does vodafone use the southern cross cable or not?

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kelly2626

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Topic # 7831 14-May-2006 13:34

If you had a 3g vodafone date card and browsed the website that was located in america, does the data goes from the 3g data card send the data to the cellphone tower, then the cellphone tower sends it to vodafone, then vodafone sends is to a satellite in space, then the satellite transmits it to america? Or does the data go through the southern cross cable? The reason I'm asking is that isp's have data caps because bandwidth from the southern cross cable is expensive, so if vodafone didn't use the cable then maybe when vodafone release broadband they will have no data caps or huge data caps.

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Reply # 35674 14-May-2006 14:06

kelly2626:... is that isp's have data caps because bandwidth from the southern cross cable is expensive, so if vodafone didn't use the cable then maybe when vodafone release broadband they will have no data caps or huge data caps.

I wouldn't expect this to happen. No caps on a cellular connection? You can't find this not even in Europe where the adoption of mobile technologies is higher, with greater competition.

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Reply # 36551 25-May-2006 13:04

I remember reading somewhere about a guy building a mobile wi-fi hotspot by connecting a access point to a customised router with an EV-DO datacard thing. Apparently he was on an uncapped data plan and I don't think the cost was very high either.

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johnr

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Reply # 36553 25-May-2006 13:17

I would say that person worked for the Telco (Jama) and got free data

bradstewart

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Reply # 36557 25-May-2006 13:40

adamj: I remember reading somewhere about a guy building a mobile wi-fi hotspot by connecting a access point to a customised router with an EV-DO datacard thing. Apparently he was on an uncapped data plan and I don't think the cost was very high either.

I also read that. He built it with an EVDO card and wifi card. He didnt work for a Telco, but had unlimited data on Sprint

bradstewart

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Reply # 36558 25-May-2006 13:52

Verizon offer unlimited mobile broadband (EVDO) for $US79/month.

I wonder how long that will take to arrive here.

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Reply # 36572 25-May-2006 15:18

Never.. We still have small (tiny) datacaps on ADSL I think the 1GB plan is really as good as it's ever going to get.

bradstewart

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Reply # 36574 25-May-2006 15:33

That was just wishful thinking with a hint of sarcasm.

muppet

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Reply # 36626 25-May-2006 20:56

@kelly2626: Here's a traceroute back to gprs.vodafone.net.nz from the USA:

trace 202.73.198.140

Type escape sequence to abort.
Tracing the route to gprs.vodafone.net.nz (202.73.198.140)

1 g10-0-224.core01.lax01.atlas.cogentco.com (66.250.4.5) 16 msec 4 msec 4 msec
2 t9-3.mpd01.lax01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.1.34) 16 msec 0 msec 4 msec
3 g2-0-0.core01.lax05.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.3.22) 0 msec 4 msec 0 msec
4 uunet.lax05.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.11.142) 0 msec 0 msec 4 msec
5 0.so-0-3-0.XL1.LAX7.ALTER.NET (152.63.57.106) 0 msec 4 msec 4 msec
6 0.so-7-0-0.TL1.LAX9.ALTER.NET (152.63.115.138) 68 msec 4 msec 4 msec
7 0.POS6-0.IR1.LAX9.ALTER.NET (152.63.0.145) 4 msec 4 msec 4 msec
8 so-7-0-0.IR1.LAX12.ALTER.NET (137.39.31.221) 4 msec 4 msec 4 msec
9 0.so-0-0-1.XT1.AKL1.ALTER.NET (210.80.51.58) 152 msec 152 msec 152 msec
10 so-2-0-0.GW2.AKL1.ALTER.NET (210.80.38.134) 156 msec 156 msec 156 msec
11 vodafone-customer.gw2.akl1.alter.net (203.110.9.22) 168 msec 164 msec 168 msec

You can see it comes in via ALTER.net to Vodafone. You can see hop 8 has the name "LAX" which would be a Los Angeles POP somewhere. Notice the time increase as it jumps from the US to NZ (hop 9). The latency increase is ~150ms which shows they're not using a satellite!

