The XT Mobile Network is a UMTS and LTE mobile network run by Spark New Zealand (formerly Telecom New Zealand). The network was initially built nationwide on WCDMA/UMTS 850 MHz, with 2100 MHz infill in major urban areas. The UMTS network is HSPA+ enabled, with a maximum downlink transmission rate of 21.1 Mbit/s and an uplink rate of 5.2 Mbit/s attainable for capable hardware. HSPA+ has a theoretical maximum of 56 Mbit/s download speed and 22 Mbit/s upload speed. Then under Spark 4G LTE is being built out. The network is not 2G capable, Telecom never operated a public GSM network.
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After lengthy internal and corporate trials, the XT Network was launched to the public on 29 May 2009, at 7:30am. The network was the successor to Telecom NZ's CDMA mobile network. With the shutdown of CDMA in 2012, XT is currently the company's sole mobile network.
The name "XT Mobile Network" does not get used by Spark anymore, it has been called: "XT Mobile Network", then "The Smartphone Network" under Telecom, and now "Spark Mobile" under Spark.
New Features
With the launch of the XT network, a number of new services were available to subscribers, including Prepaid roaming, video calls, Mobile TV, and high-speed internet access.
Launch
On 27 April 2009, Telecom announced that the new XT Mobile network would launch on 13 May 2009 at 6:30pm. However, a Vodafone New Zealand and Telecom dispute about Network Interference pushed the date to 29 May.
In May 2009, Vodafone sued Telecom, accusing it of interfering with their network, using the same frequency bands as their existing 3G network. However, Telecom had said it is working with Vodafone to resolve the issues and was surprised by that company's decision to go legal. A decision was made between the two companies to increase the filtering of the network, with neither company stating who was footing the bill
Network Outages
On Monday, 14 December 2009 at approximately 4:30am, the Telecom XT Mobile Network went down for the majority of people who live south of Taupo for eight hours (although there were claims of issues slightly before this time). Telecom said a technical fault, affecting a Christchurch-based technology component that was installed to fix a prior fault, had caused the loss of mobile service, including voice, SMS, and mobile broadband
At approximately 7:00am on the morning of the network outage, Telecom published a statement via Twitter acknowledging the issues. The network was fully restored by approximately 5:00pm the same day. The older CDMA network was not affected during the outage of the XT network.
On Wednesday, 27 January 2010 around mid-morning, the Telecom XT Mobile Network once again suffered a major outage, affecting approximately 100,000 customers south of Taupo. The outage was believed to be caused by similar circumstances as the late-2009 event. This was fixed for many users within around 7 hours; however, many areas including Queenstown, Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill had still not been restored as of Thursday 28 January 2010 at 7:00pm, with some users experiencing up to 3 days without service in some areas. This second network crash in two months caused a considerable public uproar and raised serious questions about the credibility of Telecom and its XT Network.
More recently: On Wednesday, 11 February 2015 at around 5:30pm the Spark mobile network suffered another major outage, preventing customers nationwide from making or receiving calls, sending/receiving text messages and using mobile data.
Advertising
Before and immediately after launch the XT mobile network was promoted by 3 advertisements hosted by Richard Hammond, and following this was an advert featuring stuntwoman/actress Zoë Bell, advertising speed and roaming capabilities.
Telecom claimed that the XT Network to be "Faster in more places" than any other mobile network in New Zealand, including competitor Vodafone and start-up 2degrees; these claims were backed by independent testing commissioned by Telecom. Advertising material at the time proclaimed the network to reach "97% of places Kiwis live and work". This claim was quietly removed in early 2010.
As of 2011 the meaning of "XT" remains unknown to the public, as even Telecom's website fails to address this anomaly. An independent news website featured a "Q&A" having questions submitted by the public and answers from Telecom representatives, and one of the questions asked addressed this: "What time on friday will the network launch? What does XT stand for? XTra? tXT? eXTraordinary? Xtra Telecom?". The network's response only addressed the first part of the question: "The official XT Launch time is 07:30 29 May 2009."
Competitors
Spark has two mobile network competitors in the New Zealand market.
Vodafone New Zealand which operates a GSM 900/1800 network since 1993, a WCDMA 2100 MHz network since 2005 and were also the first to launch a 4G LTE network in NZ.
Vodafone, in response to Telecom's "Faster In More Places" claim, had constructed a nationwide WCDMA 900 MHz network in areas where they did not already have an existing 2100 MHz network. Vodafone also controls 66% of the mobile market.
2degrees, currently operates a GSM 900/1800 EDGE network and WCDMA 2100 network. They have built a 4G LTE service enabled 2014.
Spark, 2Degrees and Vodafone all operate 4G networks in LTE band 3 and LTE band 28, with band 3 coverage mostly in cities and towns; band 28 available predominantly across rural towns, countryside, highways and coastal areas. Additionally Spark has licences to provide LTE band 7 services.
4G LTE Network
The 4G LTE coverage was initially offered to subscribers in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch starting November 12, 2013. Telecom estimates that half of its smartphone network will be able to offer 4G LTE by the end of 2014." The frequencies that are used for LTE are 1800 MHz (LTE Band 3) initially, then additionally 700 MHz when analogue TV frequencies were retired. The first 4G 700 MHz (LTE Band 28) cell sites came online in areas of rural Waikato in mid 2014. Spark also has 2600 MHz band 7 LTE, carrier aggregation is available, with a compatible handset band 3 (1800 MHz) and band 7 can be used simultaneously to speed up data access (available in Auckland).
It is worth noting that band 28 700 MHz is not the same at the AWS 700 MHz supported in North America (Band 2, 4, 12, 13, 14, 17). It is important that the band number matches the phone to the network that it is intended to be used with, otherwise only 3G service will be available. Generally Spark mobile customers should look for phones designed for the Asia Pacific 4G market (as apposed to North America 4G market). Here are some common phones and international model variants available in New Zealand: