Telstra mobile

Cowboy7307 · Senior Member

Telstra mobile

erad · Guru

A lot depends on what you want from the service. Telstra sells off some of its network to others eg ALDI,but they don't sell it all. If you want data transmission, you won't get the same speed as if you were using Telstra eg they have 3G and 4G, but ALDI only get 3G. If you are only interested in phone service,there probably isn't much difference. ALDI is certainly a lot cheaper. I have both - my wife has Telstra and I have ALDI.

Mike Harding · Guru

I can only speak for Victoria and southern NSW:

I have an Aldi SIM in a tablet, a Belong SIM in a phone, a kosher Telstra SIM in another phone and in the areas mentioned I see little to no difference in received signal; strength between them.

If you are seeing significant differences ensure your device is capable of receiving all the bands Aldi et al use.

Cowboy7307 · Senior Member

Mike Harding wrote:
I can only speak for Victoria and southern NSW:
I have an Aldi SIM in a tablet, a Belong SIM in a phone, a kosher Telstra SIM in another phone and in the areas mentioned I see little to no difference in received signal; strength between them.
If you are seeing significant differences ensure your device is capable of receiving all the bands Aldi et al use.

Thats the info i needed many thanks

Iva Biggen · Senior Member

When I joined the forum I read back through older posts on similar subjects.

There were supporters of Telstra who appeared to be bolted on to their network.

Then came the mention of others eg, Aldi, Boost etc.

Then came the heated discussions which at times were either quite funny or quite rude depending on which camp you were in.

I considered that because I was on Telstra and their were quite a few that were passionate about the others, I would give another supplier a try.

I chose Boost based on some very good info which was posted and although those posts came a fair bit of criticism my experience has basically proved the knockers to be incorrect.

Boost uses all of the Telstra network, Aldi uses a fair proportion but lacks some coverage particularly in mining areas.

Boost works on the 4G and the lesser 3G service dependent on where you are. I cannot comment on the Aldi service but I would take an educated guess that it would use the 4G when available. An Aldi user might like to comment.
5G from Telstra is only available to their direct subscribers at this moment.

If you are on a prepaid plan then it would only cost you a $2.00 SIM card and the minimum plan of $10.00 from Boost to give them a try and you could then judge for yourself.

I have been using Boost which is really just a discount version of the Telstra service for a bit over 12 months now an I have found absolutely no difference in phone reception in any area.
I use a bit of data each month to watch utube and Netflix and I download and listen to a lot of podcasts and I am very pleased with the money savings over using Telstra.

Sorry for the long winded post but to answer your question.. if Aldi have access to the service from Telstra in the area you are in then the service will be the same for the equal quality eg 3G or 4G.

Ozlad · Member

They all have coverage maps on their sites, check them out and go with one that suits.

yobarr · Guru

Ozlad wrote:
They all have coverage maps on their sites, check them out and go with one that suits.

And THAT will sort the wheat from Techies' Corner the chaff!

Whenarewethere · Guru

Last year in Shark Bay WA I had no signal & a person next to me had a full signal with Telstra. I'm with Boost which is Telstra. He asked as he saw me praying to the mobile gods.

I started wondering if they may be knobbling the signal to third party users. I can't prove it but I was trying hard to get a signal but nothing.

I have just recently gone to a 6 month prepay as I don't use much data & you don't loose out on the 28 day cycle, ie 13 months a year!

-- Edited by Whenarewethere on Tuesday 9th of July 2019 10:39:53 AM

Knight · Senior Member

Many people are not aware of the Telstra "blue tick" country phone options that offer a far better range than standard mobile phones.

Add an external antenna and reception improves.

I have been buying Telstra blue tick phones ever since 3G network replaced analogue network.

Sometimes in remote areas improved reception or even just reception can be obtained by standing with one foot on a steel fence wire.

-- Edited by Knight on Wednesday 10th of July 2019 03:17:23 PM

Iva Biggen · Senior Member

Knight wrote:
Many people are not aware of the Telstra "blue tick" country phone options that offer a far better range than standard mobile phones.

Add an external antenna and reception improves.

I have been buying Telstra blue tick phones ever since 3G network replaced analogue network.
Sometimes in remote areas improved reception or even just reception can be obtained by standing with one foot on a steel fence wire.

-- Edited by Knight on Wednesday 10th of July 2019 03:17:23 PM

A good point Knight,

It is important that when comparing reception and performance you actually have a phone that is technically suitable for the use in that area and if comparing performance with a neighbor that both pieces of equipment are the same.

PeterInSa · Guru

Am on a cheap Aldi plan and also with a low cost prepaid Telstra long life. In a number of places have up to 5 Bars ( good signal) on Aldi phone but can make emergency calls only. Both phones are Blue tick with external aerial capabilities.

Baz421 · Guru

Whenarewethere wrote:
Last year in Shark Bay WA I had no signal & a person next to me had a full signal with Telstra. I'm with Boost which is Telstra. He asked as he saw me praying to the mobile gods.
I started wondering if they may be knobbling the signal to third party users. I can't prove it but I was trying hard to get a signal but nothing.
I have just recently gone to a 6 month prepay as I don't use much data & you don't loose out on the 28 day cycle, ie 13 months a year!

-- Edited by Whenarewethere on Tuesday 9th of July 2019 10:39:53 AM

I'm sure 3rd parties don't get priority,, I've been told this by the Techies at Telstra Marion SA,,, plus when I had problems with wireless connection to internet (modem) I complained and complaint was escalated to Level 2 (or something),,, Telstra did a 2 week investigation,, offered me a unidirectional antenna in back yard (could not give me a $ figure) I bleated long and hard on Telstra 24/7 app,,, LO AND BEHOLD your issue has been resolved,,, how????,,,,OUTCOME - I was never booted off again.

