meteor 3g?

metalfest

hi, i was just wondering do you need a meteor 3g sim to connects to meteors 3g network?
(yes i have a 3g compatible phone and 3g signal)

long_b

You do I'm afraid.
AFAIK they were only giving them out for the BillPay and PAYG trials, both of which are closed now.
Don't feel bad though, I've read here that they'll be turning off the 3G at the end of this month.
Full rollout of 3G is expected for the end of September.

metalfest

yeah, 29th of september AFAIK
and bill pay upgrade coming in november:) WOOWOO

drunkmonkey

How big of a 3G netowrk will Metero have come September.......how long before they catch up with the other networks?

metalfest

drunkmonkey wrote: »

How big of a 3G netowrk will Metero have come September.......how long before they catch up with the other networks?

go to your phone and do a manual network search, if you have two meteor networks available then you will be able to have 3g coverage
its only cork and dublin mind you

drunkmonkey

so when should they have around 90% 3G coverage like 3?

metalfest

i've heard rumours that they will be piggybacking on vodafone for a while....i'd ive it a year or two before they have 90% coverage..........or you could just move to cork

drunkmonkey

I can't see Vodafone letting them Piggyback on their 3G network that would cost a fortune.......3 don't fall over to Vodafones 3G network only to there 2G network....so no data when your on Vodas network..

rebel.ranter

You should be able to make voice calls on the 3G network with a 2G SIM, you may not be able to do 3G data though. Just an FYI.

Fratton Fred

from the horses mouth

http://enterprise.eircom.net/aboutEircom/

Meteor is the third largest mobile operator in Ireland in terms of subscribers. As at 31st March 2008, Meteor had 975,000 mobile subscribers, a subscriber base which has increased by 17% on the previous year. Meteor has a share of 18.7% of the Irish mobile market, based on number of subscribers*. The eircom Group was awarded Ireland’s 4th 3G licence in March 2007. Meteor has recently announced it will build the most advanced 3G mobile broadband network in Ireland. This move will provide exciting new services such as social networking, music downloads and video content. Meteor has already achieved 10% 3G network coverage, and is on target to reach 33% coverage by the end of September covering the Dublin and Cork areas.

drunkmonkey

I'm presuming that's 33% population coverage and as most of the country lives in Dublin and Cork that's where there getting that figure....

rebel.ranter

33% is really only Dublin, Cork, Limerick Galway, Waterford & Kilkenny cities.

But you'll find that other areas will also be covered too as they roll out the 3G network to meet their next target goal. So some obscure areas will get it before some obvious areas. This might for example be down to the fact that a site is easy to acquire.

Jonathan

Bear in mind that meteor has edge support at most masts around the country, unlike 3 which drop back to vodafones gprs when out of 3g coverage.

long_b

metalfest wrote: »

.. bill pay upgrade coming in november:) WOOWOO

So what's happening in September then ? Will only new signups be getting the 3G SIM until a full rollout in November ?

Fratton Fred

long_b wrote: »

So what's happening in September then ? Will only new signups be getting the 3G SIM until a full rollout in November ?

it may have changed, but the plan was to give all new customers and all customers who were upgrading a 3g SIM. they are backwards compatable. for people out of 3g coverage or with a non 3g phone the only difference will be a vastly improved memory though.

Fratton Fred

rebel.ranter wrote: »

33% is really only Dublin, Cork, Limerick Galway, Waterford & Kilkenny cities.

But you'll find that other areas will also be covered too as they roll out the 3G network to meet their next target goal. So some obscure areas will get it before some obvious areas. This might for example be down to the fact that a site is easy to acquire.

you could probably do 33% by doing just the greater Dublin area tbh, but I believe the licence conditions also state that certain cities must have coverage at certain points.

The 10% they currently quote is pretty much D1, D2 and D4 I believe.

Note in the article it said the most advanced 2g network, so expect it to be one step ahead of 3 and the others.

kelzer

metalfest wrote: »

... bill pay upgrade coming in november:) WOOWOO

Does this mean meteor will have new price plans coming out in november?

7.Ronaldo

Fratton Fred wrote: »

it may have changed, but the plan was to give all new customers and all customers who were upgrading a 3g SIM. they are backwards compatable. for people out of 3g coverage or with a non 3g phone the only difference will be a vastly improved memory though.

