Damn Telstra, they're killing CDMA

[kenneth1503559512]

Damn Telstra, they want to replace CDMA with a national 3G GSM network.

Article at http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/med...?ObjectID=35898

I think it's stupid and just a move to make Telstra more profitable. It's a stupid idea because CDMA is a quite modern technology, it offers quite good coverage especially in the bush and the Cooma Woolworths (well, it works just in the Cooma Woolworths. GSM doesn't work at all) and is also 3G capable (eg. Telstra's EVDO service).

Also, the Orange Network use CDMA only. If Telstra's CDMA service was switched off, they would be left without a lot of coverage areas seeing as their own network is quite small compared to Telstra's.

[riley454]

Damn Telstra, they want to replace CDMA with a national 3G GSM network.

Article at http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/med...?ObjectID=35898

I think it's stupid and just a move to make Telstra more profitable. It's a stupid idea because CDMA is a quite modern technology, it offers quite good coverage especially in the bush and the Cooma Woolworths (well, it works just in the Cooma Woolworths. GSM doesn't work at all) and is also 3G capable (eg. Telstra's EVDO service).

Also, the Orange Network use CDMA only. If Telstra's CDMA service was switched off, they would be left without a lot of coverage areas seeing as their own network is quite small compared to Telstra's.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ahhh! Isn't the advancement of civilisation a wonderful thing?

10-15 Years ago, just at the mention of a mobile phone, you would've been called a wanker. Today we all sympathise with your potential lack of coverage.

If you're old enough to reply...

How DID we survive without mobile phones 25 years ago?

[Stevob]

How DID we survive without mobile phones 25 years ago?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

25 years ago I just used a couple of tin cans & some string.

[DrP]

You mean you used the regular PSTN?

[Stevob]

You mean you used the regular PSTN? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nuthin but. At least it was free.

[riley454]

Nuthin but. At least it was free.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Looks like it's all in favour of strings across the nation

[betty boop]

I remember when changing jobs few years back I was without a phone for a week - I felt naked !

tough luck on the cdma kenneth, problem is theres not much widespread use of it and its pretty useless in the cities so not much interest or support from the masses there....hopefully they can follow it up with somethign that takes it place.

[riley454]

I remember when changing jobs few years back I was without a phone for a week - I felt naked !

tough luck on the cdma kenneth, problem is theres not much widespread use of it and its pretty useless in the cities so not much interest or support from the masses there....hopefully they can follow it up with somethign that takes it place.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Haven't you been reading? Tin cans and string!!! It's the way of the future! Trust me, it will take off.

[Stevob]

Benefits of String Technology...

1) Costs less per meter to install than optic fibre or standard telephone lines.

2) If it breaks, you can fix it yourself.

3) Won't run flat in the middle of an important call.

4) If you need an extra line put in, just unravel a tea towel.

5) Only uses recycled material.

6) Would probably put Indian call centres out of business. :ph34r:

Negatives...ummm...can't think of any yet.

[riley454]

Benefits of String Technology...

1) Costs less per meter to install than optic fibre or standard telephone lines.

2) If it breaks, you can fix it yourself.

3) Won't run flat in the middle of an important call.

4) If you need an extra line put in, just unravel a tea towel.

5) Only uses recycled material.

6) Would probably put Indian call centres out of business. :ph34r:

Negatives...ummm...can't think of any yet.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And don't forget "The Goodies" jingle.....

'String, String, String, String. Everybody needs string'

[John_Barber]

You mean you used the regular PSTN? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

PSTN?

Piece of Stringed Tin Network?

JB

[riley454]

PSTN?

Piece of Stringed Tin Network? 

JB

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Or possibly Piece of Shite Telstra Network

[kenneth1503559512]

tough luck on the cdma kenneth, problem is theres not much widespread use of it and its pretty useless in the cities so not much interest or support from the masses there....hopefully they can follow it up with somethign that takes it place.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lets see:

-Useful in the bush (most common area where CDMA is used)

-It works fine in the ACT and the area's of Sydney where I have used it

The only advantage (well, we will see if it's one when the rollout happens) of the new 3G network is that they are going to use the CDMA band.

Still, CDMA technology is still fairly new. GSM is old.

[datvman]

Well I am going to rant about mobile phones, as I sell them for a living and know I would say a fair bit about them.

