New Zealand government confirms 4G 700MHz availability

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sbiddle

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#767496 22-Feb-2013 11:02

ALTRON: What's up with using freqencies that no one makes phones for?

It's not a case of "nobody making phones". It's a case of a brand new frequency band that doesn't yet have a live production network anywhere in the world. Because of this you're not going to have devices yet that support this band.

As I explained a few posts above right now it's classic chicken and egg situation.

coffeebaron

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#767836 22-Feb-2013 18:46

Anyone know the current list of handsets and devices that support 1800 LTE?

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ajw

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#767839 22-Feb-2013 18:49

coffeebaron: Anyone know the current list of handsets and devices that support 1800 LTE?

Have a quick look on the Telstra and Optus website. Both Aussie operators use 1800MHZ LTE.

matisyahu

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#768663 25-Feb-2013 02:44

coffeebaron:
kawaii: Btw, for the record Vodafone have been saying for 2 years that they'll improve things and for 2 years absolutely nothing has happened so I'm not going to hold out much hope.

That certainly is not correct. Over the past year Vodafone have been doing a massive amount of work on their network. Do you think the Auckland U900 upgrade all just happened over one weekend? They have been deploying kit and upgrades for months preparing for the changeover. With mass penetration of GSM 900 everywhere, they can't just start turning on bits of U900 here and there; their network needs to adjusted and frequencies re-farmed etc.

And this has not just been happening in Auckland, other cities to follow.

I'm in Wellington (Hutt Valley) so in all due respects what is happening in Auckland doesn't amount to a hill of beans at the end of the day. All I know is that Auckland seems to be the centre of the know universe and everything else is just 'bleh' but it would be nice if Vodafone actually realised that those of us south of the Bombay hills are actually interested in their service.

Skolink: Does the government still use the system of a silent auction with the spectrum going to the second-highest bidder? If not I guess it will all just be allocated to the encumbent.

What about the 200MHz (CH4-11) and 500MHz (CH21-29) bands? My understanding was that these are also to be clreared out of analogue TV to allow for wireless internet. The RSM guy who checked my TV signal said something to that effect.

Is anyone using the 450Mhz - in Russia and a few Scandinavian countries there are CDMA networks operating on 450Mhz.

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sbiddle

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#768677 25-Feb-2013 06:20

kawaii: I'm in Wellington (Hutt Valley) so in all due respects what is happening in Auckland doesn't amount to a hill of beans at the end of the day. All I know is that Auckland seems to be the centre of the know universe and everything else is just 'bleh' but it would be nice if Vodafone actually realised that those of us south of the Bombay hills are actually interested in their service.

And as pointed out numerous times over the past year the 900Mhz rollout is coming. Upgrading a network isn't an overnight job.

I've personally never had any issues in the Silverstream area since the installation of the Pinehaven site a few years ago. Coverage further up Blue Mountains Rd is very average, but that's the case on all networks.

johnr

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#768682 25-Feb-2013 07:06

More U900 coverage South of the Bombay Hills than North of it, This is even shown on the Vodafone NZ coverage map in Orange

Auckland has the biggest population so requires the most capacity so why not invest in Auckland first?

matisyahu

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#770833 27-Feb-2013 05:59

sbiddle:
kawaii: I'm in Wellington (Hutt Valley) so in all due respects what is happening in Auckland doesn't amount to a hill of beans at the end of the day. All I know is that Auckland seems to be the centre of the know universe and everything else is just 'bleh' but it would be nice if Vodafone actually realised that those of us south of the Bombay hills are actually interested in their service.

And as pointed out numerous times over the past year the 900Mhz rollout is coming. Upgrading a network isn't an overnight job.

I've personally never had any issues in the Silverstream area since the installation of the Pinehaven site a few years ago. Coverage further up Blue Mountains Rd is very average, but that's the case on all networks.

The issue is 3G coverage; if you're happy for your connection to constantly fall back to 2G then all power to you but when I'm given the choice between a pure 3G solution from Telecom or the rickety network of Vodafone that keeps falling back to 2G if you look in the wrong direction then you know why I'm with Telecom.

johnr: More U900 coverage South of the Bombay Hills than North of it, This is even shown on the Vodafone NZ coverage map in Orange

Auckland has the biggest population so requires the most capacity so why not invest in Auckland first?

Why not address on a needs based system - where the reception is the crappiest the focus is on delivering the U900 upgrade to them first. As noted in the above reply, the 3G reception in the Hutt Valley is atrocious and yet I'd hazard to guess that those north of the Bombays aren't suffering from the same reception issues.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

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sbiddle

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#770837 27-Feb-2013 06:39

kawaii: ]\ As noted in the above reply, the 3G reception in the Hutt Valley is atrocious

Have to say I can't agree with this. Maybe atrocious at your place but generalising that the entire Hutt Valley is poor is certainly not correct.

As for 3G to GSM fallback this is something that in many cases isn't because of network coverage, it's network design. Many 3G networks around the world choose to dump voice calls to GSM if no PDP context is up because it allows better network management by putting voice on GSM and saving 3G for data. Without knowing exactly how VF are managing their network it's not something any of us can comment on.

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#772028 1-Mar-2013 03:16

sbiddle:
kawaii: As noted in the above reply, the 3G reception in the Hutt Valley is atrocious

Have to say I can't agree with this. Maybe atrocious at your place but generalising that the entire Hutt Valley is poor is certainly not correct.

I'm in Silverstream (around Trentham Memorial Park) and using mobile broadband from inside I would be lucky to get maybe 2 bars on a good day with constant fall backs to GPRS.

As for 3G to GSM fallback this is something that in many cases isn't because of network coverage, it's network design. Many 3G networks around the world choose to dump voice calls to GSM if no PDP context is up because it allows better network management by putting voice on GSM and saving 3G for data. Without knowing exactly how VF are managing their network it's not something any of us can comment on.

I wouldn't mind if the fall back was from 3G to EDGE but the reality is that you fall from 3G to GPRS so one might as well give up ever using mobile broadband in the Hutt Valley.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

sbiddle

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#772029 1-Mar-2013 06:21

kawaii:I wouldn't mind if the fall back was from 3G to EDGE but the reality is that you fall from 3G to GPRS so one might as well give up ever using mobile broadband in the Hutt Valley.

Once again I can't do any more but strongly disagree with your statement. In reality you mean it's unusable in your location - not the entire Hutt Valley.

The simple fact is mobile networks don't have 100% coverage. I could point out half a dozen spots of each of the 3 networks that have no coverage in the Wgtn region where where one or more of the competitors has coverage.

Clearly you have a choice of networks and made the decision to move. That's the best thing you could do if you weren't happy with performance.

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