Meteor Mobile Broadband & 3G

dmn

Meteor 3G Update:

I recently filled out a comment card on the meteor.ie website and stated that i would be willing to pay off the remaining of my contract to move to another network with mobile broadband and 3g handsets etc etc as I felt Meteor were beginning to really fall behind other networks, and the only reason i am still a meteor customer was because of free texts to my friends. (slight exaggeration )

Some one called me back this morning to tell me that they received my comments and would like to inform me that Meteor will be rolling out 3G from October 1st in major urban areas, namely Dublin & Cork first. The first 3G call was made over 2 weeks ago from the CEO to a member of the technical team. The infrastructure is in place and all existing EDGE areas will be upgraded to 3G first

He said that almost all meteor customers now have a 32k simcard, capable of 3G, and remaining customers with 16k sim cards would simply be upgraded when they buy a 3G handset. He said the 64k simcards that vodafone currently have were not needed at all and that 32k would have ample capacity.

On the topic of handsets, he was unable to inform me of what will be available yet, but said that there would be 3G handsets in the Christmas collection so keep an ear to the ground.

Finally he said, completing a network search on a 3G compatible handset (put ur meteor sim into an unlocked 3G phone) will start showing meteor 3G in more and more areas as we approach October 1st.

This is good news all round!

Tom Dunne

dmn wrote:

He said that almost all meteor customers now have a 32bit simcard, capable of 3G, and remaining customers with 16bit sim cards would simply be upgraded when they buy a 3G handset. He said the 64bit simcards that vodafone currently have were not needed at all and that 32bit would have ample capacity.

Not to drag the thread off topic, but what's the story with 16/32/64bit SIM cards? Is somebody mixing up processors and sim cards?

L1011

32k storage I would presume he means - that is unconnected to the differences between a UICC (3G&2G capable) and a SIM (2G only) card though. 32k allows far more texts and phonebook entries to be stored on the card - the Orange "SuperSIM" I got when in the UK in 2002 supported 255 texts and 255 contacts, from memory.

dmn

oh sorry, yes i meant k not bit.

FergalBoards.ie

There might be a bit more to it than just SIM capacity for addresses and stuff.

The Vodadroid I spoke to on one occasion was horrified to discover that I still had a (working) Eircell SIM card. It never occurred to me that I should change it, why should I.

Immediately launched into all the benefits of getting a new SIM card. Useless to me as I store all my addies and txts on phone anyway.

She sounded increasingly desparate and I began to get a bit suspicious.

A person that seems knowledgeable in matters cellular told me she was desparate because the cards can store commands that affect your phones and the newer cards make it harder to clone the cards.

GSM card cloning is something I was unaware of, and I don't really understand it. It's different to the old analog cloning but Google it and you'll see it exists. The same search will also show that it's harder with the more modern cards.

L1011

Its effectively impossible with current generation UICC chips for much the same reason Sky card cloning -is- impossible.

My sister and father are on Eircell SIM cards and my brother is on a Esat Digifone one. I'd be on a 2001 era Meteor one barring a number change (due to them having no upgrades in 2002) and a move to Billpay where I was "given" a new SIM (well its a UICC) for no reason, as I was keeping my number...

Oh, and storing texts/numbers on the phone is a BAD IDEA if a washing machine happens to decide it likes your phone... my SIM was fine, the memory card was fine, but the internal memory on my 6670 would never run again.

I had an Esat SIM go bust on me in 2003, the O2 rep seemed rather shocked that I hadn't upgraded already. Didn't see the need really.

I've seen no Meteor 3G as of yet. Was trying around St. Stephen's Green last weekend and in Drumcondra and Fairview today - nothing.

chrislad

You're given a new sim card for Meteor bill because you get a new account. Your old PaYG account is terminated and you can only start a new account with a new sim. You could have arranged for the number to be transferred back to the other sim if you wanted, but why would you want a less secure sim?!

eamon234

DannyBZR wrote:

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

Regards,

Daniel.

Hey Daniel - any decent phones coming in over the next few weeks on Meteor?

FergalBoards.ie

MYOB wrote:

Oh, and storing texts/numbers on the phone is a BAD IDEA if a washing machine happens to decide it likes your phone/QUOTE]


Well, yeah point taken, but all my phones since goodness knows how long...the Timport Moto L7089 I think it was called? Sync with PC.

I don't like SIM for addies especially because they are limited in what they can store in information fields compared to the Phone. Also I keep texts as proof I sent them, so I need to sync with PC anyway...The SIM fills up too fast, old or new...

L1011

Yeah, I -now- sync the N72 with the PC, lesson learned the hard way

BigCon

If Meteor have limited 3G coverage when they launch in October, is there a possibility that they could piggyback on another network like they did in the past for GSM coverage?

dmn

BigCon wrote:

If Meteor have limited 3G coverage when they launch in October, is there a possibility that they could piggyback on another network like they did in the past for GSM coverage?

Well Meteor actually piggyback Vodafone for GSM coverage, so i guess they could always go about extending this to their 3G network also.
I noticed someone on another thread said that they were told by Meteor staff that the Nokia E65 would be launched soon, this is a 3G compatible handset, and is also offered on 3 at the moment. So maybe this will be their first 3G handset??

