Performance of 2degrees 3G/4G? (Mostly Auckland)

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Performance of 2degrees 3G/4G? (Mostly Auckland)

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mercutio

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#1367417 16-Aug-2015 13:57

eXDee:
Someone might be able to find some official policy, but from my experience everywhere but the original auckland wellington regions are fair game for roaming onto VF.

Does it work with dual carrier hsdpa? i found that a lot faster than the 14 megabit or whatever that 2degrees offers. I just tried force registering to Vodafone and it seemed to just timeout like Telecom did too...

eXDee

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#1367483 16-Aug-2015 15:07

mercutio:
eXDee:
Someone might be able to find some official policy, but from my experience everywhere but the original auckland wellington regions are fair game for roaming onto VF.

Does it work with dual carrier hsdpa? i found that a lot faster than the 14 megabit or whatever that 2degrees offers. I just tried force registering to Vodafone and it seemed to just timeout like Telecom did too...

I'm not sure as far as i'm aware you gain full access to the 2G and 3G networks, of whatever capability that VF transmitter has, someone might be able to confirm though

In some cases i've found in some areas 2degrees is quicker simply by the fact there are more vodafone users in certain regions. Other times vodafone has more capacity and is quicker. I don't manually switch networks that much though if it's working fine.

With mobile i'm interested in real world performance, i don't care how fast you can speedtest or what HSPA speed it's negotiated, if pages load fast and images upload quick i'm happy. If it's got 4G i'm even more happy. Though i get frustrated if i end up on slow UMTS or worse, 2G, hence why i have 2G disabled entirely.

Aaroona

3193 posts

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#1367587 16-Aug-2015 19:15

eXDee: From my own experience, this is the case. I use it all the time around the waikato, whenever i go on a long trip down to the taupo region for example I manually set my phone to Vodafone to cut down on inconvenience of swapping in and out of native coverage...

Do you find that using data while "Roaming" on Vodafone has an impact to the speed you achieve, or latency, in comparison to using data through a 2D site?

All I have to compare it to is when I was in Australia, using a local SIM netted higher results (page loads faster, speeds to "respond" quicker) than roaming on the same network. Whether this is because it's funneling the traffic back to Vodafone, like a VPN... I have no idea, not really clued up on that side of things.

Not exactly scientific, and I know Australia have some pretty crappy networks, but its the best thing I can compare it to.

Edit: also a pain, because the offer from Vodafone is only valid till the 20th (a small campaign I assume, sent to be via text), so gives me little time to try out 2D at all.

Salami

237 posts

Master Geek

#1367678 17-Aug-2015 00:04

I use 2Degrees around Auckland as I travel a lot.

I'm not sure why people are saying 2degrees reception are bad because I have no issues with it and I had a case where my friend had no VF reception but I had 2degrees reception. Probably because I had a newer handset than him.

Just to add , I travel around the North island quite a bit and will never switch back to Vodafone.
Seriously I dont feel there's a reception issue and I think 2D has done a good job.

Apart from small towns like Eltham , Ngaere , Stratford area where there has been issues with reception even VF and Spark has issues there.

Anyway, I would recommend 2degrees.

scottjpalmer

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#1367697 17-Aug-2015 06:28

Salami: I use 2Degrees around Auckland as I travel a lot.

I'm not sure why people are saying 2degrees reception are bad because I have no issues with it and I had a case where my friend had no VF reception but I had 2degrees reception. Probably because I had a newer handset than him.

Just to add , I travel around the North island quite a bit and will never switch back to Vodafone.
Seriously I dont feel there's a reception issue and I think 2D has done a good job.

Apart from small towns like Eltham , Ngaere , Stratford area where there has been issues with reception even VF and Spark has issues there.

Anyway, I would recommend 2degrees.

I agree totally, I've been with them since the start and have nothing but good things to say.

SaltyNZ

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#1367701 17-Aug-2015 07:10

Aaroona:
All I have to compare it to is when I was in Australia, using a local SIM netted higher results (page loads faster, speeds to "respond" quicker) than roaming on the same network. Whether this is because it's funneling the traffic back to Vodafone, like a VPN... I have no idea, not really clued up on that side of things.

