Hi Guy's...
I am so very confused...
I live in Mandurah and the coverage with any other provider (apart from telstra) is crap.
The phone I will get is for Mandurah use and country use...not interested in city use, so the coverage is important.

So my provider will be telstra.....and they seem to say that I have to buy a telstra branded phone to get the best coverage...is this so?

Why is that, can someone please explain...?

I want to buy a Samsung galaxy note off ebay or gumtree...but how in the world will I know if it is the right MHz or what ever it is I need to know to buy a telstra phone..

God I hope this make sence ...give me a computer to fix any day

Thanks guys

Gypsy, went through same bull with phone 2 days ago. Dropped my galaxy SII and just wanted to replace the handset.
After about an a hour of mucking around with telstra, cracked the big one and walked out of the store.
Went to a non-carrier store sorted out the coverage question in about 1 minute and got the galaxy note in my hand for a few bucks more than what telstra wanted for the SII and hundreds less than SIII.

FlySurfer said...
Telstra uses.

2G 900 MHz/1800 MHzGSM/EDGE
3G 850 MHzUMTS/WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+
3G for cities 2100 MHzUMTS/WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+
4G for cities 1800 MHzLTE

ANY unlocked phone that has a radio for these bands will work... BUT 3G 850Mhz has the widest coverage AFAIK.

The Galaxy III and Note II do, but don't support the WCDMA interface (pretty sure nobody using WCDMA now).
www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9305_galaxy_s_iii-5001.php
www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note_ii_n7100-4854.php

Most other networks use 900/1900/2100Mhz for 3G and so a lot of phone makers to simplify things only cater for these.

Thanks FlySurfer...
so from what I think you are saying...if I buy a phone that is
3G 850Mhz..it runs on the telstra country coverage...? yes?
please let the answer be yes..lol

oh and I just want to get a Note..not a Note 2....

When they say "Telstra branded phone for country use" I am sure it is only because Telstra has specifically sought out, or ordered the manufacture of, phones with slightly better range. Those 2 or 3 models are a bit better in the country than just a "whatever" phone from somebody else.

However, that is for true country use, and you will maybe get an extra 10km from the tower. In Mandurah anything will do, surely?

I have had a Samsung Omnia Icon for 3 yrs (with Telstra) and have full coverage for most of Perth to Albany, Perth to Gero etc with maybe 3 or 4 dropouts of 20km length on those journeys. That is not bad for a phone with no external aerial same as city folk (poor buggers) use.

What annoys me is there are no phones with a hardwired aerial plug any more. I used to have a phone I could plug into my high gain aerial on the car and have full coverage pretty much anywhere within 100km of a town and that was a big bloody area, like all the way to Esperance. Try that nowadays
Shame - cos that meant comm's on some very very remote beaches where nothign else was viable, and now it is gone. Getting worse not better is weird...

I have a head ache ...... I've had a headache for a week now..
interesting mark and oceanfire

When we got to mandurah and the house we are in..Vodafone was crap
optus was crap and telstra is great...
with optus and vodaphone I have to stand out side in the wind and rain to be on the bl@@dy phone....and internet connection..was zilch...

I know my vodaphone does not work in Jurien bay
So was just BITING the bullet and getting every thing telstra...as early next year we will be doing alot of prospecting and touring the country...so I just wanted the best coverage i could buy...and I just wanted to stick to one company for 1 bill...

I'm going to sleep on it

The point I was making is that if the Note works so well for me on Optus, it'll definitely work well for you on Telstra.
Go to kogan, best deals on phones, I always buy my phones outright.

One thing that a lot of people wouldn't know about (or care about) is that Vodafone are rolling out their 'new' network. The new network in an attempt to improve coverage, and to do this, they have also elected to use the 850mhz HSDPA network.

What this means, is that a lot of the phones from Vodafone are able to work on the Telstra network on 850mhz (their NextG network).

Of course, you need to make sure that the phone supports the right frequency before buying it, but I have a Samsung Galaxy SII and a Samsung Galaxy W from Voda, and they both work on Telstra fine. A lot of the phones come from Vodafone already unlocked, so this might help if you buy one from them.

Telstra have their 'blue-tick' certification for some of their phones, which means that they are recommended for rural use. This means that they either have better reception OR that they can take an external antenna (to give better reception).

FormulaNova said...
Telstra have their 'blue-tick' certification for some of their phones, which means that they are recommended for rural use. This means that they either have better reception OR that they can take an external antenna (to give better reception).

Maybe it has changed but last time I looked NO phone on the market took an aerial plug in the back (hard wired).
They only had (at best) a cradle that had a passive pickup (ie phone aerial really really really close to cradle) and that extended range a p00fteenth compared to a proper aerial PLUG.

If that has changed and phones are again available with a socket in the back I am interested.

Mark _australia said...

GypsyDrifter said...
When we got to mandurah and the house we are in..Vodafone was crap
optus was crap and telstra is great...
with optus and vodaphone I have to stand out side in the wind and rain to be on the bl@@dy phone....and internet connection..was zilch...

I know my vodaphone does not work in Jurien bay

That's why I honestly wonder why everyone does not go with Telstra - unless they live in the city (poor buggers) and never ever leave. When my staff move to the country I tell them to get with Telstra, usually they don't, and 6mths later they have the sh!ts with Vodafail or Flybynight.co ....... and go to Telstra.

