what mobile phone network?

surfjunkie

my 02pay as you go phone is currently roaming on telstra. what is a good network to use in oz? do i really need to get an oz sim or would it just cost me a fortune to keep using o2 over here?

lawhec

surfjunkie wrote: »

my 02pay as you go phone is currently roaming on telstra. what is a good network to use in oz? do i really need to get an oz sim or would it just cost me a fortune to keep using o2 over here?

I'd say the O2 Ireland sim will keep costing you a fortune!

If you had ported your number over to Vodafone Ireland before you left and enabled passport, your calls would have potentially cheaper (79c + cost of call at home to make, 79c to receive). If you had a 3 IRL mobile contract you could also use it out here on a "3 like home" basis (though its coverage is limited - see below).

There's four main networks out here in Australia - Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and 3 (3G only).

Telstra have the best coverage but its call costs are also the highest in general, though it can work out to be good value. If you intend to be outside the main cities quite a lot, it may be worth while sticking to them as they might be the only operator in a fair number of areas.

Optus are popular and come in second on coverage. However I find that their pre-paid plans give me a headache to work out!

Vodafone come in a distant third in terms of popularity in Australia, a postition not familiar to them compared to their other markets. They have a mixture of caps (as they're called) and plans on pre-paid where on the later you get rewards which get better the more you top up in one go, plus you also get free Voda-Voda minutes as well (except for the connection fee or "Flagfall" as its called out here). Coverage not as good as Telstra or Optus, but fine in the main population centres and tourist resorts.

Three only have their own coverage on a 3G network that was built by both them and Telstra by agreement in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide & Canberra. Use Telstra's GSM network outside of their own coverage but on pre-paid it costs more when doing so.

There are also a fair amount of MVNOs as well. The most popular is Virgin Mobile which uses Optus' network. Others include iSim, Boost and Sprint Mobile. MVNO's on Vodafone include Crazy John's, Just Mobile. I have a Sim Card for Savvytel myself who use the Vodafone network.

On the face of it, the charges for pre-paid calls on the networks in Australia look rather dear, this is an effort to drive customers on to what is called Pre-paid cap deals where a certain amount is committed and you get rewarded a larger amount to spend on the network in return e.g. top up on Vodafone on a $29 cap and you get $80 to spend. This sounds good until you realise that it only lasts for 30 days before you're cut off, you have to top up each month. If you're going to use your mobile on a regular basis it will probably be worthwhile otherwise you could get easily burnt.

There's more to it that what's written above, for example Telstra have a "Next-G" network which gives them their large coverage area but the majorlty of phones currently sold in Europe won't support it (it is a UMTS/HSPA 850MHz network) and would fall back on to GSM.

As for phoning back to Ireland, mobile phones aren't really the best way to do it and the main mobile networks aren't cheap either. Your best way for this is to pick up a calling card where you can call them for a few cents a minute from a payphone. Some of the MVNO's do reasonable deals compared to the networks they are on for overseas calls as well, though they will still work out dearer than a calling card.

P.S. If you buy a pre-paid phone package or even just the Sim-card if your phone is unlocked, you will need some form of ID with you when you either buy it or register it (possibly both) - your passport will be fine.

surfjunkie

thanks a million for that.