KeallHauled
Chris Keall
XT fanboys need to dial down expectations
A scene from Telecom's XT launch at last night. A dollop of XT's $574 million budget went on a specular series of lightening effects, which will be projected on to Auckland's Town Hall over the next four nights. The display was greated by Mike Mizrahi. Check out your correspondent's am-cam video below, too, which is dodgier than the official effort – also below – but captures the rocket effect, which was very boss.
Real-life pre-launch tests have found XT hitting capable speed, if not perhaps those implied by the Richard Hammond rockets-and-race car imagery. And at current mobile data pricing, your bank manager won’t want you to download too many songs at 13-seconds a pop, regardless.
Geekzone’s Maurcio Freitas hit 3.28Mbit/s download speed after connecting his AT&T Pantec handset to his laptop (and 0.27Mbit/s) upload.
Earlier, Computerworld’s Juha Saarinen managed 3.6Mbit/s.
Our power geeks had to connect to a network that’s still being tweaked ahead of its May 29 launch, with some transmitters down at times as filters are installed under Telecom’s High Court settlement with Vodafone.
But that’s balanced by the fact mssrs Freitas and Saarinen are among only a handful of users on XT as this point; the cellular equivalent of being able to zoom up a new motorway before the ribbon’s cut.
Although, on paper, Telecom’s new network is capable of hitting up to 14Mbit/s, it will be launched with cellphones and data cards that max out at 7Mbit/s.
You can then divide that figure again, because 7Mbit/s is a theoretical maximum only. Vagaries like how close you are to the nearest cell tower, the number of customers connecting via said cell tower, available backhaul, immediate geographical obstacles and the weather conspire to lower the average speed.
A spokeswoman for Telecom said XT users should count on an average of around 3Mbit/s.
In other words, roughly the same speed as Vodafone 3G, and about three times faster than Telecom’s sunsetting CDMA network. That’s no mean achievement, though NBR worries if all the Richard Hammond race car ads aren’t setting user expectations a teeny bit - OK, lot - too high.
Speeding tickets
At XT’s ghost launch last night (more here), Paul Reynolds repeated his frequent quip that the new 3G network will let you download a song in about 13 seconds.
That means you could download about five songs – roughly 15MB – a minute. (And for song, you could substitute a small PowerPoint, or a large spreadsheet, or video).
Within an hour, you would have reached the 1GB cap of Telecom’s most generous monthly mobile data plan, which costs $60 a month, with $10 for another 1GB (Vodafone’s 3G plans hit a similar price point).
Ouch.
Dr Reynolds says XT will get a turbocharge by Christmas, taking its theoretical top speed up another gear, to 21Mbit/s. Vodafone has its own 21Mbit/s (aka HSPA+ or HSPA Extend) upgrade in the works.
That’ll will be fanstastic ... providing some 21Mbit/s hardware arrives (XT is launching at 7Mbit/s, rather than its theoretical ceiling of 14Mbit/s purely because no phones today can handle that bandwidth) and, more importantly, mobile data pricing is turned on its head.
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Comments
there won't be any 14.4 devices
because Qualcomm isn't making any 14.4 chipsets. The entire world is moving from 7 to 21 (except Telecom of course, which is moving from 1 to 7 to 21).
So Telecom's much vaunted speed advantage won't amount to anything in the short term because nobody can use it.
What speed will Two Degrees operate at? Is it 3G at all?
Private test at the launch....
To mobilespeedtest.com with a default 512kb file generated a 1.8Mpbs speed.
Non-cached browser. I have yet to find out the handset though.....
Still it was almost double what my VOD handset displays.
Two Degrees speed
Two Degrees has said it will launch with a mix of W-CDMA 3G and 2G towers (2G so its easier for Vodafone customers on 2G to bring their own phone across).
Theoretical top speed will be the same as Telecom or Vodafone's; that is, 7Mbit/s.
Chief executive Mike Reynolds said Two Degrees (formerly NZ Comms) will "match" Telecom and Vodafone's upgrades, but he didn't say when, or mention any specific speed.
