HSPA+ coverage - Cell C and Vodacom compared

the 4gs

Gimme the 4Gs any day. It rocks. Nothing comes close! I used to be a 4gs hater. Hate no more
 
BGE said:
Uys says "...900MHz band allows for wider coverage per base station and better penetration through walls... but is impractical in urban areas..."

What makes it impractical in urban areas, especially considering it's better coverage & 25% increased penetration through walls? Or is Uys trying to discredit CellC's efforts?
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The reason is that there are a lot more customers in urban areas. All customers on the same tower will share the bandwidth for that tower. Thus, crappy speeds. Here the higher frequency will be better, but you need to erect more base stations.
 
zamicro said:
The reason is that there are a lot more customers in urban areas. All customers on the same tower will share the bandwidth for that tower. Thus, crappy speeds. Here the higher frequency will be better, but you need to erect more base stations.
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AFAIK Cell C did not exclude the use of 2100MHz for higher density areas. Their modems also support 900/2100MHz UMTS.

But as a kick-off, 900MHz UMTS obviously gave them the most bang for the buck.

The issue is whether they can convert their early lead into a sustainable model. I'll bet that they can :D
 
SteveO said:
its cos GSM uses a most of the 900Mhz band, and you need to refarm these frequencies in order to use UMTS 900 and GSM 900 in the same area. Now in an urban environment you have tons of GSM sites/carriers in order to handle all the voice/edge capacity due to the concentration of subscribers.So in order to accomodate the UMTS 900 you need to free up 5Mhz of the 900 band in a region where you would probably be using all of your licenced 900Mhz frequencies to handle all the traffic with the least amount of interference between sites.When you then consider that a GSM site can reach out as far as 15km + it makes it even more difficult as you need to ensure that no outlying sites are using the same 900 frequencies as the UMTS 900 band you are using.

This is why Uys makes his remarks and why he is quite right in saying so. It makes sense to use GSM 900/1800 and UMTS 2100 in urban environments and GSM 900 or 1800 and UMTS 900 in rural areas.
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Cell C's metro network was deployed with 100% 1800MHz frequencies so the issue abut re-farming problems only really applies to C and MTN, so Pieter is right, it's very difficult for them to follow. there is also no doubt that 900MHz gives superior in-building penetration than 2.1GHz and therefore a superior end user experience. It is easier to contain 900MHz than it is to 'stretch' 2.1GHz. Cell C have an edge on the other two.

I hardly expected Pieter to say well done, Cell C caught us napping, we never knew they had it in them! And of corse Cell C have additional 2.1Ghz for capacity.
 
Does anyone know what dialing code 8ta will be using?

Edit: oops wrong thread
 
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Anyone know if Virgin Mobile will also be enjoying the new CellC network speeds? They have the cheapest prepaid out-of-bundle rates @ 60c/MB, that cost saving doesn't help if your data is coming to you at a snails pace though..
 
Just spoke to someone at the Virgin Mobile call center, apparently we must await an official product launch to enjoy "4G" speeds at 60c/MB
 
I wish my little town could get some 4Gs coverage, would make me a very happy man...
Small towns and rural areas always get left behind when it comes to internet upgrades.
 
Moshidi said:
Anyone know if Virgin Mobile will also be enjoying the new CellC network speeds? They have the cheapest prepaid out-of-bundle rates @ 60c/MB, that cost saving doesn't help if your data is coming to you at a snails pace though..
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Moshidi said:
Just spoke to someone at the Virgin Mobile call center, apparently we must await an official product launch to enjoy "4G" speeds at 60c/MB
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I'm with Virgin Mobile, the call rate is very good at 99c/min for my GF and parents (got both on Virgin), the datarate is also good at 60c/mb, but the only downside is the GPRS coverage, jip no 3G yet! So it works fine for my work (FTP, E-mail and Browsing), but not very good for recreation (YouTube, downloads). So I'm thingking of getting Cell C since they will give me more speed for less than to upgrade my 384kbps Telkom ADSL to 4Mbps.
 
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