Firstly, I could survive without a mobile phone. I have in the past and I can now. So what if people can't contact me while I'm out, I have a answering machine at my place, leave a message and ill call you back!'

2ndly, how the bloody hell do people get like $100 a month phone bills. Mine is lucky to be $5 a month. I only use it when I'm running late for work, or running late from work - to let the missus know ill be late.

3rdly, 3G in my opinion is not needed. Why do you need to have access to the internet 24/7. And video calls, what the bloody hell is the point of them!

however there is one big advantage of Mobile phones, when your in trouble and the pay phone is missing or damaged, you have a mobile phone handy to make calls. I guess this is why my phone bill is $5 a month.

Anyway, thats my rant. Its not that I dont not like embracing technology (I have a DTV card, DVD burner and home theatre) its just that some inventions out there are next to useless. However should someone give me an example of it 'not' being useless i would ever be so greatfull

[John_Barber]

Lets see:

-Useful in the bush (most common area where CDMA is used)

-It works fine in the ACT and the area's of Sydney where I have used it

The only advantage (well, we will see if it's one when the rollout happens) of the new 3G network is that they are going to use the CDMA band.

Still, CDMA technology is still fairly new. GSM is old.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

While GSM does have some issues, there are aspects of its design which were and still are brilliant concepts.

GSM advantages.

SIM card concept, making easy updating of phone hardware and ease of international roaming with a local number (prepay sim cards)

SMS support, it was slow to be implemented by backward thinking telcos here, but is a huge money spinner for them and an extremely popular and useful service for users.

112 Emergency number common to GSM providers world wide, no need to remember 000 for Australia, 911 for USA, 999 for UK etc

+ International access code standard across all GSM providers. If you enter ALL your phonebook entries in this form when travelling locally or internationally you will always be able to connect regardless of the access code of the country you are visiting. Eg store "Home" phone number as + 61 3 91234567 instead of 03 91234567 and you can dial that phonebook entry from Sydney, Singapore or Seattle and will get through.

Standardised roaming service facilities, certain handset operations (eg to get IMEI number) make use of GSM phones similar across different countries and handsets.

GSM disadvantages (compared to newer technologies)

35 Kilometre range limit due to the nature of the time division technology. Partly negated by Telstra's "extended range" base station developments.

Data rate limitations for a TDMA channel.

Sure the newer CDMA and WCDMA devices offer greater data speeds, but CDMA phones are not as easy to use for international roaming, most standard CDMA (Orange) models don't have SIM cards, do not support "+" phone book entries and global roaming setups are more complex. Updating handsets is not simply a plug & play operation.

Just my thoughts!

JB

[riley454]

And as far as I've experienced with CDMA, when you upgrade your phone, you have to transfer your phonebook numbers one at a time, if you want them all in your current phone.

[kenneth1503559512]

Okay so CDMA does have the roaming problem (that's where so-called world-phone's would come into play), it is starting to appear more and it may appear in the UK (for example).

Never have tried the +phone number method as I don't have a need for it.

112 Emergency number common to GSM providers world wide, no need to remember 000 for Australia, 911 for USA, 999 for UK etc

And if CDMA was looked at seriously, it could have the 112 number as well (as well as better roaming).

SMS support, it was slow to be implemented by backward thinking telcos here, but is a huge money spinner for them and an extremely popular and useful service for users.

SMS and MMS is on CDMA as well. It may have taken 2 years or something like that, since CDMA started for SMS (MMS came when the capable phones appeared), but it is there and works quite well.

SIM card concept, making easy updating of phone hardware and ease of international roaming with a local number (prepay sim cards)

I agree here. Although if the CDMA system was correctly thought out (I think they just went with the US model of locking into one phone for the network your with), they could have got SIM cards even if they just store personalised settings.

[John_Barber]

Okay so CDMA does have the roaming problem (that's where so-called world-phone's would come into play), it is starting to appear more and it may appear in the UK (for example).

Never have tried the +phone number method as I don't have a need for it.

And if CDMA was looked at seriously, it could have the 112 number as well (as well as better roaming).

SMS and MMS is on CDMA as well. It may have taken 2 years or something like that, since CDMA started for SMS (MMS came when the capable phones appeared), but it is there and works quite well.

I agree here. Although if the CDMA system was correctly thought out (I think they just went with the US model of locking into one phone for the network your with), they could have got SIM cards even if they just store personalised settings.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Kenneth, while you are correct that CDMA has those feature we see on GSM phones, my point was that they were "invented" into the GSM system.

