NZ Government spends $115 million on 450 new cell towers useless to thousands of mobile devices

Forums › New Zealand Mobile and Wireless › NZ Government spends $115 million on 450 new cell towers useless to thousands of mobile devices

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Max
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#2599581 7-Nov-2020 18:14

The only phones I can think of is Oneplus and ASUS. Getting a Oneplus 8 to support VoLTE requires using PDC(at least on my model and on Kogan/VF) so the average Joe isn't gonna see it.

I don't like the argument though I think there are a fair amount of supported devices in any price range from Apple or Samsung or Oppo that you can buy from most retailers.

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hio77

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#2599596 7-Nov-2020 18:50

BlinkyBill:

Lias:

I ...

Joe Blow can walk into a PBTech today, and purchase a 2020 released, $1500+ phone that isn't on the VoLTE supported list of any of the major Telco's. That's a big problem for them, that they need to do something about and if they don't it could end up the biggest Telco PR disaster since the XT launch..

Can confirm that every single >$1,500 phone currently on sale at PBTECH supports VoLTE. It’s useful to use actual facts - the Trump technique has been proven to not work.

i hadn't taken the time to validate that one, but if your right that's pretty impressive. significant improvement over the old days of imported devices.

Hat off to you @NikT ;)

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richms

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#2599599 7-Nov-2020 18:57

I would rather they not waste spectrum or money on a triplicate installation of 3g gear on these sites just to support voice service.

Hell, may as well complain there's no goes and 2g for stragglers on Vodafone too. Progress happens and if they installed old tech on these sites it would cost more and deliver less.

If you want to make phone calls in extremely rural areas the choice is either a volte capable phone or a satellite phone.

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hio77

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#2599600 7-Nov-2020 19:00

richms: satellite phone.

with isavi being retired that gets a tad more expensive.....

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quickymart

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#2599609 7-Nov-2020 19:24

Whatsapp just uses data, why not use this?

SomeoneSomewhere

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#2599612 7-Nov-2020 19:27

richms: I would rather they not waste spectrum or money on a triplicate installation of 3g gear on these sites just to support voice service.

Hell, may as well complain there's no goes and 2g for stragglers on Vodafone too. Progress happens and if they installed old tech on these sites it would cost more and deliver less.

If you want to make phone calls in extremely rural areas the choice is either a volte capable phone or a satellite phone.

To be fair, spectrum is not in short supply in the kinds of rural locations these towers are. The gear probably is though.

I'd be interested to see the discussions between the telcos and manufacturers, though... once you get VoLTE working on the network for a given phone, putting those settings into all carriers' ROMs is trivial I believe. So the carriers are asking for either their settings not to be in other ROMs, or other carriers' settings not to be in their ROMs.

Either could rise to the level of anti-competitive behaviour.

old3eyes

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#2599734 8-Nov-2020 09:16

quickymart:

Whatsapp just uses data, why not use this?

Providing the person you call also has Whatsapp on their phone. Normal cell phone to cell phone calls just happen if you have coverage.

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Old3eyes

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theibm

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#2599946 8-Nov-2020 15:09

sbiddle:
Lias:

Joe Blow can walk into a PBTech today, and purchase a 2020 released, $1500+ phone that isn't on the VoLTE supported list of any of the major Telco's. That's a big problem for them, that they need to do something about and if they don't it could end up the biggest Telco PR disaster since the XT launch..

How is this a telco disaster?

Can you give an example of a $1500+ phone that doesn't support VoLTE? The vast majority of phones in this category are Apple, Oppo and Samsung and they all support VoLTE.

I just don't see this as being anywhere near the big issue you're making it out to be - the platform was designed this way on purpose.

Sbiddle I'm assuming

You have a modern VoLTE phone
No desire to change providers
Are tech savvy
Can afford a new ($1,500) phone

However if you consider all the facts of this matter Lias is quite right. Not everyone is going to be so financially fortunate. Christ even I only buy a new phone every three or four years and I'm relatively well off and a self proclaimed geek!

