BREAKING NEWS: Telstra decommissions CDMA already

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › BREAKING NEWS: Telstra decommissions CDMA already - Telecom roamers stuffed.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

richms

28174 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#64274 19-Mar-2007 11:30

The only reason that they had to invent 027 was that they claimed that 025 wouldn't support portability many years back. Now that everyone will be on a network that supports it, there is no need to reserve a new prefix for a new network, people can just take their numbers to the new network as they upgrade handsets, not like the major hassle of 025 to 027.

Richard rich.ms

bradstewart

4335 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#64275 19-Mar-2007 11:31

Or free replacement handsets would do the trick

JonC

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#64276 19-Mar-2007 11:37

bradstewart: Or free replacement handsets would do the trick

Hahahahaha. Nice one :-)

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#64280 19-Mar-2007 12:18

alasta:
willnz: They won't decommision the 027 prefix/number range- which is the only thing Joe Bloggs cares about. Your average person doesn't give a sh*t if it's CDMA, GSM, WCDMA, or a cup and string, so long as it works for what they want it for.

Yes, but if the CDMA network were wound down, then CDMA-only handsets will become useless and that could cause a consumer backlash. Shifting all CDMA users over to a new UMTS network would require a carefully managed five year migration, much like the TDMA-CDMA transition.

I can't see Telecom necessarily shutting down the CDMA network as there is no real need. Both can quite easily co-exist side by side.

alasta

6704 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#64281 19-Mar-2007 12:27

sbiddle: I can't see Telecom necessarily shutting down theCDMA network as there is no real need.Both can quite easilyco-exist side by side.

This does raise some interesting questions, though:

1.) Will they stop signing up new CDMA customers once the UMTS network is up and running?
2.) Will the UMTS coverage footprint be the same as CDMA and, if not, will CDMA be promoted to certain types of customers who require good coverage? Would this scenario cause confusion in the market?
3.) Will the number of CDMA users eventually decrease to the point where it is no longer economic to keep the network operating? Clearly Telstra believe that this will happen on their side of the Tasman.

bradstewart

4335 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#64282 19-Mar-2007 12:29

The coverage footprint should be the same as I understand the intention is to attach the GSM gear to the current cellsites.

nzbnw

2374 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Spark NZ

#64310 19-Mar-2007 15:59

bradstewart: Telecom can't set up a new 021 number or can they?

Telecom can only sign customers up on 027, and Vodafone similarly only on 021, just as it is now, except in a few weeks time you will have the ability to change providers, prefix included.

nzbnw

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.

bradstewart

4335 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#64314 19-Mar-2007 16:31

nzbnw: Telecom can only sign customers up on 027, and Vodafone similarly only on 021, just as it is now, except in a few weeks time you will have the ability to change providers, prefix included.

As I thought, so then having reserved prefixes is not moot as richms suggested

JonC

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#64606 22-Mar-2007 07:38

More evidence perhaps that Telecom are thinking about switching to UMTS:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4000926a13.html

Plus, maybe they've been reading Geekzone, as they don't claim CDMA has been switched off in Australia yet.

TinyTim

1042 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#64612 22-Mar-2007 08:10

I don't think that the Telecom submission adds very much to the rumours at all (see Telecom roaming and co-lo submission). It's similar to what they were telling the MED last year: Telecom spectrum submission which is along the lines of "*IF* we were to go UMTS..." etc.

Quote 3.14:

These concerns have lead Telecom to consider the benefits of, and make contingency for, switching from CDMA technology to UMTS technology should we deem that to be the optimal path. Telecom has by no means reached a decision on this, however it is something that we keep in mind as we review our options in the mobile market.

Interestingly, in 3.15:

...If Telecom were to roll out a UMTS 2GHz network we would be using higher frequency spectrum than we use for CDMA at 850MHz. We would therefore require more transmission towers to compensate for the reduced coverage provided from each UMTS 2GHz site, because of ...

So the writer of the submission isn't even aware that Telecom is considering UMTS at 800MHz (850MHz). Perhaps they're not even aware that that's what Telstra has done.

Speaking of Telstra, my understanding is they were to give 2 years notice from when the UMTS network provided equivalent coverage to CDMA, and they're only just testing that now.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5