The EFTM podcast – To upgrade your smartphone or not? That is the question!

Episode: To upgrade your smartphone or not? That is the question!

Podcast: EFTM

Date: 26 May 2026

Host: Trevor Long

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[00:01:09] Trevor: G’day, g’day, great to have your company on the EFTM Podcast once again. Um, here to take your calls. If you’ve got tech questions, happy to talk about them, happy to try and solve your problems or create new ones. That’s, uh, something I can also do by just making you spend money, you know. I’m happy to vicariously spend your money for you. Uh, very, very easy to do that, don’t you worry. I can, uh, I can pull that one off. Um, but yes, we have a bunch of calls to get to today. Um, as well as we’re going to talk, uh, we’re going to talk about Vodafone’s regional coverage. Um, it’s been over a year since they, uh, they launched that extra coverage thanks to the kind of mobile network sharing operations they have with, uh, with Optus. But has it had any impact? Is it noticeable to them? They’ve done a survey to look at that, which is, um, which is fascinating. So I want to unpack that a little bit and of course take your calls. We’ve got, uh, we’ve got a People on the line want to talk everything from iPhones to CarPlay and warranty issues with other devices, so we’ll get to those. We— I’m off to London next week, but there will be a show next week. The week after, I’ll be at Apple’s WWDC, so apologies, no show. And hopefully we’ll get back into the swing of things after that as we get into mid-June. I mean, this year is absolutely prancing away. It’s wild, isn’t it, how far into the year we are? Speaking of prancing, you might have seen this morning at 6:10 AM, the embargo dropped on the the all-electric Ferrari Luce. Um, this is the car I went and saw the kind of underpinnings of in, um, Maranello last year with Ferrari. And today they have shown the car. There’s no price, although some journalists are already saying it’s like a million bucks, which is, I think, insane. That’s my first— if it’s a million dollars, it’s insane. The Porsche Taycan is several hundred thousand dollars, as should this thing be because it’s a Ferrari. But calm down, down on the million bucks, folks. Let’s call it $400,000 or $500,000, but a million? Phew, hard to justify. But this thing is an engineering marvel. And it’s more fascinating to me to see what actual Ferrari nutjobs are saying about it, like legit Ferrari fans. I’ll talk about the car in a minute, but there’s a guy in New Zealand who I think is, he’s either in, he either has car dealerships or property or both, called Grant Baker. His Instagram is Grant K Baker. He owns a lot of Ferraris. And he’s very proud of them, and, uh, good on him. But he’s posted a photo array of it and asked the question, and like, it’s hilarious to see the responses from people. I can even see a former CEO of Ferrari Australia laughing at him in the comments. So it’s pretty wild, um, and there’s people there that go like, if you buy that, I will defriend you. Um, is this April 1st? Looks like Ferrari’s best Porsche ad ever. That is not a Ferrari. Um, it looks Chinese. Ferrari shouldn’t be making appliances. But the most important one to Grant— Grant K. Baker on Instagram, who is a multi-squillionaire, multi-Ferrari owner, who would be— so he’s one of those people that would be invited to see and buy any car. The best of all Ferraris, you can’t just turn up and buy. You have to be invited to buy them. The best of the best of the best Ferraris, even more so. So someone said to him in the comments, more the question, would you buy one? And he wrote, not impossible. Now that same person then replied, you’ve proved that you’ll buy anything they sell just to stay on their list. And then he’s just being smashed in the comments, calling him a Ferrari shill, etc. Um, but I think they’ve— I think these people have lost the perception of the market here. Ferrari’s not building this car to have someone who would normally buy a 480 or whatever the modern Ferrari sports car is buy this. No, no, no, no. This is the potential daily driver Ferrari, although at a million bucks it’s insane. This is the car that says Ferrari but says modern electric Ferrari. This is the car that a Ferrari— I, I, and I guarantee when the reviews come out, it’s going to be staggering. There’s a couple things about this car that we, we know already, and there’s more that we can perceive. But the number one perception I have is this will feel like a Ferrari, this will handle like a Ferrari, this will handle beautifully on the road because of its center of gravity. It’ll be unbelievable. And it won’t sound like a Ferrari, but it will sound unlike anything ever before. And that could be a game changer for the industry. So it’s going to be fascinating to see how it’s genuinely received overall. Um, I don’t mind the look of it, I’ll be honest with you. I think it’s a pretty stylish looking thing. It’s different, no doubt. Sir Johnny Ive and Mark Newson designed it. But here’s what I like about the interior. We saw some leaks of the— or releases of the interior. The rear seats of the interior look like they’re from the ’70s. And I love it. I love the way it’s upholstered. I love the straight lines across the upholstery. I don’t know, it just gives ’70s or ’80s vibe. And there’s the tan interior in their photos is, is absolutely giving that. Um, the center infotainment screen— not machine— center infotainment screen has a handle in front. You can just push and twist so it faces the passenger, which more importantly also works so it kind of doesn’t need to be re-engineered for a right-hand drive car. And just the intricacies of buttons, the dials, the knobs, the vents— everything is beautiful, as you would expect from Sir Jony Ive, who learned about those moments of beauty from Steve Jobs. So yeah, it looks— I think it looks stunning. It looks completely unique, and for that reason, stunning. If I win Powerball, I’ll get one. Which reminds me, Must put on Powerball.

[00:07:27] VOICE OVER: You’re listening to the EFTM podcast. You can text Trev now thanks to Vodafone on 0477 657 657.

[00:07:42] Trevor: Yep, do that anytime and we’ll get you on the show whether you’ve got a question about tech or you’ve got an interest in something you just bought. I don’t mind if you want to brag about something cool in your tech life or you’ve got a problem, we can try and help you out. Martin’s on the line. G’day, Marty.

Martin — iPhone 14 Pro: should he upgrade or replace the battery?

[00:07:54] Martin: Hey, how you going, Trev?