Then again, we allowed the Govt to sell us a company we already owned so that "competition" would drive prices down and GenY could get $10 off an iPhone they don't need, and less coverage in the bush.

In the cities, coverage from Optus and Vodafone can be good, and there are a lot of people that don't leave the city or can cope with coverage along the highways.

The reason they do this is price. They can be a lot cheaper, although as you have noted, coverage outside regional areas is not so good.

Mark _australia said...

FormulaNova said...
Telstra have their 'blue-tick' certification for some of their phones, which means that they are recommended for rural use. This means that they either have better reception OR that they can take an external antenna (to give better reception).

Maybe it has changed but last time I looked NO phone on the market took an aerial plug in the back (hard wired).
They only had (at best) a cradle that had a passive pickup (ie phone aerial really really really close to cradle) and that extended range a p00fteenth compared to a proper aerial PLUG.

If that has changed and phones are again available with a socket in the back I am interested.

I haven't looked for a while, but I explicitly went out of my way to buy some NextG capable phones that had external antenna sockets. I haven't used them for a while, and I am not sure if they still sell them, but I will see if I can find out/remember what they are.


edit: It looks like they are ZTE phones

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-TELSTRA-ZTE-T100-UNLOCKED-BLUE-TICK-NEXT-G-PHONE-EXTERNAL-ANTENNA-SLOT-/221071412668?pt=AU_Mobile_Phones&hash=item3378e20dbc

Try a search for 'netxg antenna' on ebay and see what shows up. You will need to buy a patch cord to go from whatever phone to the antenna lead (it should be a standard connection for a nextg antenna or your car antenna).

I used one of these with my car antenna and had excellent coverage in the middle of nowhere in rural Victoria.

FormulaNova said...

Mark _australia said...

GypsyDrifter said...
When we got to mandurah and the house we are in..Vodafone was crap
optus was crap and telstra is great...
with optus and vodaphone I have to stand out side in the wind and rain to be on the bl@@dy phone....and internet connection..was zilch...

I know my vodaphone does not work in Jurien bay

That's why I honestly wonder why everyone does not go with Telstra - unless they live in the city (poor buggers) and never ever leave. When my staff move to the country I tell them to get with Telstra, usually they don't, and 6mths later they have the sh!ts with Vodafail or Flybynight.co ....... and go to Telstra.

Then again, we allowed the Govt to sell us a company we already owned so that "competition" would drive prices down and GenY could get $10 off an iPhone they don't need, and less coverage in the bush.

In the cities, coverage from Optus and Vodafone can be good, and there are a lot of people that don't leave the city or can cope with coverage along the highways.

The reason they do this is price. They can be a lot cheaper, although as you have noted, coverage outside regional areas is not so good.

Took my Note all the way to Exmouth from Perth, worked a treat in all the towns we stopped in.
Unless you're drilling in the bush; what more could you want?
Anything else seems to be a pissing contest.

oceanfire said...
Took my Note all the way to Exmouth from Perth, worked a treat in all the towns we stopped in.
Unless you're drilling in the bush; what more could you want?
Anything else seems to be a pissing contest.

Everything works in most towns.
Or most things work in all towns.
Yup.

The proof however is when you have life n death stuff going on in-between towns, in the areas they designate as "covered" and you have no service.

Many many country dwellers have experienced such........... and they were not outback drillers.

FormulaNova said...

GypsyDrifter said...
Thanks for the chat on this..I am listening with interest

I could buy from kogan...I suppose...but wanted to get one local if I could..
but then...I really don't want a phone that's been dropped either....
(I'm not a phone dropper...but I know peoples do.)

The thing that is really wizzing me off is on ebay...the peoples that have put their notes up for sale...have put info up for the samsung tablet....so to actually know if it on the 850Mhz..bla bla bla..I would have to actually email them all and ask and they would actually have to know the answer to the question...which I highly doubt

It seems that the Model you are after is the Galaxy Note N7000 (or N7000-B)

www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note_n7000-4135.php

It is quad band, so it supports the 850, the 900, the 1900, and the 2100mhz bands. Telstra use the 850 band (although they still use the 2100 band at the moment in some areas).

You will be okay with these on Telstra.

Here's an example on ebay (for a white one):

www.ebay.com.au/itm/SAMSUNG-Galaxy-NOTE-GT-N7000B-smartphone-mobile-cell-phone-WHITE-excellent-condi-/320997073111?pt=AU_Mobile_Phones&hash=item4abceaa0d7

Yep.
Great phone. I love it so much.

@ Mark

My son has bought the galaxy III and modified the back of the case so he can plug in an external ariel. There is a service port in the circuit board that will accept a plug. He said there is a fair bit of info about it on the net..

As much as people bitch on about Telstra, if you want a mobile service that works almost everywhere then you can't go past Telstra.
I've stopped off in some of the most out of the way places up north and got 3g broadband as good or better than I get in the city. Many minesites and aboriginal settlements have their own 3G antenna and there's lots of those sprinkled around the bush. Often you don'r even know you're near one. You just start up the computer and find you have 3G broadband. WOW! Out here?? Really??

So if you're going to use it travelling around the sticks, don't even consider anything else.