Best cell phone carrier for around Australia coverage

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

So I think we're settled then ... Canaust, go with Telstra when you come back to Australia. Ideally, grab a Telstra SIM (rather than a Telstra reseller) and make sure you have a new handset that can communicate on all main frequencies. Buy/hire a satphone if the budget permits. UHF obviously as part of the car setup.

We will get a genuine Telstra SIM each, even though they are much more expensive that a reseller
(or a Boost - I will research exactly what people resell, and if it covers the whole of Australia or just major centres)
and we will be bringing a Spot
http://www.findmespot.ca/en/index.php?cid=100
I have a Gen 2 but will probably update to a Gen 3 for the trip. That allows us to send emergency messages / call for help, but not talk when out of mobile range.

The UHF is on the wish list for the Prado.

Looking at your signature, did you do Northern Australia on your last trip, and you're planning to focus on Southern Australia this time?

The big part of this trip will be Perth to Darwin - probably 4 -5 weeks for that stretch. We haven't been west of the Adelaide / Alice / Darwin line so are going to take our time from Adelaide.

How long will you be travelling and how far off the main highways are you planning to go? There's plenty to do and see in Southern Australia!

We plan to be in Australia for 3 to 4 months, including time in Sydney & Melbourne with friends.

We spent quite a bit of time in the Flinders Ranges & on the Oodnadatta Track last time, and we explored Mt Gambier & the Barossa on a separate trip when we lived in Melbourne.

In 2005 we had limited time because it was Long Service Leave. This time we are retired, so have lots of time, but not as much money.

Hints of where to go and what to see on the way west would be appreciated.

Cheers

Alan

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

Ok, that is nothing like my experience. Ten minutes? No way, something is wrong with the test scenario. I've never seen more than about a minute but I've never timed it. Where was the test location, and I have to ask what model was the Iridium phone and who supplied it?

I don't have a problem with a newer and well designed isatphone comparing favourably against an older iridium handset, but we're looking at something else here I think...

I can't give away too many specifics. Suffice to say it was the latest offering from Iridium.

As I mentioned, the good people from Iridium were given the opportunity to sort it out. They were amazed at the performance of their competitor.

The tests were conducted by numerous people, in various places along the east coast over a week.

We now have four of the Inmarsat satphones.

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

How does that work?

ok actually her phone(aldi) did work in Karumba, That's when we thought great lets get downloading Hasn't worked all the way from Cairns and month was going to roll over.
Basically we downloaded more than their policy allows in a 24hr period which we knew nothing of ( who actually reads that stuff:P)
So unknown to us they emailed that night with a warning and the next day we hit it again downloading past their limit. so 2 strikes and apparently your out.
She did try to speak to customer service but they didn't want to budge. wasn't worth the hassle when you can just go buy another sim and put it in my name.

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

ok actually her phone(aldi) did work in Karumba, That's when we thought great lets get downloading Hasn't worked all the way from Cairns and month was going to roll over.
Basically we downloaded more than their policy allows in a 24hr period which we knew nothing of ( who actually reads that stuff:P)
So unknown to us they emailed that night with a warning and the next day we hit it again downloading past their limit. so 2 strikes and apparently your out.
She did try to speak to customer service but they didn't want to budge. wasn't worth the hassle when you can just go buy another sim and put it in my name.

Thats quite a business model.

Use our service to much and will stop taking your money.