Best mobile phone option for Australia

Morf3h

Hey guys,

I'm heading to Australia for 7 months in July and was wondering if anyone has experience of getting phones down there?

My options are:

1. Buy a prepay here and bring it over and use it sparingly. Means people can call me from home and I won't get charged.

2. Bring my current phone over (SE W580i - Meteor) and buy a sim-card off Vodafone or Three over there.

3. Buy a pre-pay over there and use Skype when i can to call home.

I'm not sure of the mobile networks/competition over there. I know it's certainly not as cheap as Ireland.

Any recommendations/advice?

Cheers,

M

robinph

If you'll have some way of continuing to pay a bill here whilst your away then how about a Three IE phone. People can then call you on your Irish number and you can make calls back without any international charges as long as you are connected to the Three AUS network over there.

Don't know what their coverage might be like down there though.

Edit: Here is the prices for your out of bundle usage and a poor quality coverage map that just seems to have a green splodge down in the bottom right corner and not a lot else.

Morf3h

Holy crap that's fantastic!

That's definitely the way to go, get myself a cheap handset here form Three and use it over there on their network. Brilliant idea thanks dude.

Only problem then is having a number for Australians to call me. I'm working/travelling with a bunch of aussies so it might work if i just get a sim-card over there and stick it in my phone. I can always revert back when i need to call home or whatever.

Cheers Robin!

robinph

Any Aussies calling you would have to call Ireland and get charged some daft rate for it, but whilst your on the Three network you should be able to call them back using your minutes though. I have the same issue when roaming in the UK, but just get people to text me and I then call them back.

Depends on how much calling to/ from Ireland you expect to be doing though as to if that is actually a better option than just getting a local Aussie phone or not though.

Ginger

I used my mobile with a new Pay as you go Sim card and it worked fine. Then I bought a AUD20 call worldwide card to call home .. got aboit 10 hours of call time on it usually.

Ginger

When I was there I used Vodafone.. Texts were cheap to home, just a bit above Aus to Aus.. Also there was packages of text messages which allowed international.

Also there was something about Vodafone to Vodafone in Ireland that meant cheap calls or something but that could have changed.

The main thing is get an Aussie phone, and a phone card if you are going to call home. with the time difference being a big issue (+11 or +9 hours) its easier for you to ring home and there are plenty of payphones will people doing the same thing .. at least in Sydney :P

Walkman

Probably your best bet is to get a 3 phone here for calling home and getting calls from here and a aussie sim for calling your aussie mates.

Morf3h

Yeah Cheers guys that's what i'm gonna do.

M

drunkmonkey

Not so sure taking a 3 ireland phone to OZ is such a hot idea, If your not on the 3 network it will cost you a fortune....Australia is a huge country.....I'd say 3g coverage is nearly non existent outside the main towns and citys......If you plan on travelling go with one of the established networks like telstra......nothing worse than being stuck in the bush with no coverage....

Your best bet is just to have the 1 phone, pick yourself up a new pay as you go phone when your get there (around $99)... I was with telstra for a year and found them excellent...if there was an emergency the folks at home could contact me on it but I usually called home using an international calling card as it's way cheaper......

A call to Ireland from a telstra mobile will be about 55cent a minute and a text to Ireland is about 20cent....that's pretty good considering the cost of calls here from an 02 phone to a vodafone phone (49cent a minute)...