Mobile Phone Coverage and Experience

TheBilly on 04/09/2018 - 09:48

Hi All

I travel to remote places frequently (Blue Mountains, Victorian Snowies, New South Wales Snowies, Outback NSW) and as a result I was going to upgrade my mobile phone plan at the next expiry to Telstra for the coverage they provide (this is approximately 7 months away). I'm currently with Virgin Mobile which is great in the cities and towns but useless in the bush or remote roads. However Virgin Mobile is being phased out and replaced with Optus and they have offered to waive my remaining 7 months of commitment if I upgrade to Optus right now which is about $300.

TLDR; I'm placed with a predicament;

  1. I want decent remote mobile phone coverage on roads and highways etc. I know I will never get coverage in the bush.
  2. Do I payout current plan @ $300 and upgrade to Telstra now
  3. Do I wait 7 months for current plan expiry, then upgrade to Telstra.
  4. Do I upgrade to Optus right now and have my current plan payout waived ($300).

Is the coverage for Telstra really much better than Optus in remote areas? does anybody have experience with this?

I recently took 2 phones and used a Telstra prepaid sim in a spare phone in the Victorian Snowies. On mountain peaks I had full coverage on both services, on back country roads my coverage was scattered. Wherever I had Telstra coverage the Virgin coverage eventually connected it just took longer or it had a bar less.

Any advice?

Cheers

Mobile

Comments

  • GG57 on 04/09/2018 - 09:58

    Apart from perhaps safety reasons, is it critical for you to have mobile connection for 100% of your travels?

    • TheBilly on 04/09/2018 - 10:57

      No, not 100% - Typically when in the bush I don't have coverage from anyone. But once we hit a main fire trail or get to the top of a peak or something, we regain reception. So these momentary points of reception are more than sufficient and anymore is not necessary. But I have found that Telstra picks up easier in these instances, so does Virgin but Telstra is stronger.

  • pantsparty on 04/09/2018 - 09:59

    This is really a question only you can answer. You have tried Telstra so you know what to expect. How bad do you want it now? $300 bad? How much do you hate the idea of staying on Virgin for a bit longer?

    • TheBilly on 04/09/2018 - 10:58

      Only problem is, I have never tried Optus. I don't have any issues with Virgin to date.

      • pantsparty on 04/09/2018 - 11:30

        Virgin uses the Optus network. You will have the same coverage on Optus as Virgin.

  • slacktech on 04/09/2018 - 09:59

    Why do you have to pay out a contract for a service that is being shut down by the service provider?

    • slacktech on 04/09/2018 - 10:02

      Nevermind. Apparently it may take up to two years to shut down the network (https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/05/virgin-mobile-is-being…) so you probably will have service for the entirety of your contract. And, of course, in that case you will have to pay out the contract to get on a telco that uses the Telstra network.

      • macrocephalic on 04/09/2018 - 10:59

        "Network". Virgin never had their own network infrastructure, they have always been an MVNO on the Optus network, and have always been at least half owned by Optus (have been fully owned for many years).

    • TheBilly on 04/09/2018 - 11:03

      I won't be paying out if I transfer to Optus, they will just waive my remaining commitment which is $300 or 7 months. I think most of that commitment is made up of the handset charges and not the actual phone plan itself.

  • retiredfeline on 04/09/2018 - 10:07

    What do you have to lose by "upgrading" to Optus? Different plan? Virgin is owned and operated by Optus, it's just a brand they bought ages ago, so the reception should be the same.

    • TheBilly on 04/09/2018 - 10:59

      so the reception should be the same.

      makes sense

  • slacktech on 04/09/2018 - 10:13
    +1

    Looking at the coverage maps (https://lifehacker.whistleout.com.au/MobilePhones/Search?cal…) the Telstra network coverage has by far the largest coverage for outback and 'country' routes. The question, as others have posed, is 'is the extra coverage worth $300 to you'?

    edit - corrected my poor grammar

  • macrocephalic on 04/09/2018 - 11:00

    If you're on an ~18 month old Virgin contract then it's probably not very good anyway. I would take the opportunity to look for a better plan. Probably best to upgrade to a better Optus plan (assuming it's only locked in for 7 months).

    • TheBilly on 04/09/2018 - 11:02

      I would guess that they will lock me in for another 24 if they are waiving my $300 commitment on the old plan.

  • ESEMCE on 04/09/2018 - 11:08

    Telstra covers around double the land area of Optus and or Vodafone…
    So yes, the coverage difference is noticeable in some areas..
    Having said that, Telstra coverage is not guaranteed to be better in the areas your travel, it's just more likely to be better.
    Have a look at the coverage maps of where you travel to see if there's much difference.. They're only a guide, but they're an excellent place to start.

