EFTM - Tech, Cars and Lifestyle May 26, 2026

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

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51:10

Term

embargo dropped

An embargo is like a “don’t talk about it yet” rule for reporters. When the embargo drops, it means the news is finally allowed to be published.

Car

Ferrari Luce

Ferrari Luce is a Ferrari that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. The hosts are talking about it because it’s a big new reveal and people are debating how much it will cost.

Place

Maranello

Maranello is where Ferrari is based in Italy. The host is saying they saw parts of the new car’s engineering there before it was officially shown.

Car

Porsche Taycan

The Porsche Taycan is an electric Porsche. The host brings it up to compare prices, basically saying that if the Ferrari Luce is that expensive, it wouldn’t be totally out of line with other top EVs.

Concept

invited to buy

They’re saying Ferrari doesn’t always sell its most desirable cars like a normal dealership would. Instead, you may need an invitation or a special relationship with the brand to buy one.

Term

daily driver

A daily driver is a car you’d use all the time for normal errands and commuting. Here, they’re saying this Ferrari is meant to be that kind of car, not just a rare collectible.

Term

modern electric Ferrari

This means a Ferrari that’s powered by electricity instead of a gas engine. The hosts are saying it might still drive like a Ferrari, but it won’t sound the same as the traditional ones.

Term

center of gravity

Center of gravity is basically where the car’s “weight balance point” is. If it’s lower, the car tends to feel more stable and easier to control when turning.

Topic

how it will be received overall

They’re talking about whether people will like and accept this new Ferrari when reviews come out. It’s about overall reaction, not just what it looks like.

Term

infotainment screen

An infotainment screen is the big touchscreen in the car. It’s where you control things like music, maps, and phone features.

Term

Android

They mean Android Auto, which is Google’s system for connecting an Android phone to the car. It shows compatible apps on the car screen so things work more smoothly.

Term

CarPlay

CarPlay is a way to connect an iPhone to your car’s screen. It brings phone apps like maps, calls, and music into the car’s interface.

Concept

original map

“Original map” implies the car is using its factory navigation data from when it was new. Older map databases can be slower to load and can also be outdated, which is why owners sometimes consider upgrading the infotainment system or adding CarPlay/Android Auto.

Brand

Waze

Waze is a GPS/navigation app that uses real-time info from other drivers. The speaker likes it because it can give heads-up alerts during a trip.

Brand

Google

Google Maps is a GPS navigation app that helps you get directions. The speaker is comparing it to Waze for how the information shows up while driving.

Brand

Apple Maps

Apple Maps is Apple’s GPS/navigation app. In this segment, it’s mentioned as another map app the speaker uses through the car’s connected display.

Term

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is the wireless connection your phone uses to talk to your car. Pairing is the one-time setup that lets your car recognize your phone.

Term

head unit

The head unit is the main screen in the dashboard that controls things like music and phone features. It needs power to work.

Term

12-volt power

Cars usually run on a 12-volt electrical system. This means the device can be powered by tapping into the car’s normal 12V power instead of needing a special power source.

Term

auxiliary cable

An AUX cable is a simple wire that carries audio from your phone to your car’s stereo. It’s one way to get the sound from CarPlay playing through the car speakers.

Term

FM

FM is the normal radio band your car can tune to. Some setups can broadcast the phone’s audio over FM so you hear it through your car speakers.

Car

Dodge Challenger

The Dodge Challenger is a performance car made by Dodge. It’s known for having strong acceleration and a sporty, loud style, and it’s built for people who want a fun driving experience.

LIVE

The EFTM podcast. Talkback technology. Got a question about tech?

Trev's here to help. Not sure what to buy. Ask Trev.

Australia's number one talkback technology podcast.

I was gobsmacked. I spoke to you on the Tuesday.

Thursday afternoon there's this lovely courier man at me back door with a parcel for me.

All I know is we've been 24 hours mate. You had it sorted after five weeks of hell, raising hell.

Mate, I can't thank you enough.

Join the conversation. Head to eftm.com and click Ask Trev.

Helping Australians with tech questions for over 15 years. The EFTM podcast with Trev along.

Real Australians. Real questions. Every week.

You can text Trev now. Thanks to Vodafone on 0477 657 657.

G'day, g'day. Great to have you company on the EFTM podcast once again.

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 something I can also do by just making you spend money.

I'm happy to vicariously spend your money for you. Very, very easy to do that.

Don't you worry. I can pull that one off.

Yes, we have a bunch of calls to get to today as well as...

