We're aware many people in rural areas of Australia are anticipating the shutdown of Telstra's CDMA network, on 28 April 2008, with some trepidation, to say the least. If you're still using a CDMA phone, here is a selection of "blue tick", or best reception Next G phones.
In the three months since the delay of the originally scheduled date for the CDMA network shutdown, Telstra has been working overtime improving the existing Next G service range and providing door to door assistance for rural customers by its Next G evangelists.
Still concerns remain, particularly for farmers in remote areas. President of the NSW Farmers Association Jock Laurie told AAP in a statement, "Patchy coverage is still being experienced, and there is concern that in some instances technicians simply cannot identify a Next G handset capable of providing equivalent coverage to CDMA". And it seems the farmers aren't alone in these concerns, as evidenced in a recent Telstra press release.
But like it or loathe it, the CDMA shutdown will go ahead as planned, and Telstra customers are being urged to get on board or be left without any coverage at all. To help we've compiled a list of Telstra's blue tick phones; phones tested by Telstra to have superior reception on its Next G network.
Telstra F165
Dubbed the "Country Phone" Telstra's F165 sure looks the part. A rugged, rubberised candy-bar form factor with an extendable external antenna masks powerful HSDPA connectivity.
Nokia N95
If you need an all-in-one communications, navigation and imaging device and don't mind charging it every night, Nokia's N95 raises the bar in the mobile world.
LG TU500
The TU500 isn't going to win any fashion awards, but underneath its pedestrian skin lurks a highly capable Next G phone.
There are now a total of 390 HSPA-ready devices from 87 different suppliers available around the world today, a mouth-watering and frustrating statistic for NextG customers.
The NextG network has used the 850mhz spectrum to achieve better geographical reach, unfortunately Telstra is among the minority of networks around the world that have used this spectrum. Current chipset technology is limited in the spectrum bands that it can handle and most phones produced don't have 850 as standard. This means mobile operators using this spectrum have to make 'special orders' with manufacturers to accommodate 850. This can impact on price and availability of handsets and will be a problem for quite some time.
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