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VIRTUALISATION Lucky 888’s for Next G as Telstra prepares CDMA switch off?
VIRTUALISATION Lucky 888’s for Next G as Telstra prepares CDMA switch off? | Lucky 888’s for Next G as Telstra prepares CDMA switch off? |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Thursday, 03 January 2008 | |
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Barring any last minute directives from the Rudd Government and Senator Stephen Conroy, the new Minister for Broadband, Communications, the Digital Economy, (and, some say, given the uproar over the proposal to filter Australia’s Internet access at ISP level, the new Minister for Censorship), Telstra is confident the CDMA network will close on Jan 28 as planned over the last two years. Minister Conroy and the Rudd Government are awaiting a final report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on an extensive December 2007 test of the Next G network compared with the CDMA network, a report the previous Coalition Government was also awaiting in the lead up to the planned closure date. Telstra Country Wide’s Gary Goldsworthy, the Director of Business Development & Support and the manager of the national CDMA migration project, said in his “Making the Move” Blog in the ‘Switching is Simple’ post that: “Customers will benefit from the closure of CDMA as we consolidate our investments in competing infrastructure technologies into one network that will serve all of our customers, resulting in even better coverage, services and a clear and defined evolution path to faster speeds”. Goldsworthy concluded his blog post by saying that: “I’d like to reassure all CDMA customers that are yet to move, for whatever reason, that they can do so with confidence – we have the phones, the accessories and the coverage to give our customers the best mobile experience available in Australia”. The blog posting also answers questions about the CDMA to Next G switch, advising customers of upgrade plan options and services such as the in-store transfer of customer contacts from an existing CDMA phone to one of Telstra’s Next G models. Clearly in an effort to show that the utmost coverage has been squeezed out of ongoing upgrades to the Next G network, Telstra announced on the 28th of December, 2007 that work has continued on expanding the Next G network to more areas, with at least six highways across Australia receiving wireless coverage for the first time over the past six months, as a result of $23 million invested in the highway upgrade with a promise of more upgrades to come. Telstra argues that CDMA’s time has come, with handset manufacturers no longer making new CDMA models, and mobile network manufacturers discontinuing the production of CDMA network equipment. Telstra also reported finding limitations in finding compatible equipment for ‘ageing’ CDMA technology, needing to specially import ‘connector cables’ to complete their heavy-duty CDMA testing equipment, which was being run alongside heavy-duty Next G testing equipment for the extensive coverage survey driving more than 120,000km around Australia, the completion of which was reported on the 22nd of October 2007 by Telstra on their corporate blog. So, what's Telstra's reponse to ongoing grumbles that the CDMA network still offers coverage in places that Next G doesn't, what are the main differences between the CDMA and Next G networks and what about Telstra's newest 'blue tick' Next G phones? Please read onto page 2 to continue... |
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