3g coverage scam?

[gljackson]

howzit guys

I've noticed that in some areas the cell tower info return displays "3g enabled", yet my cellphone (nokia 6680) says there is no 3g coverage.

Is it possible that you can "see" a tower that is 3g enabled, but not able to connect via 3g?

Or is it possible that vodacom has "marked" towers as "3g enabled" even if they are not, thereby misleading anybody that may be interested in using 3g.

 

[vodacom3g]

This is one of the dangers of doing 2G cell broadcasts to indicate 3G availability.

Remember the GSM (2G) and UMTS (3G) cells are completely independent and don't map one to one. In most cases the 3G cells are also smaller.

The '3G Enabled' message you see comes from the GSM cell and does indicate that there is 3G in the area, but there is no way to guarantee that there is 3G exactly where you are at that moment in time.

I.e. no scam.

 

[Tahir Ally]

howzit guys

I've noticed that in some areas the cell tower info return displays "3g enabled", yet my cellphone (nokia 6680) says there is no 3g coverage.

Is it possible that you can "see" a tower that is 3g enabled, but not able to connect via 3g?

Or is it possible that vodacom has "marked" towers as "3g enabled" even if they are not, thereby misleading anybody that may be interested in using 3g.

3G does not transmit as far as 2G.3G only transmits between 5-10km and 2g between 20-35km.


ITS not a scam.

 

[SFW007]

Ie

Scam

 

[vodacom3g]

Have a look at this thread:

http://www.mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=19342

You'll see that this idea was originally suggested here (myADSL) by forumites and after a debate, including the pitfalls of doing 2G cell broadcasts for 3G coverage, the general feeling was that it's a good idea.

Vodacom them implemented it, based on the user requests coming from here.

So, no scam, just a service introduced based on forum requests.....

 

[gljackson]

ok, thanks.
I thought the reasoning might be something along those lines.