-- Edited by Baz421 on Wednesday 10th of July 2019 05:40:08 PM

Baz421 · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
I can only speak for Victoria and southern NSW:
I have an Aldi SIM in a tablet, a Belong SIM in a phone, a kosher Telstra SIM in another phone and in the areas mentioned I see little to no difference in received signal; strength between them.
If you are seeing significant differences ensure your device is capable of receiving all the bands Aldi et al use.

Mike,, I don't doubt your post but the issue is not what your phone "sees" ie the service is there - phone sees tower,,, HOWVER if there is no bandwidth available you will not get access.

Look what happens in bushfires in SA,,, numerous accounts over many years of towers overloaded ie no bandwidth hence no service.

This was an issue many years ago and emails were Bundled and held for 15 minutes or so then sent ie Darwin to Alice in 90's was a classic example of no bandwidth.

EDIT meant to say if comparing the 3 pieces of hardware Mike it depends on there reception capabilities,,, the only way to compare is to use them with each sim in them to get atrue comparision, Remember old radio trannies turn em to get best reception. Phones are only as good as antenna and transmitter capabilities.

-- Edited by Baz421 on Wednesday 10th of July 2019 06:26:56 PM

dabbler · Guru

Until about a year ago, I travelled with Aldi and a prepaid Telstra sim for data (mainly) in my dual sim phone. I also use a Wi-Fi modem with antenna on Telstra prepaid. Now I use Telstra and share the account with my modem. It wasn't difficult to find locations were Aldi fell over especially where Telstra has implemented 4GX. A friend with Boost tells me he has no signal in 4GX areas too. My wife uses Optus and we both have found areas were one works and the other doesn't. In the scheme of things, my Telstra account costs very little but at least it works. Has the added benefit of Telstra Air too.

Rob Driver · Guru

This topic from some time ago says it as it is.

thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t64550414/telstra-or-optus/

The emotive decision to support Telstra back then or even now is just that, emotive.

We ran the services side by side in our business and the only difference is the cost. Boost is less than half the cost.
As we have moved on the 5 G network is now up and running and Boost and others at this stage are denied that access but in real terms we are only grey nomads so do we really first up park in a couple of capital cities to use this technology and do we really need this to communicate and use the internet for our normal requirements.

That member Dickodownunder provided some very accurate information in the above linked topic and in some other posts as well as well and I think I did read that he had run both Telstra and Boost side by side to ensure his decision to use Boost was completely justified.
We did this in our own business with the same result.
Talking to a camper with different equipment and hearing what you want to hear is not even close to an accurate assessment of the true result of the performance of Boost.

My husband and I will stay with Boost until another provider can offer the same or better service or unless Telstra lower their prices to compete with their allied supplier..

Craig1 · Guru

Knightie posted -"Sometimes in remote areas improved reception or even just reception can be obtained by standing with one foot on a steel fence wire"

Geez mate, I hope it is not a Pulsed electric version

-- Edited by Craig1 on Wednesday 10th of July 2019 08:33:38 PM

oldbloke · Guru

I have been a happy Aldi customer for a few years now. (I have just moved to semi retirement and expect to travel a lot more.) But after looking at boost coverage and comparing it with Aldi i made the change.
After trying for a month i opted to pay $300 for a year of unlimited calls p,us 20 gig a month of data. Great value. My payment in the bank statement states telstra by the way.

Also often just the phone makes a big difference. Regularly my wife has fast internet and mine is not working or slow. (Both on aldi) She has a samsung and i have an oppo. My next one will be a samsung.

Mr Fuse · Veteran Member

Cowboy7307 wrote:
We use Aldi mobile ,which is on part of the Telstra mobile service
While traveling is there a big difference in service, and places that you can get Telstra over Aldi

It all depends on where you travel. Telstra resellers do not get the full Telstra coverage, nor do they pay for it, which is one of the reasons they can be cheaper. For most areas this makes little. if any, difference. However, once you get away from significant population centres, the Outback for instance, this can bite. You may even experience differences where you would not expect them. e.g. I live in the hills in Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs. Using the same devices I can get Testra reception, albeit quite poorly, but not a single one of their resellers' SIMS that I've tried, including Aldi, has worked at all. Go down the hill a bit and you can't tell one from another. For me that's leaves a choice of exactly one telco, whether I like it or not.

JayDee · Guru

we have the $15 month Aldi plan. It works great when we are here at home in the Brisbane Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast areas.

We were recently up at Childers ( QLD) and had no reception and I needed to make a few urgent calls, so I purchased a $5 Telstra card and used the old phone box system. Felt like I was travelling back in time.

Our next trip will be to the out back of Queensland and NSW on our way to Adelaide. so we will get a monthly prepaid Telstra mobile plan.

The prepaid Telstra has worked for us from Cooktown to Tassie except for a few black spots between outback towns.

Once we are back home we will drop out of Telstra prepaid plan.

Jay&Dee

villatranquilla · Guru

currently at Jericho QLD - no Aldi service but Telstra working fine

oldbloke · Guru

I have disovered. Depends a lot on the mobile its self. SWMBO has a Samsung, i have an Oppo. Hers consistantly out performs mine.
Exactly same Aldi mobile plan. I regularly have no internet and hers is racing along nicely.