I though seeing that the Australian CDMA is due to close on the 28th of January, I could  offer some advise on how to continue to roam to Australia post the Telstra CDMA closure. 
  • One option for frequent travellers will be a Telecom Woldmode phone, and this is the simplest and easiest option for the business and regular traveller.
 
  • For the not so common user, customer can phone the Telecom International Roaming Help Desk (IRHD) and request a loan phone to be couriered to an agreed address (not PO Boxes) to be used for the duration of your trip to Australia and other non CDMA roaming destinations.
 
  • Customer who have a CDMA non Woldmode phone, and also have a GSM / WCDMA phone, the Telecom IRHD can send out a free GSM SIM card that you should be able to keep for your travels to Australia and other GSM only destinations.
 
  • If you are frequently in a selected country, you can purchase a local number to be used with a GSM handset, and divert your NZ calls from your Telecom number to the local number in the country you are visiting. Of course SMS will not be transferred (and this is the advantage of getting a Telecom SIM Card for roaming). However you gain local call rates, and generally the cost of diverting the call from your Telecom mobile, for example, to Australia is 49cents per minute (on most plans), cheaper the $1 in bound roaming cost.
 The last option is obviously not an official Telecom solution, but one I plan to use if the Australian Government gives permission to Telstra for the CDMA closure on the 28th of January 2008. This should see me through until the new Telecom GSM / WCDMA network is up and running.  If you have any other suggestions on how you plan to keep in touch across the ditch with Telecom post 28th January 2008 (and perhaps pre November 2008), please share them. nzbnw