Cellphones that will work with Vodafone and (future) Telecom

Forums › Mobile handsets › Cellphones that will work with Vodafone and (future) Telecom

timestyles

424 posts

Ultimate Geek

#15779 7-Sep-2007 21:51

I am wondering whether Telecom have released the spec's for their new cellular network, I'd like to buy a new cellphone and since I keep them for a number of years (4+) I'm wondering what the details are for the new Telecom network, how I can choose the correct phone to run under both networks. Also, have they released a date of when the new system is going to be working? Thanks.

nzbnw

2374 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Spark NZ

#85808 7-Sep-2007 22:34

My understanding is Telecom's new network will be a mix of WCDMA 2100Mhz (towns and cities) and GSM EDGE 850Mhz (nation wide).

Should be due to launch November / December 2008.

nzbnw

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#85809 7-Sep-2007 23:06

But remember the biggest issue obstacle is the customised firmware that exists on Vodafone at present and presumably Telecom in the future. Products such as Vodafone Live! require customised firmware for the java layer and as a result you may as well forget trying to move handsets between networks. All the basic features GSM & WCDMA features will work but features such as Telecom's music store simply aren't going to work on a Vodafone branded or non Telecom branded handset.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79253 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#85816 8-Sep-2007 07:38

It's hard to decide now on a mobile that will actually work. As sbiddle pointed out, we have no idea what services are coming, and if you buy something now it may be that it won't work well, for example with on-line music store or video clips.

We are at least one year from their launch, and wouldn't worry about this now...

inquisitor

135 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#85817 8-Sep-2007 08:07

Proceeding on the expectation, that Telecom will roll out a GSM850 network, you should buy a quadband phone, which supports GSM 850, 900, 1800 & 1900 and if you want to use video telepony or mobile broadband access, look for a phone, that supports UMTS and HSDPA, too.

If you buy a Samsung or a Nokia E- or N-series phone, you'll be able to easily flash provider's customized firmware, allthough I haven't heard about another provider except of Vodafone (and very few providers that used that imode-rubbish before) requiring special firmwares in order to use all services.

The only quadband/HSDPA phone from Samsung ist the SGH-Z720, whereas afaik all N- and E-series phones from Nokia support quadband and at least UMTS (not all HSDPA). With an N95 you would be ready for the future.

But weren't there rumours saying that Telecom would get some of Vodafone's GSM900 spectrum? Telecom will surely be very interested in some frequency swapping, as GSM850 isn't very widely spread and they'd catch more roaming visitors on the 900 MHz band.

router: AVM Fritz!Box Fon 7390 with Huawei K3765 USB modem attached as GSM voice gateway
VoIP-providers: intervoip.com | sipgate.de (German DID) | sipgate.co.uk (British DID) | sipcall.ch (Swiss DID)
connection: 100/5 MBit/s (DOCSIS 3.0)
mobile devices: Huawei P6 | Nokia Lumia 630 Dual SIM | Huawei: E5832, E1762, K3715, K3765 | Qualcomm Gobi 2000 in Sony VAIO VPC-Z12X9E/X

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#85822 8-Sep-2007 08:40

inquisitor: But weren't there rumours saying that Telecom would get some of Vodafone's GSM900 spectrum? Telecom will surely be very interested in some frequency swapping, as GSM850 isn't very widely spread and they'd catch more roaming visitors on the 900 MHz band.

No, it's NZ Wireless (old Econet) who are buying some of Vodafone's GSM900 spectrum.

Most GSM & UMTS phones produced in the past few years are quad band so that's still a pretty large range of handsets.

inquisitor

135 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#85834 8-Sep-2007 09:57

Have a look at Samsung's product range - except for the Z720, which appeared last year, none of the UMTS phones supports quadband, not even the newest ones. They're all triband (900,1800,1900). Also Motorola offers UMTS+quadband only in 4 recent models (RAZR2 V9, RIZR V8, KRZR K3, Q9) and SonyEricsson in 3 ones (k850i, w960i, w910i), excluding bestsellers like the K800i and its successor the K810i. So I would rather say few UMTS phones support quadband.
Practically only Nokia has implemented quadband in the majority of their UMTS phones.

paradoxsm

3000 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#85842 8-Sep-2007 11:35

what do you mean the music store won't work elsewhere. ;-) same goes for xtra and vodafone live hacks.

