Tim's Dual Band Coverage areas

Dual Band Coverage Areas

Here is a list of areas that have Dual Band (GSM 1800) coverage or are soon to have coverage. This is a guide only... Only Confirmed cells are working. Some cells that are not confirmed may be working.. I don't know.

VodaFone has decided to remove the "Dual Band" on all GSM 1800 Cell Broadcasts. This goes for new and current cells. I hope they put it back on!! Even if they only put "DB" at the end. At the moment there is only one way of knowing if a cell is GSM 1800 and that is if you have access to a tech mode on your mobile phone.

16/06/05 Hello all, I'm trying to update this page ASAP! I haven't had much time of late ;-) Tim.

QLD Confirmed? Cell Broadcasts Channel numbers

Brisbane CBD. YES (ALL) CBD 627-652, 662-687

(2 Towers + extras) CBD North

Expressway

North Brisbane

East CBD (Old CBD East)

Wickham Terrace

The Gabba Area. YES (ALL) Gabba Ground (Can change depending on who is playing there E.G. Olympic Soccer )

SE Freeway

South Brisbane

Beenleigh Area, Bris Southside.

YES (ALL) Beenleigh (X3)

Westfield Garden City (shopping centre) internal dual band, Bris South Side.

YES G'den City C'tr

ANZ Stadium (Nathan) Mount Gravatt, Bris South Side.

YES Nathan

(Will Update)

Mater Children's Hospital, Bris South side.

YES (Will Update)

(Will Update)

Broadbeach Area,Gold Coast.

YES (ALL) Broadbeach North

Kurrawa

Florida Gardens

Dream World,Gold Coast . No

Southport,Gold Coast .

YES (ALL) (Will Update) (Old Moggill, These were incorrectly setup by Voda! They have been changed though)

North St (Old Bellbowrie, These were incorrectly setup by Voda! They have been changed though)

(Will Update)

Note1: The Cell ID of the CB's was mixed up with other Tower IDs with out the cell number! E.G. "43058" was mixed up with the site number 4358 which is "Bellbowrie" same with 43057 was mixed up with "4357" which i think is "Moggill" (From memory)

Note2: The LAC was also wrong for about a year (maybe more) on the same tower.. (Only 1 cell though) it was "4125" instead of "4215"! I phoned Voda about it and they ignored me.. Till about 6 - 12 months latter some one else pointed it out and it was changed!

Note3: If Voda is reading this and doesn't believe me (or thinks it is untrue and there for will try to accuse me of "slander" AGAIN!).. Look up history of cell number "43057". ;-) I always find it "interesting" when i find mistakes... But Voda just ignores it! You would think by now they might listen to stuff like this.. Or even if they think I'm wrong.. why not check just in case??

I think it had been like this for about 1.5 years in the end till it was fixed ;-). Now your thinking.. Why is this such a big deal? When LAC codes are different between cells, The phone does a forced "Location update". (The weird noise you hear in you car radio or TV every 2 to 1 hours). So anyone near this cell would have had shocking battery life on there phone!! (Because even when the phone moved to and from this cell.. The update would happen.. Instead of it happing every 2 to 1 hours!) Australia fair is a very busy place, So hand overs between this cell would have been huge!

Indy Carnival,Gold Coast(Mobile Base Station, Only available when Indy is on)

YES (ALL) Indy Carnival 1

Indy Carnival 2

Indy Carnival 3

Gold Coast HWY Dual Band Micro (Indy area) Will Update!

NSW Confirmed? Cell Broadcasts Channel numbers

SYDNEY AREA 562-577, 637-678

Sydney CBD YES Sydney CBD (X 4), Sydney.

China Town YES Chinatown

Kings Cross YES KingsCross

The Domain YES TheDomain

Haymarket YES Haymarket

Central Station YES Central SRA

Ultimo YES Ultimo

Pyrmont YES Pyrmont

Manly YES MANLY 1800

Circular Quay YES Should be Circular Quay 1800

Chatswood CBD YES Chatswood, Chatswood and (You guessed it!) Chatswood.

Sydney Airport YES Mascot

Greystanes/Wentworthville Area YES

Parramatta YES

Lidcombe Area YES Auburn

Parklea YES Parklea

Kings Park YES Kings Park

Quakers Hill YES Quakers Hill

Rhodes YES Rhodes

Ingleburn YES Ingleburn X3

Liverpool YES Liverpool (2 towers, 3 cells each)

Moorebank YES

Artarmon YES

Hoxton Park YES

Cammeray YES

Holsworth YES

Leppington YES

Revesby YES

Kingsgrove YES

Earlwood YES

M5 Tunnel YES

Eastlakes YES

St Marys YES

Olympic Venues

Homebush YES Mason Park

Olympic Park YES Olympic Park X3

VIC Confirmed? Cell Broadcasts Channel numbers

Melbourne CBD YES Melbourne CBD 562-587, 637-677

Albert Park No

MCG YES M.C.G

Melbourne Central Shopping Centre

YES Melbourne Central Shopping Centre

Perth CBD No 637-662

Adelaide CBD No 652-677

Darwin CBD No 512-537

ACT

Canberra No 562-587

TAS

CBD No 512-537

Info from VodaFone on Dual Band

Here are some copies of the e-mails i have received from VodaFone on dual band.. If you read these and think the last one is wrong. you are right, it is wrong!!! heheheh. :-)

Ok a good start.

Thu, 11 Mar 1999 15:28:00 +1000

I'm not sure what went wrong here but I am happy to inform you that the
first dual band towers were activated in the Albert Park area for the Grand
Prix last week. More towers are going on line in Melbourne and Sydney this
week and the roll out will continue in the coming months. I am still trying
to determine if we will be updated on which particular areas have been
completed.

Regards
Brad

Still Ok.

Mon, 18 Oct 1999 21:24:39 +1000

Hello again Tim,

Tests are continuing on several sites in Sydney at present. Roll out dates
and further information will become available on the Network's web site when
it is deemed appropriate.

Regards
Brad Vines
Customer Care Support
"To Serve & Communicate"

Now this is were it gets good!!

Fri, 5 Nov 1999 15:17:53 +1100
Hi Tim,

The only site set up in Australia at this point in time is our Head Office
at Chatswood in Sydney. This is an internal site that spills outside into
the courtyard area only. As previously stated it is not (GSM1800 dual band) available to the public apart from this.

Regards
Brad Vines

Since then I received an apology (from VodaFone AU) about not being able to get any info from VodaFone about Dual Band coverage areas. But even after that VodaFone AU STILL doesn't even know were dual band is available.

Tech Note

GSM 1800 uses Channel (CH) numbers between 512 and 885, 1710 MHz-1785 MHz Mobile (phone) Transmit (TX) and 1805 MHz - 1880 MHz mobile (Phone) Receive (RX).

Reference info was gather from the ACA web page http://203.37.2.230/pcs/Picture.htm

And ETSI GSM specs (GSM 05.05)

6.0.0AD