Sunday, September 16, 2007
Mobile phone purchases
Next G Turbo Modem
The problems I was having was several issues with the new Next G wireless broadband network cards, which work on the USB port. This broadband network is supposed to be able to provide speeds of 14megabits and according to Telstra’s chief executive it will be increased to 17.7megabits shortly. The network card manufacturer by maxcom as shown in this article from APC magazine http://apcmag.com.au/6703/telstra_still_selling_non_vista_devices from July this year. At that time there had just been a new set of drivers released but maxon on their website says “If you’re a Telstra Turbo Modem user, we have updated drivers for you, however the full connection manager still does not work with Vista. ...” This unfortunately makes the drivers useless and the 300 dollars for the item a waste of money and its real pain if you have just bought a new Toshiba laptop with vista like my clients have. I rolled the clients machine back to xp with toshiba’s help. Toshiba were fantastic but as their tech support said to me why should they be picking up telstra’s mess by offering their clients XP roll backs which costs them money and Microsoft aren’t exactly impressed with that idea either. A Telstra dealer in Port Macquarie told me I should forget about trying to set up the cards on vista and just go XP.
Handsets:
CDMA – Firstly my boss from the night club I work at in Port Macquarie literally one week before they announced the closure of the network had bought a CDMA IPAQ which is a Palmtop Computer and Smart Phone on the CDMA network he paid 1299 for it and will only get 15 months use out of it, he is very unimpressed with Telstra. Also the CDMA network is better for people with hearing aids as it does not buzz them like a GSM phone does (its like putting a GSM phone near a radio)
I pay my mothers phone bill and she was on a 20 dollar plan with a Nokia 6385 handset included with 20 dollars worth of calls per month. Nice plan, Telstra were offering a similar plan with a free handset on Next G but the Handset was a Telstra 152 Handset made by a company called ZTE. It is the most clunkiest, difficult to navigate handset and also its impossible for an older person to see the buttons. I took a ZTE handset but am returning it to Telstra with a rocket as it is crap.
NEXT G Handsets:
It was interesting to note that nokia took its time to come along to the next g network. In IT circles the conjecture was that Nokia did not want there reputation tarnished if the next g network failed to be up to scratch. There is only one nokia handset available on Next G but to qualify for it as a free handset you must sign up to the 80 dollar per month plan. Motorola and Sansung seem the only option unless you want the cheap and very flakey ZTE rang of Telstra phones or a very expensive PDA style smart phone at a cost of thousands.
Current GSM coverage:
The three major infrastructure based telecommunications providers Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone has varying GSM and 3G / EGSM coverage across Australia. I three phones with me one optus, one on Telstra and one on vodaphone.
Vodaphone works well in Port Macquarie near transit hill, hopelessly in the CBD but OK along the highway as Vodaphone concentrates all its efforts on the highways but it doesn’t work in wauchope. Optus works well in Port Macquarie all over, brilliantly on the north shore and in the wauchope cbd but move out of the CBD and forget making a call, optus does not work in lake Cathie and bonny hills just like vodaphone. Telstra GSM works well right around the hastings in most cases but not past the wauchope town limits, works well in Port Macquarie accept on the north shore. Needless to say if I want the opportunity of making a call in any area on the GSM network I triple my chances by having three phones as in most cases one atleast works.
Finding the right handset:
As you said in most cases most people want a decent handset and just makes calls and send the odd text message. Video calls, multimedia messaging and tv via mobile are tertiary concerns. However, big buttons and easy to answer and navigate are the primary concern for most people, whilst I have bought my mother a Nokia 5300 which is a pretty wizzbang phone with all the whistles and bells, it’s the fact you can get to the base operations and functions very easily.
In summary, the network isn’t up to scratch yet, the range of handsets are extremely limited and the cost of the Next G is ridiculously over priced compared to optus or vodpahones 3G/ESM products. However, the only company that can currently provide the best service even if it is greatly reduced by the introduction of Next G is Telstra purely because they own the largest amount of infrastructure and land which was procured by government land grabs when it was government owned.
Thank you once again for talking to Telstra Country Wide and putting the questions that were very important to ask, no commercial station has really asked these, the local ABC in Port Macquarie have also hammered Telstra on the lack of service with the next g network and the forced change to Next G.
