Telecom 3g in Ohope (near Whakatane)

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surfisup1000

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#138314 29-Dec-2013 21:31

The telecom mobile coverage map shows strong 3g coverage at the place we were staying at in ohope.

So, why is it I couldn't even receive a usable signal over the 2 days I was there? I did move around a bit too, but it was largely useless and I would get 'no data' message on the phone. Even making phone calls was generally an issue with just 1 bar and i would get total dropouts.

The people we were staying with said it is always like that, but, why does the telecom coverage map show good service there?

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#958807 29-Dec-2013 21:31

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johnr

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#958818 29-Dec-2013 21:34

Coverage maps don't reflect in building coverage or in and around property where it can not be drive tested, They should be taken as a guide line only

Generally the coverage map will reflect more accurate up to the road

nitrotech

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#958838 29-Dec-2013 22:31

I seem to remember a thread a whole 12 months ago with exactly the same story.

I would suggest that because the population has swollen somewhat for summer the poor cell site can't cope.

I know the people you are staying with said its always like that however I can't say I've had the issue when I've visited during non peak periods.

surfisup1000

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#958840 29-Dec-2013 22:36

johnr: Coverage maps don't reflect in building coverage or in and around property where it can not be drive tested, They should be taken as a guide line only

Generally the coverage map will reflect more accurate up to the road

ok thanks, i did drive a couple of km up the road to the dairy but it seemed pretty much the same.

Telecom did have a pay phone there with their wifi access which was quite handy :)

Anyway, who needs internet at the beach :)

plambrechtsen

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#958878 30-Dec-2013 07:05

surfisup1000:
johnr: Coverage maps don't reflect in building coverage or in and around property where it can not be drive tested, They should be taken as a guide line only

Generally the coverage map will reflect more accurate up to the road

ok thanks, i did drive a couple of km up the road to the dairy but it seemed pretty much the same.

Telecom did have a pay phone there with their wifi access which was quite handy :)

Anyway, who needs internet at the beach :)

I suspect that johnr is right that it is purely overloading due to lots of people being in an area typically unpopulated during the year.

Woth logging a coverage fault via the mobile help desk on 0800 800 163 and get them to "drop a pin in your exact location"

There is a similar thread on Facebook about it however my instant reaction is "you are at the beach stop updating Facebook and instagram with photos of you being there and just switch off your phone and enjoy it"... but that is somewhat less diplomatic than how I would post on there.

michaelmurfy

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#959044 30-Dec-2013 13:23

At-least there is WiFi hotspots around the location :)

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Peppery

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#960211 2-Jan-2014 10:36

I was in Ohope over Christmas too and could get online on the iPad (on Telecom) if I held it in just the right position.... Poor signal all round.

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bradstewart

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#960221 2-Jan-2014 10:44

There has been no service anywhere in Wanaka since Saturday. Most of the day you get absolutely reception, the times that you do have there is still no mobile data, calls won't connect and text messages come through hours later but usually the next day if at all.

Thoroughly annoyed at the poor service from Telecom, it's usually an issue on NYE which is understand, but this has been nearly a week.

There was a serious crash here last night and even with 'full reception' people had trouble calling 111.

plambrechtsen

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#960229 2-Jan-2014 11:03

bradstewart: There has been no service anywhere in Wanaka since Saturday. Most of the day you get absolutely reception, the times that you do have there is still no mobile data, calls won't connect and text messages come through hours later but usually the next day if at all.

Thoroughly annoyed at the poor service from Telecom, it's usually an issue on NYE which is understand, but this has been nearly a week.

There was a serious crash here last night and even with 'full reception' people had trouble calling 111.

If the mobile networks are congested then there isn't much that can be done quickly. 111 and emergency services take priority over all other calls so you would connect to Vodafone if you couldn't get Telecom signal and should be able to make 111 calls without a sim card in the phone as it would connect to any network.

I believe most of it was congestion related (and smartphones do chatter a lot over the network even if they spend the whole day in your pocket).

As always log a coverage fault with 0800 800 163 and get them to check or say there is a known outage in your area and when it is due to be fixed.

sbiddle

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#960231 2-Jan-2014 11:34

bradstewart: There has been no service anywhere in Wanaka since Saturday. Most of the day you get absolutely reception, the times that you do have there is still no mobile data, calls won't connect and text messages come through hours later but usually the next day if at all.

Thoroughly annoyed at the poor service from Telecom, it's usually an issue on NYE which is understand, but this has been nearly a week.

There was a serious crash here last night and even with 'full reception' people had trouble calling 111.

A 111 call isn't like a normal phone call. If a 111 call is attempted on any network in NZ and can't proceed due to network congestion it will automatically fail over to another network (assuming there is coverage).

If you have proof this didn't happen I'm sure there would be people at Telecom keen to look into this.

johnr

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#960263 2-Jan-2014 13:08

You have to have a SIM card in the handset for a 111 call to proceed even if SIM card is not attached to a MSISDN

John

plambrechtsen

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#960395 2-Jan-2014 19:16

sbiddle:
bradstewart: There has been no service anywhere in Wanaka since Saturday. Most of the day you get absolutely reception, the times that you do have there is still no mobile data, calls won't connect and text messages come through hours later but usually the next day if at all.

Thoroughly annoyed at the poor service from Telecom, it's usually an issue on NYE which is understand, but this has been nearly a week.

There was a serious crash here last night and even with 'full reception' people had trouble calling 111.

A 111 call isn't like a normal phone call. If a 111 call is attempted on any network in NZ and can't proceed due to network congestion it will automatically fail over to another network (assuming there is coverage).

If you have proof this didn't happen I'm sure there would be people at Telecom keen to look into this.

Absolutely Steve.. email me "pl@telecom.co.nz" with the mobile number you called from and the approx time you tried and failed to get through to 111 and I can follow up... it would be very unlikely though due to the way the network is built. But if it did happen I would be very interested to get an email with any impacted mobile numbers.

lxsw20

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#960824 3-Jan-2014 16:44

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/287007/coverage-win-vodafone

I agree that not much can be done coverage wise quickly, but why would it need to be done quickly? It's not a huge surprise that the Otago lakes district gets super busy around the holidays.

I was at R&A in the Cardrona Valley, where Vodafone had put up extra capacity, so Voda/2Degrees people could do calls/text/data with no problems. I ended up tethering to a friends Vodafone iPhone so I could see a few new years messages.

Maybe it doesn't make economic sense to provide extra capacity, but good luck finding a way to tell people that when Vodafone appear to be going the extra mile in this area.

plambrechtsen

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#960836 3-Jan-2014 16:51

I'm fairly sure that resource consent had been granted for r&v and r&a... resource consent isn't a thing that happens overnight and then sorting out networking and power.

If building mobile networks for highly congested areas were easy mobile companies wouldn't be spending many millions on coverage in stadium's and yet still mobile networks melt.

Smartphones make things much harder too due to them using data constantly along with voice.

lxsw20

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#960846 3-Jan-2014 17:00

Not saying it's easy, but lets face it, the public don't care about that, and like I said, why would it have to be done over night, the congestion in Wanaka is not some out of the blue thing.

All Jo Public on Telecom is seeing that his mates are fine on Voda/2Degrees where the Telecom network is having a little melt down.

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