We're going to talk Vodafone's regional coverage.

It's been over a year since they launched that extra coverage thanks to the kind of mobile network

sharing operations they have with Optus, but has it had an impact?

Is it noticeable to them? They've done a survey to look at that, which is fascinating.

So I want to unpack that a little bit and of course take your calls.

We've got people on the line want to talk everything from iPhones to car play and warranty issues with other devices.

So we'll get to those. 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.

Apologies, no show and hopefully we'll get back into the swing of things after that.

As we get into mid-June, 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 6.10am,

the embargo dropped on the all electric Ferrari Luce.

This is the car I went and saw the kind of underpinnings of in Maranello last year with Ferrari.

And today they have shown the car.

There's no price, although some journals 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 100000 dollars, as should this thing be, because it's a Ferrari.

But calm down on the million bucks, folks. Let's call it four or 500000 but a million?

Hard to justify, but this thing is an engineering marvel.

And it's more fascinating to me to see what actual Ferrari nut jobs 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.

He's Instagramming Grant K Baker. He owns a lot of Ferraris and he's very proud of them and good on him.

But he's posted a photo array of it and asked the question and I get 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. And there's people there that go, like, if you buy that, I will de-friend you.

Is this April the first? Looks like Ferrari's best Porsche ad ever. That is not a Ferrari.

It looks Chinese. Ferrari shouldn't be making appliances.

But the most important one to 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 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.

But 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 by 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, and I guarantee when the reviews come out, it's going to be a staggering.

There's a couple of things about this car that 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 will 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.

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. So Johnny Ivan, Mark Newsom, designed it.

But here's what I like about the interior. We saw some leaks 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 the tan interior in their photos is absolutely giving that.

The center infotainment screen has a handle in front of it.

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 the buttons, the dials, the knobs, the vents, everything is beautiful,

as you would expect from Sir Johnny Ive, who learned about those moments of beauty from Steve Jobs.

So, yeah, 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, I must put on Powerball.

You can text Trev now, thanks to Vodafone on 0477 657 657.

Yep, do that any time, 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 today, Marty.

Hey, how you going, Trev?

Mate, really good. You're contemplating a new phone. Why?

Well, that's a very good question.

So, I have an iPhone 14 Pro, and it's got a plethora of selections.

Now, I've had iPhones since I got rid of my CrackBerry all those years ago,

and the devices are really good.

I think you recommended to me about five or six years ago,

and if you can afford to buy your device out, so I've done that, so I own my device.

I'm not on any 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.

Yeah, well, so there's a really imp...

I'll tell you two things, and you know my son, Jackson, and he's as nerdy as me.

He switched to Google because of Oscar Piestri.

Right.

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 bees knees one,

and he's like, I really love this.

And he's still...

That's since, what 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.

What?

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 I think when I notice that a phone is different,

is when it's one of the more cheaper ones,

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 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?

I've got an iPad and my phone and my iPad are linked together.

But in what way?

Is it just because they're on the same account

and you get messages on the iPad?

Well, I get messages and stuff,

and my text messages that are on my phone iPad,

so if I'm on my iPad, I've got that sort of stuff.

I like using the iPad.

It's a good platform.

Yeah, but as far as cameras and all of that sort of thing,

I go, I want the one with the best camera,

but have I ever done anything but looked at my photos on my phone?

I don't blow them up to 180 by 360 on the wall.

We're not making billboards.

No, no, exactly right.

So I don't need the flushest of cameras,

but do you save any money going to the other brands

or do you stick to Apple and spend two grand on a phone?

There's definitely a small saving, especially in the pro.

So you're in the pro level, so you're talking two grand plus,

and you can get a $1,600, $1,700 phone from Google

or a Oppo or a Xiaomi that are absolutely as good, if not better,

and you are saving money there for.

But Marty, 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

that doesn't matter, right?

But 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.

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,

you know what, I am charging it earlier in the day

or I'm noticing the batteries in this.

Do you know that for $169,

you can get a brand new battery from Apple?

Oh, really? Yeah.

Because that's my biggest complaint with the current phone

is the charging.

Janine says to me, 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 run out of battery.

Well, you know, that's a separate problem for her, right?

Because she's doing something with a 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 four-year-old phone like yours,

now your battery is still going to get you through the day.

But if you spend $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 local Westfield, I'm sure.

But I would personally go, you know,

I'm going to hand it over to Apple

and get them to replace the battery just for safety's sake.

$169, Marty, that phone will be brand new.

It will feel brand new

and the only thing that you're not getting from that phone

is new features like Apple Intelligence.