[00:07:55] Trevor: Mate, really good. You’re, uh, you’re contemplating a new phone. Why?

[00:08:00] Martin: Well, that’s a very good question. So I have an iPhone 14 Pro, and you’ve got all— it’s got a plethora of selections. Now, I’ve had iPhones since, since, uh, since I got rid of my crackberry all those years ago.

[00:08:13] Trevor: Yeah.

[00:08:14] Martin: And, and, um, and, uh, the devices are really good. I think you recommended to me about 5 or 6 years ago, Martin, if you can afford to buy your device out. So I’ve done that. So I own my device. I’m not, not on plan or anything, but I’ve got a 14. The phone’s still working reasonably well and I just wanted to know, do I stick with iPhone or there’s so many other choices out there and there’s so much advertisement now. You’ve got the F1 drivers advertising Google Pixel, all that sort of garbage. Do I stick with iPhone now? The whole family have got iPhone.

[00:08:45] Trevor: Yeah, well, so there’s, there’s a really— so I’ll tell you two things. And you know, my son Jackson, and he’s, he’s as nerdy as me. He switched to Google because of Oscar Piastri.

[00:08:56] Martin: Right.

[00:08:56] Trevor: And I never— so obviously I’ve got phones. I said, mate, you can try one, give it a try. And he didn’t mind it. And then I gave him the bee’s knees one and he’s like, I really love this. And he’s still— that’s since— was that March, early March? They did that campaign. He’s still all in and not even talking about going back to an iPhone now. So the fact is it can be done. It absolutely can be done. And in reality, mate, they all do the same thing. I’m using a phone right now called a Xiaomi.

[00:09:24] Martin: A what?

[00:09:25] Trevor: Exactly, right? It’s one of China’s biggest brands. It’s spelled X-A-I-O-M-I, but no one’s ever heard of it here. But they’re huge. They make cars in China, okay? They make electric cars. And I think I can’t tell you much about it because I think it’s under embargo, but it’s a bloody good phone. And I’ve not even— I’ve kind of not noticed that I’m using it. It’s just another phone to me. And, and I think when I notice that a phone is different is when it’s one of the more cheaper ones. So like a $400 phone or something, you notice that things don’t load up as quickly or the camera isn’t as good. But if you’re going to stay in that premium level, then it doesn’t matter whether it’s a Samsung or Google, an Oppo or Xiaomi or an, or an Apple. They’re all going to feel great. But the reason you need to contemplate sticking with Apple is how and who you communicate with and what other devices you use. So firstly, do you have Mac computers or iPads?

[00:10:18] Martin: I got an iPad and my phone and my iPad are linked together.

[00:10:22] Trevor: But in what way? Is it like just because they’re on the same account and you get messages on the iPad?

[00:10:27] Martin: Well, I get messages and stuff and my text messages that are on my phone are on my iPad. So from my iPad I’ve got that sort of stuff. I like using the iPad. It’s a good platform.

[00:10:40] Martin: But as far as cameras and all of that sort of people, I go, “Oh, I want the one with the best camera.” But Trev, have I ever done anything but looked at my photos on my phone? I don’t blow them up to 180 by 360 and hang them on the wall.

[00:10:55] Trevor: We’re not making billboards.

[00:10:57] Martin: No, no, exactly right. So, so, so I don’t need the flashiest of cameras. But do you save any money going to the other brands or do you stick to Apple and spend $2,000 on a phone?

[00:11:07] Trevor: There’s definitely a small saving, especially in the Pro. So you’re in the Pro level. So you’re talking $2,000 plus and you can get a like $1,600, $1,700 phone from Google or Oppo or Xiaomi that are absolutely absolutely as good, if not better, and you are saving money therefore. But Marty, yeah, I think given what you’ve said about your iPad, straight up, you won’t enjoy being on Android because you won’t have that. So I converted our family entirely to WhatsApp for communication because I do change phones so often that if I was overseas and the kids are on an iPad, I can’t communicate with them because I didn’t have an iMessage, right? So we use WhatsApp exclusively so that I can be on any phone, it doesn’t matter, right? But if you’re— if you’ve got group chats with the family that are all blue bubble messages and that kind of stuff, you can’t emulate that on an Android phone. Yeah, yeah, you have to use something like WhatsApp. I’ll go you one better and say to you this: there’s nothing wrong with your iPhone. The only likely problem is you’re starting to notice that, uh, you know what, I am charging it earlier in the day, or I’m noticing the batteries and this. Do you know that for $169 you can get a brand new battery from Apple. Oh, really?

[00:12:21] Martin: Yeah, because that’s my biggest complaint with the current phone is the charging. Janine says to me, ‘Oh, Martin, my phone’s newer than yours,’ and she just did a walk in Larapinta and she said, ‘By the end of the day, I’m not doing anything and I’ve run out of battery.’ Well, you know, that’s a separate problem for her, right?

[00:12:39] Trevor: Because she is— she’s doing something with the battery. She needs to go into the settings and work out what it is that’s draining. I guarantee you there’s an app on her phone that is dragging the battery down. And it’s available to anyone in the settings. You go Settings, Battery, and then it’ll list which apps are killing your battery on that day. But for a 4-year-old phone like yours, now your battery is still going to get you through the day, but if you spent $169 with Apple— so I’m talking that’s official with Apple. I’m sure there’s some bloke in Thailand that could do it for you, let alone, you know, the, the local Westfield, I’m sure. But I would personally go, you know what, I’m going to hand over to Apple and get them to replace the battery just for safety’s sake. $169, Marty, that phone will be brand new. Yeah, right, it will. It will feel brand new. And the only thing that you’re not getting from that phone is new features like Apple Intelligence.

[00:13:31] Martin: And I don’t really need that at this point.

[00:13:33] Trevor: You don’t— it doesn’t sound like you’re too stressed about not having some AI features. And if you do want some AI features, you can download ChatGPT and muck around with them on your phone. But that’s the only reason upgrade Yeah, righto, righto.

