ot: isps

[Amos Shapira]

2009/4/23 Geoffrey Mendelson <geoffreymendelson at gmail.com>:
> That's because there are three different networks involved here.
> Orange runs 3 networks. a 900mHz GSM (voice and data up to 14.4kbps if
> they allow it), 1800Mhz (voice, 14.4k data and higher speed data
> (GPRS?) ) and a 2.1gHz 3G network. The 900 mHz network covers all of
> the State of Israel and the territories, for legal reasons it does not
> cover the PA (nudge, nudge, wink wink). The 1800 mHz network has a
> shorter range for each cell and covers less. With the shorter
> wavelength there are more "dead spots". The 3g network is similar to
> the 1.8gHz network in coverage, I have no idea about the number of
> cells.

I'm not going to dispute Geofrrey's (proved) knowledge when he speaks
of something, but my personal experience in the last four weeks of
visiting Israel is that once I got the Orange 3.5G SIM in a Nokia E71
(quad-band, I think it's 850/900/1800/2100) and paid 80 NIS for 5Gb I
managed to receive data signal
wherever I went in Israel (between Ashdod/Mazkeret-Batya to Megido and
Beit-Lechem Haglilit).

Speed is also very good, as far as I can tell it's better than what I
get in Australia. Maybe because their data network is not overloaded
yet?

One thing I think that I noticed is that the battery runs faster too -
I have to refill it every day in order to have enough juice to finish
the next day. In Oz I can run for almost a week without refilling the
battery. I guess that maybe it has to do with fewer towers which
require the phone to increase its own signal strength, but I'm not an
expert.

--Amos