I don't really need that.

At this point, 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 ChatGBT and muck around with them on your phone.

But that's the only reason upgrade.

Yeah, righto, righto, that's it.

And when you do upgrade,

so they're going to bring the new iPhone out later this year.

So there will be a new one later this year, September, yeah.

So to someone like me who's not buddy 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?

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 the iPhone 18 Pro this October,

then it's four to five years

before you're talking about doing the same thing again.

Whereas if you get last year's model,

there's something that's going to happen in the next four to five 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 four year plan.

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.

The Minister for War and Finance will respect you

for spending a lot less but having the new phone feeling.

I should go, you've just saved $1,000,

how about we go out for dinner?

How about we save another thousand

and eat bloody macaroni cheese?

Beautiful, beautiful.

Good to hear from you, Marty, thanks mate.

Yeah, great to hear from you mate, thank you very much.

Cheers buddy, any time, 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, oh I thought he retired up the coast or something,

it sounds like he's still working his arse 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.

Did you 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 five years with a phone

when you're amortising that $2,000 cost across five years

instead of four, big win.

This is the EFTM podcast with Trevor Long.

Great to have you company,

and if you'd like to have a chat, I'd love to hear from you.

Send me a text, 044-765-7657,

we'll get you on the show at some point soon.

Chris is on the line today, Chris.

Hi, how are you?

Mate, really good, mate, what can I do for you?

I'm just responding to your request for a pod,

not sure it's regarded, Lawrence.

I think you sent us a message about Wallace Android

or Capital CarPlay?

That's correct, yes.

What are you looking at,

and what advice can I give, if any?

Well, I've got an IH35, my wife's IH35,

and she's got the original, it's a 2015,

it's got the original map on there,

but it's not a CarPlay or Android, but it's very slow.

You start the car and drive for 10 minutes,

and click the button to get the screen up,

it 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.

Oh, it's crazy money, yeah.

Actually, removing the whole head unit,

which normally involves removing part of the dash as well,

because you probably want a bigger screen

than the one that came with it as well.

It's a big expense.

So have you looked at the little dash top versions,

the windscreen versions?

Yeah, there's so many on the market,

and there's conflicting reports on them.

I think I've owned in on the laser 10-inch,

that seems to get a reasonably good review.

Basically, all my wife wants is for the map side of it,

and having the speed on there when you're driving in country,

because we live in the country.

Does audio come into it at all?

Not as much.

Probably not.

I think it's more maps and speed rating,

because we're in the country and in South Australia,

and we can go from one zone, it says 80,

and next minute it says it's 100.

And if you can't, you don't have the display on your screen

to say what speed limit we're doing.

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.

We've got streets here that go from 40, 60 to 50,

and then to 80.

Mate, I've stopped even trying to work

at what speed some of the streets are around me.

I'll be honest with you.

That's all right.

So you're right.

You narrowed it down beautifully.

I would say there's two I'd give you consideration for.

One is the laser,

although at Harvey Norman they call it the navigator.

That's right, yeah.

10-inch, and then there's UniDen at JB Hi-Fi.

They've got the UniDen 10-inch.

Oh, UniDen.

And the reason I say that is because, look,

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 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.

UniDen will.

You'll be sorted.

And I know personally, the people at Laser

worked 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,

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,

Yeah, I do too.

Especially with the modern car play,

it's now a really nice split screen.

So you can have your maps as well as other things,

or you can just have, 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 the speed sign on Waze or Google,

whatever you're using,

appears in the bottom bottom right of screen,

which is, you know, closer to the driver.

Do you use Waze or Google?

Mainly when you navigate.

Well, in my cook.

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 car play with Waze

and Apple Maps,

because we're Apple people.

And we timed that really good.

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.

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.

Hey, no, does the Uniden and the laser connect

through AUX to drive the maps

or is it all built with Bluetooth?

No.

So what happens is the device itself,

you wirelessly connect your phone to.

All right. By Bluetooth?

Well, just by Wi-Fi.

So correct?

So 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, it's got a Bluetooth 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 a car play.

In the same way that you're, in the same way,

does your Tucson use wireless or wired car play?

Wired.

So you wouldn't be familiar then.

If I get in a new car and it's got wireless car play,

all you do is pair your phone to the car

and it automatically kicks in with car play.

So that's how these work.

You pair them to Bluetooth.

They kick in the wireless car play 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 a little 12-volt power.

If you though want to have your music podcasts

or anything else coming out of the car play

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...

Yeah, you're actually better though.