[00:13:45] Martin: And when you do, yeah, but when you do upgrade, so they’re gonna bring the new iPhone out later this year. So there’ll be a new one later this year, September, yep. Yeah, so to someone like me who’s not bloody amazing with the tech, do I buy last year’s or the previous model and save myself money there rather than buying the new one?

[00:14:04] Trevor: No, my advice is if you can afford it, which is obviously a pain point for a lot of people, I get that. But if you can afford it, get the current one, the new one, because if you buy you buy the iPhone 18 Pro this October, then it’s 4 to 5 years before you’re talking about doing the same thing again. Yeah, whereas if you get last year’s model, there’s something that’s going to happen in the next 4 to 5 years that’ll mean that you’re one generation behind. So for the sake of potentially hundreds of dollars, because it’s not going to be thousands that you save by going a year old, for the sake of potentially hundreds of dollars, you’re better off putting the money in, investing essentially in that 4-year plan.

[00:14:42] Martin: Yeah, perfect, perfect. No, mate, I knew you’d talk some sense into me. And I think for the next 12 months we might just whack a new battery in our phones and be happy with our current phones.

[00:14:53] Trevor: The Minister for War and Finance will respect you for spending a lot less but having the new phone feeling.

[00:15:00] Martin: She goes, you’ve just saved $1,000. How about we go out for dinner?

[00:15:03] Trevor: How about we save another $1,000 and eat bloody macaroni cheese? Beautiful. Good to hear from you, Marty. Thanks, mate.

[00:15:13] Martin: Yeah, great to hear from you, mate. Thank you very much. Cheers, buddy.

[00:15:15] Trevor: Anytime. No worries at all. Marty, for full disclosure, used to live in my local area, used to be very active in the local baseball club, was the man that made our beautiful baseball ground look spectacular every single weekend and has since— I thought he’d retired up the coast or something. It sounds like he’s still working his ass off. But anyway, It’s such a valid question about what to do and what to buy. And people often think that I will always tell you to just get the new phone. No. If you f— Did you listen? Just listen back to Marty’s call. At no point did he say he had a problem with his phone. It was me that brought up the battery. So there’s this weird, it’s literally just the advertising and the new phone fever that’s got him thinking about it. But actually, if you can last 5 years with a phone, when you’re amortizing that $2,000 cost across 5 years instead of 4, big win.

[00:16:12] VOICE OVER: Cars, lifestyle. This is the EFTM podcast with Trevor Long.

[00:16:19] Trevor: Great to have your company. If you’d like to have a chat, I’d love to hear from you. Send me a text 0477657657. We’ll get you on the show at some point soon. Chris is on the line. G’day, Chris.

Chris — Wireless CarPlay for a 2015 Hyundai iX35

[00:16:29] Chris: G’day, how are you going, mate?

[00:16:31] Trevor: Really good, mate. What can I do for you?

[00:16:33] Chris: Oh, just responding to your, uh, request for a pod. Not sure it’s regarded. Sorry.

[00:16:40] Trevor: You, I think you sent us a message about wireless Android or CarPlay.

[00:16:45] Chris: That’s correct. Yes.

[00:16:47] Trevor: What’s, what’s, what’s on the, what’s, what are you looking at and what advice can I give you, if any?

[00:16:52] Chris: Well, I’ve got an iX35, my wife’s iX35, and she’s got the original, it’s a 2015, it’s got the original map on there and it’s not CarPlay or Android, but it’s very slow. You know, you start the car and drive for 10 minutes and click the button to get the screen up, you know, doesn’t come up, takes 10 minutes to come up. So we’ve looked at alternatives. We looked at getting one installed and replaced, but you’re talking $900.

[00:17:18] Trevor: Oh, it’s crazy money. Yeah, no, actually crazy money. Removing the whole head unit, which normally involves removing part of the dash as well because you probably want a bigger, bigger screen than the one that came with it as well. You know, it’s a big expense. So have you looked at the little kind of dash, dash top version?

[00:17:37] Chris: Yeah, there’s so many on the market and it’s conflicting reports on them. It seems— I think I honed in on the Laser 10-inch. That seems to get a reasonably good review. Yeah, yeah. Basically all my wife wants as far as the map side of it and this— I’ve been having the speed on there when you’re in, you know, you’re driving country because we live in the country.

[00:18:01] Trevor: Does audio come into it at all?

[00:18:03] Chris: Um, like, not as much. Probably not. I think it’s more maps and speed rating because we’re in the country in South Australia And we can go from one zone, it says 80, and next minute it says it’s 100. So, you know, and if you can’t, you don’t have the display on your screen to say what speed limit we’re doing, it’s sometimes you can miss a speed sign because it’s behind a tree or something like that. So it’s always difficult to do that, you know. We’ve got streets here that go from 40, 60 to 50 and then to 80.

[00:18:34] Trevor: Mate, I’ve stopped even trying to work out what speed some of the streets are around me, I’ll be honest with you.

[00:18:39] Trevor: So you’re right, you narrowed it down beautifully. I would say there’s I’d give you consideration for. One is the Laser, or at Harvey Norman they call it the Navigator.

[00:18:49] Chris: That’s right.

[00:18:49] Trevor: Yeah, 10-inch. And then there’s Uniden at JB Hi-Fi. They’ve got the Uniden 10-inch.

[00:18:54] Chris: Oh, Uniden.

[00:18:55] Trevor: And you know, the reason I say that is because, look, I’m a, I’m a big brand fan, not for any other reason than you feel like you’re going to get more support that way. There’s a bunch of people selling these things. There’s people on TikTok, and I respect the hustle of people that go, oh, I can find a factory in China, I can make this thing and I can sell it here. But yeah, you know, So when it comes to warranty and returns and any issues, how’s it going to go? So the thing is, Uniden, they’ve got an Aussie office. They’re here, they’re local, they’re working hard.

