Australia - Future 4G Bands 700Mhz

[danw_oz]

I am concerned after the Government sold new 4G bands to Telstra, Optus and TPG.

The new bands are in the 700Mhz 4G bands, similar to Americas 4G networks. IMO a stupid move because hardly any phone manufacturers target this band when creating global devices. Why is Australia trying to follow the US so much?

This will significantly reduce the 4G devices that we will be able to buy going forward, and in a lot of cases will not even be available. Obviously the Telcos are excited by this, because you are more likely to be forced into buying their phones.

The roll out is planned over the next two years

 

[decentgi]

this put a damper on my morning!

 

[danw_oz]

this put a damper on my morning!

Sorry, I think that I wasn't clear, but I am sure that the existing networks will still be supported. So our Xperia Z should still work, but you can be sure that the this 4G network will be the new development and the network they will put the most work into (Similar to Telstra's nextG)

 

[cheetah2k]

Not bothered by this, the 4G coverage is still too 5hit IMO...

 

[DarkKrypt]

Got coverage in south eastern side of Melbourne, chadstone, mount Waverly, burwood, Doncaster

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Bl1tZ7]

I am concerned after the Government sold new 4G bands to Telstra, Optus and TPG.

The new bands are in the 700Mhz 4G bands, similar to Americas 4G networks. IMO a stupid move because hardly any phone manufacturers target this band when creating global devices. Why is Australia trying to follow the US so much?

This will significantly reduce the 4G devices that we will be able to buy going forward, and in a lot of cases will not even be available. Obviously the Telcos are excited by this, because you are more likely to be forced into buying their phones.

The roll out is planned over the next two years

Worldwide companies are working with the 700Mhz band. Vodafone international has been testing the 700Mhz band in New Zealand, Australia, U.K and parts of Europe for the past year due to it's higher stability, and far better range than current bandwidths. Phone manufacturers are also aware of this, but it's still a long way from being put into commercial use, mainly due to the bandwidth still being tied up with other services (UHF Television for example).

 

[danw_oz]

Not bothered by this, the 4G coverage is still too 5hit IMO...

Yep your not wrong

 

[danw_oz]

Worldwide companies are working with the 700Mhz band. Vodafone international has been testing the 700Mhz band in New Zealand, Australia, U.K and parts of Europe for the past year due to it's higher stability, and far better range than current bandwidths. Phone manufacturers are also aware of this, but it's still a long way from being put into commercial use, mainly due to the bandwidth still being tied up with other services (UHF Television for example).

I am not sure that you are correct, because Vodafone have not purchased any 700MHz bands for 4G in Australia. These are new bands that have just been opened up, so any commercial testing on these bands can only start now and not for Vodafone. Analogue TV is being switched off here very soon, and all of Australia by the end of the year.

Vodafone is huge in New Zealand but in Australia they are CRAP, and they are typically known as vodafail, they are only enabling the 4G in June, the band they are using in Australia is 1800MHz with a 20MHz width.

Yes, and New Zealand has commonly been unusual for mobile support look at the telecom cdma network that was introduced, and the lack of devices to support it when it was released.

Qualcomm already has all LTE bands support in it's latest chipset, but obviously that is not included in most phones today.

 

[Bl1tZ7]

I am not sure that you are correct, because Vodafone have not purchased any 700MHz bands for 4G in Australia. These are new bands that have just been opened up, so any commercial testing on these bands can only start now and not for Vodafone. Analogue TV is being switched off here very soon, and all of Australia by the end of the year.

Vodafone is huge in New Zealand but in Australia they are CRAP, and they are typically known as vodafail, they are only enabling the 4G in June, the band they are using in Australia is 1800MHz with a 20MHz width.

Yes, and New Zealand has commonly been unusual for mobile support look at the telecom cdma network that was introduced, and the lack of devices to support it when it was released.

Qualcomm already has all LTE bands support in it's latest chipset, but obviously that is not included in most phones today.

The Sale of Bandwidths is so a provider can use them towards commercial use, Telstra for example began LTE testing as early as 2010. Companies do not need to purchase a frequency before they can begin testing on it. For Example, Vodafone New Zealand launched LTE just this March, after purchasing the 1800Mhz frequency in February, but have been testing the frequency since 2011.

And I agree, Vodafone in Australia is rubbish

Don't get me started on Telecom, they're the reason NZ is still so far behind the rest of the developed world in terms of Telecommunications.