Cel Fi Experience on 2Degrees

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kiwibob1

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#171222 10-Apr-2015 10:08

After years of poor cell coverage in our rural property I thought one of these Cel Fi units would be just the job.

Yes they are expensive but we spend a small fortune on making mobile calls from our landline rather than using the huge number of 2degrees carry-over minutes as it's just too inconvenient to go to the bottom of the garden each time we want to make a call.

We met all the conditions for approval for the Cel Fi unit but the short answer is that it did not work for us as, although we appear to get get excellent 2degrees coverage where the window unit was to be located it is not actually 2degrees but roaming on Vodafone which the Cel Fi unit does not support.

If you are considering one of these then you would be well advised to check where your nearest 2degrees cell site is located as Powertec don't seem to have much idea about the product and I wasted a lot of time trying to get it to work.

A pity.

powertec

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1281802 13-Apr-2015 09:35

Hi Kiwibob

Sorry to hear you had issues with getting the Cel-Fi to work, customers do need to first check if they are roaming on Vodafone, as the Cel-Fi for 2Degrees will not roam on their network.

This is usually indicated by a Roaming icon on your handset.

Powertec's product knowledge is very high in Cel-Fi, we sometime find it hard to determine if you are receiving a Vodafone or 2Degrees signal by looking at the coverage maps. These can sometimes we a little out.

There are a lot of happy customers using Cel-Fi for 2Degrees and Spark out there.

To combat the higher price of the unit we offer a 30 day money back guarantee so you can be assured it will work for you.

johnr

19282 posts

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#1281804 13-Apr-2015 09:39

@powertec I don't think VodafoneNZ has approved the use of these units in the Vodafone band?

Vodafone NZ offers Sure Signal

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/mobile/3g-sure-signal/

Edit: I see you have now edited the above post and removed Vodafone

powertec

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1281819 13-Apr-2015 09:45

Hi John

You are correct, just noticed I wrote that and edited the response.

Vodafone are concentrating on their Sure Signal product, we have not heard any word if they will take up Cel-Fi.

cisconz

cisconz
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#1281868 13-Apr-2015 10:10

johnr: Vodafone NZ offers Sure Signal

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/mobile/3g-sure-signal/

Not useful for a 2 Degrees customer however, as 2 Degrees won't roam onto a Sure Signal.

Does Vodafone have any plans to introduce something similar for customers who are unable to get Vodafone DSL?

Hmmmm

johnr

19282 posts

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#1281879 13-Apr-2015 10:19

cisconz:
johnr: Vodafone NZ offers Sure Signal

http://www.vodafone.co.nz/mobile/3g-sure-signal/

Not useful for a 2 Degrees customer however, as 2 Degrees won't roam onto a Sure Signal.

Does Vodafone have any plans to introduce something similar for customers who are unable to get Vodafone DSL?

Corporate customers can speak to their account manager about an indoor solution

kiwibob1

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#1281916 13-Apr-2015 10:53

Sorry to hear you had issues with getting the Cel-Fi to work, customers do need to first check if they are roaming on Vodafone, as the Cel-Fi for 2Degrees will not roam on their network.

This is usually indicated by a Roaming icon on your handset.

Hi Powertec

I did check and my handset (iPhone5) says "2Degrees 3G" on the home page. Afaik there is no "Roaming" icon. We don't have any non apple handsets to try.

Deeper investigation revealed in the settings menu that it has a carrier item showing Vodafone. I seem to recall that the phone used to say Vodafone and changed to 2degrees a year or so ago. I'd assumed that we now had a native connection rather than roaming. Not so.

I have no doubt that the Cel Fi product is excellent when you are on the right network. All I'm saying is that it would have saved quite a bit of messing about for all concerned if we had known to look in the settings menu.

JoshWright

398 posts

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#1281944 13-Apr-2015 11:17

kiwibob1:
Sorry to hear you had issues with getting the Cel-Fi to work, customers do need to first check if they are roaming on Vodafone, as the Cel-Fi for 2Degrees will not roam on their network.

This is usually indicated by a Roaming icon on your handset.

Hi Powertec

I did check and my handset (iPhone5) says "2Degrees 3G" on the home page. Afaik there is no "Roaming" icon. We don't have any non apple handsets to try.

Deeper investigation revealed in the settings menu that it has a carrier item showing Vodafone. I seem to recall that the phone used to say Vodafone and changed to 2degrees a year or so ago. I'd assumed that we now had a native connection rather than roaming. Not so.

I have no doubt that the Cel Fi product is excellent when you are on the right network. All I'm saying is that it would have saved quite a bit of messing about for all concerned if we had known to look in the settings menu.

On iPhones you can tell if you're roaming if 'vodafone NZ' is what is shown under 'Carrier' in settings. Since 2degrees became an official iPhone carrier, the status bar always says '2degrees', even if you're roaming on Vodafone.

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powertec

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Wannabe Geek

#1281948 13-Apr-2015 11:21

Thanks Guys this is helpful information.

We will be finding better ways to educate 2Degrees customers so they are not messed around in the sales process.