MTN 3G Parow

[Captain Beer]

3G coming to Somerset West anytime soon?

 

[ginggs]

I can't see a 3G signal in N1 city area / Parow. EDGE working fine though.

3G signal returned later in the day.

 

[Voldemort]

3G coming to Somerset West anytime soon?

Western Cape 457 STE Somerset West CBD Helderberg 7 TBBSC3 Tygerberg

part of the rollout that ends in Feb, thats the only part of somerset though

 

[ginggs]

Outstanding



Spoornet CTC Acasia Park

Goodwood Fire Station

Eskom Belville

NG Kerk Stellenberg

Seesig Flats

Have these been switched on yet? I'm close to Goodwood Fire Station and today I noticed the signal has gone up from -103dBm to -99dBm. It had been constant at -103dBm since 3G first appeared here on December 13.

 

[Insider]

Have these been switched on yet? I'm close to Goodwood Fire Station and today I noticed the signal has gone up from -103dBm to -99dBm. It had been constant at -103dBm since 3G first appeared here on December 13.

They are all active now.

 

[Voldemort]

They are all active now.

ja, what he said!

 

[ginggs]

They are all active now.

So this is as good as its going to get then?

My 2G signal is about -69dBm and my 3G signal is now -99dBm, is this how it is supposed to be?

 

[Insider]

So this is as good as its going to get then?

My 2G signal is about -69dBm and my 3G signal is now -99dBm, is this how it is supposed to be?

This is as a result of the WCDMA technology which strives to deliver the same power level to all subscribers, regardless of the distance from the radio base station. I.o.w. don't fret about it, rather look at the results of speed tests and call quality.

Detail:
With a frequency re-use of 1, it is very important to
have efficient power control in order to keep the interference
at a minimum. For each subscriber service the
aim is that the base station shall receive the same
power level from all handsets in the cell regardless of
distance from the base station. If the power level from
one handset is higher than needed, the quality will be
excessive, taking a disproportionate share of the
resources and generating unnecessary interference
with the other subscribers in the network. On the other
hand, if power levels are too low this will result in poor
quality. In order to keep the received power at a suitable
level, WCDMA has a fast power control that
updates power levels 1500 times every second. By
doing that the rapid change in the radio channel is
handled. To ensure good performance, power control
is implemented in both the up-link and the down-link,
which means that both the output powers of the handset
and the base station are frequently updated.
Power control also gives rise to a phenomenon
called “cell breathing”. This is the trade-off between
coverage and capacity, which means that the size of
the cell varies depending on the traffic load.

 

[ginggs]

This is as a result of the WCDMA technology which strives to deliver the same power level to all subscribers, regardless of the distance from the radio base station. I.o.w. don't fret about it, rather look at the results of speed tests and call quality.

Thanks for the answer, what I really want to know is whether it is normal for the 3G signal to be so much lower than the 2G signal if I'm receiving the signal from the same towers.

I get a much stronger 3G signal from Vodacom and I think the distance to the towers (although they are in different locations) is roughly the same.

As I said previously, my connection drops from time to time:

My 3G connection drops from time to time, seems to be after being online for between 15 and 45 minutes. This never happened when the connection was only 2G.

And, as far as speed goes, 3G is noticeably quicker than 2G, but for me it seems to be "bursty", for example, when loading a webpage with graphics on 3G there seem to be long delays between the images starting to load, but once they start they come in quickly, whereas on 2G everything happens at a more constant speed, but slower, is this normal?

 

[Insider]

Thanks for the answer, what I really want to know is whether it is normal for the 3G signal to be so much lower than the 2G signal if I'm receiving the signal from the same towers.

I get a much stronger 3G signal from Vodacom and I think the distance to the towers (although they are in different locations) is roughly the same.

As I said previously, my connection drops from time to time:

And, as far as speed goes, 3G is noticeably quicker than 2G, but for me it seems to be "bursty", for example, when loading a webpage with graphics on 3G there seem to be long delays between the images starting to load, but once they start they come in quickly, whereas on 2G everything happens at a more constant speed, but slower, is this normal?

WCDMA is 3G (and so different from 2G). So yes, it is normal and the signal strength is also a function of the subscribers on the cell and the network preferences so it could easily be different between the networks.

 

[YelloFever]

WCDMA is 3G (and so different from 2G). So yes, it is normal and the signal strength is also a function of the subscribers on the cell and the network preferences so it could easily be different between the networks.

Thanks Insider