Mobile phones in the bush

Am about to update my mobile phone. Any thoughts as to the best one for coverage out in the bush. ?
Even with Next G, apparently some phones are better than others ?
Slainte, Geronimo.

Gday Geronimo, Whilst browsing the "junk mail" I have noticed that the phones with a blue?( i think) tick under them are described as being better for extended coverage and recomended for rural use. Sorry can't offer any more than that but will be watching this post with interest as I too am looking at replacing my phone (again).

Thanks Billy, i did see some with the blue ticks, just thought someone may know if one of them stands out.
I know that a car antenna helps too, but you need all the help possible out bush.
Geronimo.

Not sure on the phone model with the best reception. Whirlpool forum or a google search should indicate the better ones.

The phone must have an external antenna slot and the type of aerial is impotant depending if you are in hills with lots of bounce the shorter aerial is better or if you are out on the plains where you need the longer aerial.

I live out of range of mobile alot and it not so much an issue of being on the fringe of reception and having a good phone, its more the case that in any remote areas there is simply no reception. They say 95% of the population has coverage....The trouble is 95% of the population live in an area that covers abour 10% of Australia.

If by chance you cannot get mobile coverage where you live you can qualify for a satellite phone subsidy. They are worth consideration if you are in isolated areas alot and may need to be in contact with family or have it for emergencies. Basically the gov will pay most of the phone cost and you just need to be on a plan for 2 years. You will be up for $38 per month for a year and then you can go on a standard $20 telstra plan for the second year. After 2 years you can sell the phone if you like (recovering most of your outlay).
With free SMS from anyone via the iridium website and the ability to call ahead and order spare car parts etc or be contacted by family sat phones are worth a look.
High call costs are the biggest issue.

Tributer

Thanks Tributer, will look into the antenna side of things also.
I did hear that you can also rent satellite phones. Expensive but i guess you have to think whats your life worth when in remote areas.
Nearly got myself totally lost the last time i was in W.A. & believe me - its a very scary feeling. So i don't want to do it again.
Slainte, Geronimo.

I have got a flip top phone that is made by Telstra and it is call Telstra Mobile. It also has a section on the back for an external aerial. It is a good basic Phone but of cause you will have to belong to Telstra unless you buy the phone out rite. But telstra doe's have the best coverage.

Wombat

I just got a new one.
I think its the one Wombat has mentioned.
Telstra Discovery 2.It has a better signal strength than the
LG 550 it replaced. $288 to buy outright if you
dont want to go on a contract.

Alan

Telstra has us all over a barrel, here in the west anyway, if you go bush a lot.
Whatever you do, don't get a Samsung flip phone. They (the Telstra shop in the big smoke) promised me it was the best one for the bush, but I can't make any calls more than 30kms from a town that has coverage since I got it. I went to the extra expense of getting a patch lead kit, but still no joy.
Oh please, if there is someone up there listening, please bring back the CDMA network! It was the best thing that Telstra ever did, and they killed that and made false promises the nextG network would be just as good, if not better. Once again Telstra, you speak with forked tongue.......
Bring on some good telco competition for regional areas!

I have bought several blue star/tick ( whatever) phones over the last 3 years none of which have been much use really and i'm rot even in the bush, just round Nanango. What has been said above is very true, not all phones are equal, as some were deffinetly better than others but none really do as well as cdma did. I even bought a telstra country phone from a telstra shop ( painfully expensive ) and all I can say is i' m underwhelmed with their lack of performance. I've have even been considering buying a satelite phone from ebay in the states. The last I heard ( which was quite some years ago ) was something about selling your soul to someone to make a call by satellite. So at the moment I figure that 27 meg cb with sideband and uhf is a really good backup. Maybee one day a really great great phone that works everywhere all the time, maybee the water in my tanks will turn to 12 year old scotch and the manderine tree out back sprout chocolate bars. I believe in fairys too. lol.

