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Cellular Phone Forum / General / GSM / December 2004Prepaid SIM's in Australia
Will be travelling to Sydney, Canberra and Perth in Febuary 2005 and want to take my unlocked GSM tri-band phone from Canada to use while I in Australia for about a month. What would be the best option in terms of prepaid SIM's from an operator who services all three cities? Would like to have voicemail and would make calls both during the day and the evening but not more than 10-15 minutes / day. Would I need to get a different SIM for each city to avoid roaming/long distance charges or would one SIM serve for all three cities? Any feedback on prices and operators and also best place to purchase SIM afetr arriving in Sydney (Kingsfrod Smith Airport) would be very welcome. **** All replies to the newsgroups please **** Cheers insert@email.org Roaming, and long distance charges within a country are a North American thing, not found in Australia. Mobile phones are treated as a separate operation to fixed lines. Your number will be a generic mobile number. All calls within Australia - to whatever city, no matter where you are within the country when you call will be charged the same. Intra network calls (eg. Optus to Optus) sometimes attract lower rates. You will be able to call any fixed line or any mobile number no matter which provider you choose. Essentially there are three service providers - Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. All three offer an extensive gsm service in the cities you mention (and indeed everywhere else too). There are a large number of 'resellers' - Orange, Virgin, B etc etc - but they just package the service from one of the three in different ways. All 3 providers offer pre-paid sim cards, which can be bought in booths and stores in every mall; and in most supermarkets etc throughout the country. Recharge is equally easy. Your unlocked triband Canadian gsm phone will work just fine in Australia. There's little difference in the rates etc on offer. Personally I use Vodafone, but I've used the other two when they have special deals too. Google!! http://www.vodafone.com.au/ http://www.optus.com.au/portal/site/WOCA/menuitem.5ba95d9ff436c43319c0dcfac00345 a0/?vgnextoid=3e8ab5831cf2cf00VgnVCM1000006801540aRCRD http://www.communic8.com.au/ Have Fun! > Will be travelling to Sydney, Canberra and Perth in Febuary 2005 and > want to take my unlocked GSM tri-band phone from Canada to use while I [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > Cheers > insert@email.org > Your unlocked triband Canadian gsm phone will work just fine in Australia. Err, not really, unless you have GSM800, as the GSM1800 towers are "hidden". (Please correct me if wrong).  SignatureElevators smell different to midgets. > Err, not really, unless you have GSM800, as the GSM1800 towers are "hidden". Sorry, typo. You need GSM 900 at least, but usually cannot get GSM 1800 without this. Signature10 out of 5 doctors feel it's OK to be skitzo! You're WRONG!!! Triband phones are 900/1800 (for most of the world) and 1900 for North America! I OWN one, and use it in Australia and Canada!! There are also 4 band phones (don't go there - you obviously don't understand much really at all!!) I often wonder why people with no knowledge, and nothing to contribute persist in misleading others!!! 'Spose it IS Christmas Eve, school's been out for a while.......................................... >> Your unlocked triband Canadian gsm phone will work just fine in >> Australia. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > (Please correct me if wrong). > I often wonder why people with no knowledge, and nothing to contribute > persist in misleading others!!! f.ck off idiot. I made a typo and corrected it. Get stuffed! SignatureHow do I set my laser printer for stun? > You're WRONG!!! > > Triband phones are 900/1800 (for most of the world) and 1900 for North > America! I OWN one, and use it in Australia and Canada!! There are also 4 > band phones (don't go there - you obviously don't understand much really at > all!!) You're wrong. Not all tri-band phones have the same bands. Just because _yours_ is 900/1800/1900 doesn't mean they all are. http://www.expansys-usa.com/product.asp?code=P910A Note this one. 850/1800/1900. Phones can have one, two, three or four bands. For single band phones, personally, I have seen GSM900 and GSM1900. I don't believe that GSM1800-only phones exist. When Europe got GSM1800, dual-band phones came out. GSM900 and GSM1800. You can also get dual-band "World Phones." They do GSM900 and GSM1900. You can use them in Europe and Asia, but you may not be able to use all network providers - VIrgin Mobile UK won't work with a GSM 900 phone, for example. Next came tri-band phones. The first ones were GSM900/GSM1800/GSM1900. More recently, GSM850 has come along. You can now get dual-band GSM850/GSM1900 phones. You can _also_ get tri-band GSM850/GSM1800/GSM1900 phones. In the US, Cingular and AT&T were offerring GSM850, and would not sell a phone that didn't have it. That got the manufacturers to ship GSM850 phones quickly enough. Oh yeah, mustn't forget WCDMA phones that do 2100MHz: http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,58711,00.html GSM900/1800/1900, and WCDMA2100. Quint-band phones will be out eventually. And I just heard about 400-something MHz being used for wideband data in Eastern Europe, so we'll need six bands... As to previous peoples' comments about the quality of European GSM phones over American phones, don't forget Japan. Japan has some of the most advanced phones on the market, and they are CDMA - same basic technology as the US. Not compatible, of course; that would be too easy. The same way Americans are usually unware of how many really cool phones are available in Europe, Europeans aren't aware of how many really advanced phones are on the market in Japan. > I often wonder why people with no knowledge, and nothing to contribute > persist in misleading others!!! I wonder the same. Why do you persist? >For single band phones, personally, I have seen GSM900 and GSM1900. I >don't believe that GSM1800-only phones exist. Nokia 5130 is one! Same as Nokia 5110 was single band 900 Mhz. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >> Your unlocked triband Canadian gsm phone will work just fine in Australia. > >Err, not really, unless you have GSM800, as the GSM1800 towers are "hidden". > >(Please correct me if wrong). You *are* wrong. There is no 1800 in Canada or the US at all. The original GSM frequency used in the Americas (maily excepting Cuba and Venezuela) is 1900. Cellular providers such as AT&T Wireless and cingular have overlaid GSM on their systems and now also use what's referred to as GSM 850 (which is really the same cellular frequencies used in their legacy analogue and TDMA IS-136 systems) Unless you are going to remote areas GSM 1900 capable phones will work fine in Canada and the US. The Microcell network in Canada is totally GSM 1900 though with Rogers buyout of Microcell their customers now have use of Rogers 1900 and 850 networks. 1900 phones should work fine in all but the most remote areas. Rogers and Microcell both run 1900 networks. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - use the best part of a prime, rare, yearling, or the morticians occasional horror: a small miracle stopped short by a drunk driver, or the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting... 2 cups finely chopped very young human flesh 1 cup shredded cabbage 1 cup bean sprouts 5 sprigs green onion, finely chopped 5 cloves minced garlic 4-6 ounces bamboo shoots Sherry chicken broth oil for deep frying (1 gallon) Salt pepper soy & teriyaki minced ginger, etc. 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in a little cold water 1 egg beaten Make the stuffing: Marinate the flesh in a mixture of soy and teriyaki sauces then stir fry in hot oil for till brown - about 1 minute, remove. Stir-fry the vegetables. Put the meat back into the wok and adjust the seasoning. De-glaze with sherry, cooking off the alcohol. Add broth (optional) cook a few more minutes. Add the cornstarch, cook a few minutes till thick, then place the stuffing into a colander and cool; 2 hours Wrap the rolls: Place 3 tablespoons of stuffing in the wrap, roll tightly - corner nearest you first, fold 2 side corners in, wrap till remaining corner is left. Brush with egg, seal, and allow to sit on the seal for a few minutes. Fry the rolls: 325? if using egg roll wraps, 350? for spring roll wraps. Deep fry in peanut oil till crispy golden brown, drain on paper towels. Lemon Neonate Turkey serves just as well, and in fact even looks a bit like a well-dressed baby. By the time you turn the child?s breast into cutlets, it will be indistinguishable. The taste of young human, although similar to turkey (and chicken) often can be wildly different depending upon what he or she has consumed during its 10 to 14 months of life... 4 well chosen cutlets (from the breasts of 2 healthy neonates) 2 large lemons (fresh lemons always, if possible) Olive oil Green onions Salt pepper cornstarch neonate stock (chicken, or turkey stock is f back into the wok and adjust the seasoning. De-glaze with sherry, cooking off the alcohol. Add broth (optional) cook a few more minutes. Add the cornstarch, cook a few minutes till thick, then place the stuffing into a colander and cool; 2 hours Wrap the rolls: Place 3 tablespoons of stuffing in the wrap, roll tightly - corner nearest you first, fold 2 side corners in, wrap till remaining corner is left. Brush with egg, seal, and allow to sit on the seal for a few minutes. Fry the rolls: 325? if using egg roll wraps, 350? for spring roll wraps. Deep fry in peanut oil till crispy golden brown, drain on paper towels. Lemon Neonate Turkey serves just as