Ever since I switched my iPhone to Telstra’s Next G network a few months ago, I haven’t had a single dropped call and mobile browsing is a dream. But as the complaints posted online during today’s Optus outage demonstrated, not everyone can be so fortunate.
So here at Delimiter, we’ve created this handy motivational poster to help Optus mobile customers through the bad times.
Remember, Telstra’s not that expensive any more.
Image credit: Delimiter
Absolutely agree. Moved from Optus to Telstra after over 10 years of patronage at the former. It’s so nice to be able to call someone in a shopping center and having the call connect first time if they are on Telstra. What’s the point of massive data plans on the other telcos when you can’t use it?
Precisely. I find a use a lot more of my quota on Telstra — because the data actually arrives at my phone in a timely fashion. And by the way I have two monthly Telstra plans — one for my phone and one for my USB mobile broadband dongle. So I’m double Next G-enabled.
I made the swtich to Telstra mobile a couple of months ago. My house is inner Brisbane, I was on 3 and I wasn’t getting mobile reception… yeah, I know.This plan is similar, reception is everywhere, internet fast. I never thought I’d say it, but I recommend Telstra for mobile.
I’ve heard so many similar stories to this :)
Telstra are an Australian Company who have taken a hammering from Graham Samuel’s ACCC and both the Labor and Howard Coalition Governments. They have been accused of abusing their dominant position in the market and anti competitive behaviour. We have seen many Australian Companies destroyed by Australian Governments. Isn’t it about time we supported Australian Companies.
and for the most part, they deserved it.
That said, my phone has been great on Telstra. Better coverage, better reception in the coverage areas, much much more reliable and faster data and less voice issues.
When I got my iPhone 3G not long after launch, Optus was $82/month & Telstra was ~$240. No contest :). This time around, Telstra was $79 & Optus would have been ~$70 I think.
I think it comes down mainly to the CEO at the time. Under Sol Trujillo, Telstra acted like a bully, pushing its weight around a stack and pretending that anything it did didn’t affect its competitors (who are also some of its biggest customers, through the Wholesale division).
Under Thodey the company has become a lot more humble, tackling market share in areas where it matters and being a lot more conciliatory in areas where it doesn’t. I think in some ways Telstra is getting the raw end of the stick at the moment and it’s actually Optus that is being arrogant; but then again Telstra has many buckets of cash, so they can deal with it.
I think under Ziggy it might have been a mixed bag? :)
The recent price squeezes on ADSL was straight out of Sol’s playbook- they’re just less obvious about it now.
I would (and do) only use Telstra for mobiles, everything else I actively try to have with other companies.
Personally, I would rather do business with a company that doesn’t violate Free software licenses (such as Telstra does), even if they have bad coverage.
And cmon, its not like they haven’t unfairly targeted, Telstra have never played fair, they fought the government for every inch of reform. They delayed and challenged everything the ACCC did, remember the local loop charges with iinet ?
Im glad you have got good mobile reception now, but dont let Telstra use that as an excuse to be bad.
Good luck finding one Glenn.
Very true – now, if only their Customer Service could be improved, maybe with a baseball bat ?
To be fair, I have been dealing with Telstra’s twitter team and they have been extremely good.
Can’t say the same for when I had to ring technical though, 2 months on and I still haven’t had a call back. Solved the problem myself though.
I find it funny when people talk about coverage, and cost, especially comparing the two providers.
I live in a country town, and have recently switched to optus when a store opened in my town. I was concerned about the coverage. Since i have signed up, i have had better coverage then i ever had when i was with telstra. People talk about that telstra have the best coverage etc.. etc… but when you live out here, you would say different.
Second, in regards to price, they are still a hell of a way behind anyone else on the market. Just look at a 49 plan, everyone has something comparable, and theres is no where near any other.
The last thing we have an issue with out here, is customer service. I was with telstra for the last few years, and had a heartache everytime i tried to anything to fix my service. Since i have changed, i have been happy with the staff i have spoken (but of course the call centre needs work.)
Well thats my twocents.
Coverage is always location based. You must live in a large regional centre :). For example, Rylstone/Kandos (near Mudgee) have only Telstra reception. The highway from Lithgow to Mudgee has much more Telstra reception then anyone else.
In Sydney, the 3 supermarkets near where I live do not have good Optus coverage- can’t use data while in them while Telstra is fine :).
I actually live in a town with a population of around 10000, with a greater number of towns ranging in population in about 200. In all these locations, reception is far better than that of telstra, leading to a large number of friends and families changing across (especially farmers who were sick of the telstra customer service).
I have done a hell of alot of driving in this region as i am on the road alot, and i have to say i am having better reception than i ever had. And correct, you need to hit up the dual band coverage or else your not going to have the luck. Good thing most phones are now dual band (apart from iphone 3g and 3gs.)
Do Optus promote dual band? I’m sure they would get heaps more customers if they did. Telstra’s customer service is terrible in country areas. The reps (based in the city) often ask you for a street number when you place a call. After you keep telling them you live on a property that does not have a street number they don’t believe you. After you convince them, they then question you: “Are you able to get mail there? How could someone possibly deliver something to your address, they would have no idea where to deliver it to?” They have no knowledge of the area at all.