No need. The 3G trialist's need 3G sim cards but once the service is fully launched there will be no need to get a 3G sim. Any Meteor sim in a 3G handset should be able to pick up 3G signal if it is present in the area.

metalfest

7.Ronaldo wrote: »

No need. The 3G trialist's need 3G sim cards but once the service is fully launched there will be no need to get a 3G sim. Any Meteor sim in a 3G handset should be able to pick up 3G signal if it is present in the area.

thank you for clearing that up, the upgrade in november is on my own personal bill pay phone, my contract will be up so i shall be acquiring a new phone:)
i was in a meteor shop 2day, asking is it possible to connect to the 3g network here in cork, the guy behind the counter freaked at me saying there is no 3g meteor coverage.......it was strange as all i had to do was , manual network search, and tada meteor's 2+3g network is an option

Fratton Fred

7.Ronaldo wrote: »

No need. The 3G trialist's need 3G sim cards but once the service is fully launched there will be no need to get a 3G sim. Any Meteor sim in a 3G handset should be able to pick up 3G signal if it is present in the area.

Meteor only use small Sim cards I can't recall the exact size, but i think it is 16K, to provide the 3g services they want, they will have to give users a card with I think 256k.

paulm17781

All current Meteor handsets are 3g but I'm not sure about what sims they're providing.

Jonathan

paulm17781 wrote: »

All current Meteor handsets are 3g but I'm not sure about what sims they're providing.

Eh no they aren't. Nokia 6300 isn't 3g.

metalfest

jmccrohan, you said on a different thread something about no 3g signal in cork? i found meteor's 2+3g network in leith na mór which is a bit into the country, and just there two seconds ago in ballincollig..the network is there but there should also be 3g signal

Jonathan

metalfest wrote: »

jmccrohan, you said on a different thread something about no 3g signal in cork? i found meteor's 2+3g network in leith na mór which is a bit into the country, and just there two seconds ago in ballincollig..the network is there but there should also be 3g signal

Thanks for that. I was only in Cork City and was only there for the weekend so I didnt really mind using edge anyways.

Fratton Fred

metalfest wrote: »

jmccrohan, you said on a different thread something about no 3g signal in cork? i found meteor's 2+3g network in leith na mór which is a bit into the country, and just there two seconds ago in ballincollig..the network is there but there should also be 3g signal

3g signals are very very different to normal radio signals. As there are no users on their network, Meteor's coverage will look quite good.

imagine each base station has a cloud around it that keeps shrinking and moving/changing shape as people connect. Therefore, as more people connect the coverage from that base station shrinks, a lot. as there is no one connected it will look like Meteor has a wider coverage than they will in reality.

sorry, but it is quite difficult to explain without pictures.

metalfest

Fratton Fred wrote: »

3g signals are very very different to normal radio signals. As there are no users on their network, Meteor's coverage will look quite good.

imagine each base station has a cloud around it that keeps shrinking and moving/changing shape as people connect. Therefore, as more people connect the coverage from that base station shrinks, a lot. as there is no one connected it will look like Meteor has a wider coverage than they will in reality.

sorry, but it is quite difficult to explain without pictures.

meteor are using a completely different system of 3g to all the current 3g providers...it provides a much wider range !

Jonathan

Fratton Fred wrote: »

3g signals are very very different to normal radio signals. As there are no users on their network, Meteor's coverage will look quite good.

imagine each base station has a cloud around it that keeps shrinking and moving/changing shape as people connect. Therefore, as more people connect the coverage from that base station shrinks, a lot. as there is no one connected it will look like Meteor has a wider coverage than they will in reality.

sorry, but it is quite difficult to explain without pictures.

Source?

Walkman

jmccrohan wrote: »

Source?

No source needed for that. Its the way 3g works. Cell gets smaller the more users

Jonathan

Walkman wrote: »

No source needed for that. Its the way 3g works. Cell gets smaller the more users

Fair enough.. I was aware that the amount of bandwith per cell was constant, but not the the range decreases with more users.

metalfest

but meteor are using a different system , using a lower frequency level to improve coverage, sorry i'm unaware of the specifics i can check it again if anyon wants?