4G in Western Australia

[Poroit]

G'day Members,

Telstra ceased 3G recently and now Farmers in rural WA are suffering as per below.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-12/3g-shutdown-connectivity-complaints-from-wa-farmers/104585296

I am far from a Radio Comms expert but I know that "height is power " and the lower the frequency the further the distance the signal will travel.

Telstra 4G Frequencies are
4G   
700MHz (B28)   
1800MHz (B3)   
2600MHz (B7)

I assume that rural WA is now using the higher frequency ranges so the distance to towers is now the issue and problems will not be resolved until more towers are installed or Telstra up the power on the existing towers.

I would like comments from the Comms experts out there.

[Halcyon]

Frequencies depend on the area.

https://www.rfnsa.com.au provides a neat way to look at every cell tower in the country and work out what carriers and frequencies are hanging off it. You can also view proposed changes.

Telstra also operates in the 850 MHz band.

Secondly, if you're outside the normal coverage area, something like a these products may help: https://powertec.com.au/nextivity-cel-fi-mobile-signal-boosters/ which can be operated licence-free.

[BradC]

We do a lot of camping. The B28 band (700MHz) is essential for our data connected devices. Very, very rarely did we drop back to 3G provided I was using the right data modem. Pretty much every rural tower we connect to does B28. If I were to break out some of the other devices designed for other carriers, pretty much none of them do 700MHz and are mostly useless in a rural setting.

[Halcyon]

We do a lot of camping. The B28 band (700MHz) is essential for our data connected devices. Very, very rarely did we drop back to 3G provided I was using the right data modem. Pretty much every rural tower we connect to does B28. If I were to break out some of the other devices designed for other carriers, pretty much none of them do 700MHz and are mostly useless in a rural setting.

You might want to look at one of those CelFi devices designed for mobile applications if connectivity if crucial to you. They aren't badly priced for what they are.

I was involved in some of the rollout of these devices for some of the big police command buses years ago, albeit they had big tall extendable masts they could raise up. A directional antenna might work for smaller setups?

[ftg]

Cellmapper also exists and they crowd source their data with a phone app.
https://www.cellmapper.net/map

[Poroit]

Thank you all for your feedback.

The https://www.rfnsa.com.au/ is interesting.

One of the complaints I heard was from Wubin WA which is a rural community, approx. 3 hours North East of Perth.

Population around 100 persons.

If you look at the rfnsa website it shows Towers 6623011 & 6627001 which both are 4GX sites and are both over 60kms from the town centre.

I am not sure what 6612006 & 6612007 do.

B28 is 4GX.

I assume Telstra Towers use Multiband Omnidirectional Antenna's which would cover a Frequency Range: 698-960MHz / 1710-2170MHz / 2300-2700 / 3400-3800MHz so there would be no antenna changes needed.

If users are now not getting the mobile coverage they had with 3G ,has Telstra changed the RF Power at its towers?



 

[Halcyon]

I am not sure what 6612006 & 6612007 do.

It's a little unclear.

6612006 both 6612007 are proposed sites for Telstra by the looks of it (blue icon + blue "P" at the top means isn't not operational yet). If you keep an eye on those pages, as they go through the various planning stages etc... they'll attach documents relating to the proposed development. It might be very early days as they usually list the proposed bands as well (in blue; black ones are operational).

There might be something existing hanging off 6612007, perhaps a point-to-point link or something belonging to Telstra? Not sure. If they were cell services, I would expect to see the various bands listed. You could also look up the ACMA registrations for that site to give you further clues. The other possibility is, one or both of these used to be 3G sites which are in the process of being upgraded?