Random

dmn wrote:

Well Meteor actually piggyback Vodafone for GSM coverage, so i guess they could always go about extending this to their 3G network also.
I noticed someone on another thread said that they were told by Meteor staff that the Nokia E65 would be launched soon, this is a 3G compatible handset, and is also offered on 3 at the moment. So maybe this will be their first 3G handset??

They already sell 3G capable handsets such as the Nokia 6233.

chrislad

They also had the N91 and N72.

L1011

The N72 is 2.75G (EDGE) only; not 3G. Its the only N7x thats not 3G.

foggy_lad

lol i have free msgs but hate topping up now cos "3" network soo much better and cheaper for calll and way cheaper roaming and every other network has much better phones

Meteor 3G now seems to be active in the Drumcondra area. I was walking home from work a few minutes ago and noticed my phone had no coverage. So I did a network search and it found Meteor on 3G, but attempting to register returned a "No access" error. So I needed to disable 3G for the phone to work. (I am on Meteor btw, seems they just haven't opened up the 3G network yet)

Here's what I got...

cold_filter

Karsini wrote:

Meteor 3G now seems to be active in the Drumcondra area. I was walking home from work a few minutes ago and noticed my phone had no coverage. So I did a network search and it found Meteor on 3G, but attempting to register returned a "No access" error. So I needed to disable 3G for the phone to work. (I am on Meteor btw, seems they just haven't opened the 3G network up yet)

Here's what I got...

Meteor made their first 3G call there last week the RAN is there but joe soap wont be able to access it for quite sometime

cold_filter

dmn wrote:

Well Meteor actually piggyback Vodafone for GSM coverage, so i guess they could always go about extending this to their 3G network also.
I noticed someone on another thread said that they were told by Meteor staff that the Nokia E65 would be launched soon, this is a 3G compatible handset, and is also offered on 3 at the moment. So maybe this will be their first 3G handset??

The piggyback on the o2 network

dmn

Is Meteor 3G showing up in any other areas for other people?
Out of interest what phone are you using Karsini? I don't have a 3G handset with me at the moment so I can't do a search right now.
Also I was wondering if the Mobile Sites page (here -> http://www.askcomreg.ie/mobile/site_viewer.asp) automatically updates when 3G goes live from a mast? How accurate is this site viewer?

cold_filter wrote:

The piggyback on the o2 network

Meteor previously had a national roaming agreement with O2 Ireland which meant that when out of Meteor coverage, a Meteor customer could use O2 Ireland's network at no extra charge. This deal expired in February 2007, where Meteor customers in some parts of the western seaboard of Ireland, now roam on the Vodafone Ireland network, while Meteor continue to build coverage in those remote areas.

dmn

dmn wrote:

Is Meteor 3G showing up in any other areas for other people?
Out of interest what phone are you using Karsini? I don't have a 3G handset with me at the moment so I can't do a search right now.
Also I was wondering if the Mobile Sites page (here -> http://www.askcomreg.ie/mobile/site_viewer.asp) automatically updates when 3G goes live from a mast? How accurate is this site viewer?

I'm using a Nokia 6680. Picked it up on Griffith Avenue at the junction with Gracepark Road. The site viewer doesn't seem to be updated very frequently so I doubt it would have any reference there.

But if anyone else has problems with Meteor and a 3G phone in the meantime, turn 3G off and all should be ok.

dmn

A friend of mine working in Carphonewarehouse is saying April 2008 for a full 3G launch on Meteor. Anyone confirm or deny this?

FergalBoards.ie

That is exactly what I was told when I first asked about 3G back in Feb 07.

This was on the customer support line.

Since then I have been told by Meteor shops that it would be towards Oct 07 in major cities and that there would be a campaing coming up to Xmas.

I don't like the sound of that, it sounds like someone in Meteor has the bright idea of selling 3G as, gee lets see, a vehicle for...umm downloading music maybe? Watching Soccer? Seeing clips of your fave TV and Movies.

This Xmas campaign smack of this.

Anway, last Sat I rang Meteor and said that I was gonna be buying a second handset soon (I always carry two) and it must be 3G. I was told that they had "no plans" for 3G.

I queried this heavily and eventually was told there were plans, but that they were not made public....

Fratton Fred

Meteor made a 3g call in Donnybrook, so that area will already have 3g coverage already.

L1011

dmn wrote:

while Meteor continue to build coverage in those remote areas.

which they actually seem to be doing, when I expected that for some very low traffic areas they'd just keep the piggyback deal. On Arranmore Island in Donegal I only go on to O2 if I go to the north side of the island - the south side seems to be either getting Ardara by sea path; or more likely they've actually got their own masts south of Dungloe now. Theres about 15,000 people in the entire area, each mast can't serve more than a few thousand...

donutface

Carrigalines GPRS is down tonight, might see a big 3g logo on my phone tommorow ^^

dmn

well any sign donutface?

slegs

cold_filter wrote:

The piggyback on the o2 network

Nope they piggy back on Vodafone for 2G...the contract with O2 expired over a year ago

I managed to register on the 3G network briefly this morning, got a 6/7 3G signal around Marino. But it booted me off before I could do anything. Haven't been able to get back on since.