Axeman wrote:I have bought several blue star/tick ( whatever) phones over the last 3 years none of which have been much use really and i'm rot even in the bush, just round Nanango. What has been said above is very true, not all phones are equal, as some were deffinetly better than others but none really do as well as cdma did. I even bought a telstra country phone from a telstra shop ( painfully expensive ) and all I can say is i' m underwhelmed with their lack of performance. I've have even been considering buying a satelite phone from ebay in the states. The last I heard ( which was quite some years ago ) was something about selling your soul to someone to make a call by satellite. So at the moment I figure that 27 meg cb with sideband and uhf is a really good backup. Maybee one day a really great great phone that works everywhere all the time, maybee the water in my tanks will turn to 12 year old scotch and the manderine tree out back sprout chocolate bars. I believe in fairys too. lol.

Yes Axeman, well said - all pigs fed and ready to fly!

Im using the Telstra Discovery made by ZTE, its 2 yrs old and is a blue tick phone.
It has the external antenna port on the back and gets a work out via the small 5-6db magnetic base antenna mounted on my roof. Even without the external aerial its works a treat.
But as above...not all blue tick phones are made equal....do you research.
Basically if there is not port on the back for an external antenna....keep looking.
Directional antenna's (yagi) style will out perform your basic mobile hands down in most places, including going walk-about out bush.
I have a small 2100Mhz yagi packed away in my c/van for those places the vertical is useless, uses the same piggy-tail lead as the magnetic one on my roof.

Gidday M8
We have an LG550 and a broom stick aerial and when we detect in clermont we have from 3-5 bars in 95% of the area and if not we usually only have to move a very short distance to get a signal.The aerial was bought first up to use with our cdma phone the frequencies are the same.
cheers dave

Good info guys, I only bought a phone tonight so don't know how it goes out in the bush...but will soon.

I remember a few years ago we were detecting around Vaughan Springs and had zilch service for calls but needed to send a text, we had been drinking so couldn't get to higher ground......what to do?, so got out the ball of string and tied one end to the phone and the other end to a rock, hoofed the rock up over a branch in a huge red gum tree and hauled the phone to the top, soon enough message was sent and message received.

GoldstalkerGPX wrote:Good info guys, I only bought a phone tonight so don't know how it goes out in the bush...but will soon.

I remember a few years ago we were detecting around Vaughan Springs and had zilch service for calls but needed to send a text, we had been drinking so couldn't get to higher ground......what to do?, so got out the ball of string and tied one end to the phone and the other end to a rock, hoofed the rock up over a branch in a huge red gum tree and hauled the phone to the top, soon enough message was sent and message received.

That is bloody brilliant Goldstalker
"Every problem can be solved with a little thought"

Marvellous stuff indeed

Did you manage to get the phone back?

G'Day
Adrian Did you buy the ball of string and rock from Telstra???
Big Fella

big fella wrote:G'Day
Adrian Did you buy the ball of string and rock from Telstra???
Big Fella

They would be optional extras !!
Geronimo.

Never thought to get the phone down Billy..

Big fella & G.R, Not from Telstra and they were optional extras too, but the rock was DIRT cheap

I live and work in the bush and despite the fact that I hate Telstra with a passion they are the only service provider with coveage and they are all I use.

1. It must be a blue tick
2. It must have the ability to receive a plug in Patch Lead
3. The inductive "patch leads" that stick on the back or in a cradle are very second rate and absoultly no comparison to a dedicated plug in patch lead
4. The only aerial worth considering is the RFI CD2195 or the CD2197....if it has a "Q" in front such as CDQ2195 that simply means the whip is detachable when in town for safety and away from the morons who want to destroy it
5. By far the best phones I have ever used are the Samsung flip or clam shell phones ( I note a previous posters negative comments)...not my experience over the models and the years
6. The best was the A411 A412 (both the same simply one is a prepaid), these were suoperceede by the C5220. If you can lay your hands on of these and couple with the patch lead and the above mentioned aerial you will never get a better combination.
7. Keep your eyes open for a post or pre paid model of the above (doesnt matter the post paid sim works fine in the pre paid)
8. Any Telstra blue tick with a socket for the patch lead is worth grabbing as a back up for the future simply beacuse these socket/patchlead/ clamshell type phones are becoming a collectors item because they are all heading down the path of these touch phons and inductive leads........wont be long before we who need them will be struggling to get the coverage we now get because of above.
9. I just purchased abrand new C5220 as a spare in the cupboard "future proofing"

Just my experience a

Hey Bungarra, 4g is coming.
Hope that dosen't mean we have to 'up-grade' again.

