West Arthurs NextG coverage

[nate]

Whats the chances of getting decent coverage out on the west arthurs ?

[frenchy_84]

No chance of getting decent coverage, however you may get a bar or 2 on the tops of peaks. I remember eggs mentioning that he checked this site on his phone when on Mt Anne, although i would expect slightly better coverage there than on the WA's

[ILUVSWTAS]

Guy I was with got service on Capricorn the first time round, but not on his second visit.

SBS sent me a msg from near Hersperus, It seems to depend on your phone and the weather at the time.

[sthughes]

While ever you are up high on the ridges with views (particularly to the northeast) you get a fair amount of coverage, albeit not a strong signal. Nothing at places like Oberon etc. and of course the data speed is pretty terrible everywhere.

The type of phone also makes a significant difference. When we phoned 000 from a saddle in the Beggary Bumps only the Next G iPhone 4S had coverage. The Next G Nokia E51, 6120 and iPhone 3 (as well as several Optus & Vodafone handsets) had nothing.

[sthughes]

Interestingly the calls and texts I made came up as originating in either "Grove" or "Central Highlands". So there must be at least 2 towers in range along the Range.

We had generally pretty good weather.

[eggs]

There is a topic out there that covers this.
See http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=415

The First post references the Telstra coverage maps: http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/coverage-networks/our-coverage/state-coverage/
Disclaimer: I am a Telstra engineer - in SA.
Basic idea is that the Next G antennas are somewhere out towards Hobart - probably above Maydena and a few other highpoints elsewhere.
As long as there is line-of-sight, coverage should be out to about 60km range. But performance decreases with distance - hence the different shadings in the coverage maps.

As for my experience - I probably mentioned getting coverage on the Anne saddle before it drops down to Shelf Camp - and on the Anne NE Ridge
But we also had coverage on Hesperus, Sirius, Pegasus and even low down in the saddle between Orion and Pegasus.
I would expect to be able to get coverage on the ridgetops anywhere between Hesperus and Scorpio - places with a clear view towards Picton.

Having said that, coverage does get affected by congestion [too many using it at the same time], some atmospherics [heavy precipitation is bad] and the quality of the handset will also come into play.
Telstra market the phones with better range as having a Blue Tick.

[Binder]

Had good service from Hesperus a couple of months back. Have also noticed last week that I got coverage at Red Knoll (on the western end of the carpark ) Have never got it there before but have picked up there a couple of times in the last week. A bloke can't hide anywhere

[Hallu]

At least in Tassie they don't put those huge ugly Telstra towers on the peaks (at least not the ones I've visited), while they seem pretty free to do it in Victorian Parks, national or not (the Grampians or Yarra Ranges for example)... Why don't they put them somewhere else ? The last thing you want after a multi-hour climb is to see a huge metallic tower at the top, ruining the landscape...

[frenchy_84]

At least in Tassie they don't put those huge ugly Telstra towers on the peaks (at least not the ones I've visited), while they seem pretty free to do it in Victorian Parks, national or not (the Grampians or Yarra Ranges for example)... Why don't they put them somewhere else ? The last thing you want after a multi-hour climb is to see a huge metallic tower at the top, ruining the landscape...

Well it doesn't make much sense to put them in the valleys...

[eggs]

The only tower(s) I know of in the Grampians are on Mt William.
There is a really big tower that provides ABC TV coverage over a large part of Victoria. I suspect it has been there a fair while.

As for Tas - the locals can complain a fair bit about mobile coverage, but as a bushwalker, I think its not bad because you tend to get up high a fair bit.
The problem for them is that they live in the valleys, and being the most mountainous island on earth, they would need a lot more towers erected to cover all the hollows.
However, amongst the more notable Tassie peaks with towers are Wellington, Barrow, Read, Owen and Abbotts Lookout. Perhaps we could add others to the list that folk are aware of...

[Hallu]

Yeah but Mt William is a popular hiking spot... The only good place for towers isn't on top of peaks... How about on buildings, hills, water reservoirs, and peaks that aren't part of a protected zone... Australia has beautiful natural areas, but the legislation is way too soft : they allow dirt bikes (like in Little Desert NP), high voltage power lines (like in Churchill NP), telstra towers in national parks, what's the point in making the area a national park then. Not to mention that despite those ugly towers, mobile coverage in Australia is awful : if you don't have Telstra, you get next to nothing in terms of coverage. This lack of legislation seems to be caused by 2 serious problems : first there are over 500 national parks in Australia, which means the selection isn't very strict, and diminish the importance of the "national park" title for an area, and secondly they're not managed by a national organization, but by a state based office...

Besides, as a physicist I have to say that the effect of electro-magnetic waves are already not enough understood on the human brain, but what we know for sure is that if they have a minimal effect on humans, they could have dramatic effects on smaller animals. Maybe you heard these safety mobile phone ads saying you shouldn't let your kid use it too often, because his brain is smaller and more affected by the EM waves... Well to my knowledge there is absolutely no study on the effect of EM waves on animals in parks, only on mice with calibrated instruments. And the worst isn't from phone towers but from high voltage power lines.

[NickD]

The small peak with a fantastic view next to the campsite at High Moor has had good reception for me in the past. Its a good place to get a weather update to access the situation and to decide whether to continue past Lake Prom.

[pazzar]

I had reception on most of the peaks

[tastrax]

Full tower locations can be seen here

http://maps.spench.net/rf/#pos=-42.813914,146.5390106


[url]http://maps.spench.net/rf/#pos=-42.813914,146.5390106&zoom=9&type=hybrid&auto_fetch=true&clustering=true&cluster_level=17&tiles=[{%22t%22%3A%22u%2Fblack%22%2C%22v%22%3Afalse}%2C{%22t%22%3A%22s%2Fall%22%2C%22v%22%3Afalse}%2C{%22t%22%3A%22s%2Fmobile-telstra%22}%2C{%22t%22%3A%22s%2Fmobile-telstra-new%22}][/url]