My current mobile contract is expired and Im looking to get a new contract and phone. Currently with Telstra but their plans arent the best value I dont think. There are some good looking plans about with other networks but Im wondering, can I take my old nuumber to a new network? Also does anyone have any advice on the best value phone to go for? Im looking a few network cap plans with spend of between $25-40 and then a capped value of calls etc but just dont know what is the best/ most reliable type of phone. Ive always had a nokia but open to change. Im not keen to go with 3 network but anyone else I'll try….cheers
Best phone?
Lgretchen on 10/06/2008 - 13:14
Comments
Hey! if you're looking to spend in that buget, Optus has a few phones avaliable on the $19 Cap. I highly recommend the Nokia 6300, Strong and sturdy!
iPhone3G on either optus or vodafone on July 11! :)
sorry,
i just had to. :P
How about virgin?
oh i said vodafone or optus as they were the only official carriers for the upcoming iphone.
Your current number can be taken to the new network, easily. When signing up, inform them about number porting. (I have my first phone number still in use despite changing more then 5 prepaid/postpaid providers so far). Will go to 3 as i dont use that phone on high volume.
Phone wise, better buy a phone that supports 3G as well (nokia 6300 is GSM only phone). You need to write from what you want from phone. Some ideas are:
1) Good battery life (Nokia always, other brands too catching it up)
2) Memory card support (micro SD is cheap and popular, sony ericsson got M2, bit expensive)
3) Bluetooth and A2DP support if you like to listen music from it via stereo headphones (All newer phone supports)
4) If you like camera get minimum 2Meg resolutions (Sony and new samsung got the best/high end camera phones)
5) If you want more tech savy, look for symbion 60 series OS on it (selected nokia/sony ericsson/moto got this). This OS got plenty of free applications like GPS to many more.
6) For an idea, Check the xseries compatibility list from 3 - some phones are not really expensive, http://xseries.three.com.au/xseries/mobiles_compatibility.sh…
7) Other high end features are WLAN on phone, internal GPSPlan wise i dont hv much idea.
what is the problem with 3 network?
Ive just heard bad things in regards to chasing up problems wih them, ie their call centres are all based in India and you cant speak to anyone who speaks English etc etc. It could be all crap but I guess Im just a bit wary after hearing this from a few people…
I think they actually all speak English — just not in an accent most Aussies can understand. Have you seen two Indians speak to each other in English and how fluent they speak? :)
My problem with 3 is actually their network which has pretty bad coverage. They do roam to Telstra but a lot of services are only available inside the 3 zone (Skype call for example). I am living in Sydney Eastern suburbs 5km from CBD, and inside my house I am either having 1 bar of signal or completely dropped out. And when the signal is weak the calls can be very broken. I usually need to explicitly select roaming network to get a call going.
You can use the same number by porting. It's a quick simple process to get it rolling and it just takes a day to get it done.
If it is alright to use prepaid mobile, isim will be a good choice. They charge you secondly and the rate is just 39 cents/min which means if you talk to somebody for 10 seconds, you just pay 6.5 cents. Once you recharge your credit, you can receive phone calls for 186 days for nothing. You can send a text for 15 cents. They use optus's network so everything is just same with their network and coverage.
If you feel like talking to somebody for hours, you can use pennytel's ANI Callback feature. It's just 49 cents to landlines, 79 cents to mobiles. Well, you just pay that no matter how long you use it. I've talked to my girlfriend who is back in Korea for 6 hours once and they charged me just 79 cents for that.
Great tip on PennyTel ANI — haven't noticed this feature until you mentioned it.
How do you work out the rate of 79 cents? 38.8c Australia mobile + 38.8c S. Korea mobile?
That's right. When you receive a callback from Pennytel, they charge you immediately whether or not you reach the person. That's the reason Isim works really well with Pennytel's ANI callback feature. Call a person you wish to reach with Isim mobile and if the person answers, hang up the phone right away. That'll cost you almost nothing. And call him back with Pennytel and actually what's happening is you just call the number from Pennytel then they will disconnect your phonecall and call you back. And you just press the number you wish yo call and they will do the rest. Basically you pay for its callback and your actual phone call at the same time. For example, they charge you 20 cents from landline to landline, 49 cents from mobile to landline(or vice versa), 79 cents from mobile to landline. But it's based on the Internet so the price is just half when you make a phone call with its messenger. It's for Talktillyoudrop plan which I use. It's quite complicated but basically it works exactly the same with Skype's calling forward feature. But it's way cheaper :)
I'm in the same boat :)
I don't like 3 either maybe virgin is the one for you :)