well, and in fact even looks a bit like a well-dressed baby. By the time you turn the child?s breast into cutlets, it will be indistinguishable. The taste of young human, although similar to turkey (and chicken) often can be wildly different depending upon what he or she has consumed during its 10 to 14 months of life... 4 well chosen cutlets (from the breasts of 2 healthy neonates) 2 large lemons (fresh lemons always, if possible) Olive oil Green onions Salt pepper cornstarch neonate stock (chicken, or turkey stock is fine) garlic parsley fresh cracked black pepper Season and saut? the cutlets in olive oil till golden brown, remove. Add the garlic and onions and cook down a bit. Add some lemon juice and some zest, then de-glaze with stock. Add a little cornstarch (dissolved in cold water) to the sauce. You are just about there, Pour the sauce over the cutlets, meat then season, continue browning. De-glaze with sherry, add the reduced broth. Finally, put in the root vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Place the pie pan in 375 degree oven for a few minutes so bottom crust is not soggy, reduce oven to 325. Fill the pie with stew, place top crust and with a fork, seal the crusts together then poke holes in top. Return to oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until pie crust is golden brown. Sudden Infant Death Soup SIDS: delicious in winter, comparable to old fashioned Beef and Vegetable Soup. Its free, you can sell the crib, baby clothes, toys, stroller... and so easy to procure if such a lucky find is at hand (just pick him up from the crib and he?s good to go)! SIDS victim, cleaned ? cup cooking oil Carrots onions broccoli whole cabbage fresh green beans potato turnip celery tomato ? stick butter 1 cup cooked pasta (macaroni, shells, etc.) Remove as much meat as possible, cube, and brown in hot oil. Add a little water, season, then add the carcass. Simmer for half an hour keeping the stock thick. Remove the carcass and add the vegeta > Will be travelling to Sydney, Canberra and Perth in Febuary > 2005 and want to take my unlocked GSM tri-band phone from > Canada to use while I in Australia for about a month. Which 3 bands? A 900/1800/1900 MHz would be ideal, as Australia uses 900 and 1800 only. All three carriers use 900 MHz predominately, with 1800 providing some reserve capacity. A phone without 900 MHz will be fairly useless (and completely useless on the Telstra network due to a configuration "feature"). There are many 900-only phones still in use. > What would be the best option in terms of prepaid SIM's from > an operator who services all three cities? Would like to have [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > roaming/long distance charges or would one SIM serve for all > three cities? Within Australia, there's no distance-related price difference for calls. With one minor local exception, roaming agreements are non-existent, so you're stuck with the national carrier you choose. All three (Telstra, Optus and Vodafone) have very good city and large town coverage. Country areas have very patchy coverage, except that Vodafone covers major east-coast highways on a government contract. The other two haven't taken up the offer of allowing roaming onto these Vodafone cells. > Any feedback on prices and operators and also best place to > purchase SIM afetr arriving in Sydney (Kingsfrod Smith > Airport) would be very welcome. See http://www.ausmobile.com under "Australian Pre-Paid Guide". Prepaid is very popular, with SIMs and "recharges" being available from supermarkets and a great many other small and large stores. Basic proof of identity is a government requirement at point of initial SIM purchase, but this requirement is sometimes ignored. Incoming calls are free of charge, but charges may apply for voicemail retrieval. John > Prepaid is very popular, with SIMs and "recharges" being > available from supermarkets and a great many other small and > large stores. Basic proof of identity is a government > requirement at point of initial SIM purchase, but this > requirement is sometimes ignored. Lot's of prepaid "caps" being sold at present; ie spend $49-00 and get up to $500-00 worth of calls. Prepaids in OZ can also be recharged from ATM machines - very handy. SignatureWho do you have to sleep with to get service around here? [deleted] > Would like to have voicemail and would make calls both during the day > and the evening but not more than 10-15 minutes / day. [deleted] Adding to the other responses: Note that calling Canada can be quite expensive, so you may want to (also) look at other options: - (Prepaid) Phonecards. - Call-back services. If you (Google Groups) search this group on these keywords, you will probably find (recent) past discussions on these topics. And probably someone will repeat his 'recording' on the call-back services. So I will concentrate on the phonecards. Phonecards are cheapest from a normal