Telecom will run 14.4Mbps at
Telecom will run 14.4Mbps at launch
real world
There are other factors that are likely to also figure here - time of day (which impacts on the network loading)
I'd also guess that there are still a lot of CDMA users taking capacity at the core)
Then theres issues such as network bottlenecks too - IN metro Auckland Telecom and Vodafone use a lot of fibre for connecting their cellsites back to their network cores. Get ouside Auckland (yes life does exist beyond the bombay hills)and then speed results will vary again.
Lastly there's also spectrum support - if your vodafone device doesnt support 900Mhz UMTS you're stuck with 2G in the regions. XT uses 850 across the board and wont have this issue
Private test at the launch
it was a Blackberry Bold.
HSDPA capable @ 3.6Mpbs.
"Speeding tickets"
Surely Telecom will launch new data plans, so your comparison of downloading songs, on CDMA data caps, is completely worthless?? Feels like you're clutching at straws here.
"Speeding tickets"
Telecom will have new data plans, but nothing has been revealed yet.
The question is whether pricing will be tweaked around the edges, or radically revised in acknowledgment that mobile bandwidth is heading for parity with landlines.
Talking to NBR about XT's roaming plans, Telecom head of retail Alan Gourdie chose to emphasis that there would be be more transparency.
Plans
Agree with S - since XT will have new data plans, which haven't been released yet, it is misleading to the extreme to base the cost of downloading songs it on the current CDMA plans.
Although you proved you weren't a TOTAL Voda fanboy by then saying it was the same as their data plan.
Still - tabloid journalism at its finest.
Is XT interferring with Car Radios with Band Expanders
All of the cars I get into lately with bank expanders have trouble picking up certain frequencies.. is this because of XT?
Give it 6 months
Who cares what their launch lineup of phones is going to be?
Give it 6-12 months for them to work out their plan pricing, their phone lineup and the kinds of products they want to be selling (XT-based broadband for the home, for example).
Also speeds on NextG didn't slow down very much after launch and the network saturation which was also hypothesized, never actually happened.
"Speeding tickets"
Chris, thanks for your response. You acknowledge that we don't know what the plans will be yet..... so why try and argue your point with worthless trivia? This combined with your iPhone article, you're trying to bag a network that will be good for us. You're not doing yourself any favours!! Seems like others agree with me here.
re band expander
why stop at band expanders? surely coffee makers, cays dogs and even global warming is all XTs fault - come on folks lets get real here, I mean straws, clutching, vodafone and injunctions??? Need I say more????
Car radio band expanders...
All of the cars I get into lately with bank expanders have trouble picking up certain frequencies.. is this because of XT?
Dunno. Try issuing an injunction against Telecom and force them to put filters into all the cars you've been in lately!
Grammar
Is this really acceptable English in your opening paragraph?
C*n't spell
Embarrassing spell stuff Chris made for us guys.
"lightening effects" - rise up, rise up
"display was greated" - is that like greeted or created?
"if not perhaps that implied" this is horrific! I quitting now time
At the end of the day a cell
At the end of the day a cell phone is only a phone - there are far more important things in the world to care about than worrying about whether you can download music or pics. If downloading music and pics concerns you then I suggest you may need to start asking yourself meaningful Qs like 'Do I really have a life'
Vodafone or Telecom XT - Couldnt really care less!!!
Vodafone Speed Tests
A Vodafone employee completed some speed tests in Pukekohe in March 2009, on a cellsite that appeared to have been *temporarily unlocked - in terms of having the ability to achieve upto 7.2Mbit speeds* & the below link shows the kind of speeds he obtained, which are very impressive & better than Telecom's XT Network:
http://forum.vodafone.co.nz/index.php?showtopic=1859&st=0
One of the speed tests above reached 6.64Mbit down & 0.33Mbit up - which is awesome speed for a mobile network.
I'm certain that the XT Network speeds posted on Computerworld & Geekzone & the speeds that the Vodafone employee obtained on the Vodafone Network - would both have been done when very few people were accessing the respective cell sites.
Either way, I believe both Telecom & Vodafone will will be providing much faster speeds, with better value Data Plans, very, very soon, which can only be viewed as a win for the consumer. :-)
3Mb Bandwidth on Vodafone 3G? Yeah right.
