W850 vs W900 coverage

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DjShadow

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#30974 27-Feb-2009 18:48

Just something I was thinking about, will Telecom's new W850 network signal wise have better reach than their cdma800 network? also if Telecom and vodafone had a tower next to each other, would it be safe to assume both signals will have an identical reach?

paradoxsm

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#198446 27-Feb-2009 22:01

From my non-official testing (I dont have a valid telecom wcdma sim but did newtork searches) it seems to be very good, a little bit beyond the cdma network and well and truly trouncing Vodafone's currently applaing Wellington coverage. (auckland vodafone fares much better) do remember the network is possibly in chuck up an antenna, aim towards a mountain and jump in the coverage car mode at preset (unoptimised)

Don't bank on indentical reach, there will be far different tuning, aiming of antennae and different signal propagation to make such an estimate, if only it were that easy.
Signals should have a similar reach though remember either provideer might have a neighbouring tower in a better position for that area/

Hold fire for now, wait till Telecom and Vodafone bot have lowband networks operational in june and then compare them. I'm not getting excited just yet until the proof in in the air.

nzbnw

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#198448 27-Feb-2009 22:06

Also worth noting that Telecom will have W850 coverage across the whole network, where as Voda will have W900 coverage outside the major centres and 2100MHz coverage.

nzbnw

bbman

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#198453 27-Feb-2009 22:33

nzbnw:
Also worth noting that Telecom will have W850 coverage across the whole network, where as Voda will have W900 coverage outside the major centres and 2100MHz coverage.

nzbnw

This is a key point, Vodafones in city 2100mhz coverage is nothing great, in Christchurch its ok but a w850 network will trounce it in the city as the current network stands.

I notice from some of Johnr's posts that Voda are doing a mixture of 2100/900mhz around the place so unlike Telecom as you say that is all 850, Vodafones coverage is 3G on all sites but unless all sites are 900mhz they wont have the same foot print of w850.

Nice marketing ploy from Vodafone but I agree the proof will be in the pudding..

Note the propagation charecteristics are likely to be similar between 900/850. Very little difference in freq but i have read some where there is a slight difference, like probably metres etc.

What will make the difference is application and build. I would imagine for all of the "green radio" sites that Russell Stanners speaks of I think you might just find the alcatel Lucent build will be slightly better than Nokia Siemens if there GSM network is anything to go by.

Another point to raise is one Telco is building a nationwide HSPA+ network and the other is building a mixture of high speed technolgies.

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DjShadow

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#198490 28-Feb-2009 10:04

I get the impression Telecom will have the best coverage, esp with metro areas as they will have dual W850/2100 coverage in these areas?
I have noticed that Telstra market their NextG network based on big coverage

nzbnw

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#198509 28-Feb-2009 11:33

DjShadow: I get the impression Telecom will have the best coverage, esp with metro areas as they will have dual W850/2100 coverage in these areas?
I have noticed that Telstra market their NextG network based on big coverage

Telecom will have 2100MHz (mainly for capacity, but likely for inbound roaming too) coverage in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch (possibly only the CBD's but I am not 100% sure). 850MHz however is much better for in building coverage which is important in the CBD

.

nzbnw

DjShadow

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#198517 28-Feb-2009 11:58

I think 2100mhz will be in hamilton also as when in the CBD last, my nokia 6234 did find their 3g network (2100)

nzbnw

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#198521 28-Feb-2009 12:27

Interesting, will be good to see it in operation and check how wide spread the 2100MHz coverage actually is.

nzbnw

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bbman

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#198664 1-Mar-2009 21:48

In CHCH for instance 2100mhz is on the main route from airport to CBD and south to Sockburn (based on RSM site and actual panels on the sites)

Its obviously suited for inbound roamers and capacity in high usage areas.

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icepicknz

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#199190 4-Mar-2009 13:14

To give you an idea of signal, there are 3 towers on old albany highway on the north shore of auckland, one is vodafone, the other is telecom and the third is NZ Coms. I live about 1.5km's from here in a valley off kyle road.

Currently my 1x/EVDO telecom handset gets between 1 and 2 bars signal at the best of times, often loosing signal, my vodafone gets about 3 to 4 bars and goes in and out of 3G signal, however my telecom WCDMA (850) phone gets full 3G signal.

The problem is, I'm probably the only one in the area using the telecom W850, so signal is optimal, once users are connected to the network, you generally get cell shrinkage meaning I may go down to only 2-3 bars again, or maybe even 1 bar like I see in 1X, it all depends on how many people are connected to the cell.

Another thing to consider, is telecom is optimizing W850, meaning the antenna are being placed on the higest point of the site, from what I've heard anyway, so we should get slightly better reception off WCDMA than CDMA.

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#199215 4-Mar-2009 14:40

Icepick has hit on a very key point.

Its very hard to compare coverage between Telecom and Vodafone, because of Cell Shinkage. There are almost no people on W850 currently, which means they are not affected by Cell shinkage. Once customers more on to W850 and they start using the bandwidth avaliable, the cell coverage will shrink.

You would be suprised how much coverage you can lose if a bunch of people are doing HSDPA traffic on the same cell.

bbman

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#199217 4-Mar-2009 14:46

icepicknz: To give you an idea of signal, there are 3 towers on old albany highway on the north shore of auckland, one is vodafone, the other is telecom and the third is NZ Coms. I live about 1.5km's from here in a valley off kyle road.

Currently my 1x/EVDO telecom handset gets between 1 and 2 bars signal at the best of times, often loosing signal, my vodafone gets about 3 to 4 bars and goes in and out of 3G signal, however my telecom WCDMA (850) phone gets full 3G signal.

The problem is, I'm probably the only one in the area using the telecom W850, so signal is optimal, once users are connected to the network, you generally get cell shrinkage meaning I may go down to only 2-3 bars again, or maybe even 1 bar like I see in 1X, it all depends on how many people are connected to the cell.

Another thing to consider, is telecom is optimizing W850, meaning the antenna are being placed on the higest point of the site, from what I've heard anyway, so we should get slightly better reception off WCDMA than CDMA.

Cheers
Barry

Anything I say is my comments only, not on behalf of my employer.

Re the antenna placement you are generally right but on new sites such as Parklands in CHCH the only antennas are at the top and these are UMTS only, the spare slot below is covered with a shroud until new antennas are required in the future for capacity.

On pole sites where the antennas are connected to pole and not on arms the UMTS antennas are on top.

I would not be surprised if w850 is better in the long run for reception as the equipment is genrally new on all of the urban sites etc. I have noticed replacement antennas going on several rural omni sites and the arrangement is changing. I guess once rural broadband by cellular takes off these sites will get sectorized as the need arises, but that may take some time.

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