Meteor Mobile Broadband & 3G

dmn

Anyone have any ideas when Meteor would be in a position to launch mobile broadband and 3G?
I tried searching the comreg website and couldn't find any information regarding deadlines for population coverage and commercial launch.
I recently upgraded my meteor billpay phone and while in their store the sales person had mentioned that they should have it launched by October 1st this year.
Can anyone confirm anything?
I really don't want to tie myself into a 12month contract with 3, Vodafone or O2 before I can see what Meteor have to offer, Also I'd rather just have one bill rather than two

Jonathan

Meteor didn't think they would be in a position to launch 3g services as they don't hold a licence for it??? Or did Eircom buy it for them?

dmn

As far as I know Eircom did buy it for Meteor.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

dmn

i really wish their website had details of what areas thay have covered so far etc. if its correct dat they r to launch by october then surely they would have to have major cities covered by now

HiredGun

I recently did a manual network search on my phone in Dublin and saw that the Meteor 3G network was in the air.

dmn

HiredGun wrote:

I recently did a manual network search on my phone in Dublin and saw that the Meteor 3G network was in the air.

has anyone else noticed this?
i'm in cork, i can't check this myself as i dont have a 3g handset. am i'm right in understanding that it would only show up on a 3g phone?

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

jimmycrackcorm

A friend is working on a project in Meteor and confirmed that they are gearing up for an October 3G launch.

CelloPoint

Couldn't find any Meteor 3g here in Docklands, Dublin 3

dmn

just did a network search on a 3g fone and found nothing to suggest meteor 3g

billbond4

Meteor are launching 3G alright I saw that Ericsson won a contact to supply them with equipment.

dmn

I just rang meteor stating that I was considering moving to three for their fone and broadband service, but would rather wait to see what meteor was doing. and he said that the meteor 3g service would be launching sooner rather than later. still not really much of an answer tho

jimmycrackcorm

dmn wrote:

I just rang meteor stating that I was considering moving to three for their fone and broadband service, but would rather wait to see what meteor was doing. and he said that the meteor 3g service would be launching sooner rather than later. still not really much of an answer tho

Definitely not before October, their IT systems won't be ready.

DonFred

Meteor will have 3G in before October! Reason why Im waiting before I upgrade as some new phone will be in stock inc Sony Ericsson K810i

Random

How can we have 2 so conflicting reports? Will be an interesting market once Meteor get 3G I reckon!

jimmycrackcorm

DonFred wrote:

Meteor will have 3G in before October! Reason why Im waiting before I upgrade as some new phone will be in stock inc Sony Ericsson K810i

Getting phones in stock is the easy bit.

dmn

ciaranfo wrote:

How can we have 2 so conflicting reports? Will be an interesting market once Meteor get 3G I reckon!

i was thinking the same. it seems that their call centre staff and retail staff all have different ideas of when its all going to happen

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

godskitchen

They have to have something like 12% (Certainly no more than 20%)Population coverage by October..............its that pathetic, The next target after that is years away.

Knowing Meteor/eircom they will do the bare minimum.............

If any of the above info is wrong I am sure some fountain of knowledge (They are everywhere on the internet, right?) will correct it giving a link they found on google as proof. Where are theses people when you need them in society? I am way off topic.

Bulmers

AFAIK Meteor are starting to roll their 3G network, only minimum amount of sites this yr i think to meet licence reqs by Oct and will only be in Dublin. Will only be a soft launch i reckon, non commercial so probably realistically middle next yr would reckon but it is definitely moving, friend of mine involved in the pilot.

Slice

More importantly aren't Meteor still working on finishing their 2G network? I thought they were still piggybacking off one of the other networks or is that a permanent thing now? Their website doesn't distinguish between their own network and host network on the coverage may...

jimmycrackcorm

They do have Edge to fall back on so I'd expect a raft of phones that are 3g/2.75g. Edge is available on all their base stations.

jimmycrackcorm

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

They do have Edge to fall back on so I'd expect a raft of phones that are 3g/2.75g. Edge is available on all their base stations.

It's certainly not on all of them, I'm actually surprised by the amount that don't have it. I rarely get EDGE here in Drumcondra, the nearest 900MHz cell has it but the 1800 cell, which my phone sits on at home, doesn't have it. No sign of it down in Kerry either.

dmn

Slice wrote:

More importantly aren't Meteor still working on finishing their 2G network? I thought they were still piggybacking off one of the other networks or is that a permanent thing now? Their website doesn't distinguish between their own network and host network on the coverage may...

yes they originally had an agreement with O2 IRL, when that contract ended they started piggybacking on Vodafone IRL, and still do at the moment.

digiman

Meteor are rolling out their 3g network in Dublin at the minute and in some of the other cities as well, Galway is definitely one of them.
I know of quite a few sites in Dublin that have 3G

dmn

cork?

digiman

digiman wrote:

Meteor are rolling out their 3g network in Dublin at the minute and in some of the other cities as well, Galway is definitely one of them.
I know of quite a few sites in Dublin that have 3G

Please, do tell if you know any specific areas. Would be curious to try it out.

Solair

I'm seeing a Meteor 3G network in Dublin 2 and Dublin 4 now!

Perhaps this rollout will be quicker than we think ?

dmn

Solair wrote:

I'm seeing a Meteor 3G network in Dublin 2 and Dublin 4 now!

Perhaps this rollout will be quicker than we think ?

maybe so.
I was just looking around the comreg website and have found the 3g licensing information for the other 3 networks.
Using vodafone as an example, they were awarded their licence on 16/10/02 , and in their licence agreement they were expected to launch on 01/05/03 with 33% population coverage.
That's just 6 and a half months after they got their licence.
It seems Eircom/Meteor were awarded their 3g "B" licence on 13/03/07 so applying the same timeframe that Vodafone were given, it seems correct that 01/10/07 would be the rough deadline for commercial launch.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I'd be interested to know if anyone else is finding Meteor 3g coverage?

DannyBZR

There is a target for October due to the licensing requirements. But there will be no official launch until the network has sufficient coverage to actually call it a service. This is most likely to be towards the middle of next year. They have said that they don't want to launch it early because they will lose peoples interest and faith in it much like Vodafone has done. I mean in all fairness, I personally think this whole 3G thing is over hyped and its just more marketing buzz to get people to spend money..

I work in a meteor shop and this is all they have confirmed so far.

Regards,

Daniel.