Vodafone reception

telstra has a lot better reception
but verything is a compromise

Hi,
Telstra is the only company that will give you coverage in the outback.
You must have a blue tick sim card for good coverage.
Cheers.
Jonty

Good luck with making a call once you leave the city limits.

Telstra has the biggest coverage by far.

Have a look at putting a Boost SIM in the phone. I believe Boost is a Telstra company and you shouldn't suffer any capacity disadvantages. The data is much cheaper. I can't speak from experience but it's on my to-do list.

Hello

I have no first hand experience but my friends who do a lot of field work use to call it Jokafone. Telstra is undoubtedly best option if overall coverage is what you are chasing. Not sure about "boost" - others seems to recommend - would check if coverage the same.

Cheers
Greg

Vodafone doesn't even work ay Gundaroo, 30 Km out of Canberra so no chance in the outback!

Gazza

I drove Sydney to Broome via Broken Hill, Port Augusta, Alice Springs, Darwin and only had any reception in the very largest of towns on Vodafone. I even tried to make a call in Broken Hill but it wouldn't go through. I changed to Telstra as soon as I returned, it was a waste of electricity keeping the phone charged.

Hi Peter

As you can see from the above replies, Telstra is the only way to go.

We live in country South Australia and there is great coverage with Telstra throughout the mid north, but hopeless with other service providers.

Another great thing with Telstra, is you can make a phone call from on top of Big Red, more than 30 kilometres from Birdsville. One time after crossing the Simpson, we sat up there and made lots of calls to friends. One chap walked up to us and asked if we were actually using our phone, and said yes. He then asked what phone we had, as he said he could not get any phone signal at all. I then asked who was his service provider, and he said Virgin, to which I replied there is your problem, as the only mobile phone service in Birdsville was Telstra.


Stick with the company that you know works where others will not.





Cheers



Stephen

Maybe a pain in the but Telstra is the only way to go. Also very handy for using phone as a hot spot to connect PC/Tab to internet.
Cheers, Dave.

And if you climb to the top of Mt Augustus in WA you even get Telstra reception.
Chris

Hi Peter, as you no doubt can see Telstra comes highly recommended. Be wary of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) who only share some of the Telstra network infrastructure but not the superior 4GX network. Spend some time looking at Telstra coverage maps which of course aren't gospel but will give you an idea of the superior coverage that only they can provide.

Cheers
Bryan

First up I am a long term Vodafone customer, BUT I would never rely on them for outback use. I use a prepaid Telstra phone for that. But back to Vodafone, they have no coverage north of Port Augusta until either Yulara or Alice, after that the next coverage is Tennant Creek or Mt Isa. Those Four yes Four place are all that Vodafone has coverage in. All the rest there is Zip, Nil, nought, Nothing.

Vodafone has excellent reception up to and including 2.3 kms from every Capital City's CBD. If you travel within those areas you should be fine.

If you venture out further than that expect nothing. Great for navigating to a coffee shop for cappuccinos, and checking out the latest news on the Greens candidate in your city electorate.

hi Bravo, I have vodaphone prepay, and am in the west, was hopeless,I was in a goldfields town,leonora, about 9 hours ? from perth, I couldn't even send a text never mind a phone call. Also my wife recently got a coles prepay ,which is optus 3 and 4g Also pretty hopeless, was in Cue about 650 kms from perth, no network, and didn/t get signal till about just over 2 hours ,just north of New Norcia.seems that if you haven't got Telstra, no good. My vodaphone prepay no network either. We have been in the goldfields in the past, and at night on a Telstra one, all messages used to come in, and if on a hill somewhere could even make a call if a signal wasn't too far away. Hope that helps. Bob

Thanks for all your comments.

I think I will stay with Telstra until after our next trip away ending mid Oct.

Then I might change to Vodafone as the deal is to good to miss for my circumstance.

Thanks all again.....Peter