[00:19:25] Chris: I know Uniden well.

[00:19:26] Trevor: You’ll be sorted. And I know personally the people at Laser work their ass off behind their products. And they, if you rang them or emailed them and said this doesn’t work or what is it, they firstly, they try and help you. And secondly, they’d be like, mate, send it back. You know, they would help out in that case. So I think they’re both, I like the widescreen 10-inch version. I feel like it’s, especially with the modern modern CarPlay, it’s now a really nice split screen. So you can have your maps as well as other things, or you can just have a huge map and just make sure that you set it so that it’s the correct orientation, left or right. So that speed sign on Waze or Google, whatever you’re using, appears in the bottom right of screen, which is, you know, closer to the driver. Do you use Waze or Google mainly when you navigate?

[00:20:13] Chris: Well, in my country, on that. We, a newer car, we got a 2020 Tucson, which is the maps on that. It’s brilliant. It’s really good. And we use that with CarPlay, with Waze and Apple Maps because we’re Apple people and we find that really good.

[00:20:29] Trevor: But I just thought as a country person, whenever I’m in the country, I’m using Waze, mate, because I want the wood ducks to tell me where the cops are.

[00:20:37] Chris: Me too.

[00:20:37] Trevor: I don’t know whether it’s as big a drama in South Australia, but I certainly want a little bit of a heads up.

[00:20:42] Chris: Hey, now, does the Uniden and the Laser connect through AUX to drive the maps, or is it all built Bluetooth?

[00:20:51] Trevor: No. So what happens is the device itself, you wirelessly connect your phone to. So.

[00:20:58] Chris: All right. By Bluetooth?

[00:21:00] Trevor: Well, just by Wi-Fi. So what you do is, what you do is you open up the settings and it comes up with a little— like when you turn the screen on, it looks really weird. It doesn’t have any icons or anything. It’s just got like a, like it’s got a Bluetooth hand handle that you connect to. And then what you do is you connect to that via Bluetooth, and then that prompts the unit to then connect via Wi-Fi and initiate CarPlay in the same way that you’re— in the same way. Does your Tucson use wireless or wired CarPlay?

[00:21:29] Chris: Wired.

[00:21:30] Trevor: So you, so you wouldn’t be familiar then. If I get in a new car and it’s got wireless CarPlay, all you do is pair your phone to the car and it automatically kicks in with CarPlay. So that’s how these work. You pair them to Bluetooth, they kick in the wireless CarPlay, and then it’s done. So actually the head unit, the 10-inch unit, only needs power. So you only need to provide it with the little 12-volt power.

[00:21:54] Trevor: If you though want to have your music, podcasts, or anything else coming out of the CarPlay into your car speakers, you then need to do one of two things: either an auxiliary cable, or you can tune it to the, like, the FM, a little FM output normally they have to allow you to—

[00:22:13] Chris: actually be better though.

[00:22:14] Trevor: Oh, definitely, mate. I 100% would recommend using AUX if you’ve cable handy and a port handy. Yeah, for sure. All right, mate. Well, it’s well under $300, so that’s a good thing.

[00:22:28] Chris: Exactly. And thank you for the competition. I needed to upgrade my old iPhone, which was running out of memory and battery, and winning the competition came at the best opportune time.

[00:22:40] Trevor: What did you win? You won a phone.

[00:22:42] Chris: I won a Samsung phone, which I’m a— I can’t use Samsung. I’ve been using Apple since the first Apple phone came on the market. Yeah. Being an old Apple salesperson from the reselling, from the reselling game, I’ve been using iPhones since they first came out. And so I’ve had every iPhone, but because I retired, I didn’t get a free phone anymore, so I had to buy one. So I bought an old iPhone 11, which I’ve had for about, God knows how long, 5 years since I retired. And then that was starting to slow down, and then I won the Samsung, so I thought, oh God, I’ll try, try and sell it on Marketplace. Got offered like $200 and stupid like that for a $1,000, $2,000 phone. So, so I didn’t unpack it, went to JB’s, and JB’s, yes, we can change it over for an iPhone 17. Thank you very much. Wow, I know, I was over the moon.

[00:23:35] Trevor: So they got the iPhone, they just took it back because I bought that on— I don’t— I think I got it from Samsung direct, not from JB’s.

[00:23:43] Chris: No, it came from JB’s.

[00:23:44] Trevor: Oh, it did come from JB’s. Oh, okay, right. So they essentially, they essentially took my return for you. Very nice.

[00:23:52] Chris: Yeah, well, I didn’t— I did unpack the box. I leave the box sealed up.

[00:23:55] Trevor: Nice. Completely smart.

[00:23:57] Chris: I was— because if I sold it on online, if I sold on Marketplace, on, on, on, not unsealed, it would be better. But I, I had ridiculous offers. People say, I’ll give you $400 for it. I got no— yeah, good luck. If you can deliver it, I’ll give you $500.

[00:24:12] Trevor: Yeah, right.

[00:24:13] Chris: Anyway, so a friend of mine said, why don’t you see if you can take it back? You got the receipt from JB. I said, so I thought, we’ll give it a crack, and walked in there and said— and They were really helpful. I’m very impressed with JB. I buy everything from them and they just went, yeah, no problem. What would you like? I said, I’ve had an iPhone 7, 8. So I’ve got the iPhone 17, which is an absolute beast.

[00:24:33] Trevor: Beautiful. That’s a great phone, mate. Well done. Well, I’m glad I could help. Yep.

[00:24:37] Chris: Anytime.

[00:24:38] Trevor: Good on you. Thanks.

[00:24:41] Chris: You’ve been very helpful in both things.

[00:24:42] Trevor: Good on you, mate. Thanks for getting in touch.

[00:24:45] Chris: No worries. Thanks a lot. Bye.

