Thanks Scott. I have tried WiFi Talk and I am not a fan. It does not boost my reception as such but seems to divert the phone through an Optus app which I am not keen on. I have a Samsung S5 and there unable to use WiFi Calling…
Ian
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Telstra don’t seem to be building many towers in the regional areas I travel in - Travel 40km or so in any direction from my home and nothing, zip, nada. Eventually, after travelling between 150 to a few hundred kilometres you might stumble across a small patch of coverage, a micro-cell, but in between its a vacuum. Vast areas are still awaiting coverage including most of the MacDonnell, Barkly, Central Desert, Victoria Daly, Roper Gulf and Arnhem Shires - we can travel for hours with no mobile signal, even on the ‘main roads’ …
It’s actually a blessing 
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We went through Marree a few years ago and mobile service was ‘available above 2000ft in an airplane’. A bit south of you, but
My son and his family met a Brisbane man while boating recently. They were invited to visit the guy at his home. The house and grounds (not to mention his yacht!) were magnificent. My lad asked what he did for a living, and it seems he imports those $700 gadgets – for a few dollars, and resells them to the Telcos. Why didn’t I think of that?
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From Facebook. Note; no 3G.
Mobile Satellite Small Cells
Due to advancements in technology we have been able to develop a lower cost version of the mobile base station- the Mobile Satellite Small Cell.
Developed to suit small rural and remote communities such as tourism hotspots, remote roadhouses, and centres of agri-business. The Satellite Small Cell can be installed for approximately $70,000, of which we will match the customer’s contribution 50:50.
“We have an ambitious target to install more than 500 Satellite Small Cells over the next three years, making high quality access to 4G data possible from even the most remote parts of Australia,” said Tim O’Leary, Regional Affairs Executive
Depending on the height of the pole and the surrounding terrain, the Satellite Small Cell can reach between 500 metres and up to 3 kilometres.
Satellite Small Cell Facts:
Only available where there is no existing Telstra mobile coverage.
Positioned on a standalone platform or attached to an existing building on the customer’s land, provided by the customer at no cost to Telstra.
In most cases the customer will provide mains power for the small cell at no on-going cost to Telstra (single 10 amp circuit required). Options can be tailored to meet the customer’s budget.
Telstra provides and installs all the necessary equipment, with the cost of installation payable by the customer.
Coverage is provided via Telstra’s 4GX 700 MHz band.
Voice calls will require VoLTE enabled 4GX devices.
Register your interest:
telstraregionalaffairs@team.telstra.com
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Based on all the money figures you would have to think the person/business that has one of these must own at least 50% of the “small cell” hardware on their site…but I am sure I am being foolish in my surmise.
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Jolly joke. 
Telstra:
- pays half the cost of the small cell/satellite link and;
- maintains the equipment (maybe, but will probably charge like wounded bulls).
Site owner:
- pays the other half;
- provides and maintains whatever the hardware is mounted on;
- provides power to the equipment;
- pays whatever else Telstra decides to change, into the future and;
- is no doubt responsible for security.
Telstra gets:
- customers;
- call fees and;
- publicity.
Site owner gets communications services. Not a small thing, but I wonder whether conditions might have been more equitable without privatisation.
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Not at all. Over time of collecting enough tolls a motor way owner will have paid for the purchase of the motorway and all that comes with it. Zero debt with all financing costs repaid, leaving only profit after operating costs. Which percentage does the person paying the toll own. Still Zero but at least you do not have to pay half up front as well.
Perhaps Telstra should rise to the higher standard?
(True, there is a hidden public investment in most toll projects. Rarely equal or fare?)
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An old topic that has been ignored by government ‘regulators’ since forever. With the topics of the day being what they are 17 backbenchers may have noticed. Will the ‘right’ people listen?
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Follow the money.
