Terrible (Terrible) cell reception!

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#2206103 28-Mar-2019 09:29

Re your network settings, I would set it to "unknown" so that the phone figures out the best setting for itself.

LTE is NZ style 4G

TD-SCDMA - I don't believe this is used in NZ but could be wrong.

WCDMA vs UMTS is 3G and what you need for voice on 2DM. I thought they were interchangeable terms, but obviously not if your phone has separate settings so it could be worth trying both settings.

GSM (2G) is no longer used by 2DM (but is used still by vodafone).

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#2206111 28-Mar-2019 09:43

SaltyNZ:

coffeebaron: Sounds like 2degrees have overshot their 3G coverage with 4G.

As a general rule the L700 power is turned down to match U900, but they are different radio technologies on different bands so they don't behave identically. For example, UMTS cells breathe whereas LTE cells do not. It isn't possible to make their footprint a 100% match.

And that is absurd that they do that to cripple the good network just to match the previous generation ones coverage. Hope that their "fix" isnt to just break the 4g coverage so that this doesn't happen for the OP.

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SaltyNZ

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#2206120 28-Mar-2019 10:04

richms:

And that is absurd that they do that to cripple the good network just to match the previous generation ones coverage. Hope that their "fix" isnt to just break the 4g coverage so that this doesn't happen for the OP.

No, it is not 'absurd'. It is done that way to ensure that in an emergency situation, a customer does not keep trying to use their phone believing they have coverage (because they are on LTE) when they don't (because UMTS does not reach that far). Not to mention more generally, believing they have the ability to make a voice call when they do not.

In the long term the L700 power will be turned up to increase the coverage area as far as it will go, but that requires VoLTE to be near ubiquitous: not just launched, but actively in use by the majority of handsets. And I'm sure you're aware of just how much hoohah there was when we turned off 2G, 15-odd years after the introduction of 3G to New Zealand.

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#2206124 28-Mar-2019 10:16

SaltyNZ:

No, it is not 'absurd'. It is done that way to ensure that in an emergency situation, a customer does not keep trying to use their phone believing they have coverage (because they are on LTE) when they don't (because UMTS does not reach that far). Not to mention more generally, believing they have the ability to make a voice call when they do not.

In the long term the L700 power will be turned up to increase the coverage area as far as it will go, but that requires VoLTE to be near ubiquitous: not just launched, but actively in use by the majority of handsets. And I'm sure you're aware of just how much hoohah there was when we turned off 2G, 15-odd years after the introduction of 3G to New Zealand.

Dont care. I want a data service not voice.

anyway, plenty of blackspots in 2deg and other networks across the north shore, so the real solution is to get out there and put more sites in so that I dont have annoying fallback to old networks when driving around. Telcos are like power companies and treat the shore as second class with coverage levels.

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#2206130 28-Mar-2019 10:33

Getting off topic but 2DM coverage is pretty good out west and continues to expand - beats the big guys in a couple of key locations.

It's no secrete that when launching, 2DM was chasing budget conscious customers rather than Status conscious customers, hence the West was fertile ground and a priority for build-out but where as the Shore would have been capital wasted. Leave the customers who are swayed by glamorous but irrelevant ad campaigns to the companies with big advertising budgets :-)

dt

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#2206155 28-Mar-2019 11:17

If its just a problem at home you could switch back to Vodafone and buy one of these

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

I live in Albany in a division thats down a valley and experienced similar issues to you.. the cell tower signal basically goes right over the top of us..

you plug the sure signal into your internet connection and it tunnels back to vodafone.. its like having a cell tower in your house

I've been using one for a few years now and it works perfectly

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CokemonZ

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#2206165 28-Mar-2019 11:49

I'm going to try the phone settings as suggested above by Tripper1000.

I'm also going to wander around Albany tonight and see what the story is with 3g.

Then maybe I might have to switch back to Voda. I probably don't need one of those repeaters because calls generally came through, and that was enough while at home.

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#2206169 28-Mar-2019 11:59

The Sure Signal is not a repeater it's an actual low powered mini cell site that works on 3G 2100Mhz

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#2206209 28-Mar-2019 13:01

Also down load an app such as "network cell info" it should tell you what band it's using.

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#2206338 28-Mar-2019 15:01

coffeebaron: Also down load an app such as "network cell info" it should tell you what band it's using.

Thanks for the heads up about this app.

So from Chatswood I am connecting to the grey lynn tower. neat.

There is a tower much closer, but I must be on the wrong side of the hill for it.

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#2206347 28-Mar-2019 15:09

And this is the issue when you live in places like Birkenhead , Devonport , Mission ETC... Bay near(ish) the water

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#2206350 28-Mar-2019 15:11

yep the water plays havoc with your signal

CokemonZ

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#2206355 28-Mar-2019 15:15

I'm not that close to the water :)

But I see, wrong side of the hill and probably some reflection from the other tower off the water.

So probably was happening with Voda as well, but maybe there was a closer tower or the one close was in a slightly better position.

quickymart

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#2206479 28-Mar-2019 18:43

Chatswood would definitely get its signal from across the harbour. When I lived in Birkdale many, many years ago, Cell Info Display would tell me my signal was coming from "Greenhithe".

Jase2985

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#2206591 28-Mar-2019 19:35

CokemonZ:

I'm not that close to the water :)

But I see, wrong side of the hill and probably some reflection from the other tower off the water.

So probably was happening with Voda as well, but maybe there was a closer tower or the one close was in a slightly better position.

doesnt really matter how close to the water you are the signal still has to travel over it

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