Roaming traffic is always sent back to the home network to exit to the internet. If you're roaming in Australia, accessing an Australian web site, the traffic goes back to NZ (to get to the internet), then back to Australia (to get to the website) and vice versa. Not so bad when it's Australia, but much worse if you're in Europe. If you absolutely require speed, international roaming is not a good way to get it.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

richms

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#1367706 17-Aug-2015 07:34

The flip side is it makes it usable in china ;)

Richard rich.ms

Equinox IT

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dwl

371 posts

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#1367721 17-Aug-2015 08:33

Salami: Just to add , I travel around the North island quite a bit and will never switch back to Vodafone.
Seriously I dont feel there's a reception issue and I think 2D has done a good job.

Apart from small towns like Eltham , Ngaere , Stratford area where there has been issues with reception even VF and Spark has issues there.

This is encouraging. Have you noticed whether you can get 4G via Vodafone when away from the main centres?

Aaroona

3193 posts

Uber Geek

#1367723 17-Aug-2015 08:38

dwl:
Salami: Just to add , I travel around the North island quite a bit and will never switch back to Vodafone.
Seriously I dont feel there's a reception issue and I think 2D has done a good job.

Apart from small towns like Eltham , Ngaere , Stratford area where there has been issues with reception even VF and Spark has issues there.

This is encouraging. Have you noticed whether you can get 4G via Vodafone when away from the main centres?

I might give them a call and ask today, but I'm not confident that is the case. If you look at he coverage maps for 2D, and compare with Vodafone (something you can easily do now that the tools are functional), you'll see that 2D says you can only get 4G is a couple of areas, in comparison to Vodafone's 4G map, which is many times larger.

So I would say that Roaming Vodafone 4G is probably excluded from the equation.

Aaroona

3193 posts

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#1367734 17-Aug-2015 09:05

SaltyNZ:
Aaroona:
All I have to compare it to is when I was in Australia, using a local SIM netted higher results (page loads faster, speeds to "respond" quicker) than roaming on the same network. Whether this is because it's funneling the traffic back to Vodafone, like a VPN... I have no idea, not really clued up on that side of things.

Roaming traffic is always sent back to the home network to exit to the internet. If you're roaming in Australia, accessing an Australian web site, the traffic goes back to NZ (to get to the internet), then back to Australia (to get to the website) and vice versa. Not so bad when it's Australia, but much worse if you're in Europe. If you absolutely require speed, international roaming is not a good way to get it.

So it stands to reason then, if you are roaming on on 2D via Vodafone NZ, that the request would be sent via Vodafone NZ, back to 2D, then back the same route for return traffic, correct?

I guess both being placed in NZ, it wouldn't be as slow between the two providers, just wanted to make sure, instead of just assuming :)

SaltyNZ

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#1367762 17-Aug-2015 09:44

Aaroona:
So it stands to reason then, if you are roaming on on 2D via Vodafone NZ, that the request would be sent via Vodafone NZ, back to 2D, then back the same route for return traffic, correct?

I guess both being placed in NZ, it wouldn't be as slow between the two providers, just wanted to make sure, instead of just assuming :)

Yes, that's correct. But as you say, since our data centres are a matter of literally only kms apart, it's practically no different than running purely on 2degrees, or purely on Vodafone, for that matter.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

eXDee

4032 posts

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#1367857 17-Aug-2015 11:55

Roaming on vodafone has no visible difference in 3G speeds from 2degreees 3G. Don't worry about that.
You cannot use vodafone 4G, only 2degrees 4G.

Aaroona

3193 posts

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#1367887 17-Aug-2015 12:49

Just got this reply from 2D to confirm that 4G roaming is not available on a Vodafone site, which makes sense.

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for your enquiry.

We have relatively good coverage in most main cities of New Zealand and it will only be in relatively remote areas that you would need to roam on the Vodafone network. In those instances you would only be able to connect to the Vodafone 3G network at most.
...

Salami

237 posts

Master Geek

#1368775 18-Aug-2015 18:46

I don't think you should worry much if you are mostly in Auckland. Where there is 4G Vodafone there will certainly be 4G with 2Degrees.

Even when I was travelling I would see 4G on my phone in New Plymouth, Palmerston North and Wellington.

I see a lot of hype with VF being the largest 4G network and probably have better reception but I feel 2degrees isn't bad at all and I have no issues with them.

I joined the first week 2degrees came out, Moved back to VF at around Xmas last year then left in feburary and stayed with 2degrees ever since.
There was not a slight of difference between reception issue.

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