This situation is also quite unlike the XT rollout or dropping of the 025 network when mobile use was still not as widespread as today. In this case there has been no prior publicity or warning customers as to the VoLTE implications or that some devices will not work. From personal experience even the majority of telco support staff had no idea what the implications were or what to advise customers and that was but a few weeks ago! The approved devices lists on the Telco websites are incomplete and there is no mention that VoLTE is provider specific.

It is quite unfair of the Telco's to simply expect users to write off operational devices because the Telco's can't be arsed to get their act together and release the necessary software patches. Also migration from 025 was a major step change to a completely different technology as opposed to this fiasco which requires the simple release of a software patch.

As for the fact they are still selling devices that are not VoLTE capable or warning customers of the implications is actually quite reprehensible. I'm sure the Commerce Commision will be having something to say on the whole matter in due course.

richms

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#2599950 8-Nov-2020 15:16

They for ages were selling devices with no 700MHz LTE when that was rolled out, if you have a need for certain specs on a device, research it before choosing something. Its unreasonable to expect networks to roll out prior gen technology when they can server more people by focusing on the current and future standards which are all going to be volte based since circuit switched is dead.

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#2599959 8-Nov-2020 15:40

theibm:

Sbiddle I'm assuming

You have a modern VoLTE phone
No desire to change providers
Are tech savvy
Can afford a new ($1,500) phone

However if you consider all the facts of this matter Lias is quite right. Not everyone is going to be so financially fortunate. Christ even I only buy a new phone every three or four years and I'm relatively well off and a self proclaimed geek!

1 - No

2 - Yes (and a totally moot point in this discussion anyway since RCG sites cover all 3 providers and all 3 providers have VoLTE services)

3 - Maybe

4 - I would definately never buy a $1500+ phone

None of this changes the fact I still don't see what the problem is. The RCG network was designed this way because it is the only possible way it could really be engineered as a multi network solution without the costs blowing out to potentially 3 or 4 times greater than what they were.

I think the real litmus test of this issue is the fact there are now several hundred live RCG sites and this is the first time this "issue" (if you want to call it that) has really popped up. In some ways it's really no different to changes in technology in the past, and examples of say Vodafone deploying 3G only sites in a number of areas which meant people with GSM only phones had no coverage.

MaxineN

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#2599962 8-Nov-2020 15:46

You don't need to be financially well off to buy a VoLTE capable phone. If OP had spent time looking at the support list for VoLTE capable phones they'd find a few budget to mid range to yes flag ship devices that support it.

Think this argument is flawed and we're bashing something that literally just became a mainstream feature and did not expect hiccups(let's be real you can plan as much as you want, invest as you want but you will find an issue or two with everything. Nothing is perfect).

It is working as intended.

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halper86

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#2600013 8-Nov-2020 17:08

theibm:
The strength of the 4G signals in the vicinity of these towers ensures any mobile in range will lock on to the tower thereby preventing normal voice operations, incompatible phones also do not seemingly revert to a 3G signal where available as you might expect. This is not only grossly inconvenient but also a serious safety risk in the case of an emergency.

Not correct.
As many other people have mentioned already, calls to 111 are made via any provider if your provider is not available. I understand that you may have concerns for there being no coverage, or your phone displaying that nonetheless. However, phones usually have a small margin between service and actual no service as well as cell cites having the authority to disconnect any call needed to connect an emergency one.

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#2600028 8-Nov-2020 17:34

My phone was about $350 and it supports VoLTE.

tim0001

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#2600031 8-Nov-2020 17:41

Just in case it helps someone, I’ll mention the issue I had. Even with the correct phone you may be prevented from using a RCG site.

In August I was unable to use a 4G only RCG site. Turns out that some plans had 4G disabled. Once my provider had enabled 4G for me I was able to use 4G data and make VoLTE calls.

Not sure whether there are still people on plans with 4G disabled.

Linux

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#2600035 8-Nov-2020 17:51

tim0001:
Just in case it helps someone, I’ll mention the issue I had. Even with the correct phone you may be prevented from using a RCG site.

In August I was unable to use a 4G only RCG site. Turns out that some plans had 4G disabled. Once my provider had enabled 4G for me I was able to use 4G data and make VoLTE calls.

Not sure whether there are still people on plans with 4G disabled.

All plans have 4G access the issue was your mobile number was not provisioned on the 4G network so the mobile number could not attach to it

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