Amount of 850 coverage in urban areas

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Amount of 850 coverage in urban areas

richms

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#30808 22-Feb-2009 00:26

An oppertunity has presented itself where I might be able to get a few 850/(1700 or 1900)MHz handsets free from someone in the states who's work is upgrading (downgrading) them all to iphones.

So, would something 850 only work in the cities on telecoms new network or is it 2100 only in cities? Also, is the network smart enough to know the phone has no 2100 so wont try handing calls off the sites that the phone cant talk to?

Richard rich.ms

Loftus

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#197210 22-Feb-2009 09:27

The W850 network will be deployed in both cities and rural areas. The target is to have the same (or better!!) coverage as the CDMA network.

DjShadow

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#197248 22-Feb-2009 12:02

Would it be safe to assume the W850 coverage is the fallback where their W2100 coverage is weak?

sbiddle

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#197252 22-Feb-2009 12:32

DjShadow: Would it be safe to assume the W850 coverage is the fallback where their W2100 coverage is weak?

No. The network is primarily 850 with 2100 used as additional infill/capacity in metropolitan areas.

richms

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#197320 22-Feb-2009 17:20

Ok, thats reassuring then. Hes still seeing if he can sell them on ebay so I may not end up with them after all :( bugger.

Richard rich.ms

bbman

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#198092 25-Feb-2009 21:20

sbiddle:
DjShadow: Would it be safe to assume the W850 coverage is the fallback where their W2100 coverage is weak?

No. The network is primarily 850 with 2100 used as additional infill/capacity in metropolitan areas.

I have noticed some sites have had their 2100 antennas removed which is strange. Another thing is existing sites have had there structure change to a tri arm deal where as before they where dual antenna arms only.

Telecom are putting in UMTS only sites by the looks as well, several gone up with no CDMA support, from many accounts UMTS will match and quickly better the CDMA footprint especially in the urban areas.

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richms

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#198114 26-Feb-2009 00:10

After looking at the 2 nokias they have left over on gsm arena, I think I will wait out the launch offers.

I mistakenly thought they were S60 from when I saw one briefly, but alas not to be.

Richard rich.ms

sbiddle

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#198131 26-Feb-2009 06:23

bbman: I have noticed some sites have had their 2100 antennas removed which is strange. Another thing is existing sites have had there structure change to a tri arm deal where as before they where dual antenna arms only.

Remember that the network wasoriginally going to be nationwide GSM with 2100 WCDMA overlay in the major cities. Obviously with the decision to go 850 WCDMA there wasn't the requirement to keep all of the 2100 sites as the 850 offers better in building coverage. 2100 will obviously stay however to provide infill and additional capacity in the major cities as it's more logical to use this.

I heard originally that even after Telecom changed their mind and dumped GSM they were still planning to keep the major cities mostly 2100 but handset limitations may have influenced their decision to decide to roll out extensive 850 in metro areas. Remember not all handsets that do 850 do 2100 as well since some of these are for the US market where they are using 850 + 1700 + 1900 bands for UMTS and not 850+2100. This has caused some issues for Telstra and handset supply for Next G.