Ever since owning my first mobile phone i’ve been a Vodafone customer.  They had competitive calling rates and my friends and family were (and still are) on the Vodafone network.

I first signed-up at a time whereby you’d get a certain rate when calling another Vodafone mobile, but were penalised with higher charges when you called someone on a competing network (read: Telecom).

The Rant

Over the last year I have run in to several issues with Vodafone which in my eyes has tarnished their reputation.  I’ll talk about my recent connectivity and reliability issues experienced with my iPhone on the Vodafone network.

In recent times, I have begun experiencing more and more connectivity issues in the Auckland CBD with my mobile phone.  Issues that would crop up regularly were problems such as receiving “Call Failed” when making an outbound call.  I would often see people being diverted straight to my voicemail without my phone even ringing first and SMS messages regularly fail to send.  To compound my experience in the CBD, 3G coverage at home has been unattainable. [Note: I currently use an iPhone 3GS which does not support Vodafone’s Extended 3G on the 900mhz band.  However, there is not Extended 3G coverage where I live anyway]

I found the above problems reason enough to jump ship and give the Telecom XT network a go.  So here begins my switch to ZC Mobile.

ZC Mobile (Zintel Cogent) is a Virtual Mobile Network Operator [VMNO] running over the Telecom XT network.  ZC Mobile in their VMNO capacity  re-sell Telecom mobile services through their own branded contact centre and billing system to business customers. As of writing, they don’t offer their services to non-business individuals.

The Switch

I contacted ZC Mobile requesting a change and they sent me out the required forms to port my number and connection over from Vodafone.  As with any porting arrangement, they require your account number for the provider you are leaving.  I completed the required documentation and sent it back to ZC Mobile.  Within a day I received a response back and a projected date for the port to occur.  With SIM card received I was ported over without any issue on the date and time previously agreed upon.

ZC Mobile then provided me with additional network settings required such as the APN and MMS servers.  At this point I was on the ZC Mobile network operating without issue.

I  noted that on Most phones (compared with several other users), the network provider will be displayed as “Zintel Cogent”. However, the iPhone will always display “Telecom NZ” when you use a ZC Mobile SIM Card.

The SIM Card version was obviously current, (=> V3?) as the Voicemail Waiting indicator and Voicemail button on the iPhone worked flawlessly without requiring any configuration.  I’ve seen several sites documenting changes required to have the Voicemail button operate as expected on the iPhone.  Not in this case.

A Brief Comparsion of Network Quality

My heaviest use of my phone is in Auckland Central.  A few of my non-scientific personal observations are as follows:

• Since the move, I have not had one “Call Failed” or SMS fail to be sent to the network

• Call quality seems significantly better on Telecom XT compared to Vodafone (even on 3G with Vodafone)

• Ability to make and receive phone calls in several locations that I just couldn’t on Vodafone. Telecom XT appears to have better signal penetration or at least have organised their cell sites better to get in to those tougher indoor spots.

The above findings represent my personal observations and should only be relied on as anecdotal evidence.

Have you switched between Vodafone, Telecom, or 2Degrees recently? or vice versa?  How did your switch go?

Links: Zintel Cogent