The problems I was having was several issues with the new Next G wireless broadband network cards, which work on the USB port. This broadband network is supposed to be able to provide speeds of 14megabits and according to Telstra’s chief executive it will be increased to 17.7megabits shortly. The network card manufacturer by maxcom as shown in this article from APC magazine http://apcmag.com.au/6703/telstra_still_selling_non_vista_devices from July this year. At that time there had just been a new set of drivers released but maxon on their website says “If you’re a Telstra Turbo Modem user, we have updated drivers for you, however the full connection manager still does not work with Vista. ...” This unfortunately makes the drivers useless and the 300 dollars for the item a waste of money and its real pain if you have just bought a new Toshiba laptop with vista like my clients have. I rolled the clients machine back to xp with toshiba’s help. Toshiba were fantastic but as their tech support said to me why should they be picking up telstra’s mess by offering their clients XP roll backs which costs them money and Microsoft aren’t exactly impressed with that idea either. A Telstra dealer in Port Macquarie told me I should forget about trying to set up the cards on vista and just go XP.
Handsets:
CDMA – Firstly my boss from the night club I work at in Port Macquarie literally one week before they announced the closure of the network had bought a CDMA IPAQ which is a Palmtop Computer and Smart Phone on the CDMA network he paid 1299 for it and will only get 15 months use out of it, he is very unimpressed with Telstra. Also the CDMA network is better for people with hearing aids as it does not buzz them like a GSM phone does (its like putting a GSM phone near a radio)
I pay my mothers phone bill and she was on a 20 dollar plan with a Nokia 6385 handset included with 20 dollars worth of calls per month. Nice plan, Telstra were offering a similar plan with a free handset on Next G but the Handset was a Telstra 152 Handset made by a company called ZTE. It is the most clunkiest, difficult to navigate handset and also its impossible for an older person to see the buttons. I took a ZTE handset but am returning it to Telstra with a rocket as it is crap.
NEXT G Handsets:
It was interesting to note that nokia took its time to come along to the next g network. In IT circles the conjecture was that Nokia did not want there reputation tarnished if the next g network failed to be up to scratch. There is only one nokia handset available on Next G but to qualify for it as a free handset you must sign up to the 80 dollar per month plan. Motorola and Sansung seem the only option unless you want the cheap and very flakey ZTE rang of Telstra phones or a very expensive PDA style smart phone at a cost of thousands.
Current GSM coverage:
The three major infrastructure based telecommunications providers Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone has varying GSM and 3G / EGSM coverage across Australia. I three phones with me one optus, one on Telstra and one on vodaphone.
Vodaphone works well in Port Macquarie near transit hill, hopelessly in the CBD but OK along the highway as Vodaphone concentrates all its efforts on the highways but it doesn’t work in wauchope. Optus works well in Port Macquarie all over, brilliantly on the north shore and in the wauchope cbd but move out of the CBD and forget making a call, optus does not work in lake Cathie and bonny hills just like vodaphone. Telstra GSM works well right around the hastings in most cases but not past the wauchope town limits, works well in Port Macquarie accept on the north shore. Needless to say if I want the opportunity of making a call in any area on the GSM network I triple my chances by having three phones as in most cases one atleast works.
Finding the right handset:
As you said in most cases most people want a decent handset and just makes calls and send the odd text message. Video calls, multimedia messaging and tv via mobile are tertiary concerns. However, big buttons and easy to answer and navigate are the primary concern for most people, whilst I have bought my mother a Nokia 5300 which is a pretty wizzbang phone with all the whistles and bells, it’s the fact you can get to the base operations and functions very easily.
In summary, the network isn’t up to scratch yet, the range of handsets are extremely limited and the cost of the Next G is ridiculously over priced compared to optus or vodpahones 3G/ESM products. However, the only company that can currently provide the best service even if it is greatly reduced by the introduction of Next G is Telstra purely because they own the largest amount of infrastructure and land which was procured by government land grabs when it was government owned.
Thank you once again for talking to Telstra Country Wide and putting the questions that were very important to ask, no commercial station has really asked these, the local ABC in Port Macquarie have also hammered Telstra on the lack of service with the next g network and the forced change to Next G.
# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 1:39 AM 
