2degrees phone not roaming to Vodafone

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timmmay

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#99388 18-Mar-2012 21:11

I was in the Ohari valley (just outside Johnsonville, Wellington) on Saturday at a wedding. My 2degrees phone (a bog standard midrange Nokia) didn't get a signal, and it didn't roam to Vodafone like I thought it should out of 2degrees coverage. A friend had an iPhone on Vodafone with near full signal strength.

Shouldn't my 2degrees phone roam to Vodafone if there's no 2degrees signal? It has before, in Wanganui over the past couple of years.

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#596894 18-Mar-2012 21:24

I think its because the valley is in the wellington region which roaming on vf towers has been locked out.

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#596897 18-Mar-2012 21:27

I had the same problem, Mauricio has blogged about it since. In short, that area is inside the zone defined as a 2degrees one so your phone won't roam to VF.

johnr

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#596900 18-Mar-2012 21:32

Wanganui is a fair distance from Ohari Valley so not really a good comparison

But as already pointed out above is correct

sbiddle

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#596904 18-Mar-2012 21:40

The Wellington 2degrees zone extends as far north as the Rimutaka Hill Rd summit and Waikanae. When you're in a 2degrees zone your phone can't roam on Vodafone.

SteveON

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#596924 18-Mar-2012 22:18

johnr: Wanganui is a fair distance from Ohari Valley so not really a good comparison

But as already pointed out above is correct

Wanganui?

freitasm

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#596939 18-Mar-2012 22:53

timmmay: I was in the Ohari valley (just outside Johnsonville, Wellington) on Saturday at a wedding. My 2degrees phone (a bog standard midrange Nokia) didn't get a signal, and it didn't roam to Vodafone like I thought it should out of 2degrees coverage. A friend had an iPhone on Vodafone with near full signal strength.

Shouldn't my 2degrees phone roam to Vodafone if there's no 2degrees signal? It has before, in Wanganui over the past couple of years.

2degrees roaming on Vodafone is only for when you handset is out of their area. If you are inside their area, lack of signal will not failover to Vodafone.

Wanganui is outside the 2degrees area, so it will fall over to Vodafone.

timmmay

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#596963 19-Mar-2012 07:53

Ah ok, thanks. They advertise that they roam to Vodafone when you can't get onto their towers, but I bet the language is precise enough that they can get away with it. I guess it's to save money, but what they're doing seems to go against what their advertising says.

Perhaps they should be more precise about their coverage maps and where things will and won't fall over to Vodafone.

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SaltyNZ

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#596965 19-Mar-2012 08:00

timmmay:
Perhaps they should be more precise about their coverage maps and where things will and won't fall over to Vodafone.

Coverage maps are based on computer models of radio signal propagation and as such, are never completely accurate. This is true for all mobile providers the world over; nothing special about the way we do it.

Likewise all carriers have blackspots. This is the nature of wireless communications. If your current carrier has terrible coverage in the exact place where you live or work then your options are firstly to call customer care and complain, and then if you get no joy, to switch carrier.

While it's unfortunate you were unable to receive calls during the wedding on Saturday I'm sure you'll find there are places where Vodafone & Telecom have bad coverage too, and you can't roam onto another carrier in that situation either.

EDIT: Having said that I'm somewhat surprised a Nokia couldn't pull it off... Must be a very black spot indeed. SaltyNZ wishes his iPhone had a Nokia radio in it. :-/

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timmmay

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#596967 19-Mar-2012 08:07

Thanks Salty. I was at Ohariu Farm, a popular wedding venue, so this will be affecting tens of people each week.

It would be a difficult area for any company to cover well, and the population density probably means 2degrees will never have a tower out there. Updating coverage maps to let people roam to Vodafone will probably be the only way that 2degrees customers will ever get coverage out there.

johnr

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#596970 19-Mar-2012 08:22

10s of people per week better get out there with your shovel now and start building Simon

timmmay

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#596982 19-Mar-2012 08:54

Yeah not a huge number of people, so not really a big priority i'm sure. It's mostly the annoyance factor, knowing the phone should roam to VF as advertised but that it doesn't.

Incidentally 10 people a week is around 5000 people a year. Say an average wedding size of 100 people, 30% on 2deg, that's 15,000 people a year that wonder why their phone doesn't have coverage when their Vodafone friends do.

SaltyNZ

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#596984 19-Mar-2012 08:58

timmmay: Thanks Salty. I was at Ohariu Farm, a popular wedding venue, so this will be affecting tens of people each week.

It would be a difficult area for any company to cover well, and the population density probably means 2degrees will never have a tower out there. Updating coverage maps to let people roam to Vodafone will probably be the only way that 2degrees customers will ever get coverage out there.

Unfortunately we can't open up roaming with that granularity. Roaming exclusion works at the LAC level; wherever our coverage nominally extends across a whole Vodafone LAC, that LAC is turned off.

LACs typically range in size from a few kilometres across to tens, possibly hundreds across in rural areas.

However I think the reality is that John is right - coverage in very rural areas will probably not be forthcoming for some time.

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vita

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#596985 19-Mar-2012 09:03

timmmay: Ah ok, thanks. They advertise that they roam to Vodafone when you can't get onto their towers, but I bet the language is precise enough that they can get away with it. I guess it's to save money, but what they're doing seems to go against what their advertising says.

Perhaps they should be more precise about their coverage maps and where things will and won't fall over to Vodafone.

To be fair, their site does make this quite clear

http://www.2degreesmobile.co.nz/mobile-sites
Q. Does 2degrees have national coverage?

Yes. We’ve built our own network in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. Outside these areas, our customers roam on the Vodafone network.

Although this may need to be updated to include other cities that have been launched.

timmmay

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#597004 19-Mar-2012 09:39

Interesting, thanks Salty. I guess while their website is quite precise the impression I got from the advertising I saw is if 2degrees fails then you fallback to Vodafone.

Why wouldn't it fallback to Vodafone if there's no 2degrees signal everywhere? Cost to 2degrees, I guess.

Fortunately I don't need rural coverage in urban areas often, I guess anyone who does stays with Vodafone or Telecom.

vita

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#597007 19-Mar-2012 09:57

timmmay:

Fortunately I don't need rural coverage in urban areas often, I guess anyone who does stays with Vodafone or Telecom.

As Salty pointed out - each network has low coverage and non coverage areas.
There are places where 2D has coverage that TCNZ and VF do not, and the same goes for other combinations of that.

Best option is to try the operator where you expect to use them and choose accordingly.

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