[00:24:46] Trevor: Cheers, Chris. No worries at all. There you go. Won the prize. I was just looking at the website and I do get that question now and then. Where do you publish the winners? Eftm.com/terms. Every single competition is listed there. You can read back to September last year to see who the winner was of all the competitions since the— well, did we did the iPhone Air, and then I think it was the magazine. So all the comps through the magazine through to the weekly prizes this year. So Chris French from South Australia, March 9th, Samsung S26 smartphone, which is also where you can click on the terms and conditions to read them in full. But what about about that? Didn’t want it. Took it back. I mean, of all the competitions, he’s lucky. He’s lucky that actually came from JB’s because I would say 70% of the competitions are prizes from the brand. Whereas like if you see a $300 voucher at JB’s or a Kogan voucher or something strange worth around $300 or $400, that’s just me buying it for you. So, Um, oh well, I appreciate the hustle, I guess. I respect the hustle. So, um, he’s got a better phone, he thinks. Not a great ad for Samsung’s S26. That’s a beautiful phone. I would have preferred to hear him say, oh, I’ve been an iPhone user all my life, and I’m glad I won this, and then I went, and here’s what it’s like to use. But instead he just took it back. Very good. Well played. 11.

[00:26:15] VOICE OVER: That’s the text line. Thanks to Vodafone, get in touch and ask Trev today.

[00:26:20] Trevor: Love to hear from you. If you’ve got a tech question, you can ask it. Doesn’t matter what it is, whether you’ve just bought something cool and you don’t know how to use it, or you’re in the market for something interesting. Let’s have a chat about it. Um, we can take your calls at any time here on the EFTM podcast and understand what’s, uh, what’s troubling you in your tech life. Uh, about a year ago, a little over a year ago now, um, Vodafone came out very strong nationally, talking about doubling the size of their network nationally. And it was a big deal because one of the biggest challenges we have in Australia is the dominance of one telco based almost entirely over the fact that they have a bigger network. But that’s something that Vodafone has long attempted to challenge, and I think rightly so. And I wanted to reflect on that year, and they’ve done some interesting research into the effects of that, that deal a year on with James Gully, the Acting Group Executive of Consumer at Vodafone. He joins me on the line.

James Gully (Vodafone) — One year of expanded regional network coverage

[00:27:11] Trevor: G’day, James.

[00:27:12] Trevor: How are you doing?

[00:27:13] James Gully: Trevor, good, thanks.

[00:27:14] Trevor: How are you? Mate, very, very well. It’s a monumental time when you reflect on that time a year ago because, you know, as a Vodafone customer myself and full disclosure, I’m a paying customer and I have been for years, mainly because of your roaming. It’s my number one thing in life. I travel so much. It’s so easy to communicate and keep in touch because of your roaming. But when I drive to regional New South Wales, I notice that I’ve got coverage in places I didn’t have before. But is that hitting home with consumers? Have you seen the— has the dial moved?

[00:27:46] James Gully: Oh, look, it definitely has. I mean, the data points in terms of just square kilometres covered, we’ve gone from 400,000 square kilometres a bit over 12 months ago to over a million square kilometres. And that’s showing through in the satisfaction of our customers on the network. We’re seeing lower churn rates, higher levels of satisfaction, but also increasingly we’re seeing more and more customers choosing Vodafone and switching from from some of the other guys. And so I think customers are really relishing the choice that we’ve brought to these areas with improved coverage.

[00:28:19] Trevor: It’s an interesting point I’d never really thought about. I always think of it like, oh, trying to get people to switch, but it’s just as important to ensure that your existing customers don’t get frustrated or have an issue that they might then use as the straw that broke the camel’s back. And churn, for people that don’t know, is essentially losing customers. The big one I’ve always talked about over the years was Foxtel. Foxtel churn is when, you know, people are— they cancel their subscription. In the telco space, it’s, you know, I’ve decided to switch telcos. Churning from one to another is something you try and avoid on a daily basis because you want people to be loyal and with you for a long time. So the evidence is that you’re seeing people do that on a less frequent basis, and that can directly be attributed to the net Absolutely.

[00:29:07] James Gully: So less dropouts, better speeds, much higher levels of satisfaction within our customer base. So yeah, it’s definitely benefiting our customers. And this report that we undertook was really about trying to understand, okay, we know that our customers are benefiting, but what are the broader economic impacts into the regions and social impacts as well for our customers, but also for the regions?

[00:29:36] Trevor: And can you put a dollar value on that because surveys and studies are great, but being able to quantify the impact of better connectivity for people or better competition is an important thing for you as a business, but also for an industry.

[00:29:54] James Gully: Yeah, it is. And the idea of this report is it really starts to quantify what those impacts are. And at a customer level, you know, we know customers who’ve switched from other providers to Vodafone have saved on average $182 a year. So at a customer level, they’re getting really good value. And we know also that for our existing customers who are already with us, that actually the improved connectivity and the utility they get from that has added additional value to their— to them as well. All up, that has been sized by Deloitte at $341 million annual value of the expanded network for Vodafone customers nationwide. And that contributes in many ways. It contributes to the economy. There’s about $80 million contribution to GDP just in productivity gains alone from the higher speeds that they’re getting out there with the rollout of 5G to the regions as well.

[00:30:49] Trevor: And you can kind of simplify to the impact for individuals because things like just the daily commute for some people is made better because they can use their phone in a more effective way.

[00:31:02] James Gully: Yeah, it flows through in many ways. I mean, there’s basic things like enjoying your commute, being able to stay connected in your commute. There’s safety in regions. People worried about breakdowns. It’s about staying connected with families. Then there’s all of the, you know, essential services. We’ve seen increases in customers accessing government services, increasing use of telehealth, increasing use of online education. And they’re all in the kind of consumer space. But for businesses as well, it’s absolutely critical. And you see Businesses rely on communications to run. And so through the survey we came across a lot of customers who, you know, it’s been absolutely transformational for them to be able to have improved connectivity for their teams out on the road and with their customers.

[00:31:51] Trevor: ‘Cause like essential services, we often think of that as just meaning triple zero, but essential services is just healthcare. So I think about my trips to the doctor and I’ve said to my doctor a couple of times, listen, wouldn’t it be easier if we just did this on the phone? It’s basically a script, you know, telehealth. And in regions that’s even more important because a lot of people are so distant from their health professional. I feel like we put too much emphasis as a society on the importance of the NBN, for example, as bringing high-speed broadband internet to people’s homes and not enough on the fact that we need to make sure that all points of contact connectivity-wise have that same breadth of connectivity and reliability, especially when it comes to telehealth.

[00:32:35] James Gully: Yeah, that’s exactly right, Troy. We’ve seen, just to give you a sample on that, in the areas that we have we’ve improved our coverage, we’ve seen a 13% increase in customers using, use of telehealth in this survey. So it’s pretty material. And that is a thing in the regions. You don’t have the same access you do in the city areas to some of these services. And so actually connectivity is more important for regional customers than it is for metro customers. And like you said, NBN covers people in their home, but actually that’s not how people live. People are always out and about on the road commuting, dealing with customers. And so that’s where the mobile connectivity really comes in and has made a big difference to the people’s lives out there.

[00:33:18] Trevor: And I know you mentioned safety, which is an important thing for people to have access to and feel more comfortable that they have ability to call emergency services and things. But the other thing, and it might be kind of simplistic, but when you’re in a regional area and again in 2026, we’re not opening up a Refidex or a Gregory’s or UBD to find our way somewhere. And you’re not relying on the big green sign to tell you how to get from one town to another. You are typing digging into Google Maps or Waze. And when that stops working halfway through your trip and you don’t know when it’s gonna come back, it can be quite problematic. And I think that actually restricts some people from traveling.

[00:34:01] James Gully: Yeah, it’s absolutely true. And one of the data points that came through is actually customers are taking more regional trips. So they’ve got more confidence about having coverage coverage. Maybe that’s in navigation as part of that, Trevor. And so we are seeing people definitely taking more trips in our customer base as a result of the increased coverage.

[00:34:22] Trevor: And we talk about the doubling of coverage, but there’s some areas, like I looked at the little rundown I was sent, and there’s some areas where we are talking the increase in population coverage, which is how we seem to talk about these things, in well over 50% in some areas of regional Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria.

[00:34:41] James Gully: Yeah, that’s right. I mean, we use that sort of double the network as a headline message, but as I said earlier on, it went from 400,000 to over a million. So actually it’s really 2 and a bit. And then in some areas it’s a lot more than that. So we kind of keep the message simple to try and cut through. But actually for some areas it’s far more dramatic than that. And it is important that it’s not just coverage, but it’s actually quality of coverage and the speed as well. So this upgrade has enabled speeds to increase a lot from 4G to 5G. And it’s about a 400% increase in speeds that our customers are getting in these areas as a result of the upgrade. So it’s less dropouts, more coverage and greater speed.

[00:35:26] Trevor: A question kind of without notice, but tell me if it’s not your area of expertise, but when we talk about population coverage, that reminds me of the mapping woes of the last few months and the fight that went on between telcos and the regulator around how to advertise your coverage. How’s that going to change in the future? Because it was and has traditionally been a population percentage change— coverage is the way we articulate coverage. Is that going to change or is it just the maps on the websites that are changing as a result of the kind of rulings that have been made by the regulator?

[00:36:02] James Gully: Yeah, I think the big change is the requirement environment for a standard representation of coverage to customers on maps. And we’ve been advocating hard for that because we’re a challenger in this space and we want to advocate for consumers. And all of the telcos have had a different approach to how they represent coverage on their maps. And what we’ve found there is actually it’s really not an apples for apples comparison, and transparency and fairness is what we’ve been seeking out there. So we’re really, really pleased with the outcomes that the regulator’s come in and standardising the way that all the areas will represent coverage. And I think what you’ll see from that is some fairly dramatic changes in terms of the representations made to customers about where they can actually receive coverage. So I think Telstra’s own commentary is about a million square kilometres that will come off their coverage maps. We’ll still continue to talk about when we’re communicating percentage of population coverage, but the maps certainly will change. Will change quite significantly. What’s come through in this report is while percentage of population is important, it’s not— that really is about where people live, but actually people are always on the move, always in the car and always out and about. And so, you know, a lot of the benefits that we’ve got coming through in this report that we’re seeing is actually really not about having coverage where people live, but it’s where they— it’s in their business, where they work and where they’re traveling is really a big one. So there’s limitations on the population coverage, but the big change is ultimately the way the maps are representing and informing customers about what they’re going to get and what they can expect with their telco.

[00:37:46] Trevor: Nod and smile at me when I come to you with creative ideas like this, but one of the— hear me out, hear me out, hear me out. One of the things I used to do a spot on a radio show called The Night Shift with Luke Boner on Triple M, which was midnight till 5 AM until they axed it. And it was a massive show with truckies, ’cause they were on the road at that time of night and they were ringing in and talking about stuff. And he would get so many calls about mobile coverage and network coverage. And it would come up quite frequently that since the 5G switch on and the 3G switch off, coverage on the highways has been horrible. I see a potential opportunity for you on the highways because you’re right, population goes to where we live, not where we drive. I see an opportunity if you put a massive billboard on a highway, many pieces of highway where you know you’ve got coverage but they don’t, because they do exist. Those spots genuinely exist now because of the, uh, the way the networks have been essentially rebuilt over the 3G switch-off. And it’s, it’s been to the detriment of one big telco, not the others. You just put a big billboard up that says Vodafone’s got coverage, do you? You know, like, it’s very It’s very simple and it makes people look at their phone and go, well, hang on a minute, I don’t have coverage. And then maybe, just maybe, they’re with someone in the car that’s got Vodafone. They go, you know, I do. Because isn’t it funny how often that happens? You’re with someone and they go, ah, I don’t have coverage. And you go, well, I do. And they’re shocked that you’re not with Telstra.