Oh, definitely, mate.

I 100% would recommend using AUX

if you've got a cable handy and a port handy here for sure.

All right, mate.

Well, mate, it's well under $300.

So that's a good thing.

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.

What did you win? You won a phone.

I won a Samsung phone, which 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 iPhone since the first game out

and so have 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 $5 years since I retired,

and that was starting to slow down,

and then I won the Samsung, so I thought,

oh, my God, I'll try and sell it on Marketplace.

It got offered like $200 and stupid like that for a $2,000 phone.

So I did 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.

So they got the iPhone.

They just took it back because I bought that on,

I think I got it from Samsung Direct, not from JB's.

No, it came from JB's.

Oh, it did come from JB's.

Oh, okay, right.

So they essentially took my return for you.

Very nice.

Yeah, well, I did unpack the box.

I leave the box sealed up completely.

Smart.

Because if I sold it online,

if I sold it on Marketplace,

I'm not unsealed, it would be better.

But I had ridiculous offers.

People said, I'll give you $400 for it.

I got, no.

Good luck.

If you can deliver it, I'll give you $500.

Yeah, right.

Anyway, so a friend of mine said,

why don't you see if you take it back,

you got the receipt from JB.

I said, so I thought we'll give it a crack and watch it.

And they said, and they were really helpful.

I'm pretty impressed with JB.

I'll buy everything from them.

And they just went, yeah, no problem.

What would you like?

I said, I've got an iPhone 17.

So I've got the iPhone 17, which is an absolute beast.

Beautiful.

That's a great phone, mate.

Well done.

Well, I'm glad I could help.

Yep.

Any time.

I had to talk about why.

Good on you.

Thanks.

You've been very helpful in both things.

Good on you, mate.

Thanks for getting in touch.

No worries.

Thanks a lot.

Bye.

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.

Then where do you publish the winners?

EFTM.com, forward slash terms.

Every single competition is listed there.

You can read back to September last year to see who the winner was

of all the competition since the...

Well, 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 the 9th, Samsung S26 smartphone,

which is also where you can click on the terms and conditions

to read them in full.

But what 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, well, I appreciate the hustle, I guess.

I respect the hustle.

So 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 in 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.

0477657657.

That's the text line.

Thanks to Vodafone.

Get in touch and ask Trev today.

Loved 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.

We can take your calls at any time here on the EFTM podcast

and understand what's troubling you in your tech life.

About a year ago, a little over a year ago now,

Vodafone came out very strongly 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 deal

a year on with James Gully, the acting group

executive of Consumer at Vodafone.

He joins me in the line.

Good day.

James, how are you doing?

Have a good day.

How are you?

Made 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.

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?

Oh, look, it definitely has.

I mean, the data points in terms of just square kilometers

covered, we've gone from 400,000 square kilometers

a bit over 12 months ago to over a million square kilometers.

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, you know, 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.

It's an interesting point.

I'd never really thought about it.

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,

you know, losing customers.

That's, you know, the big one I've always talked

about over the years was Foxtel.

Foxtel churn is when, you know, people,

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 network.

Absolutely.

So let's drop out 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.

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.

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 existing customers

who are already with us that actually the improved connectivity

and the utility they get from that has added additional value

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 roll out

of 5G to the regions as well.

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.

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,

the safety in regions.

People worried about breakdowns,

about staying connected with families.

Then there's all of the 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 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.

Because 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, you know, 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.

Yeah, that's exactly right.

We've seen, just to give you a sample on that,

in the areas that we have 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 people's lives out there.

And I know you mentioned safety,

which is an important thing for people to have access to

and feel more comfortable

that they have the 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 a 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 it into Google Maps or Waze.

And when that stops working halfway through your trip

and you don't know when it's going to come back,

it can be quite problematic.

And I think that actually restricts some people from travelling.

Yeah, it's absolutely true.

One of the data points that came through

was actually customers are taking more regional trips

so they got more confidence about having 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.

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're 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 and Victoria.

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 two 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.

A question kind of without notice,

but Annette, 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 is that going to change in the future?

Because it was and has traditionally been a population percentage 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?

Yeah, I think the big change is the requirement

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 regulators come in and standardising

the way that all the carriers 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 map certainly will change quite significantly.

What's come through in this report is while percentage of population is important,

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 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 in their business where they work

and where they're travelling 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 can they can expect with their telco.

Not and smile at me when I come to you with creative ideas like this

but hear me out, out.

