NZ Comms coverage

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#188464 9-Jan-2009 20:39

PenultimateHop:
steveonz: As reading another post it seems that most people when they arrive in NZ automatically roam on the NZ comms network. This could be an excellent strategy to make extra cash.

At a guess, the reason why people seem to get NZ Comms on arrival is that their signal strength on the taxiways and apron at Auckland airport seems to be particularly good, vs. Vodafone which is marginal/non-existent.

Sorry come again?

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#188465 9-Jan-2009 20:41

johnr: Sorry come again?

What was unclear?

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#188467 9-Jan-2009 20:46

What he meant John was while you are in an aeroplane Vodafone's signal isn't that strong but NZComms is - witnessed that myself.

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#188468 9-Jan-2009 20:47

Vodafone which is marginal/non-existent.

Do you mean the coverage at Auckland Airport?

PenultimateHop

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#188469 9-Jan-2009 20:48

johnr: Vodafone which is marginal/non-existent.

Do you mean the coverage at Auckland Airport?

That is correct.

Vodafone's signal coverage outside the terminal building (i.e. airbridges, ramp area, taxiways) is pretty marginal in my experience.

ajw

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#190586 19-Jan-2009 19:14

ajw:

It appears that NZ Comms have turned on some of their cellsites in the Hutt Valley. NZ 24 coverage is now available from Petone up to Waterloo. Have not had a chance yet to check further up the valley.

Did a coverage check on both levels of Westfield Mall, Lower Hutt today. Even where the Vodafone coverage drops out on the lower level, by the North end escalator I still retained NZ 24 signal even outside the $2 shop at the North end, Lower level.

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#190597 19-Jan-2009 20:02

ajw:
ajw:

It appears that NZ Comms have turned on some of their cellsites in the Hutt Valley. NZ 24 coverage is now available from Petone up to Waterloo. Have not had a chance yet to check further up the valley.

Did a coverage check on both levels of Westfield Mall, Lower Hutt today. Even where the Vodafone coverage drops out on the lower level, by the North end escalator I still retained NZ 24 signal even outside the $2 shop at the North end, Lower level.

NZ Comms site is on the top of Public Trust House on the corner of Queens Dr/Laings Rd. Their sectorisation has a panel directly facing at the mall so it's not surprising they have some coverage in there where Vodafone don't.

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#190600 19-Jan-2009 20:05

Fairfield (cosited with Vodafone) and Hutt Hospital sites are also live delivering good coverage in the Hutt.

When I was out for a bike ride a few days ago I noticed the new concrete pad for a new site at the end of Croft Grove in Moera in the rear of a factory near the stop bank right next to the Woosh site. I can only assume this is for NZ Comms as Vodafone and Telecom have no need for a site there.

bbman

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#190601 19-Jan-2009 20:12

In CHCH they are going nuts installing sites.

I heard from a contractor that they wanted 70 installed in CHCH by Xmas, but only 30 odd were completed. right now there is a new site going in almost every day.

I hear they want 100 installed ASAP. The race is on and based on the locations of the sites when they are all live Vodafone are going to have some serious issues! they will have an awesome foot print with the number of sites they are installing and there locations.

Telecom are also busy & i have heard Vodafone are in a frenzy down south in Dunners & Queenstown and Telecom have followed suit with an increased build there as well. Talk is is 200 + sites from all 3 networks this year in the south island alone.

This year is certainly shaping up to be a huge year for mobile customers with 2 nation wide 3G networks and new coverage improvements in the South & North Islands plus a 3rd player in the cities building what would seem to be an exceptional foot print network....

I can't wait to w850 / NZ Comms go live and Vodafone 3G is every where also!

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jermsie

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#190648 19-Jan-2009 22:11

bbman:
In CHCH they are going nuts installing sites.

I heard from a contractor that they wanted 70 installed in CHCH by Xmas, but only 30 odd were completed. right now there is a new site going in almost every day.

I hear they want 100 installed ASAP. The race is on and based on the locations of the sites when they are all live Vodafone are going to have some serious issues! they will have an awesome foot print with the number of sites they are installing and there locations.

Telecom are also busy & i have heard Vodafone are in a frenzy down south in Dunners & Queenstown and Telecom have followed suit with an increased build there as well. Talk is is 200 + sites from all 3 networks this year in the south island alone.

This year is certainly shaping up to be a huge year for mobile customers with 2 nation wide 3G networks and new coverage improvements in the South & North Islands plus a 3rd player in the cities building what would seem to be an exceptional foot print network....

I can't wait to w850 / NZ Comms go live and Vodafone 3G is every where also!