[00:39:14] James Gully: Yeah, completely. That’s a good point. And it does come down to kind of national messaging, but then also local messaging. In towns, in black spots on highways. And there’s certainly a role for that. And we’ve been out there communicating as part of our recent campaign. You know, there’s a couple of cities we now have the fastest 5G in Perth and we’ve got the fastest 5G in Brisbane. And so now we are kind of communicating to customers, hey, you don’t just have a choice, but actually we have the fastest 5G in those towns. So certainly it’s a good point, Trevor, and bringing it down to a local level and what it means for those customers and highlighting that is certainly something in the pipeline and something you can expect to see moving forward.

[00:39:56] Trevor: Well, I think it’s worked pretty well for you regionally. I still think we’ve got this problem and I’ve talked about, I say this all, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve said the words lazy and loyal on the radio to people when talking about mobile coverage, I’d be very wealthy because Australians are loyal and lazy. We are loyal to our telcos for no good reason and we’re lazy and not willing to switch. And I mean that loyalty, you know, in ourselves and that could be Vodafone, Optus or Telstra. If people aren’t willing to find out what else is out there in terms of value, what else is out there in terms of coverage, and you’re not at least checking, well, you’re at the behest of the network you’re with until the day you die. Because if you’re not willing to give another telco a go, especially in regional areas, well, you can’t really save money. And that’s one of the greatest things that, you know, competition offers, not just through Vodafone directly, but through the MVNOs that use your network. That’s the message that I think regional Australia needs to hear so much more.

[00:40:52] James Gully: Yeah, look, that’s exactly right, Trevor, because this network expansion is not just for Vodafone, but it’s also for our other brands. So TPG Mobile customers will also get it. I-Net customers also get it. Felix customers also get it. So, you know, our message would be give us a go. On Vodafone, we actually have We have a coverage satisfaction guarantee. So if you switch to us and you’re not happy, then you can leave at any time and we certainly refund anything there for that you’ve invested. So it’s kind of like a no-risk switch. So we’re out there, we’re trying to lift the bar on competition, bring it to areas that haven’t had the right levels of competition. And we just ask Australian consumers to give us a go and we’re finding our customers are really happy.

[00:41:39] Trevor: Well done. Congratulations on a solid year of expanded coverage and really fascinating insights from the Deloitte study. Report, mate. Great to catch up, James, and let’s talk again soon.

[00:41:49] James Gully: Great, thanks, Trevor.

[00:41:55] VOICE OVER: Helping Australians with tech questions for over 15 years, the EFTN podcast with Trevor Long.

[00:42:01] Trevor: Great to have your company and happy to help wherever I can. 0477 657 657. Peter’s on the line. G’day, Peter.

Peter — Hisense TV developing brown circular stains on screen

[00:42:11] Peter: G’day Trevor, how you going, mate?

[00:42:13] Trevor: Really good, what can I do for you?

[00:42:15] Peter: I’ve got a Hisense LCD 65-inch TV which has developed some brown circular staining on in the screen.

[00:42:25] Trevor: All right, where, like, uh, circles that appear in bright spots or continuous?

[00:42:30] Peter: Uh, they’re, well, they’re oval shaped, probably about 100mm by 130mm. Started, one started in the center about 8 months ago, and we’ve now got 6, you know, forming a bit of a circle around the center one.

[00:42:44] Trevor: And do they look like they’re, I’m trying to describe what I’m thinking in my head here, but you know, if you’re planting a plantation of trees, they’re always in rows. Are they in rows or are they random?

[00:42:55] Peter: No, they appear to be forming a circle. So there’s one central to the screen, and then there’s 5 others now in a circle around that one. So it appears to be coming from the center of the screen, but they are quite distinct shapes.

[00:43:11] Trevor: How old’s the TV?

[00:43:13] Peter: Albeit a bit fuzzy, they are. It’s about 5 years old.

[00:43:16] Trevor: Okay, so borderline, definitely out of warranty, but oh my goodness, should we be getting Australian Consumer Law involved? What model range was it? Do you know the model number?

[00:43:30] Peter: Doing? Yes, just have a look at TV, that’ll tell you for sure.

[00:43:38] Trevor: And you said 65-inch?

[00:43:39] Peter: So 65-inch model, 65Q7.

[00:43:44] Trevor: Q7. All right, so not, not the, not the absolute bottom, probably, uh, low to middle rate of their kind of range. In what year do you reckon you bought it? 2021? Yeah, they’re about Yes. So look, it’s a tough one because you, you have— what do you remember? What it cost at 65 inches back in 2021?

[00:44:05] Peter: No, not off the top of my head. I’m figuring probably about $1,200.

[00:44:09] Peter: $1,100, $1,200.

[00:44:09] Trevor: Okay.

[00:44:10] Trevor: I mean, I’d put that at 65 inches as mid-range. I don’t think it was the cheapest TV at the time and it definitely wasn’t the most expensive. But the question in our minds here is, do you think you’re entitled to that being fixed, or are you just like, bugger it, that happened. It got a good life. We used it a heck of a lot. Where’s your head at on this TV?

[00:44:33] Peter: I would have thought it would last more than 5 years, to be honest. And it’s getting worse. So I don’t know.

[00:44:40] Trevor: It’ll keep getting worse, mate. There’s almost no question in my mind about that. It sounds like it’s the backlights, but it could be the LCD. Panel. So yeah, I mean, you obviously haven’t called anyone yet about it.

[00:44:54] Peter: No, not as yet.

[00:44:56] Trevor: Yeah. All right, here’s what I’ll do. And I say this with the— I want to say I make no guarantees because it is 5 years old. A TV in my mind, it’s like— so you’re aware of Australian Consumer Law?

