Telecom's 3G network is live!

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Telecom's 3G network is live!

sbiddle

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#20769 5-Apr-2008 13:59

I saw work being done the other day on the Lower Hutt cellsite but hadn't been past again.

Network is using id nz05

Apologies for the poor photo taken on max zoom on my mobile, I didn't have my camera on me to take a better photo. New 2100MHz 3G panels are on the left and existing CDMA on the right. This cell is also one that has the round CDMA panels that can automatically tilt themselves to optimise coverage and traffic depending on network load. I'll grab a better quality photo later.

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#121303 5-Apr-2008 14:04

The question is if we insert a Telecom SIM on an existing unlocked GSM phone, will it work?

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wonderstuff

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#121306 5-Apr-2008 14:16

When are they planning on going live? I vaguely remember it was November, but could well be wrong.

Are they using 2100MHz? I thought Vodafone was using this frequency.

Aren't they implementing a WCDMA with HSDPA network along side their CDMA network? How are they planning to support their users that are outside their own WCDMA coverage? roam to Vodafone? :-) or are they planing on using multi-mode handsets for the near future and hope people stick to the cities?

sbiddle

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#121310 5-Apr-2008 14:52

wonderstuff: When are they planning on going live? I vaguely remember it was November, but could well be wrong.

Are they using 2100MHz? I thought Vodafone was using this frequency.

Aren't they implementing a WCDMA with HSDPA network along side their CDMA network? How are they planning to support their users that are outside their own WCDMA coverage? roam to Vodafone? :-) or are they planing on using multi-mode handsets for the near future and hope people stick to the cities?

Telecom are rolling out a 2100MHz WCDMA network with HSDPA/HSUPA in all cities and other areas of interest. They are also deploying a nationwide 850MHz GSM network which will provide Telecom coverage in the rest of the country mirroring their existing CDMA coverage. This is the identical type of network setup Vodafone have at present except they are using 900MHz GSM not 850MHz.

It seems to be a common misconception that Telecom are deploying a nationwide 3G network. This is *not* the case.

NZtechfreak

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#121315 5-Apr-2008 15:09

Will be watching this space with interest...

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munchkin

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#121344 5-Apr-2008 17:18

sbiddle:

They are also deploying a nationwide 850MHz GSM network which will provide Telecom coverage in the rest of the country mirroring their existing CDMA coverage. This is the identical type of network setup Vodafone have at present except they are using 900MHz GSM not 850MHz.

I know you know this, but Telecom's nationwide GSM network will also be EDGE capable.

old3eyes

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#121345 5-Apr-2008 17:21

It will be interesting to see if Vodafone starts to lock their fones sold from their stores as they do in Ozz when Telecom gets up and running..

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ajobbins

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#121346 5-Apr-2008 17:23

Nothing showing up here on my N73 in the Wellington CBD

sbiddle

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#121354 5-Apr-2008 18:03

I've just been down to Petone and back, can confirm GSM850 + 2100MHz WCDMA coverage off the Lower Hutt Exchange, Woburn and Petone sites. These sites all have new 2100MHz panels fitted.

PenultimateHop

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#121356 5-Apr-2008 18:09

freitasm: The question is if we insert a Telecom SIM on an existing unlocked GSM phone, will it work?

No. The network isn't up.

wonderstuff: When are they planning on going live? I vaguely remember it was November, but could well be wrong.

November is for commercial launch.

Loftus

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#121360 5-Apr-2008 18:35

sbiddle: I've just been down to Petone and back, can confirm GSM850 + 2100MHz WCDMA coverage off the Lower Hutt Exchange, Woburn and Petone sites. These sites all have new 2100MHz panels fitted.

Are you sure the 2100MHz coverage is coming from the Telecom site?

eXDee

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#121365 5-Apr-2008 18:52

old3eyes: It will be interesting to see if Vodafone starts to lock their fones sold from their stores as they do in Ozz when Telecom gets up and running..

I hope not. I hope a law is passed to make it illegal or something like in other countries, or make it free to unlock them. Its anti competitive imo.

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sbiddle

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#121367 5-Apr-2008 19:01

eXDee:
old3eyes: It will be interesting to see if Vodafone starts to lock their fones sold from their stores as they do in Ozz when Telecom gets up and running..

I hope not. I hope a law is passed to make it illegal or something like in other countries, or make it free to unlock them. Its anti competitive imo.

If phones are sold at subsidised prices I think it's a perfectly legitimate business model. If you're buying a handset at a full price or are out of contract then IMHO the network should provide you with unlock codes for free for the handset and this is common practice overseas.

mobygeek

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#121369 5-Apr-2008 19:17

When we had our business in Aus (Optus), only the prepaid phones were locked. They could be sim locked, network locked, or even 'prefix' locked, meaning a sim card for that particular prefix could be used. If someone wanted to use their sim in a prepaid phone we would just try it - if it worked it worked... My contract phones could be used for any sim card. Except the old '5 volt' cards from the ark! I think one NZ telco will possibly copy off the other, but which one 'goes first' (or not) remains to be seen. A bit like cabinetisation? They will have their 'strategies' in place, that's for sure. Could be interesting... Locking a 'highly' subsidised phone isn't really anticompetitive, is it? Optus would offer unlocking for free after you had used the phone for 12 months.

Goosey

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#121508 6-Apr-2008 13:09

SO if this new network is EDGE compatible, does that mean IPHONE on telecom?

munchkin

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#121511 6-Apr-2008 13:21

Gooseybhai:
SO if this new network is EDGE compatible, does that mean IPHONE on telecom?

It means that the new network will have EDGE capability. Nothing more, nothing less.