I know the store near me does promote it. And when i was doing my research they were close to renaming it something, i think it was Open Network or something.
Sure, if you live in town, Optus will have reception in larger 5,000 > 10,000 people. Travel 10km out of town and you’re out of luck (maybe you will get 1 bar of reception from a nearby highway). Optus and others, simply don’t cut it. If you’re a farmer, doctor or veternarian out on call, you need reception in the middle of nowhere.
The advantage Telstra have is all the old CDMA towers operate in the same 850 band as 3g and were upgraded (operate in the low 800Mhz frequency range). The reception still isn’t as good as CDMA used to be, but it’s pretty close.
Optus has lots of 900Mhz 3G in regional areas- coverage characteristics similar to NextG but you need a 900Mhz capable phone (plenty of people don’t so think Optus coverage is crap- easily fixed tho).
They still don’t have as many areas covered tho.
Interesting… wasn’t aware of that.
“Optus 3G dual band service is part of the Open Network and refers to our UMTS2100MHz/900MHz coverage. Coverage available throughout the Open Network in 3G dual band areas subject to network availability. You will require an Optus 3G dual band compatible device to access the 3G dual band coverage, throughout the Open Network.”
Pretty good comparison on their website between dual and single band coverage + 2G:
http://www.optus.com.au/aboutoptus/About+Optus/Network+Coverage/Optus+Network+Coverage+Maps/NSW
Something that is pretty interesting is that they are improving their coverage in Tasmania.
If you’re talking about “1 bar of reception on the highway”, remember – most cars these days have some level of tinting applied to their windows, and most tinting is by way of metal film, which adversely affects mobile connectivity.
You’re also moving – (making the connection less stable) – and inside a metal cage surrounded by other electrical systems which generate interference.
I agree, there are black spots all over the place (while traveling) with Telstra, even on the well traveled Hume highway.
With regards to receiving 1 bar of signal, I’m talking about walking up to the top of the nearest hill and attempting to get line of sight to the tower to get one bar of signal, not while moving. This used to be the case with Optus (outside bigger towns such as Young and even Wagga) in the Riverina. Not sure how that has changed with Optus 900Mhz 3g. But most people who live out of town were on Telstra CDMA and are now on Telstra 3g, and even then, they don’t get adequate reception in areas. When they converted over from CDMA to 3g it was delayed because those dependent on coverage in regional areas were concerned that 3g wouldn’t offer the same coverage as the CDMA network.
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S10241.pdf
I don’t think Optus even has to comply to similar requirements and that is why people simply do not rely on Optus or others in country areas.
Generally speaking, phone towers aim their signal slightly downwards – (most people don’t live at the top of hills) – so the signal is directed mostly towards the handsets.
Every site is different of course – (and it is very possible to get signal high up in the air) – with the antennas focusing power towards the area where coverage is sought, so a test like walking to the top of a hill and seeing how many bars you get is interesting, but not necessarily indicative of the average signal/coverage in the area adjacent to the tower.
In an NBN world, it will be much easier for mobile providers to fill in more blackspots.
“In an NBN world, it will be much easier for mobile providers to fill in more blackspots.”
Really – how?
Because there will be fibre everywhere — so all they have to do is put up a tower alongside it.
Yeah, not rocket science…
Well not really, this would come back to the debate on how many POIs there are going to be as that is where a retail carrier mobile tower would need to connect to the NBN fibre. It’s all well and good to have the fibre running alongside a remote highway but if the closest POI is 500kms away it will still be up to the retail carrier to run another fibre run from the POI to the tower.
Nothing to do with POIs.
A POI is a landmark location on the network, where traffic is handed off between the NBN and the provider’s network.
In this example, a hand-off between, say, Telstra and NBN. That’s why it is called a point of interconnect. It is a point where one network (NBN) and another (Telstra) interconnects.
The tower can therefore be anywhere else on the fibre network, using whatever POI or combination of POIs Telstra negotiated to use, to get the traffic from the NBN to Telstra’s own network.
NBN is a Layer-2 Carriage network – and not much more.
hmmm… you’ve either worded that really badly or something just isn’t quite right.
What you seem to be implying is that the mobile towers will be part of the NBN, ie. there won’t be a POI at the tower and all carriers will use the same towers.
And for reference POIs and transmission networks are my day job, I think you’ve simplified your reply way too much and ended up overcomplicating it.
I’m EXACTLY implying that mobile towers COULD be part of the NBN…
As you have failed to say where you are (perhaps for selfish reasons) your claims can’t be verified unfortunately.
With all the uncertainty and in some cases turmoil concerning the NBN, I hope that when the negotiations with Telstra are finished and Telstra is no longer a monopoly the ACCC (and Telstra opponents) will get off Telstra’s back and allow level playing field competition to proceed.
Renai you criticism of Sol Trujillo somewhat unfair. Sol did not understand that to do business in Australia you had to kiss arse and brown nose to a dominating and stand-over Government. That being as may be, you are correct that David Thodey is a gentleman and does seem to be progressing Telstra.
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