Vodafone Extends 3G Network To Most Of The Country Today

Gizmodo AU

Voda’s flicked the switch on their regional 3G network today, bringing the joys of faster mobile to thousands more Australians.

The extended network – which is running on the 900MHz network has been flicked on today, so if you live in any of the towns listed below, expect a big speed boost – so long as your phone supports the 900MHz frequency for 3G. Vodafone reckon they have 18 handsets that will though, so it might be time to upgrade (or downgrade, depending on your handset). Still, considering they’ve jumped from 8% to 94% coverage, that new phone could be worth the cost if it’ll offer you a big boost in mobile speeds.

The full list of locations where the new service is available:

NSW: Sydney and surrounds, North Coast (from Newcastle to Evans Head), the Hunter Valley Region, Byron Bay, Lismore, Ballina, Kiama, Central North (including Tenterfield, Moree), Northern Rivers (including Lismore and Grafton), Northern Tablelands (including Armidale, Glen Innes and Inverell), the Blue Mountains, west to Orange, Bathurst and Parkes, Albury, the South West (around Goulburn and Yass), Snowy Mountains (including Comma and Perisher Valley), Central South (including Wagga Wagga, Yass and Young), Far South Coast (stretching from Sussex Inlet to Eden), Wollongong, Bowral, Nowra and Broken Hill
 
Victoria: Melbourne and surrounds, Geelong, Phillip Island, Mornington Peninsula, South Coast (around Colac, Lorne and Apollo Bay), Gippsland (around Sale, Traralgon and Stratford), Central West (around the Grampians, Horsham, Stawell and Nhill), West (around Warrnambool and Portland) and Central (around Shepparton, Seymour, Bendigo, Wodonga) and Bendigo
 
Queensland: Brisbane and surrounds, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast, from Noosa to Gladstone, Caboolture, Ipswich, Cairns, Port Douglas, Townsville, Toowoomba, along the coast from Mackay to Cairns (including Rockhampton, Emerald) and Central Queensland (around Roma and Mt Isa)
 
Western Australia: Perth and surrounds, including Mandurah, south including Bunbury, Busselton, Dunsborough, Margaret River, Augusta, Albany and Esperance, east including Narrogin, Northam, Merredin and Kalgoorlie, north including Geraldton and West End, Kalbarri, Carnarvon, Karratha, Dampier, Port Hedland, Broome (including Cable Beach) and Kununurra.
 
South Australia: Adelaide and surrounds, the Barossa Valley, along the coast (from Mt Gambier to Victor Harbor), around the Spencer Gulf (including Whyalla), the Riverland (from Berri to Mildura) and the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula (including Port Lincoln)
 
Tasmania: Hobart and surrounds, Launceston, Wynyard, Devonport, Ulverstone, Exeter, Ross, Burnie and Deloraine
 
Northern Territory: Darwin and surrounds, Alice Springs, Uluru, Katherine and Jabiru
 
Australian Capital Territory: Canberra and surrounds

Discuss

(10 Comments)
  • [–]

    Paul

    Monday, August 31, 2009 at 12:29 PM

    Well I’m in Kal and it seems the 3G was turned on 4 weeks ago. Lucky us :)

  • [–]

    GW

    Monday, August 31, 2009 at 12:39 PM

    I live in Sale! :)
    but im on Optus :(
    they still dont have coverage here?

  • [–]

    Ben Trengrove

    Monday, August 31, 2009 at 1:37 PM

    Anyone know if 3 mobiles use vodafone towers yet?

    • [–]

      Callum

      Monday, August 31, 2009 at 6:45 PM

      No Ben, 3 are still using their own network (and Telstra roaming).
      There was an announcement around the time of the merger that they were going to keep to two brands (and networks) separate for the foreseeable future.
      I think this is great but it’s a shame my iPhone will work on anything but 900 MHz.

    • [–]

      eDust

      Monday, August 31, 2009 at 9:47 PM

      3 don’t use Vodafone’s towers atm, and there’s no (public) plans to do so :(

  • [–]

    Shane

    Monday, August 31, 2009 at 2:10 PM

    That’s okay, I live in frankston and can still happly find blind spots :P

    I’d be nice to get some decent broadband!! God, I only live 22k from the city!!

  • [–]

    Dazza

    Monday, August 31, 2009 at 3:25 PM

    from 80% (not 8%) to 94%

  • [–]

    Sean

    Monday, August 31, 2009 at 7:12 PM

    In the last two days I’ve been getting constant “Call failed” errors on my iPhone with Vodafone? Coincidence???

    • [–]

      Mike

      Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 6:02 PM

      Yep, last 2 or 3 days access to the internet through my vodafone mobile has slowed to a crawl with many “not available” errors. However, it seems that with this new upgrade, Vodafone has also allowed free Facebook access to all users for the month so that could be creating a gridlock.

  • [–]

    Liam

    Monday, August 31, 2009 at 8:23 PM

    pitty the iphone 3gs doesnt support 900MHz, wish i knew that before i got it -.-

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