phone, but also work from mobile phones. The Telstra PhoneAway card even has a voicemail box, so you would not even need a mobile phone to have voicemail.i If you use these cards frequently and want to save on calling costs to Canada, then it is probably best to buy both a flexible but 'expensive' one like Telstra's PhoneAway card and a less flexible but cheap one. For the latter see <http://www.ozprepaidcards.com.au>. Telstra's PhoneAway card is very flexible. It has a local free call number which can be called from 'everywhere'. I never had a public phone (booth) where I had to pay for the local call. You don't even need a coin. *Hotels* etc. however might/will charge for normally free calls. The card be recharged by buying new cards/vouchers, but also by credit card. You can also use the card in most other countries and you can perform all free services (like checking if there is voicemail, not listening to the voicemail message itself) from these countries. So I, in The Netherlands, can check my 'Aussie' voicemail box and it does not cost me a cent. I even used their customer service desk for half an hour from The Netlerlands without it costing anything. Of course this flexibility comes at a price, which is the higher call rates. Hence my advice to get two different cards. For details on Telstra' PhoneAway card and other Telstra Calling Cards (I have only used the PhoneAway card), see: <http://www.telstra.com.au/callingcardshop/index.htm> I hope this helps. > Phonecards are cheapest from a normal phone, but also work > from mobile phones. ... > Telstra's PhoneAway card is very flexible. It has a local > free call number which can be called from 'everywhere'. I > never had a public phone (booth) where I had to pay for the > local call. Just to clarify Frank's excellent information on phonecards, I should stress that the "free call number" isn't free from a cellular phone. It's likely to be charged at the full domestic rate, plus the phonecard charges. And ironically, calling Canada from an Australian cellular phone within Australia can be cheaper than calling a domestic Australian number. It will depend on the network, and time of day. Phonecards are cheap for calls made from a _landline_ phone. John oil enough for deep frying 1 loaf French bread Lettuce tomatoes mayonnaise, etc. Marinate the fetuses in the egg-mustard mixture. Dredge thoroughly in flour. Fry at 375? until crispy golden brown. Remove and place on paper towels. Holiday Youngster One can easily adapt this recipe to ham, though as presented, it violates no religious taboos against swine. 1 large toddler or small child, cleaned and de-headed Kentucky Bourbon Sauce (see index) 1 large can pineapple slices Whole cloves Place him (or ham) or her in a large glass baking dish, buttocks up. Tie with butcher string around and across so that he looks like he?s crawling. Glaze, then arrange pineapples and secure with cloves. Bake uncovered in 350? oven till thermometer reaches 160?. Cajun Babies Just like crabs or crawfish, babies are boiled alive! You don?t need silverware, the hot spicy meat comes off in your hands. 6 live babies 1 lb. smoked sausage 4 lemons whole garlic 2 lb. new potatoes 4 ears corn 1 box salt crab boil Bring 3 gallons of water to a boil. Add sausage, salt, crab boil, lemons and garlic. Drop potatoes in, boil for 4 minutes. Corn is added next, boil an additional 11 minutes. Put the live babies into the boiling water and cover. Boil till meat comes off easily with a fork. Oven-Baked Baby-Back Ribs Beef ribs or pork ribs can be used in this recipe, and that is exactly what your dinner guests will assume! An excellent way to expose the uninitiated newborns (or chicken) use sherry; red wine with beef (buy steak or roast, do not pre-boil). Pie crust (see index) Whole fresh pre-mie; eviscerated, head, hands and feet removed Onions, bell pepper, celery ? cup wine Root vegetables of choice (turnips, carrots, potatoes, etc) cubed Make a crust from scratch - or go shamefully to the frozen food section of your favorite grocery and select 2 high quality pie crusts (you will need one for the top also). Boil the prepared delicacy until the meat starts to come off the bones. Remove, de-bone and cube; continue to reduce the broth. Brown the onions, peppers and celery. Add the meat then season, continue browning. De-glaze with sherry, add the reduced broth. Finally, put in the root vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly. Place the pie pan in 375 degree oven for a few minutes so bottom crust is not soggy, reduce oven to 325. Fill the pie with stew, place top crust and with a fork, seal the crusts together then poke holes in top. Return to oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until pie crust is golden brown. Sudden Infant Death Soup SIDS: delicious in winter, comparable to old fashioned Beef and Vegetable Soup. |
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