NZ Comms coverage

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ajw

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#29066 21-Dec-2008 19:26

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.

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#185528 21-Dec-2008 19:51

Of course some have to be on for testing

sbiddle

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#185537 21-Dec-2008 20:43

Fairway Drive and Taita Station sites are also live.

jermsie

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#185543 21-Dec-2008 21:17

They are under your bed.. in your pantry.. your office cubicle.. they are in your head! They are everywhere.

– J

steveonz

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#185641 22-Dec-2008 10:37

jermsie: They are under your bed.. in your pantry.. your office cubicle.. they are in your head! They are everywhere.

Idoit...

Yeah they seem to have switched most of welly on recently. the CBD, Mt Vic, Thorndon, Johnsonville, Churtonpark and other parts of welly seem to be live..

Weird thing is Telecom have turned a lot of theirs off...

PenultimateHop

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#185643 22-Dec-2008 10:43

steveonz: Weird thing is Telecom have turned a lot of theirs off...

Probably as a part of their GSM850 -> UMTS850 migration. Their UMTS2100 network is up and happily carrying calls from my Telstra phone, though.

I've discovered that a lot of my devices want to roam straight onto NZ Comms when I arrive into Auckland these days, it appears their signal strength, despite it being 2G only, is much higher at the airport than Vodafone. Of course, their network still doesn't work properly - no GPRS, inbound SMS is still very unreliable, etc. Quite annoying having to switch all the devices to manual and choose VFNZ (or wait until I drive out of NZC coverage).

sbiddle

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#185652 22-Dec-2008 11:22

steveonz:
Weird thing is Telecom have turned a lot of theirs off...

GSM or UMTS?

All the Telecom GSM sites were shut off weeks ago and there has been a fairly rapid deployment schedule for the new 850/2100 sites based upon the number of new ones I've seen pop up in the past few weeks.

bbman

646 posts

Ultimate Geek

#185872 23-Dec-2008 23:15

Yeah plenty of antenna and base station upgrades going on.... although i am getting sick of waiting for the new Parklands site to go live. The mast has been up for months and still the cabinet is not installed and NZ comms are about ready to put up there new site in the carpark opposite.

I have to say NZ Comms have put up a lot of sites in CHCH, they are going to have a pretty good foot print at launch, But i would be interested to know if the neighbours to all of their residential sites (the ones with the panel covers) know that a cell site has just gone up next to them?

I have heard Telecom have got a lot of grief about the site at Parklands yet i bet no one even complains about the NZ Comms site across the rd at the supermarket carpark.

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sbiddle

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#185881 24-Dec-2008 06:25

NZ Comms have had some dramas here in Wgtn with anti-cellsite people. Waterloo Railway stn received numerous complaint to the council from people concerned about RF levels of people waiting for trains and property values nearby. The FUD these people spread is unbelievable, especially when the same building has already contained Vodafone and Telecom sites for years, something they obviously were completely unaware of!

bbman

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#185889 24-Dec-2008 07:47

sbiddle: NZ Comms have had some dramas here in Wgtn with anti-cellsite people. Waterloo Railway stn received numerous complaint to the council from people concerned about RF levels of people waiting for trains and property values nearby. The FUD these people spread is unbelievable, especially when the same building has already contained Vodafone and Telecom sites for years, something they obviously were completely unaware of!

Ok thats interesting, it would seem NZ comms like Telecom get a bad stick. I havent seen much evidence of Vodafone having issues but i am sure they do.

I think most people or stupid and dont know what that new tower is for.. no its not a fancy new street light holder!

I notice the NZ comms residential based sites have covered panels like most of Vodafones. This possibly helps avoid being questioned about them. Telecom on the other hand dont cover theres at all apart from when they are on a building they try and colour the panels the same to match the building which it seems all carriers do.

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sbiddle

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#185900 24-Dec-2008 08:40

bbman: I notice the NZ comms residential based sites have covered panels like most of Vodafones. This possibly helps avoid being questioned about them. Telecom on the other hand dont cover theres at all apart from when they are on a building they try and colour the panels the same to match the building which it seems all carriers do.

Many of Telecom's new sites are butt ugly and they even have retrofitted panels on buildings that have been painted in the wrong colour.

I actually like the NZ Comms masts. Standardisation can be both a good thing and a a bad thing but the choice of a single common panel type at least makes RF plots very predictable.

I believe there should be co-siting to stop duplication of masts but realise what a sticky issue this is - not just from a competiton point of view but the RMA viewpoint as well that can actually prohibit this happening.

bbman

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#185921 24-Dec-2008 10:16

sbiddle:
bbman: I notice the NZ comms residential based sites have covered panels like most of Vodafones. This possibly helps avoid being questioned about them. Telecom on the other hand dont cover theres at all apart from when they are on a building they try and colour the panels the same to match the building which it seems all carriers do.

Many of Telecom's new sites are butt ugly and they even have retrofitted panels on buildings that have been painted in the wrong colour.

I actually like the NZ Comms masts. Standardisation can be both a good thing and a a bad thing but the choice of a single common panel type at least makes RF plots very predictable.

I believe there should be co-siting to stop duplication of masts but realise what a sticky issue this is - not just from a competiton point of view but the RMA viewpoint as well that can actually prohibit this happening.

Yeah i would agree re Telecoms, in CHCH they have done a resonable job with the new sites though, what some call ugly i probably would like.

on a slight tangent I am unsure if they are actually putting WCDMA 850 only antennas on now, its hard to tell. I only hope they actually replace the budget Omni rural site antennas, they seem to perform poorly in the South.

NZ Comms covered sites are nice and shiney, some of there non covered sites are terrible as they have not been painted and then you get the rusty Vodafone sites now looking very shabby! They could all do with a make over!

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ajw

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#188249 8-Jan-2009 17:10

steveonz:
jermsie: They are under your bed.. in your pantry.. your office cubicle.. they are in your head! They are everywhere.
Idoit...

Yeah they seem to have switched most of welly on recently. the CBD, Mt Vic, Thorndon, Johnsonville, Churtonpark and other parts of welly seem to be live..

Weird thing is Telecom have turned a lot of theirs off...

It seems that NZ Comms have a strong coverage footprint here in Wellington. I note strong NZ 24 coverage from Lower Hutt along State Highway 2 into Wgton and all the central business is also covered. I wonder if they are offering inbound roaming as yet.

TinyTim

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#188322 9-Jan-2009 07:55

ajw:
It seems that NZ Comms have a strong coverage footprint here in Wellington. I note strong NZ 24 coverage from Lower Hutt along State Highway 2 into Wgton and all the central business is also covered. I wonder if they are offering inbound roaming as yet.

NZ Comms has been earning $$ from inbound roaming since at least the first half of last year.

steveonz

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#188327 9-Jan-2009 08:22

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.

Although I hear they have a poor QOS for calling and Texting...

.... Now why the heck am i typing in green?....

PenultimateHop

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#188462 9-Jan-2009 20:35

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.

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