Three Expands 3G Broadband Coverage with NextG

This is a great annoucement for Three customers, made on the website by none other than cricket legend Adam Gilchrist. Three has struck a deal with Telstra to gain access to selected areas of the Telstra Next G network.

Previously if Three customers wanted to roam onto the Telstra network, it was ridiculously slow. But under the new deal, Three roaming will at broadband speeds in selected areas. Three has updated their coverage maps to reflect these  changes - they are now up to 96% 3G coverage of the Australian population.

Click Here To Check Out The Latest Three Coverage Maps

Price Reductions

Other than increasing covergae, Three has also been able to bring the cost of roaming down. Thankfully, or otherwise only those on the BRW Rich List would have been able to afford it. Data roaming for Three Mobile Broadband is now 50 cents per MB, down from $1.65 per MB. It’s still not cheap, but it’s a considerably better option than before.

On the Three prepaid wireless plans the $7.50 roaming add-on feature has increased from 4MB to 15MB. So there are great price reductions across the board.

How To Access Roaming

Roaming comes disabled, to if you want to start using it, you’ll need to change modem settings in the Connection Manager. Refer to your modem instruction booklet for details. 

You will need to have a capable modem to get the faster roaming speeds on the 850MHz  frequency that Telstra uses, as well as the 2100MHz frequency that Three uses. The E160 is suitable - click here to see it in more detail.

If you are looking at Three Mobile Phones that are compatible to roam onto Next G, then suitable models are the Nokia 6500, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6120, Nokia E63, Nokia E71*, Nokia N85, Nokia 3120*, Blackberry Bold, Sony Ericsson C510, Sony Ericsson W705 and coming soon is the Nokia E75. Previous models that are compatible are the Nokia 5610, HTC P3600i, HTC Dopod 838, HTC Tytn 2, Palm Treo.

The mobiles above with the * (asterisk) indicate that they come in both compatible and non-compatible models - so check carefully before ordering that you have the correct one. Click here to see Three Mobile Phones.

See the Three Coverage Maps