One of the things I used to do a spot on a radio show

called The Night Shift with Luke Bonner on triple M

which was midnight till 5am until the accident

and it was a massive show with truckies

because 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 way the networks

have been essentially rebuilt over the 3G switch off

and 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?

Like 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 and they go, you know I do

because isn't it funny how often that happens

you're with someone and they go, I don't have coverage

and you go, well I do and they're shocked

that you're not with Telstra.

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.

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.

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 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

competition offers, not just through Vodafone directly

but through the MVNOs that use your network

that's the message that I think region Australia needs to hear so much more.

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

INET 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 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.

Well done congratulations on a solid year of expanded coverage

and really fascinating insights from the Deloitte report mate

great to catch up James and let's talk again soon.

Great thanks Trevor.

Great to have you company

and happy to help wherever I can 047657657

Peter's on the line good day Peter.

Good day Trevor how you doing?

Mate really good what can I do for you?

I've got a Heissens LCD 65 inch TV

which has developed some

brown circular staining

in the screen.

Oh right like circles that appear

in bright spots or continuous?

Well they're oval shaped probably

100mm by 130mm

one started in the centre

about eight months ago

and we've now got six

forming a bit of a circle around the centre one.

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?

No they appear to be forming a circle

so there's one central to the screen

and then there's five others now

in a circle around that one

so it appears to be coming

from the centre of the screen

but they are quite distinct

shapes.

How old is the TV?

Or be it fuzzy they are

it's about five years old.

Okay so borderline

definitely out of warranty

but my goodness should we be getting

Australian Consumer Law involved?

What model range was it?

Do you know the model number?

I do yes.

That'll tell you for sure.

And you said 65 inch?

65 inch model

65 Q7

Q7 alright so

not the absolute bottom

probably low to middle range

of their kind of range.

Do you reckon you bought it in 2021?

Yeah thereabouts.

So look

it's a tough one

because

do you remember what it cost

at 65 inches back in 2021?

No not on my head I'm figuring

probably about 1200.

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?

I would have thought

it would last more than five years

to be honest and it's getting worse

so I don't know.

Oh no it'll keep getting worse mate

there's almost no question in my mind about that

it sounds like it's the back lights

but it could be the LCD panel

yeah I mean

and you haven't called anyone yet about it?

No not yet mate.

Alright here's what I'll do

and I say this with the

I want to say

I make no guarantees because

it is five years old a TV

in my mind it's like

are you ever struggling to consume a law?

The concept there is there's nobody

to definition in the law

it just says for a reasonable period

and it's always like

who's going to argue what a reasonable period is

and in my mind

a TV should last five to seven years

hopefully much more but

in my mind five to seven is the number these days

and the five is at the low end

so you buy a TV from Aldi

or one of Kogan's cheapest TVs

and you get five 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 range

medium range there

so it should last more than five 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 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 essentially what they say

so what is the

what is the broad statement from Hisense

on this do we think it's

cost of repair or is there 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 three 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 the market but

no one's going to give you a five year warranty

on TV I'm assuming

it hasn't moved around you haven't moved

house three times in that period of time

no it's been the same place for that whole

period and is it the primary night time

you know it's on the most in the house TV

it's on nearly three quarters of the day

just about yeah right okay three quarters

that's had a good life

that TV already if you because I look

at my bedroom TV right and it's fading

from 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 expect expectation

of consistent service so

let's let 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 in 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 they say first

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

all right true thanks for calling and

great to speak to you no worries at all

anything we can do we'll do our best stay

there and we'll we'll be in touch soon all right

thanks mate thank you good on you buddy

right so no guarantees but

let's let's just

find out because they're going to say either

what's the other warranty not our problem

I don't think they'll say that to me they'll

say we'll send someone 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 1200 TV

if it's a 600 or cost

is that

something that he's willing to absorb

to get the TV back to working after five years

or does he then say for 600 bucks

I may as well spend 1600

and get a brand new modern

everything bells and whistles TV

that's going to be the 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 five years I think there's a potential

expectation of

some form of repair there potentially

we'll see we'll see what high sense is

helping Australians with tech questions

for over 15 years the EFT

and podcast with travel on

all right well thank you for listening

I remembered even though

we've taken those pills I've remanded I'm going to put powerball on

60 million bucks this Thursday folks

I mean

we might like 60 million people

or 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 your 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

can't get lotto because I'm going to do it now

no actually don't, 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 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

and then we'll be in Apple's headquarters in Cupertino

for the very latest

and from WWDC with iOS

we'll wait and see

we'll wait and see thank you for listening folks

see you all again soon

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