2 Degrees reception in Botany Downs (and in general)

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RebelCommando

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#57766 24-Feb-2010 10:45

Hi,

I am thinking of switching to the 2 Degrees network. Can anyone report what their reception is like in the Botany Downs, Auckland area. Vodafone has poor coverage where I live (little to no reception) and I am hoping that 2 Degrees would be an improvement.

Any thoughts?

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563 posts

Ultimate Geek

#301756 24-Feb-2010 10:49

I visited a relative in that area and didn't recall coverage issues. The easiest way to find out would be to buy a SIM card and find out for sure. Would cost you $2 (or $5 if they are out of the $2 SIM cards).

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SteveON

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#301760 24-Feb-2010 11:19

Reception is pretty good in most places, however I have had a few bad calls it doesn't really bother me.

richms

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#302272 25-Feb-2010 19:25

I have not had any issues with it when out that way, unlike vodafone where there are massive voids in 3g coverage.

Keep in mind I was in a car on the road. Mind you, most houses out botany are made from sticks and cardboard so not much of a challange for RF to get into..

Richard rich.ms

ozki

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#302281 25-Feb-2010 19:38

I have recently been traveling all over nz north and south island, by land and sea and I had both my 2deg n vodafone cells with me and another person had telecom ... over all 2deg was tops then vod and lastly telecom for best overall reception

richms

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#302298 25-Feb-2010 20:22

Which telecom? If CDMA then yeah, it seems to have really taken a nosedive recently.

Richard rich.ms

johnr

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#302304 25-Feb-2010 20:52

ozki: I have recently been traveling all over nz north and south island, by land and sea and I had both my 2deg n Vodafone cells with me and another person had telecom ... over all 2deg was tops then vod and lastly telecom for best overall reception

Pardon me??? 2D uses the Vodafone NZ 2G network to roam onto when out of its own coverage and 2D can not roam onto the Vodafone 3G network. Vodafone have quite a few 3G only cells around NZ Also Vodafone now has 3G 900mhz marine coverage sites around NZ this is detailed on the Vodafone NZ coverage maps. www.vodafone.co.nz/coverage

Please stick to facts not made up stories this is Geekzone not the trademe forums

Thanks John

johnr

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#302314 25-Feb-2010 21:27

ozki: I have recently been traveling all over nz north and south island, by land and sea and I had both my 2deg n vodafone cells with me and another person had telecom ... over all 2deg was tops then vod and lastly telecom for best overall reception

You might like to read this thread

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=85&topicid=57767

Yes 2D has done some great work getting coverage out there but saying 2D coverage is better than Vodafone NZ across New Zealand is just plain nonsense

John

ozki

26 posts

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#302325 25-Feb-2010 22:05

johnr:
ozki: I have recently been traveling all over nz north and south island, by land and sea and I had both my 2deg n vodafone cells with me and another person had telecom ... over all 2deg was tops then vod and lastly telecom for best overall reception

You might like to read this thread

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=85&topicid=57767

Yes 2D has done some great work getting coverage out there but saying 2D coverage is better than Vodafone NZ across New Zealand is just plain nonsense

John

thanks for pointing me to that thread I was not aware some of the time I was using Vodafone network.

I was going on that facts of how often on my 2deg ph I could ring and tx yet neither Vodafone or telecom cells could, they had emergency only showing on screen.

alasta

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#302328 25-Feb-2010 22:08

ozki: I was going on that facts of how often on my 2deg ph I could ring and tx yet neither Vodafone or telecom cells could, they had emergency only showing on screen.

So you were using a different handset for each of the networks? Were all of these handsets exactly the same make and model, and running the same firmware version?

