Kiwi traveling to Oz - mobile phone advice?

Kiwi traveling to Oz - mobile phone advice?

Hey travelers!

I’m traveling over to Aussie later on in the year for a few weeks to
go on a road trip around New South Wales and Queensland, and obviously
will be wanting to use my phone from NZ (where I live).

At the moment I’m using Vodafone as my plan for my phone here, and a
mate told me the other day that using a vodafone NZ mobile in
Australia costs the same as in NZ. I’ve found their website and the
offer of the thing with a pretty funny video at
w w w .vodafone.co.nz/scary ...

What do the kiwis traveling over to Oz think? Have any Kiwis here used
vodafone in Australia before?

Cheers!
Traveling Kiwi

Re: Kiwi traveling to Oz - mobile phone advice?

On Sun, 04 May 2008 21:22:05 -0500, KiwiAirborne08 <none@000 . com > wrote:

>Hey travelers!
>
>I’m traveling over to Aussie later on in the year for a few weeks to
>go on a road trip around New South Wales and Queensland, and obviously
>will be wanting to use my phone from NZ (where I live).
>
>At the moment I’m using Vodafone as my plan for my phone here, and a
>mate told me the other day that using a vodafone NZ mobile in
>Australia costs the same as in NZ. I’ve found their website and the
>offer of the thing with a pretty funny video at
>w w w .vodafone.co.nz/scary ...
>
>What do the kiwis traveling over to Oz think? Have any Kiwis here used
>vodafone in Australia before?
>
>Cheers!
>Traveling Kiwi

Post to nz.general.
There's several there that go to Oz and some kiwis living in oz that should be able to answer your
questions.

Cath

Re: Kiwi traveling to Oz - mobile phone advice?

In my limited experience, OZ long distande pay phone
service sucks - and I am being kind.

Dick

Re: Kiwi traveling to Oz - mobile phone advice?

Dick Adams <rdadams@panix . com > wrote:
> In my limited experience, OZ long distande pay phone
> service sucks - and I am being kind.

In what way does it 'suck'? And by "pay phone" you mean a *fixed* -
not mobile - phone (note Subject:)? And only in phone booths or also
elsewhere?

And you *are* aware of (pre-paid) phone-cards, aren't you?

Re: Kiwi traveling to Oz - mobile phone advice?

rdadams@panix . com (Dick Adams) writes:

>In my limited experience, OZ long distande pay phone
>service sucks - and I am being kind.

And mobile coverage is worse, so go figure.


>Dick
--
Craig Dewick - HO-Scale Railway Modeller and Professional Train Manager at
* lios.apana.org.au/~craigd or craigd@lios.apana.org.au if you're game!
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Re: Kiwi traveling to Oz - mobile phone advice?

On Sun, 04 May 2008 21:22:05 -0500, KiwiAirborne08
<none@000 . com > wrote:

>Hey travelers!
>
>I?m traveling over to Aussie later on in the year for a few weeks to
>go on a road trip around New South Wales and Queensland, and obviously
>will be wanting to use my phone from NZ (where I live).
>
>At the moment I?m using Vodafone as my plan for my phone here, and a
>mate told me the other day that using a vodafone NZ mobile in
>Australia costs the same as in NZ. I?ve found their website and the
>offer of the thing with a pretty funny video at
>w w w .vodafone.co.nz/scary ...
>
>What do the kiwis traveling over to Oz think? Have any Kiwis here used
>vodafone in Australia before?
>
>Cheers!
>Traveling Kiwi

I don't know the rules for Vodaphone, but be aware that our
size leads to no coverage for mobiles over long distances
away from some towns and in the inland.

Check the various maps:
Optus * tinyurl . com /27mfw5
Telstra * tinyurl . com /54ccd2
Vodaphone * tinyurl . com /3dj25z


Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
* loraltravel.blogspot . com /
latest: Cambodia * loraltravel.blogspot . com /2008/03/cambodia.html

Re: Kiwi traveling to Oz - mobile phone advice?

KiwiAirborne08 <none@000 . com > wrote:
> Hey travelers!
>
> I?m traveling over to Aussie later on in the year for a few weeks to
> go on a road trip around New South Wales and Queensland, and obviously
> will be wanting to use my phone from NZ (where I live).
>
> At the moment I?m using Vodafone as my plan for my phone here, and a
> mate told me the other day that using a vodafone NZ mobile in
> Australia costs the same as in NZ. I?ve found their website and the
> offer of the thing with a pretty funny video at
> w w w .vodafone.co.nz/scary ...
>
> What do the kiwis traveling over to Oz think? Have any Kiwis here used
> vodafone in Australia before?
>
> Cheers!
> Traveling Kiwi

I'm not a Kiwi, but I would assume that the NZ Vodafone site has all
the details you need. At least that's the case for me for the Dutch
Vodafone site.

Having said that, make sure that your phone plan allows roaming onto
*other* (than Vodafone's) networks. In many - especially 'rural' - areas
in Oz Vodafone coverage is absent. Telstra's coverage is best, so make
sure that you can roam onto their network.

Also note Alan's comments about often having *no* coverage at all,
from any network. That's especially the case if your phone is a GSM
one, which it probably is.

FWIW, on our recent (Feb/Mar) trip to Oz, I just got an Australian
Telstra pre-paid SIM. Costs only AU$ 25 (and gives AU$ 25 credit). But
that of course only works if your phone isn't SIM-locked.

Re: Kiwi traveling to Oz - mobile phone advice?

On 05 May 2008 10:00:40 GMT, Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:
[msge snipped]

>
> I'm not a Kiwi, but I would assume that the NZ Vodafone site has all
>the details you need. At least that's the case for me for the Dutch
>Vodafone site.

Vodafone NZ's site 'sucks'.

I am travelling later this year to NZ and wanted to know if I can use my pre=paid cell w/their
pre-paid plan.

It has a SIM card so shouldn't be a problem to do 'something'.

I emailed Vodafone to ask and received nada in return.

Another time I found they had a store or booth [or something] listed in the Auckland International
Airport's website - complete with another email address. Once again emailed them and once
again, received nothing in return.

Cath

Re: Kiwi traveling to Oz - mobile phone advice?

I used a NZ vodafone card in my mobile when in NZ (because you certainly pay
a mozilla to roam in NZ with an Austr sim card); but I noted with some
annoyance that Vodafone NZ had an offer' at that time' such that Kiwis
(anyone for that matter) using a NZ Vodafone card in Austr - paid standard
NZ domestic rates!

However - be aware that Vodafone in Austr does NOT have good rural coverage.
It'll handle the major highways and the large towns - but for 'bush'
connectivity you need Telstra NextG.



"KiwiAirborne08" <none@000 . com > wrote in message
news:615029_a1367a6ac6badeefc25a38d2679c5add@0000 . com ...
> Hey travelers!
>
> I'm traveling over to Aussie later on in the year for a few weeks to
> go on a road trip around New South Wales and Queensland, and obviously
> will be wanting to use my phone from NZ (where I live).
>
> At the moment I'm using Vodafone as my plan for my phone here, and a
> mate told me the other day that using a vodafone NZ mobile in
> Australia costs the same as in NZ. I've found their website and the
> offer of the thing with a pretty funny video at
> w w w .vodafone.co.nz/scary ...
>
> What do the kiwis traveling over to Oz think? Have any Kiwis here used
> vodafone in Australia before?
>
> Cheers!
> Traveling Kiwi