Will current WCDMA phones work on Telecoms new network?

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tonyhughes

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#19434 17-Feb-2008 07:58

Lets check my understanding...

Will a quadband 3G GSM/WCDMA handset be compatible with Telecoms new network at the end of the year?

As long as the handset itself is unlocked, I assume there should be no issue?

I am about to go onto prepaid on Telecom, and come 1st April (or whenever VFNZ will port numbers INTO prepay) I will change to VFNZ and get a nice WiFi Nokia.

I would like to know that I will still have the option of moving that handset to Telecom, should they have better rates for my needs.

johnr

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#111088 17-Feb-2008 08:19

You are corect

tonyhughes

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#111106 17-Feb-2008 09:33

Thanks John.

inquisitor

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#111509 19-Feb-2008 06:55

Just for confirmation:
Besides all the media reports talking about UMTS2100, Telecom obviously have announced regular UMTS2100 to be rolled out to the GSM association: http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_nz.shtml
Given that competition is evolving make sure VF haven't introduced a netlock to their phones until the time you buy a new one. Here in Germany VF don't have netlocks, but relatively strong brandings on some Nokia handsets, so you can't change the 3G/GPRS profiles. Anyway Nokias can be debranded easily: http://clear-nokia.blogspot.com/2007/05/nokia-n95-debranding-guide.html

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sbiddle

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#111513 19-Feb-2008 07:54

The biggest problem as I see it isn't SIM or operator locks but the fact that phone firmware is so heavily customised these days that moving an unlocked phone between networks may cause a lot of issues. A Vodafone Live! branded unlocked phone operating on Telecom's GSM/UMTS network will more that likely be incompatible with features such as Telecom's Music Store and may not work correctly with their WAP portal or streaming video. I know Cokemaster even had troubles a few years ago using an imported handset on Vodafone NZ because it kept phoning home and using GPRS data, something that was free on it's home network but not in NZ.

You may be able to use a phone on a competing network but there may be issues in doing so that people need to be aware of.

inquisitor

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#111532 19-Feb-2008 09:24

Except for Vodafone I haven't seen any European provider to have such substantial customizations. And they are also the only ones to require their special firmwares in order all services to be accessible. All others' brandings consist of some graphical changes, the order of icons and the softkey/shortcut configuration.
When you consider how much effort it is to customize firmwares of dozens of different phones, which base on completely different hardware and software platforms, it's quite clear that a small operator like Telecom won't burn money for something like Vodafone does. I doubt Vodafone's customization policy does pay off, especially since their live! service is of little use.
Anyway, if you buy a Nokia it's very easy to change the product code and switch between Vodafone's firmware version and a generic one.