I have an iPhone I have been switching between the Vodafone and XT networks (yes, it works fine, just requiring the APN to be updated).
I have run the speedtest application on both networks in several locations.
On average XT download capacity is approximately 2000Kbps.
The absolute max I got for Vodafone was 133Kbps!
Also, I haven't had a call disconnected on XT yet. About 50% of my iphone calls on Vodafone get disconnected abnormally.
Vodafone iphone
I rushed out and donated my firstborn and left kidney to pay Vodafones obscene prices for the iPhone and have felt ripped off ever since
I spend 80% of my day on 2G (try using safari on GPRS and you learn patience) and in the rare moments when I get 3G it is only marginally faster than 2G
I've found this in all major NZ cities whilst travelling outsuide of the big cities and towns things get even worse...
If XT can speed things up then I am so there!
ZT Speed
Well as XT has been built to 14.4mbs you will be able to use such speeds, if your hadnset permits. DONT FORGET !!!! XT is also launching W2100 UMTS as a DATA ONLY solution in all the main centres.
So not only will you get 97% coverage nationwide, but you will get dedicated data only coverage at lcoations of greater population. Not just Auckland, Wllington, Christchurch, but also Dunedin, Hamilton, Queenstown, Napier etc.....
Vodafone iphone
And think iPhone User, you will have 97% national coverage also on XT. The iPhone on 850 and 2100 is exactly the XT network.
RE ZT Speeds
Using my XT USB modem I average 3.4Mbps during the day and about 6.2Mbps in the evenings. I dont get Voda reception at work or at home
iPhone
The current 3G iPhone has a MAX speed of 3.6Mbit - in most places you will lucky to get half of this speed.
Don't forget that a new 3G iPhone is coming out very soon - which is bound to support 900Mhz UMTS - thereby working far better speed wise on the Vodafone Network.
@ annonymous - "The absolute max I got for Vodafone was 133Kbps!"
That sounds strange - you should be getting much better speeds in the city / towns than that. Where do you live roughly - do you have the latest firmware installed?
RE ZT Speeds
Where do you live?
Have you tried using a phone that supports Vodafone's new Extended 3G - 900Mhz UMTS Network? I have found that coverage is significantly better - in fact every 2G vodafone site - will be 3G by May 31st this year.
http://www.vodafone.co.nz/about/media-centre/2009-media-releases/3g-cove...
But guess who is?
Seriously Chris, could you be any bigger fan boy of Vfone? I've been reading your articles of late, and there is an obvious bias. Now I know it's an opinion piece (is it?) but seriously, where is the excellent reporting NBR is widely known and respected for?
RE:RE: ZT Speeds
Unfortunately that wont be the case and you'll find that the need to support 2G (for the bulk of our customers) over 900Mhz will limit the extent of extended 3G over 900Mhz at least in cities where there isnt as much spectrum capacity
@ Annon - "Unfortunately
@ Annon - "Unfortunately that wont be the case and you'll find that the need to support 2G (for the bulk of our customers) over 900Mhz will limit the extent of extended 3G over 900Mhz at least in cities where there isnt as much spectrum capacity"
I'm not sure what you mean by the above post??
900Mhz UMTS - Extended 3G (used in rural areas) - will be available at all current Vodafone 2G sites by May 31 this year - providing "3G coverage to 97% of the places New Zealanders live work and play".
2100Mhz UMTS is utilised in cities & towns for extra capacity.
Your Piece of sh*t is worthless
1. Poor gramma thru whole article
2. XT pricing plan hasnt launghed yet.
3. You help vodafone to dominate the NZ, wot brings to yourself?
4. Did ur family killed by telecom be4? Why u hate telecom that much? How much vodafone pays u? lol
worthless
As I said in my article, XT has not been launched yet, but I hope Telecom sees the need to totally revisit mobile data pricing, not just tweak it. Vodafone also needs to totall reset its mobile data pricing, as I've written before.
No one's doing Telecom - or Vodafone or Two Degrees/NZ Comms - any favours if they write a rah-rah article that sets customer expectations too high.
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