[00:45:12] Peter: Yes.

[00:45:12] Trevor: And you know, the concept there is there’s no there’s no bloody definition in the law. It just says for a reasonable period. Yeah, and it’s always like, who’s going to argue what a reasonable period is? And in my mind, a TV should last 5 to 7 years, hopefully much more. But in my mind, 5 to 7 is the number these days, and the 5 is at the low end. So you buy a TV from Aldi or one of Kogan’s cheapest TVs and you get 5 years out of it, well done, congratulations, amortize the cost of a new one out. Again, as I said, I’d say yours is in the mid to mid to mid-range, medium range there. So which should last more than 5 years. I’m kind of with you on that, right? The question is how bad is the problem and what is the repair? So I’m, I’m prepared to represent on your behalf to Hisense and say, listen, here’s the model number, here’s the problem, here’s a photo of the problem because you’ll be able to give me that. What do you think and what do you diagnose? And find out what essentially what they say. So what is What is the broad statement from Hisense on this? Do we think it’s a cost of repair, or is there a— is it a replacement, or is it out of their control because it’s well past warranty? You’ve got to remember, Hisense have probably the best warranty in TVs. They do 3 years on most TVs these days, so that’s highly respected. Most other companies are 12 months, and you just do your best with Australian consumer law. So from a warranty perspective, I respect that Hisense have essentially the best in in the market. But no one’s gonna give you a 5-year warranty on TV. I’m assuming it hasn’t moved around, you haven’t moved house 3 times in that period of time?

[00:46:43] Peter: No, it’s been in the same place for that whole period.

[00:46:45] Trevor: And is it the primary nighttime, you know, it’s on the most in the house TV?

[00:46:49] Peter: It’s on nearly 3/4 of the day, just about.

[00:46:51] Trevor: Yeah, right, okay, 3/4. That’s had a good life, that TV, already. ‘Cause I look at my bedroom TV, right, and it’s feeding ’em 15, years old. I’m like, this is unbelievable. But mate, it doesn’t even get turned on twice a week. So you know what I mean? Like, it’s— there’s a, you know, they talk about batteries in terms of cycles, how many battery cycles. You can charge your battery 500 times before it starts to go, it’s probably not going to work anymore. The question is, how many hours of life does a TV give you under expectation of consistent service? So Let’s— here’s what I’ll do. I’ll take it to Hisense. I’ll get producer Rob to reach out. What I want from you is maybe a photo of the warranty card on the back, you know, the serial number and the model number, a photo of the screen as best you can, maybe take a couple. I’ll get him to— I’ll get you to email them because texting them never, never works very well. And then if you can email me those things along with your contact details, we will— I’ll represent the Hisense. No guarantees, but I just want to find out what what they say first.

[00:47:54] Peter: Yeah, terrific.

[00:47:55] Trevor: All right, let’s do that, Peter, and we’ll see how we go. Rob will be in touch with an email address to send all that to.

[00:48:01] Peter: All right, terrific. Thanks for calling, and yeah, great to speak to you.

[00:48:04] Trevor: No worries at all, mate. Anything we can do, we’ll do our best. Stay there and we’ll be in touch soon. All right, thanks, mate.

[00:48:09] Peter: Thank you.

[00:48:10] Trevor: Good on you, buddy. Right, so no guarantees, but let’s just find out, because they’re going to say either, well, it’s out of warranty, not our problem. I don’t think they’ll say that to me. They’ll say, we’ll send someone I don’t have to look at it. And then they’ll come back and say it’s LCD panel or backlight or whatever replacement, and it’s this much cost. And then it— the problem is that for a $1,200 TV, if it’s a $600 cost, is that something that he’s willing to absorb to get the TV back to working after 5 years? Or does he then say, for $600, I may as well spend $1,600 and get a brand new modern everything bells and whistles TV? That’s going to be the challenge. Challenge. But I’ll be honest, from just the tone of voice, I feel like Peter expects that TV to be fixed for as cheap as possible price. And I don’t argue with that expectation. In just 5 years, I think there’s a potential expectation of some form of repair there, potentially.

[00:49:05] VOICE OVER: We’ll see, we’ll see what Hisense is helping Australians with tech questions for over 15 years. The EFTN Podcast with Trevor Long.

[00:49:17] Trevor: All right, well, thank you for listening. I’ve remembered, even though we’ve taken those calls, I’ve remembered I’m going to put Powerball on. $60 million this Thursday, folks. I mean, be my luck, 60 million people will win it, or 60, but hey, I’ll take a million. Million pays off the mortgage, folks. Isn’t that the dream? Like people say, what would you do with the— with you win Lotto? Pay off the mortgage. Hello, that’s like the easiest question you’ve ever asked. That’s so easy to answer that question because I think it’s quite obvious that the first thing you do is pay off your mortgage. Oh, I’m not— not financial advice, but it seems like the smart move. Anyway, it is what it is. Now I promised also that we would revert back and make sure we cover off all your emails and calls. So producer Rob is on that. We’ve got a bunch of calls already lined up for next week, so we’ll get through those, which will be fun. But most importantly, just go and get Lotto, because I’m going to do it now. No, actually don’t, don’t get Lotto, don’t get Lotto. The less people that get Lotto, the more chance I’ve got. Surely, or the more chance I’ve got of winning it on my own. Maybe something like that. Anyway, thank you for listening. Thank you for downloading. I’ll be in London next week. Follow my adventures on Instagram. We’ll be on the Today Show talking Amazon delivery and satellite services, uh, and then we’ll be in Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino for the very latest and from WWDC with iOS 27. Um, we’ll wait and see. We’ll wait and see. Thank you for listening, folks. See you all again soon.

[00:50:59] VOICE OVER: Join the conversation. Head to eftm.com and click Ask Trev.