If not then this is hardly a scientifically sound experiment.

nzbnw

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#302332 25-Feb-2010 22:20

ozki: lastly telecom for best overall reception

Funny that, I get full coverage in most place around the Botany Downs area on XT, CDMA for me was also similar.

nzbnw

KiwiSurfer

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#302681 27-Feb-2010 12:21

johnr:
ozki: I have recently been traveling all over nz north and south island, by land and sea and I had both my 2deg n Vodafone cells with me and another person had telecom ... over all 2deg was tops then vod and lastly telecom for best overall reception

Pardon me??? 2D uses the Vodafone NZ 2G network to roam onto when out of its own coverage and 2D can not roam onto the Vodafone 3G network. Vodafone have quite a few 3G only cells around NZ Also Vodafone now has 3G 900mhz marine coverage sites around NZ this is detailed on the Vodafone NZ coverage maps. www.vodafone.co.nz/coverage

Please stick to facts not made up stories this is Geekzone not the trademe forums

Thanks John

Made up stories? Sorry but my observation is that 2degree's 2G network is better than Vodafone's 2G network where they have their own coverage -- especially in Auckland. This is from observation via Nokia's NetMonitor on my 8250.

Vodafone has many well located 3G-only sites which would help enhance 2G coverage but they've chosen not to add 2G services to these cell sites. That means 2G coverage in some area is quite poor -- yet 2degree has good signal in these areas due to building out a [b]lot[/b] of 2G cell sites.

Heck 2degree even manages to provide service to areas where Vodafone have no service. One example is Waitakere -- Telecom/2degrees have service and Vodafone does not.

You have a point that 2degree roams on Vodafone outside the main cities, so 2degrees coverage = Vodafone coverage. However within the cities 2degrees generally performs better on 2G. Time will tell whether or not their site placement is good enough for 3G.

I was with Vodafone for 5 years so I have an idea of what their coverage really is like throughout Auckland. 2degrees has impressed me with providing 4-5 bars almost anywhere I go -- including areas where VF has no service or just 1 bar of service.

- James

SteveON

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#302722 27-Feb-2010 15:37

Do note that 2degrees is new & they have a lot less customers than Vodafone or Telecom. The less users the better the signal quality. When 2degrees start attracting many more customers do expect signal quality to decline.

HybridE506r

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#302724 27-Feb-2010 15:48

Hi,
just my 2 cents on this topic, and with respect to johnr, i have 4 handsets, 2 vodafone, 1 2 deg and 1 Telecom XT handset. Here at the beach, unfortunately, the vodafone signal is really weak and after a few weeks of searching where within the house a vodafone signal can be barely acknowledged by the handsets i gave up trying to use vodafone except for when travelling closer to main arterial routes.

I have found the 2 Degrees coverage to be similar, but strangely a slightly bit stronger than the vodafone one. why i dont know, its just how it is, even by swapping sims between handsets, the results are the same.

I did not really want to get a telecom xt phone as the R6 handsets are not really the best , but it is the only one that gets a strong enough signal through the property to get reliable calls. If there were some way for vodafone to tweak the signals along the horowhenua coast region to perhaps help remove some of the weak signal areas then i would not need telecom xt at all.

sbiddle

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#302726 27-Feb-2010 15:50

Stuve: Do note that 2degrees is new & they have a lot less customers than Vodafone or Telecom. The less users the better the signal quality. When 2degrees start attracting many more customers do expect signal quality to decline.

Why? They're GSM based, signal strength doesn't vary like it does with CDMA/WCDMA based networks where cell breathing and the noise floor can affect coverage in high load areas.

KiwiSurfer

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#302734 27-Feb-2010 17:33

Stuve: Do note that 2degrees is new & they have a lot less customers than Vodafone or Telecom. The less users the better the signal quality. When 2degrees start attracting many more customers do expect signal quality to decline.

That won't be the case for GSM 2G -- signal is constant on TDMA based tecnhologies. But that issue will affect CDMA based technology like UMTS 3G yes. However given they've around the same amount of sites as VF in Auckland (and are building out more as we speak) I suspect it won't be as much of an issue for 2degree as for Vodafone.

- James

[Edit: I see Steve has responded to the above point.]

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