No data on 3G?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › No data on 3G?

Geektastic

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#309387 14-Oct-2023 18:27

We’re in the middle of a very long power cut here in Canterbury.

My mobile only shows 3G now and I cannot access any internet. I’m hotspotting off my wife’s One mobile. It also shows only 3G but does seem to have internet.

Why the difference? And where has 4G gone?

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#3147544 14-Oct-2023 18:34

you said it yourself, power cut, 3g gives you voice/text messages. towers probably running out of battery and its dropped down to conserve power

also different providers different settings

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3147551 14-Oct-2023 18:56

Most cellsites have a limited battery reserve and no generator. For longer outages, a generator might be trucked out and connected to a small number of sites. Otherwise, you're probably limited to cellsites on telephone exchanges. For very wide-scale outages, the number of generators available won't be enough.

boosacnoodle

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#3147575 14-Oct-2023 21:46

I think you'll find in a widespread event, such as this, that providers need to decide somewhat strategically where to deploy those generators given the distances required to be travelled and the possibility that power gets restored before they get out there too.

Shoes2468

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#3147579 14-Oct-2023 22:07

I think there is a couple of things here. Yes the 4g may have disappeared due to the power cut but spark 3G not having any data I happens alll the time. This is frustrating because devices will fallback to 3G when 4g coverage is average. This happens to me daily and the data dies as soon as it hits 3G, it sucks!

Makes me want to change, but I see they will turn off 3G the end of 2025, this can’t come soon enough.

michaelmurfy

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#3147594 15-Oct-2023 00:53

Perhaps cell sites have also dropped offline due to loss of power (and running out of battery) meaning less cell footprint handling the same amount of devices and potentially getting overloaded. 3G is legacy these days with more spectrum going towards 4G/5G and often mobiles will drop down to 3G in a low coverage sort of situation (much like devices can and will drop to slower 2.4GHz WiFi).

But many people using data due to election night also won't help the case of cell sites getting overloaded.

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boosacnoodle

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#3147616 15-Oct-2023 08:01

Isn’t 4G more power efficient than 3G for the tower? I don’t think the same is true of 5G.

Geektastic

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#3147634 15-Oct-2023 10:01

Shoes2468: I think there is a couple of things here. Yes the 4g may have disappeared due to the power cut but spark 3G not having any data I happens alll the time. This is frustrating because devices will fallback to 3G when 4g coverage is average. This happens to me daily and the data dies as soon as it hits 3G, it sucks!

Makes me want to change, but I see they will turn off 3G the end of 2025, this can’t come soon enough.

However there are many places with no 4G so what happens to them?

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Geektastic

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#3147636 15-Oct-2023 10:03

Update: we’ve now had no power since yesterday lunch. All cell signals died early evening and so we are unable to communicate except by the satellite sos on my iPhone. No internet until the power returns either.

Mainpower still showing no time for restoration.

Have popped into Rangiora for coffee…

Linux

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#3147679 15-Oct-2023 11:16

Geektastic:
Shoes2468: I think there is a couple of things here. Yes the 4g may have disappeared due to the power cut but spark 3G not having any data I happens alll the time. This is frustrating because devices will fallback to 3G when 4g coverage is average. This happens to me daily and the data dies as soon as it hits 3G, it sucks!

Makes me want to change, but I see they will turn off 3G the end of 2025, this can’t come soon enough.

However there are many places with no 4G so what happens to them?

@Geektastic These locations will have 4G before the 3G planned shutdown

DjShadow

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#3147699 15-Oct-2023 12:17

I've found when driving up the North Island that if my phone on One NZ dropped to 3G then data becomes barely usable, workphone on Spark is the same so as per comments above frequency capacity for 3G is prob very low given 3G is going to be shut off over the next 2 years

Geektastic

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#3147912 15-Oct-2023 23:38

DjShadow:
I've found when driving up the North Island that if my phone on One NZ dropped to 3G then data becomes barely usable, workphone on Spark is the same so as per comments above frequency capacity for 3G is prob very low given 3G is going to be shut off over the next 2 years

Yes I often see that. I don’t know why, because when 4G didn’t exist we all had data on 3G just fine.

Geektastic

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#3147915 15-Oct-2023 23:48

Our power returned late afternoon. Hurrah.

There was an issue with the cell network because when I was in Rangiora, I had a messaging chat with Spark and the guy ended by saying that if he’d not heard back from me within the hour he’d escalate the problem.

He didn’t hear from me as it was still dead when I got home. Within an hour of that, 3G reappeared with a strong signal so they presumably found something had fallen over and fixed it. Well done Spark - I have to say that I always find them much more responsive than the other larger telcos.

Also props to Waimakariri council: I got a phone call this afternoon to check we were ok and whether we needed anything, something no council in the Wairarapa ever did when similar things happened when we lived there.

As a learning point though, it’s amazing how a robust data and voice network is essential. When we got to Rangiora, I got a text from Mainpower advising me to prepare for a night with no power. It was sent the evening before but we never got it because of no signal. Also they send links to check restoration progress. Which we couldn’t access due to no data service…!

Linux

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#3147921 16-Oct-2023 05:13

Geektastic:
DjShadow:
I've found when driving up the North Island that if my phone on One NZ dropped to 3G then data becomes barely usable, workphone on Spark is the same so as per comments above frequency capacity for 3G is prob very low given 3G is going to be shut off over the next 2 years

Yes I often see that. I don’t know why, because when 4G didn’t exist we all had data on 3G just fine.

@geektastic most of the 3G spectrum is now allocated for 4G / LTE

When 3G went live far fewer customers had smart phones

Aucklandjafa

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#3153459 29-Oct-2023 19:19

Yeah, as the comments above: 3G is next to useless on Spark. The shut off can’t come soon enough as iPhones love to sit on 3G (especially when travelling). I’m just hoping when it is switched off, that Spark’s 4G network doesn’t go the same way in being useless - as it’s rock solid at the moment.

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#3153461 29-Oct-2023 19:25

@Aucklandjafa Mobile handsets in New Zealand attach to 3G so often and SparkNZ is the worse!

My work SparkNZ handset spends a lot of time on 3G

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