone would have solved the problem. Just be cautious about Aldi, they seem to cover more of the main towns only.

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

+1

http://www.clientsat.com.au/iridium-vs-inmarsat/ (no relation, just googled it.)

That comparison uses the Inmarsat isatphone pro. Its been superseded by the isatphone2. We have the pro version and they are crap.

As I mentioned we did our own comparisons and the Iridium was terrible. We did a lot of follow up and allowed others to compare the two side by side, thinking we were doing something wrong.

The Iridium people were not happy, but they ended up very red faced when they saw how well the Inmarsat phone worked and theirs struggled.

YMMV but we have just tooled up with the new Inmarsat.