Vodafone disputes XT ad; TrueNet asserts independence

The clip, which debuted Friday, shows two identical Samsung smartphones side-by-side in Albert Park, Auckland.

(Yes, the white background looks more like a studio than a public park. Telecom says filming took place inside a tent “as the screens are highly reflective and it allowed us to control the light.”)

The handset on XT finishes the series of upload and download tests first.

The location was chosen by Telecom, naturally, but the company said it reflected independent tests recently carried out around Auckland by TrueNet.

Today, Vodafone rebutted the ad.

A statement offered:

Network speed depends on so many variables – the device, how many other devices are connected to that site at that time, how much data is being transmitted, the time of day and so on.  Telecom is advertising a static test at one point in time. 10 minutes earlier or later and it may well have shown a different result. We’ll never know – advertising campaigns only show the best bits.

We have a team of engineers drive testing our network every day around the country. What we find is that Vodafone is faster in some places at some times and Telecom is faster in some other places at other times.  

In fact, our team was drive testing in central Auckland over the weekend.  As expected, in some locations Vodafone outperformed Telecom on both download and upload speeds. In one or two other locations, with another device, Telecom was faster.

In Telecom's pocket?
For Telecom’s part, it says the ad reflects the varied tests carried out by TrueNet, which uses the same methodology as UK regulator OfCom.

So … is TrueNet (owned by Wellington-based IT services company Catalyst) in Telecom’s pocket, as a couple of NBR readers have suggested?

Not so said TrueNet principal John Butt this morning.

“I cannot comment on the tests Telecom performed for their ads. TrueNet is independent and had nothing to do with the ads.”

Mr Butt only learned of Telecom’s campaign when Keallhauled tweeted about it on Friday, he said.

The TrueNet principal went on to detail how his company’s testing overcomes the variances raised by Vodafone (see his full statement below).

More, Mr Butt pointed out that his company tests a range of mobile performance factors.

In its testing so far, it’s fair to say that XT has come out on top. But in some places, and by some criteria, Vodafone and 2degrees topped TrueNet’s rankings.

Funnily enough
Vodafone added that “Funnily enough, Telecom doesn’t even sell the Galaxy S II that they’re using in this trial!” (Yes, double exclamation mark.)

Perhaps that’s because Vodafone has a better range of smartphones. Or perhaps it’s because Telecom is trying to illustrate that Vodafone’s hero handsets run better on its networks (UPDATE: Telecom has now opened pre-orders for the Galaxy S II. It will become one of the few A-list smartphones available for both Telecom and Vodafone).

In either case, it’s fun to watch the cat-fight.

Mojo back
Telecom's new ad also marks the first time since XT’s disastrous launch that Telecom has out-and-out bragged about its 3G network’s performance.

With the shutdown date for its old CDMA network looming (D-Day is July 31 next year) but only around half of Telecom's mobile customers on XT, it needs to start hustling.

Vodafone helpfully harks back to the XT debacle, claiming it still has an advantage in reliability.

“We have a 2G and a 3G network,” the company said this morning. “That means we can switch from one to the other should any issues arise – we know it helped in Christchurch. This sort of redundancy would have been helpful for Telecom during the XT failure in early 2010.”

That’s good if it helped in Christchurch, but with everyday Auckland glitches it seems the 2G network gets swamped pretty quickly when there’s any glitch with 3G (not a common occurrence).

Ironically, both carriers had service outages today. 

RELATED: XT Fastest in Auckland - Truenet | Telecom, Vodafone and 2degrees' mobile broadband rated Wellington

RAW DATA - Statement to NBR from TrueNet principal John Butt:

 I cannot comment on the tests Telecom performed for their ads, TrueNet is independent and had nothing to do with the ads, discovering them from your tweet.

Our tests are not only independent, but also use many features to remove the variances that are claimed in the email from Vodafone below, eg;

• "The device" - all TrueNet tests are done with a specially designed router with a 21Mb/s modem on board to remove the advantages/disadvantages of platform or OS - TrueNet device specs are here.
• "how many other devices are connected to that cellsite at that time" is part of normal cellsite dimensioning, all carriers provision capacity to cope with demand.
• "How much data is being transmitted" - The tests are all done concurrently, with exactly the same files transmitted in the same order.
• "the time of day" - all tests are done concurrently. TrueNet is also testing performance comparisons by time of day and will publish those results soon.

TrueNet measures the performance of mobile and fixed broadband services and provides independent comment about the results. The TrueNet mobile performance results quoted by Telecom are specific to the areas we tested and published, ie Wellington harbour basin and Auckland Central City, the maps on our site are very specific about the location of our tests. TrueNet shows on our maps that sometimes Telecom is best, sometimes 2Degrees or Vodafone, the colour code relates to the best performance at each site for throughput only. Our tests in Auckland showed Telecom performing better on some tests, both more frequently getting good browsing and throughput, but also on average.

The best performances were:

•  Throughput speed (Fastest file download) - Telecom
•  Browsing delay (quickest to open a webpage) - 2Degrees & Telecom
•  Upload speed - Telecom
•  National latency - Vodafone & 2Degrees
•  International latency - All equal"

The "best performances" were only listed where a significant difference in results occurred.