whoops--get rid of the "?" at the end of the last post!

caligirl - we used the AT&T International Plan on our cell last time we went to Australia. The rate was $1.39 per minute.

In order to minimize our charges, we only used the cell for incoming calls. We bought a calling card in Australia and used that on a local phone to call back to the U.S. When someone called us, we would immediately hang up and call them back with the calling card.

my husband has a mobile with Vodaphone and I have one with Telstra and both were able to be used in some areas of Kakadu eg around the town and buildings areas.Other areas of NT had no coverage.

Thanks for all the replies! I'm taking notes!

We were in Australia in 2000 and even then lots of cyber cafes, etc had long distance at pennies per minute.
We are back at the end of august for 3 months.
Can't wait.