Over the decades the “oils ain't oils” tagline for Castrol Oil has become a part of the Australian vernacular and last week’s ABC Landline program was a timely reminder that the quote also rings too when it comes to mobile phone antennas.
When the ABC’s rural flagship program reported a customer in regional Queensland having problems with Next G™ coverage, Telstra was quickly on the case to uncover the story behind the story – in this case a poorly chosen antenna.
The program used the plight of a grain farmer in south west Queensland, to illustrate how millions of Australians are making the move from the ageing CDMA network to Telstra’s new Next G™ network.
Unlike the hundreds of thousands of customers who have already moved to the Next G™ network since its launch last October, Cam’s experience wasn’t looking so flash – at face value at least.
According to Landline’s Mark Willacy, drought isn't the only thing frustrating Cam these days. “His mobile phone coverage is another.” The program went on to illustrate, in detail, how Cam “reckons his property is now peppered with mobile black spots.” Not only that, the program reported how these black spots were putting Cam’s life at risk with the reporter saying “his very life could depend on his ability to phone home”.
Telstra is 100 per cent committed to ensuring the Next G™ network is the same or better than CDMA. Only last week we announced we were two months ahead of schedule on delivering on this promise to customers. So within 24 hours of the program going to air, Telstra Country Wide’s local office was out at Cam’s property to determine whether the claims aired by the ABC rang true.
You see Cam already has a CDMA antenna on his car and did the right thing by purchasing an antenna for his new Next G™ phone. Unfortunately for Cam he went to a non-Telstra dealer and was sold an antenna that wasn’t compatible with his Next G™ handset.
Using the wrong antenna for your phone is much like putting petrol into a ute designed to takdiesel – it won’t get you very far.
Cam’s problem was easily fixed by connecting his Next G™ handset to a compatible antenna – in this case his old CDMA antenna, which operates on the same frequency as the Next G™ network. Something so simple – which was already available to him - has meant that Cam is now online and enjoying the equivalent coverage to what he was receiving on CDMA. Plus he has the ability to do things like making video calls and accessing wireless broadband – things you could never do on CDMA.
So what can be learned from this experience? Cam did the right thing by looking to replicate the car kit and antenna he previously had on his CDMA handset for his Next G™ mobile. Telstra’s advice to CDMA customers is they should do a ‘like for like’ upgrade by ensuring that, if they are using a car kit or external antenna with their CDMA device, they also use a car kit with a directly connected external antenna with their new Next G™ device.
When choosing Next G™ handsets, customers working in rural areas, like Cam, should also look out for the new blue tick on phones recommended for rural handheld coverage. Cam’s choice of handset – an LG – was a good choice for his patch of Australia. And of course he used a Next G™ SIM in his LG – not a SIM designed for older networks.
Of course, the other lesson from all this is the importance of questioning customer case studies aired by TV current affair programs – so keep in mind that oils ain't oils, antennas ain't antennas, and customer reports well, ain't always all they seem.
Related links:
Have your say:
How does this story match with your own experience? Did we do a good job in fixing the problem once it was reported? Let us know in our Telstra Discussion forum.