    Assuming there is a noticeable difference in coverage, the next step would be to investigate whether your current handset can receive all Telstra Signal… (namely 850MHz 3G and 700MHz Band 28 4G, most phones will support the other 4G frequencies that are common to Optus and Telstra networks). If not, then you'll likely get WORSE reception on Telstra with your current handset!

    A good compromise position, if you truly NEED the extra coverage is to get a Telstra SIM in a second device (or in the send SIM slot of your current device if it has one with the necessary band support) and see if the difference is worth it on your travels.

    • TheBilly on 04/09/2018 - 11:17

      Assuming there is a noticeable difference in coverage, the next step would be to investigate whether your current handset can receive all Telstra Signal… (namely 850MHz 3G and 700MHz Band 28 4G, most phones will support the other 4G frequencies that are common to Optus and Telstra networks). If not, then you'll likely get WORSE reception on Telstra with your current handset!

      Cheers, I will look into this, I didn't know about the frequencies.

      • BigBirdy on 05/09/2018 - 08:45

        Frequency is a major issue in regional Australia. Where you said you compared your Virgin coverage to a Telstra SIM in a spare handset, were the handsets the same? I was with Virgin and moved from Melb to regional Qld and had lots of black spots until I upgraded my handset (Samsung S4) to one with B28 700Mhz (Samsung S7). Telstra coverage is certainly better, but it doesn’t effect me enough that I’d go back to the evil (& expensive) empire

  • sane on 04/09/2018 - 11:32

    Suggest you get a cheap prepaid SIM for a Telstra or one of their MVNOs, then when you go to one of these out of the way locations, you swap the sim out. That way you can test practical coverage from Telstra (maps lie) and get some service.

    When you are back in town, swap the VM sim back to use up the service till the 7 months is over.

    At the end of that time you will have a better feeling for if Telstra is worth it for you. You are losing nothing since Optus are already useless outside major cities - so you wouldn't be getting service anyway.

    The only way I would touch Optus is if there were no contract.

    • ESEMCE on 04/09/2018 - 12:26

      Suggest you get a cheap prepaid SIM for a Telstra

      or Boost as these are the ONLY 2 providers who have access to the full Telstra Network.

      All the other MVNO's use only the Telstra Wholesale network, which is restricted to a coverage area roughly matching the Optus/Vodafone coverage area.

      • sane on 04/09/2018 - 12:58

        Yeah, but looking at the areas the OP mentions the wholesale vs retail network coverage looks to be pretty similar. Therefore as part of the testing in the 7 months, it would be worthwhile compare each on a cheap SIM to see if it made a practical difference in their case.

  • Ozpit on 05/09/2018 - 15:10

    You’ll get better coverage in remote places with Telstra, that’s a given. Having said that, you’ll still get plenty of dropouts in the scrub with Telstra. I’m currently traveling around Australia (right now in Katherine, NT) and switched from Optus to Telstra before I left Melbourne just so I could get better coverage while traveling. As soon as I got to western Qld I started getting dropouts when outside major towns (and occasionally in little towns), and ditto, but more so, in NT. I’m expecting things to get even worse in WA. In a nutshell, Telstra is better, but far from perfect. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably sit out the seven months with Virgin, and then switch to Telstra. They have some good plans at the moment, but note that their online customer help/service is worse than pig sh*t.

  • popcorn on 18/09/2018 - 10:46

    i used to be with Telstra "business" for so long paying top dollars for their services thinking that i would have the best reception at all time. the fact is its not the best in my opinion. i switched from Telstra on an occasion when my Telstra service showing SOS and my friend next to me using Voda with full coverage, a wake up call to myself that in fact every telco will have drop out and exactly why am i paying so much while there are still possibility of no reception.
    to be honest, you don't save a lot of money from switching around, probably like $10-$20, but providing all the telcos have their goods and bads, i am happy to take the risk of switching to others.
    in short, there isn't any perfect solution for absolute coverage, unless you pay even more for a satellite service, Telstra would probably be on the odds for better coverage however don't expect too high with the coverage.

    • TheBilly on 18/09/2018 - 12:12

      Funny this. I'e determined that you cannot win with the Telcos. I ended up upgrading my plan with Optus and have literally had 2 weeks of nothing but grief. Currently running my old phone with the new sim card as I figure out how I'm going to get the faulty handset they sent me replaced. I go into the store and they tell me to call support, I call support and they tell me to go in store. Never going to Optus again.

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