I bought an e50 and an n95. I almost sold the n95 to defect to telecom but then decided to stay with the status quo for now, downgrade my vodafone plan to mega after i figured out the mention of "your time 200" was wrong and it was actually anytime 200 and wait out the year.

If telecom do get edge i'd be incredibly happy. Just enough speed while keeping all the best of vanilla gsm.

Off-topic today i found my two legendary nokia phones from when i first got the dual network bug,
My 2110 on bell south complete with the pc card modem kit.
My 2160 on the new telecom 025 tdma. (which was a terrible network then)
I was a mere 17 at the time and had to get someone else to sign up.
Suprisingly they still both power up.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

mobygeek

307 posts

Ultimate Geek

#86396 12-Sep-2007 13:08

If future phones do work on each other's networks, what's the bet they will by simlocked or network locked at the very least? My SEt300 has the settings for several wap providers, vodafone gateway NZ and the three aussie networks, so I assume you can have your choice of wap provider dependant on whcih sim card you have.

inquisitor

135 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#86497 13-Sep-2007 01:27

Your T300's WAP settings are not dependent on your SIM card, but are stored in the phone, which - if it's branded - usually contains WAP profiles of a certain provider or - if unbranded - of all networks of a certain market (e.g. AUS & NZ).
But you can easily change WAP and MMS settings manually or by an automatic configuration SMS (http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=nz&lc=en&ver=4000&template=ps3&zone=ps) and use your T300 with any other network, as far as it's unlocked.

mobygeek

307 posts

Ultimate Geek

#88790 30-Sep-2007 21:13

I had my SE t300 in australia when we were with Optus, who used to actually send out the settings... Or I had to do the settings a couple of times for customers, as I recall. I never saw any other networks when browsing the settings, but I put my prepay vodafone sim card in and there they were... Oh well, who knows, somewhere along the line they were corrupted, I had to go onto the internet to get them again and now I don't have to actually pick the gateway... Maybe that might be an issue for phones that work on either network? One may override the other. Do any of the vodafone phones have dual sim slots at present? (remember when you could get a 'dual sim holder' from Cellnet anyone?)

tonyhughes

Hawkes Bay
8476 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#88797 30-Sep-2007 21:55

mobygeek: Do any of the vodafone phones have dual sim slots at present?

None of the NZ new Vodafone range do, but a few cheap chinese phones on TM do, with both sims operational at once, vs. an aftermarket dual sim holder which is one sim active at once...

paradoxsm

3000 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#88838 1-Oct-2007 00:11

Go Tony! "4000 posts"

I am doubting GSM now after my abysmal last couple of weeks using Vodafone, I'm hoiping it's their actual network and not just some core limitations in GSM.

Telecoms CDMA network is pretty reliable so I have good faith. Apparently my E50 works on GSM 850 so maybe i'll keep that one. I must crack that awful Vodafone firmware off it though.

bbman

646 posts

Ultimate Geek

#90958 13-Oct-2007 21:33

from early accounts Telecom are not intending to SIM lock but who knows if that will change.

Telecom are counting on a large no of Vodafone users coming over as a fair chunk will be able to use WCDMA and GSM basic features and just swap SIM's.

I have noticed Vodafone are careful now not mention on there web site if the phone is 850MHZ capable. My friend in a TNZ retail store and another at digital mobile have both said they are getting asked alot about whether there existing GSM will work on TNZ when the network launches.

Will be an interesting 12 months, especially if Telecom are awarded roaming and inter connect on Vodafones network in the interim.

www.ultimatebroadband.co.nz
Delivering better broadband services

UFB fibre, Rural fibre on EA networks, RBI wireless, Ruralnet & Ultra wireless, wireless networks