The engineer i'd spoken to in November had been working on the network for sometime before recently (then) begun working on Telecom's cell network. He was very confident that it's a very robust network so far.

– J

bbman

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#190653 19-Jan-2009 22:14

jermsie:
bbman:
In CHCH they are going nuts installing sites.

I heard from a contractor that they wanted 70 installed in CHCH by Xmas, but only 30 odd were completed. right now there is a new site going in almost every day.

I hear they want 100 installed ASAP. The race is on and based on the locations of the sites when they are all live Vodafone are going to have some serious issues! they will have an awesome foot print with the number of sites they are installing and there locations.

Telecom are also busy & i have heard Vodafone are in a frenzy down south in Dunners & Queenstown and Telecom have followed suit with an increased build there as well. Talk is is 200 + sites from all 3 networks this year in the south island alone.

This year is certainly shaping up to be a huge year for mobile customers with 2 nation wide 3G networks and new coverage improvements in the South & North Islands plus a 3rd player in the cities building what would seem to be an exceptional foot print network....

I can't wait to w850 / NZ Comms go live and Vodafone 3G is every where also!

The engineer i'd spoken to in November had been working on the network for sometime before recently (then) begun working on Telecom's cell network. He was very confident that it's a very robust network so far.

Sorry to ask but are you saying the tech was working on NZComms or Telecom?

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jermsie

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#190656 19-Jan-2009 22:29

Sorry, he WAS working for NZ Comms but is now working for Telecom. Just on contract i'd assume.

– J

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#190660 19-Jan-2009 22:48

jermsie: Sorry, he WAS working for NZ Comms but is now working for Telecom. Just on contract i'd assume.

On the face of it i would agree with the tech based on CHCH developments. With the cell planning they have done i would imagine Vodafone will need considerable infill in the cities to counter auto roaming of clients over to NZ Comms network.

With larger larger cell yeild sites i think it will be interesting to see the two GSM carriers go head to head. 2100mhz UMTS also will be better on NZ Comms but that will be countered possibly by new Vodafone infill and 900mhz UMTS.

With some of the comments being made about sharing of 900 GSM with 900 UMTS Vodafone may have some issues and start enabling 1800mhz GSM on all of its sites to limit GSM usage at 900mhz. This would further enhance the NZ Comms story being the only decent urban based 900mhz GSM network.

From there i wonder whether NZ Comms would re look at its roaming agreements? They have one with Vodafone, that means 900mhz GSM roaming and i would imagine 900/2100UMTS. But with the potential of more 1800Mhz coverage and less 900mhz (only speculation) they may look at Telecom also.

They can launch their network and sell handsets that are 900mhz GSM/850/2100mhz UMTS which would make a Telecom roaming partnership easy, a large number of handsets are available as well.

Now on top of that NZ Comms owns 850mhz freq so they could build out further with 850mhz or even partner with Telecom.

Then again they a have a co site with Vodafone and have already stated they will roam on Vodafone but it will be interesting to see if this changes in the future.

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richms

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#190680 20-Jan-2009 01:16

NZ 24 comes in quite well in parts of glenfield mall where there is no vodafone coverage - get 1-2 bars in countdown with the phone on sos calls only vs nothing on vodafone, downstairs in the other shops there is also frequent dropping back to SOS calls only.

Up in highbury by the winz office end of the road (opposite KFC) its the same thing again, pull the phone out of the pocket and the GPRS icon is gone and SOS calls only till its held up for a few seconds, in the ASB lobby along there as well, same thing again. So either my aged GSM handsets have a thing for losing the vodafone signal, or nz comms have done a better job with site location.

The most annoying thing about nz comms is their 3g coverage so far is total crap. Perhaps they will see the light like telecom did and swap the gear out before launch - but I doubt it with what they have spent so far.

I am still waiting on a 850/900 handset before I upgrade so a second GSM phone company will give me some use of my old handsets for some time still I guess.

Richard rich.ms

ajw

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#190842 20-Jan-2009 17:01

sbiddle:
ajw:
ajw:

It appears that NZ Comms have turned on some of their cellsites in the Hutt Valley. NZ 24 coverage is now available from Petone up to Waterloo. Have not had a chance yet to check further up the valley.

Did a coverage check on both levels of Westfield Mall, Lower Hutt today. Even where the Vodafone coverage drops out on the lower level, by the North end escalator I still retained NZ 24 signal even outside the $2 shop at the North end, Lower level.

NZ Comms site is on the top of Public Trust House on the corner of Queens Dr/Laings Rd. Their sectorisation has a panel directly facing at the mall so it's not surprising they have some coverage in there where Vodafone don't.

With the site just across the road from the Queensgate entrance I would have thought that Vodafone would have had better coverage.

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