As for us in the regions I should be grateful we can get both 3G and 4G, albeit one bar only standing on the back deck or next to the window. Before anyone offers a tip, the mobile is Vo-LTE
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Yep, here too and I am in the suburbs of Newcastle. It wasnt always so. My mobile would drop to 3G for calls but lately that has been hit and miss. My local tower has a range of spectrums but I am behind a hill, and since they started 5G there, I have to rely on texts. I’m with Woolies… I have a 7 day SIM incoming from Boost so I can test its reception, but if its no better, its off to one of the Optus or Voda resellers with me.
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While the NBN and government admonishes everyone to always keep a fully charged mobile, even in the Geelong metro area there are many areas with zero useful coverage.
Coverage in my part of Eltham is very ordinary but between Telstra and Optus networks I can usually make and even receive a call on one or the other, sometimes either, in ‘select’ locations around my property.
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It is worth looking at coverage maps such as this one:
of those provided by the carriers (Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone/TPG) as these provide an indication of whether a service is likely to be available. While it doesn’t provide property by property service indications, it will at lease indicate that there will be a signal which can be received. This may make it easier to determine what carriers are worth pursuing.
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Whether it’s mobile phone and data connections or the NBN, equal access, equality of service and cost elude both services.
The two outcomes are linked. The failures of the design of the NBN to deliver true equality of outcomes, has created greater reliance on the mobile networks for communication. The failure to regulate mobile coverage and set minimum standards of service has left consumers with lesser NBN outcomes ‘between a rock and a hard place’. Even those able to retain their old copper can only do so at a price premium to NBN VOIP.
Should consumers and the ACCC be looking long and hard at both as connected problems? Neither serve all Australian’s equally or deliver the reasonable outcomes expected by the majority of consumers.
Note:
It would make an interesting comparison of total annual expenditure on combined mobile and broadband services for a household, vs the typical household expenditure on electricity and gas. The second I suspect is a similar or lesser burden for many. The energy services are heavily regulated and monitored by numerous government commissions including the AER/ACCC. The lack of a similar level of intervention in mobile communications is a stark contrast.
It’s also important to consider different models of mobile perform differently. The type of house construction is also a factor. My iPhone 8 is outperformed markedly by my old Samsung Telstra blue tick phone which is 3G only inside the home. The other mobile in the home an iPhone 8plus also works well in most but not all of the house.
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I always check coverage maps. According to those I have full 4G reception. Except I don’t.
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I also live in Newy, and have dabbled with switching from Telstra (a reseller) to Optus a few times. It never ends well, averagely jumping from experiencing 5% blackspots to ~40%.
My current annoyance is that the same phone that has received Telstra (ala Aussie Broadband) just fine in our parking garage, now gets zero signal on Optus until above ground.
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I finally gave up on Woolworths which I liked otherwise but its taking too long to get VoWiFi which would solve the current issues. I went with GOMO, at $15/m and 8GB (which I dont need) but I have VoWiFi if the signal gets bad… I’ve also got an Aldi “As you go” SIM incoming, just as a backup when out and about if the Optus signal degrades. Shouldnt be a problem, I’m rarely out and about especially in Newy at the moment!!!
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GOMO use the Optus network.
For others who are interested in the option.
Our experience with two different mobiles, one Apple, the other a Samsung Galaxy model was not good. We had problems with dropped calls and handover which Optus explains in the notes. YMMV
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I’ll have a read. I know Optus can be dodgy at the best of times and thats why I took a monthly instead of a long expiry. I’m keeping an eye on the Woolworths Mobile thread on Whirlpool (https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/9q6k4xm3) and once VoWiFi is announced in there, I’ll go back. They already have e-sim. Woolies app is the best, the easiest and the most rounded in terms of what you can do with it. Boost should take a lesson. I was going to go back to them but the new app is horrendous. The Gomo app isnt much better, but $5 cheaper per month.
[edit] Luckily I am unlikely to experience the issues they mention in the pdf, I’m at home most of the time and I don’t use other wifi when out. If I lose signal… well I guess that will seal GoMo’s fate for me 