That LG550 I had was very good but the new Disc 2 seems to be better, don't
know about the ones you mention.

Alan

I was thinking to add a comments on this topic until I read Bungarra’s post. He has summarised it very nicely.
On speaking with other people, it would seem that the combination of that particular aerial and Samsung model phone works well.
On my last few trips away (here in the West) I have been using this set-up and was very favourably impressed with the coverage.

Great information there Bungarra, much appreciated, & good to hear from someone living & working in the bush.
I reckon its a good idea also to have the longest range CB that you can afford.
Slainte, Geronimo.

Telstra T165+
High Gain Aerial 9.5
Patch Lead.

Seems to do the job for me and gives good coverage.

A lot of what works and what does not work all gets down to the terrain in a lot of cases.

For example a high gain antennae is a good choice for distance over flat county....for example the other week I was 73km as the crow flies from the tower at Sandstone and got a reasonable reception on both the RFI 2195 and the 2197 (relitavely flat county in between)......the week before near OraBanda the 2195 worked a treat and the higher gain 2197 did not.....the terrain was hilly to undulating........there are plenty of web sites that will give you a good picture of how the gain works to your advantage and disadvantage.......I wont try and detail it all here but put simply..........the higher gain is a much flatter trajectory than a lower gain.......do a google search and a picture is worth a thousand words as they say

if you are only going to purchase one antennae then I reckon the 2195 is the best all rounder

Have a Telstra F165 with car kit & bar mounted aerial which works well. Bought a second one on eBay for a very reasonable price.
When we get remote up goes the home built Yagi directional aerial and corresponding patch lead attached to phone.
Do not know the maximum range but do know that 80km's out it works perfectly.

Cheers
Peter

bungarra wrote:I live and work in the bush and despite the fact that I hate Telstra with a passion they are the only service provider with coveage and they are all I use.

The best was the A411 A412 (both the same simply one is a prepaid), a

Have to agree that the A411 A412 are the way to go!
You can still buy them on ebay, the A411 was locked and prepaid and go a bit cheaper but Telstra will unlock them for free now.
I use a Telstra sim when I go bush and swap it for a hallomobile sim for around the city, (25 cents flag fall, free and untimed call)

Bungarra. I have done quite a bit of work with UHF, programming, SWR etc and found that you can lose a lot of power output through reflection when antennas are mounted close together as yours are. One would work better if you removed the other temporarily. Have you done a SWR reading on each antenna with and without the other one beside it? I think you will be surprised by the difference. What UHFs do you run?

Panther

Hi Panther

Not sure where you are coming from re the placement of my antennae..simply becuase I have posted no pictures of my set up...nor have I ever stated where they are placed in relation to each other............Secondly I am very happy with the performance of both my UHF and 850 Next G antennae. My post was answering on my experience all of which were positive to my experiences not negative.?????????

Have you confused me with another poster

cheers

yep sorry mate, It was quiet bloke piccy. I will stop watching TV at the same time.

The A411 is a top little performer, but be very careful with the rear antenna port, iv seen a couple now rendered useless after plugging in an external antenna. The port is flimsy.

The Samsung A701 as i found out is useless out of the burbs...i took it a step further and found a hidden port in the back of it, to which i plugged an external antenna...how good am i??? and all was good with boosted signal... but cease to function once the antenna was removed from the port ...meaning, while ever it was plugged into something, the phone had reception...unplugged it was only a music playing camera that stored your phonebook.
Its now a clovebox phone....which replaced the A411 which was also a glovbox phone, but drowned in there some time back when i tried to wash my ride in a lake.