You have to remember that Vodafone aren't at their core an Internet business, so they are just purchasing their International bandwidth from Wholesale Providers (in this case it's ALTER.net but no doubt they have more than one provider for redundancy/cost purposes)

The reason that ISPs have datacaps isn't entirely explained by "International Bandwidth is expensive", otherwise it would only be the International traffic that's counted towards your cap. Some ISPs do actually do this, most don't.

I don't think VF will offer unlimited data anytime soon, the last thing they would want is someone sitting on Bittorrent leeching away all the bandwidth for $x a month while their $xxxxx business customer starts complaining about his blackberry service being slow.

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BrentR

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Reply # 36640 25-May-2006 23:02

Interestingly enough alter.net is a Verizon Wireless subsidary, which is in part owned by Vodafone.

bonkiebonks

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Reply # 36645 26-May-2006 00:01

freitasm:
kelly2626:... is that isp's have data caps because bandwidth from the southern cross cable is expensive, so if vodafone didn't use the cable then maybe when vodafone release broadband they will have no data caps or huge data caps.
I wouldn't expect this to happen. No caps on a cellular connection? You can't find this not even in Europe where the adoption of mobile technologies is higher, with greater competition.

I know where you can get an uncap cellular internet connection. In Malaysia. :)

All three mobile operators - Maxis, Celcom and DiGi - offer unlimited downloads on their 3G and EDGE networks. DiGi only offer access via EDGE. Maxis charges RM120 for unlimited use, Celcom charges RM150 for unlimited 3G, and DiGi charges RM149 for unlimited EDGE. DiGi's offer is the best at RM99 for postpaid customers or for prepaid customers, pay per use at RM0.10/10kB until RM149 where after that, you can use it unlimited.

So, the pricing for unlimited cellular internet range from NZ$43 to NZ$65. That's pretty damn good considering we can't even get 1GB of data here on Vodafone or Telecom with that amount of money.

By the way, I'm from Malaysia, and I find it really convenient to be able to access MSN or just download as much as I like on-the-go. Sadly, the same cannot be said of NZ. :(

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Reply # 36655 26-May-2006 08:15

bonkiebonks: So, the pricing for unlimited cellular internet range from NZ$43 to NZ$65. That's pretty damn good considering we can't even get 1GB of data here on Vodafone or Telecom with that amount of money.

actually, you can get 1GB for $49 either on Telecom NZ or Vodafone NZ with their 1GB for $49. I got one of that with Vodafone and signed up for 24-months to get free GPRS/UMTS card.

p/s: i'm from malaysia too, few things are good with what Malaysia cellular companies have done, but it is very unregulated and confusing, but they are very competitive with pricing. I do like NZ's cellular pricing structure... easiest to understand albeit cost a bit more.

more on this later.

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kelly2626

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Reply # 36801 27-May-2006 12:51

Well i still think vodafone should offer unlimited national data and offer a some NZ based gaming servers to play games like counters strike etc on.

malcolmd

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Reply # 36804 27-May-2006 13:17

The issue is not Southern Cross cable, but the fact that mobile transmission bandwidth is still really expensive, so an uncapped plan would blow all their capacity. The charges are still pretty high, though.

The capped plans on DSL connections is not caused by the Southern Cross link, either. Rather it is caused by Telecom placing an average 4Gig cap per user on ISPs wholesale connections, and then charging them 50c/Gig for overage - even though they have virtually zero cost for this part of the backhaul. The ISP still has to buy their Southern Cross bandwidth on top of this. The reason is that Telecom want to force ISPs to have capped plans so they can protect their overage charges.

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Reply # 36805 27-May-2006 13:49

kelly2626 you need reality check on life

You get one thing free and next thing you want everything free

tonyhughes

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Reply # 36810 27-May-2006 15:07

kelly2626: Well i still think vodafone should offer unlimited national data and offer a some NZ based gaming servers to play games like counters strike etc on.

What rational explanation do you have for asking for uncapped wireless broadband, knowing that landline based broadband is cheaper, yet still capped...?

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