Why do you continue to post this blatant garbage, Parkington? Why suck
up to a company that doesn't give a fuck about you?



Alan Parkington wrote:
> From
> http://nqr.farmonline.com.au/news_daily.asp?ag_id=47755
>
> After carrying wireless telecommunications in rural Australia since 2000,
> the CDMA mobile phone network has just 25 days to live, with Telstra gearing
> up for a last-minute rush from customers switching from the old network to
> Next G.
> Telstra management is certain that it will pass scrutiny by the Australian
> Communications and Media Association (ACMA), which in December conducted
> extensive testing of Telstra's new Next G network to check that it is
> "comparable or better" than CDMA.
>
> The former Coalition and new Labor governments have both said that Telstra
> will only be able to proceed with its planned switch-off the CDMA network on
> January 28 if the Next G network is deemed up to scratch by the ACMA's
> independent testing.
>
> For Telstra, extinguishing CDMA can't come too early.
>
> A big reason for its investment in the Next G network was to rationalise its
> two mobile networks (CDMA and GSM) into one.
>
> While CDMA remains in operation, the telco continues to maintain two
> networks - and bleed profits.
>
> But Telstra Countrywide director, Gary Goldsworthy, who is in charge of CDMA
> migration, said the telco is "very confident" that Next G performs at least
> as well as CDMA.
>
> "We've done everything that the government has asked us to do in terms of
> coverage, handsets and solutions for customers," Mr Goldsworthy said.
>
> While there are still anecdotal reports of holes in Next G coverage, Mr
> Goldsworthy said as far as Telstra is concerned, the network is performing
> as it should.
>
> "With most customers who say they can't get a signal, we're finding that
> it's a normal fault that you would find on any mobile network."
>
> In any case, there's no going back.
>
> The "3G" GSM technology that powers Next G has a much more extensive upgrade
> "roadmap" than CDMA; a guarantee, Telstra says, that its Next G network
> won't be stuck in the technology backwater that rural Australia found itself
> in with the old analogue network.
>
> Most of the mobile-using world has voted for GSM.
>
> According to Telstra, about 85pc of the globe's mobile networks are based on
> GSM technology.
>
> Cingular, which controls the biggest mobile phone network in North America,
> is currently migrating its 50 million customers to a 3G network that uses
> the same bandwidth as Next G.
>
> At the same time, Ericsson, a former manufacturer of CDMA network
> components, has stopped working with CDMA technology, as has Nokia, which
> ceased making CDMA handsets in mid-2007.
>
> And if Telstra's figures are to be believed, Australia already has a better
> network with Next G than it has with CDMA.
>
> The telco claims that Next G covers 98.9pc of the Australian population
> (CDMA supposedly covers about 98pc of the population), with another $23
> million to be spent on additional Next G highway coverage as part of an
> ongoing program to patch holes in high-traffic areas.
>
>