CDMA phones had to compete by building in features we took for granted with GSM.

I also read somewhere that the royalty/license fee for the CDMA technology (paid by handset manufacturers) is higher than that for GSM.

As to the US "model", well if there was the worst possible model to adopt for mobile phone interoperability and standards, the USA would be the one.

Their whole system sucks big time. Local service providers choose between different "standards" (GSM/PCS/CDMA) for their license area, there is no unique "area code" for mobiles so the called party pays to receive calls, and their frequency allocations for GSM are out compared to the rest of the world.

World, 900/1800 for GSM, USA 850/1900.

The problem is that the USA didn't invent GSM and so they were slow to adopt. Their telcos are losing out as mobile takeup there is way behind the civilised world due to their unwieldy system.

JB

[kenneth1503559512]

One thing out of interest (other that JB's post above, I know Telstra said that CDMA was a higher cost for cemux (or something like that), but I didn't think that the cost was higher for manufractors unless that was for CDMA/Analogue compatible phones?), the 666 ABC Canberra morning show had the local area manager for Telstra and he said that they were going to Wideband CDMA. I wonder if he read the Media Release?

EDIT: Interesting article at http://abc.net.au/news/items/200511/1508230.htm?canberra

Snippit:

Telstra concedes it will need government permission to go ahead with plans to replace its CDMA mobile phone network.

Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer says the company committed to running CDMA for 10 years and needs approval to dismantle it sooner.

Mr Fischer says $400 million in taxpayer funds has gone into CDMA and he is unhappy at yesterday's announcement it is to be phased out so soon.

Telstra spokesman Rod Bruem says the required approval will be sought.

Let's see what happens.

Edited November 16, 2005 by kenneth

[John_Barber]

One thing out of interest (other that JB's post above, I know Telstra said that CDMA was a higher cost for cemux (or something like that), but I didn't think that the cost was higher for manufractors unless that was for CDMA/Analogue compatible phones?),

Kenneth, I think you were referring to;

Mr Winn said the move to a national 3G GSM mobile network would mean Telstra would be the first Australian telco to deliver nationwide wireless broadband to all its mobile customers, offering improved speed and quality. He said that Telstra spends more than four times on capex per CDMA subscriber than it does per GSM subscriber.

CAPital EXpenditure is 4 times higher for CDMA, this would reflect the lower economies of scale due to lower customer base and infrastructure costs to maintain coverage.

A quick google and it appears that WCDMA is planning on a lower license royalty than GSM has, and the implication is that Qualcomm's CDMA license fee is higher than that of GSM. This applies to handset manufacturers and possibly base stations.

JB

[gclark8]

I read this and it makes me glad I choose not to participat in the mobile phone frenzy. I still have my 2M amateur tranceiver from the last century.

[COFDM MAN]

You sell Telstra and you have lost control. CDMA is great! I recently drove from Darwin to Katherine and had continuous coverage all the way. My GSM phone had coverage for 1% of the way!!! In addition I was able to use the CDMA's 1X feature to establish a 250K data connection reliably in all the remote locations where I tried it.

If you have a kyocera CDMA handset you can upload/download phone books etc

Talk abpout selling out the bush again.

.

[DrP]

GSM coverage here is OK in populated areas but once you go outside those areas things break down severely. Try using GSM on the highway between Mackay and Rockhampton and see how many times it doesn't work (and I don't mean go out and put up a whacking great big antenna on your car as that doesn't always help with GSM anyway due to 35km distance restriction).

Same thing applies going out west to the mines too. Lots of the time getting access means stopping on the highest hill and see if it works or not, but usually its just a case of accepting that it doesn't work and waiting until you get to somewhere there is coverage again.

That ad run by Telstra with Chuckie the yank being amazed at the (GSM) mobile coverage always made me laugh - had to be the biggest joke going.

[John_Barber]

GSM coverage here is OK in populated areas but once you go outside those areas things break down severely.

CDMA has its issues too.

My mum got some CDMA phones for use outside metro Melbourne.

The idea was to use them instead of the Telstra landline for STD calls.

When she complained about the dropping out on calls, she was told by Orange that they didn't guarantee indoor reception in the area they lived (near Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula).

Funny, the sales dude didn't tell her she'd have to make her phone calls out in the rain!

JB

[I am not a duck]

My van goes to places Telstra mobilenet doesn't!