Thread: Telstra CDMA to Next G - free phones

Just to revisit the analogue/cdma changeover, forgetting the reasons - bandwidth etc - the analogue was a superior service. I lost service on my property and was on a communictions authority list to fix the problem. It never happened.... after a couple of phone discussions where it was even suggested I might mount an external aerial on hard hat, I waited for solution. When sick of waiting I rang the authority only to be told the group had closed as all problems had been resolved. According to the authority telstra had advised them they had resolved my problem.
I am sorry if it offends anyone but I dont agree with the sale of public assets that are critical to the community - especially in the bush. We might be termed the lucky country, but luck is only 10 percent of ny operation, the rest is planning and hard work.
We have gone from living of the sheeps back to being a resources quarry for the world.
We have idiots saying forget farming we will just import our food, one little problem there, what do you pay with when the resources run out, or there is world conflict.

Seems pollies have not changed, cakes and circuses to distract the voters.

While on subject of pollies, why do we continue to pay past PMs? They are no better than any other so why give all the trappings and free interntional air travel etc, They hve been paid and given super at better rates then anyone else for a job that they left, for whatever reason.
Dont get people in the bush going, there is lot of anger and distrust built up over failed promises and withdrawl of services. The Equine Flu is a symptom of the greater problem where little more thn lip service is paid to matters that are fundermental to the wellbeing of the nation, Government is like farming to some extent, any mug can make a profit in good seasons on good country if there is a market for the resource/ product.

I personally would like to see more pollies that have worked in the real world, I dont care if they swept floors, farmed, drove a truck, or god forbid, were a union rep (most are part time and work the rest of the time), at least they worked in real jobs that had a nett benifit to the community. I think we might have to have more independants to get propper representation of the people?
I m getting very tired of pollies that speak in lawyer`speak and never really answer the questions

Sorry about the rant, bit off thread in end , but its all related.

Maybe the answer is for the government to buy back Telstra. The would probably have made money out of the deal!

Originally Posted by GrahamH

It's interesting to read everyone's comments about CDMA versus WCDMA (Next G, but sorry, I don't buy into this "branding" BS) coverage; especially those extolling the relative merits of CDMA coverage.

I actually worked for Telstra MobileNet as a "phone chick" (custormer service rep) in between real technical jobs for 8 months at the time Telstra turned off the analogue (AMPS) network and turned on the CDMA network. I took lots and lots of calls from very angry customers who were saying the same things about CDMA coverage in comparison to their beloved analogue coverage.

I find it ironic now to read that customers everywhere want to keep the CDMA network running when, back in 2000-ish everyone was lining up to tell Telstra where they could shove their CDMA network - much as everyone is doing now with the WCDMA network.

The apparent poor coverage from the WCDMA network is rather surprising since it's using the same RF spectrum (850MHz), the same sites and, generally, the same antenna systems as the CDMA network. In fact Telstra have already installed a large number of additional sites in the attempt to bring the WCDMA coverage up to scratch, and are still getting a lot of flack so it's obviously not doing a lot of good. (I point this out, not so much in Telstra's defence as, simply from an RF tech's point of view, it doesn't quite make sense.)

I'm sure that in another 7 years customers will be extolling the virtues of the WCDMA network

One aspect which concerns me about the future of WCDMA coverage is that Telstra are promoting it as a high speed data network in rural areas (using UMTS with HSDPA), enabling "broadband" Internet coverage for the bush (without having to provide a dedicated broadband Internet service). This means that the WCDMA network capacity is likely to be soaked up by Internet traffic (downloading pirated music, movies and porn presumably - oops, sorry getting a bit cynical now) and phone communications usage may be compromised. Time will tell.

(UMTS = Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, HSDPA = High Speed Downlink Packet Access, and UMTS + HSDPA = the 3.5G System using W-CDMA as the underlying air interface, or transport layer if you like, which Telstra have branded "Next G").

It's not the coverage it's the crap phones that are the problem.

As for WCDMA V CDMA V Analogue, give me Analogue any day.

Mate all the country folk want is decent mobile coverage and to this day Telstra haven't delivered, more worried about the city, where any bugger can get coverage from a multitude of phone companies.

Baz.

Roverray I hear you.... Pity people often just beleive what they are fed though... (Eg members of unions/reps etc) as you say the majority had to work (and often under pre unioun conditions) to get to where they are, they fought for the conditions most of us take for granted and are happy to watch others start stripping these rights away.... anyway that's a bit OT

Perhaps someone needs to come up with a "mini tower" for the Next G or a different system (perhaps utilising current CDMA phones...) that could be installed on farms to combat the coverage issues. (Linked in with the landline at the main house)

I'm sure most just want to be able to make and recieve calls via the system, it doesn't need internet access etc etc.

Now we just need someone with the tech no how. Effectively it would be a much larger range cordless phone.

Originally Posted by Utemad

Well I got my free NextG phone yesterday and had it connected this morning.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised that my promised LG TU550 turned out to be a Nokia 6120 classic

Couldn't have come at a better time since my Kyocera KX5 CDMA phone's buttons on the front panel only work intermittently.

Hi Utemad,
I think that Telstra "stuffed up" (surprise, surprise) when they offered you the LG550. As far as I know that is only available for a swap on a $40 or higher plan. The Nokia 6120 is the "swap over" phone for a $30 plan.

Please be aware everyone, that Telstra has 3 levels of reception rating, to paraphrase:
1. metropolitan (meaning "why go to NextG").
2. Regional (meaning metropolitan & somewhat further afield, around areas like Dubbo, NSW).
3. Rural (meaning the best reception coverage available).

Telstra rates the Nokia 6120 as suitable for Regional areas.

At the moment, the only phone that Telstra rates for Rural handheld coverage is the LG550.

This may change tomorrow.


There is an earlier thread on aspects of this. In light of the helpful replies I received, I went for the LG550. I've yet to test it in marginal conditions.

I concur with many of the other thoughts provided in this thread.

bIn reply to GrahamM
The reason there is resistance to change in the bush is because each time, we loose a little more.

Hi Cookiesa
The idea of a mini base station using cdma is good would only need milliwatts and could link to next g if necessary or the landline.
I believe the army trialed a system with Ericcson some years ago. I am sure it can be done but if there is not mega dollars in it no one is interested.

On the matter of pollie adds, forget anything said since the election was called, what you felt was the situation at that time is more representtive then the garbage we re now being fed by spindoctors.
Forget the adds, personally I would prefer a debate each day by all those running for election (not all together) then we would see a bit more of the real people and not the party macahine.

The current debate we see in parliment is a discrace - Dorethy Dix questions and prepared answers. Wnen was the last time a pollie said, sorry got that wrong I will fix it.

sorry about typos but keyboard is plying up and some letters can tke many seconds to work

how many of you realise that the range of these systems is artificially limited ?
Yes, the range can be much greater, even with the GSM system but the software in the base stations limits the range, so I've been told. (IIRC, GSM is limited to 32km)

There is even an Oz company that makes and distributes an amp for CDMA phones worldwide that extends the range to something like 100km from the base station, unfortunately it is illegal in Australia....

Originally Posted by rick130

how many of you realise that the range of these systems is artificially limited ?
Yes, the range can be much greater, even with the GSM system but the software in the base stations limits the range, so I've been told. (IIRC, GSM is limited to 32km)

There is even an Oz company that makes and distributes an amp for CDMA phones worldwide that extends the range to something like 100km from the base station, unfortunately it is illegal in Australia....

I think it's only GSM that has a timing limitation in the protocol of about 50k?? That's the whole idea of the CDMA type networks.