Cell site backhaul

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raytaylor

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#73680 19-Dec-2010 15:47

Hi all
I was out at Waimarama the other day and saw Vodafone had a cell site out there with some fancy looking gear up on a hill nearby.

What was interesting about this cell site was i didnt see any microwave backhaul. There was a sector antenna pointing down to the village and beach, an omnidirectional which i assume is for 2g coverage on both sides of the hill for the beach and few houses behind it. But no microwave.

The telephone exchange a couple of km away is microwave fed for broadband so I was thinking, would it be possible that Vodafone is using an SHDSL link or some sort of leased line via telecom to backhaul this 'mini' cellsite?

How does it work in remote situations like this?

Ray Taylor

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#419098 19-Dec-2010 16:00

Bound to be fibre or E1's.

I'd take a stab and say fibre because running E1's doesn't really stack up these days with the throughput of the new microwave gear that Vodafone are using.

johnr

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#419099 19-Dec-2010 16:01

I would say fibre

raytaylor

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#419102 19-Dec-2010 16:05

Thats interesting because vodafone would have had to run fibre from havelock north - 20km away
Telecom are only just completing their run of fibre out there.

Ray Taylor

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stuzzo

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#419103 19-Dec-2010 16:08

Telecom have fibre out there, can they access that?

http://www.broadbandmap.govt.nz/map/

raytaylor

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#419108 19-Dec-2010 16:15

That fibre is going to be joined up to another run closer to town.
At the moment it just runs a remote dslam off the microwave fed exchange so that houses in a nearby subdivision can get ADSL.

Ray Taylor

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sbiddle

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#419113 19-Dec-2010 16:29

raytaylor: Thats interesting because vodafone would have had to run fibre from havelock north - 20km away
Telecom are only just completing their run of fibre out there.

And you know who provides most of Vodafone's fibre?

raytaylor

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#419114 19-Dec-2010 16:31

ok that i didnt know.
Always thought it was FX.

So it will be a dedicated link of some sort via the microwave into the local exchange, then fibre up to the cell site, as well as continuing on to the dslam a few more km up the road.

That makes sense.

Ray Taylor

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BarTender

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#419487 20-Dec-2010 16:00

raytaylor: ok that i didnt know.
Always thought it was FX.

So it will be a dedicated link of some sort via the microwave into the local exchange, then fibre up to the cell site, as well as continuing on to the dslam a few more km up the road.

That makes sense.

No I would assume it would be fibre all the way, from the CO in the Havelock North or wherever... There would be no point in putting microwave from the exchange upstream from Waimarama and then fibre downstream from there.

Looking on the map there is a break in the fibre between Havelock North and Waimarama... But my bet that would just be incorrect data or private fibre which Telecom won't splice into (so those farmers can't say I want DSL service from here... since fibre is running past my gate) or something like that rather than a microwave link.

Chorus have spent a lot of $ putting in a lot of fibre nationwide to the vast majority of it's exchanges. A lot of which have mobile gear on it, and a lot of which also have Vodafone gear either on the same building, or near it.

Starplay

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#422651 30-Dec-2010 15:52

BarTender: Looking on the map there is a break in the fibre between Havelock North and Waimarama... But my bet that would just be incorrect data or private fibre which Telecom won't splice into (so those farmers can't say I want DSL service from here... since fibre is running past my gate) or something like that rather than a microwave link.

That break is correct... Could possibly be private fibre however as you say... But definatly not consumer accessable. However I do know that a couple of months ago Chorus were busy laying fibre from the beginning of the break (nearer Havelock North) to further down where the is no fibre, not to sure how far (I guess they would be joining it).

raytaylor

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#422654 30-Dec-2010 16:05

They are installing and lighting up fibre that from the maraetotara exchange to waimarama. The break from the waimarama side is where they have put a dslam to support the new housing developments.

I heard airnet was all keen to supply the new houses then telecom went and put in the fibre and dslam running off the waimarama exchange anyway which kinda screwed airnet.

Ray Taylor

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Starplay

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#422689 30-Dec-2010 18:42

raytaylor: They are installing and lighting up fibre that from the maraetotara exchange to waimarama. The break from the waimarama side is where they have put a dslam to support the new housing developments.

I heard airnet was all keen to supply the new houses then telecom went and put in the fibre and dslam running off the waimarama exchange anyway which kinda screwed airnet.

Okay... I know airnet supply houses just before Waimarama (Northpoint)... And a few before that. But the newer houses at Northpoint are due to be conected up with fibre soon... So I guess airnet will be seeing a couple of disconnections happening when its joined up.

When I saw them installing some of the fibre not so long ago... They were linking the gap from just after the Tuki bridge to the maratotara exchange... Didnt know about the further part as I never go up that way very often.. But last time I went I saw them running that part.

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#422739 30-Dec-2010 20:22

I'm heading up to Waimarama on holiday in a few weeks time so will keep my eyes peeled when I cross over the bridge to see what's going on. Plus run a speed test over my Vodafone and XT datacards. I don't have a 900 3G Extended card so I won't be able to properly test Voda.

raytaylor

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#422744 30-Dec-2010 20:34

BarTender: I'm heading up to Waimarama on holiday in a few weeks time so will keep my eyes peeled when I cross over the bridge to see what's going on. Plus run a speed test over my Vodafone and XT datacards. I don't have a 900 3G Extended card so I won't be able to properly test Voda.

I was out there today. Nothing interesting happening. They were using existing ducting to blow the fibre through a few weeks ago.

After you pass the small lake, between the bridge and the ocean beach turn off there is a small white shack with a small fence and probably an outhouse. Thats the maraetotara exchange where the fibre currently stops.
It starts again as you go down the straight at the road going into the northpoint subdivision before the hills rising to the lookout area.

Ray Taylor

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Starplay

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#422750 30-Dec-2010 20:45

raytaylor:After you pass the small lake, between the bridge and the ocean beach turn off there is a small white shack with a small fence and probably an outhouse. Thats the maraetotara exchange where the fibre currently stops.

Yip... They recently blanked out the windows in it... Not sure why... Was at about the same time they were putting in the new fibre...

drajk

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#425782 10-Jan-2011 15:26

We were at Waimarama during New Year week - however not in the main township but along Waitangi Rd - no 3g coverage on either VF900/2100 or XT but apparently there was coverage just down the road - unfortunately it appears the coverage footprint there is quite small!

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