What bands do Vodafone officially use/support + Samsung i550W

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VinnieNZ

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Wannabe Geek

#25694 29-Aug-2008 11:57

I'm after a new cell phone, so am looking around at several imported models to get the features I want at a reasonable price.

What I would like to know, is, what mobile bands do Vodafone officially support or use, so I can ensure that the phone will do what I want.

I'm currently looking at a Samsung i550W phone that apparently supports:
Voice: Tri Band GSM(900/1800/1900 MHz) UMTS (2100 MHz)
Data: 3G UMTS 2.1 GHz,WCDMA,GPRS Class 12,HSCSD,EDGE Class 12,HSDPA

What will this get me/where will it work properly.

I will be using data on the phone, so 3G data would be quite nice (which I assume from what I can find out is supported on Vodafone with 3G UMTS 2.1 and GPRS if it has to fall back to the slow 2G network). I assume that the other modes for data aren't supported in NZ?

What about voice? It seems that all the GSM bands that the phone supports are supported in NZ, but does UMTS support give me 3G calling as well?

Any other comments - info can be found here, and it actually does support WiFi, thats the purpose of the 'W' on the end, the non-wifi models are only an i550.

http://www.einfo.co.nz/shop/product_info.php?products_id=7151

sbiddle

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#160698 29-Aug-2008 12:21

Vodafone's network is dual band GSM (900+1800) and 2100MHz UMTS with 900MHz UMTS being progressively rolled out nationwide. This phone will not do 900MHz UMTS.

VinnieNZ

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

#160710 29-Aug-2008 12:57

So what advantages does UMTS 900MHz have over 2100MHz?

How good is the current UMTS coverage?

bbman

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#162893 7-Sep-2008 18:14

Pretty average from most reports and my own testing, i think that also may be down to network design also.

However the good news is the new 900MHZ UMTS will be better in effect than Vodafones 900mhz GSM network for coverage so it will be dramatically better especially being nationwide. I say this because GSM cannot operate past the 35km marker where as CDMA/WCDMA does not have the same limitations.

Telecom are due to announce that they are building an 850MHZ UMTS network so my the end of 2009 we will have two nationwide 3g networks offering mobile broadband to all areas. This will be huge and will really offer broadband to nearly every body and rural customers will have real options.

Certainly right now 190 handsets or devices are 850mhz UMTS capable and only a few are 900MHZ uMTS capable but in a short while both freq will be on the majority of handsets, As Eurpope will be predominantly 900mhz and out side of that a mixture with 850 probably the major freq it will be really important to have both options on the phone.

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sbiddle

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#162895 7-Sep-2008 18:21

bbman: I say this because GSM cannot operate past the 35km marker where as CDMA/WCDMA does not have the same limitations.

GSM can operate past 35km but there are only a handful of such sites in NZ. By halving the timeslots you can double the range but unfortunately the sacrifice is 1/2 the call capacity.

bbman

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#162906 7-Sep-2008 18:53

sbiddle:
bbman: I say this because GSM cannot operate past the 35km marker where as CDMA/WCDMA does not have the same limitations.

GSM can operate past 35km but there are only a handful of such sites in NZ. By halving the timeslots you can double the range but unfortunately the sacrifice is 1/2 the call capacity.

Dead right, i should have said that, i guess in 99% of cases it doesnt matter due to the sites being standard timeslot cell's. Not to mention the capacity increase, thats can be a big problem for GSM carriers.

900Mhz UMTS should really improve Vodafones service levels, of course the flip side of that is 850mhz UMTS is that little bit better again.

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