2600 Australia

Australia currently has two mobile phone systems - AMPS (analogue) and GSM (digital). The older of these two, AMPS, has been used for a number of years and although being well regarded in rural areas for it's range, is susceptible to call interception with an appropriate scanner. GSM, by comparison, is not well regarded for it's capabilities over long distances but is immune to opportunistic interception and is widely deployed in metropolitan areas. Despite the co-existance of these two systems, the non-existent security of the AMPS network and events such as a GSM license sale to Vodafone prompted the Government to initiate an AMPS network shutdown beginning in December 1999, to be replaced entirely with GSM. Based on poor experiences with GSM, rural voters staged a backlash at a recent Federal election and this decision was reversed. Eventually CDMA, a digital technology already widely deployed throughout the USA and the Asian region was chosen as the AMPS replacent for (among other things) it's backward compatibility (handsets) and AMPS-like capabilities over long distances.

CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is a wideband spread spectrum technology that has been used in military satellite communication systems for many years. It differs from GSM (a form of TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)) in that instead of allocating a narrow piece of the available radio spectrum to a particular call, it broadcasts calls over a wide segment of the available spectrum, assigning each call a unique code that distinguishes it from others. (Source: Qualcomm)

The CDMA network in Australia is being deployed by three carriers, Telstra, Hutchison Telecoms and AAPT. Of these three, Telstra's service is commercially available and according to the CDMA Development Group, Hutchison Telecoms's service is being deployed (availability unknown) and AAPT is at contract negotiation stage. (Source: CDG).

Advantages of CDMA in comparison to the analogue network it is replacing include a more efficient use of the available radio spectrum, a suitability for use with distant base stations (ie in rural areas) and on-air security that atleast prevents opportunistic interception of calls (this document will not attempt to compare relative security of GSM with CDMA).

• Sunday, 29th August - Saw ads in newspapers for Motorola CDMA phones, with website link to www.shop.motorola.com.au. Visited "shop" site, found it didn't sell anything but batteries and cables. Not exactly what I was hoping for.

• Tuesday, 31st August - Did some reading on the topic at Qualcomm, CDG, got some prices from Telstra's page on the subject. 5:30pm - decided that I wanted one, ostensibly as an analogue replacement for my dad. 5:41pm- arrived at Telstra shop, Elizabeth St, Sydney. Picked out the Hyundai HGC-120E phone, selected a reasonable sounding number (042-888-2600), had it connected. Did a bit more reading that night, found some interesting things about timing etc from Qualcomm Databook. Today's observations:
  • Phones are not configured by SIM or programming - the ESN is entered into the Telstra software at the shop. When the phone is turned on, it's on the network.
  • Numbers on the Telstra CDMA network begin with 0427, 0428, 0429
  • No underground coverage on Sydney's CityRail stations thus far (eg Town Hall, Central, Martin Place)
  • Network timing, pseudo random number generation is done at the base station with timing from GPS satellites. According to the Qualcomm Databook, there's the option of a backup atomic clock if the GPS timing info isn't available for several hours.
  • Forcing Analogue-only (FM) mode on the phone where there is CDMA coverage gives "Call failed - please try again" when you call something.
   

• Wednesday, 1st September - I Thought about the GPS timing notes from the Qualcomm document and the recent "20 year" date rollover in the GPS system (actually it's 1024 weeks). Found this at www.garmin.com (GPS equipment supplier): "Another important event for GPS receivers will occur on August 22, 1999. This event, known as GPS week number rollover, refers to the week number transmitted in the satellite navigation message changing from 1023 to 0." Could this have something to do with the CDMA activation date last week - the 25th August? My thinking is that if you could turn on your network after such an event with a 1024 week timeframe before the next, would you? Can anyone confirm this theory? Today's observations:
  • It appears the phone does not display (cannot get?) the time when it's switched on and there's no service available (presumably it requires CDMA service for this information)
  • Found some interesting options on the phone. The first one is an entry point for the Service Programming Mode (picture) and the other is a "One Time Keypad Subsidy Lock" (picture). I'm yet to start guessing numbers for these, but if anyone has any hints, please email me (address at the bottom of the page).
   

• Thursday, 2nd September - I read some more into the Qualcomm document and indeed the phones do get their timing from the base stations. Today's observations:
  • The phones do indeed use the base stations for their timing information. In particular refer to page 12 of the Qualcomm Databook. The base stations use a sync channel to send the state of certain processor registers 320 msec in the future. The phones use this to display the time and to start the long code generator used when transmitting voice data.
   

• Monday, 25th October - It's been a while since my last update, but it's given me some time to check out the phone and indeed the service a bit more. A few observations:
  • The coverage on CityRail stations in the city is still non-existant. I'm not sure why this is the case, but if Telstra's pitch of "covering all of Australia" (or words to that effect) in current promotional material is to be considered halfway correct, they'll need to cover this area.
  • In-building coverage isn't bad, but the number of times I'm needing to put up the aerial on the Hyundai even while in the CBD is rather disturbing.
  • I received a letter today from Telstra on behalf of Hyundai which mentioned there was an issue with the particular software version on the phone that I have (see below). Presumably the modification will be a simple flash upgrade to a new software version on the thing... The only thing that concerns me is some recent information I came across at Bruce Schneier's excellent Counterpane Systems site regarding the security (or more particularly the lack of it) in a protocol commonly used by mobile phones for the transmission of digits entered into the phone for things like Phone Banking, VoiceMail systems etc. Although the document is rather technical, You might like to look at it anyway. It's located here Back to the phone issue, I intend to have it fixed ASAP:

  Dear Valued Customer

  Re: CDMA Hyundai HGC120E Mobile Phone

  It has come to Telstra and Hyundai's attention that there is a potential minor problem with some of the CDMA Hyundai phones which may or may not affect you.

  When your phone is operating in ANALOGUE MODE it may have limited access to services that require you to respond by pressing a number on the phone's keypad, as the tone generated may not be received by the other end.

  Some examples of this may affect you include:

  • MessageBank - You will not be able to retrieve messages or modify your Personal Greeting;
  • Remote access to your home of office answering machine; or
  • Any telephone service which is dependant on keying of numbers such as "Pay by Phone".

  
  [Dogcow: I just confirmed this by switching the phone into "FM Only" (Analogue) mode, dialling 101 for voicemail and attempting some operations]

  The problem will not occur when your phone is operating in CDMA mode, so if you predominantly use your phone in CDMA areas it is unlikely to affect you.

  To establish whether your phone has this problem, simply follow the steps below:

  Step 1. Switch your phone on and PRESS the MENU button;
  Step 2. Press the number 3 [Dogcow: This is the "System" option]
  Step 3. Press the number 4 [Dogcow: This is the "Phone Ver" option]

  Two rows of numbers appear on the screen of your phone. [Dogcow: Mine shows: D20R0081 and D120E.00]

  If the last two digits of the first row ends with 81, your phone will need to be modified to overcome the problem described above, otherwise you will have no problem. Remember this is only going to affect your phone if used in analogue mode.

  Should you require your phone to be modified, please contact our Customer Care centre (ADI Limited) on 1-800-224-537 EST between 8am and 5:30pm, Monday to Friday and we will arrange for you to attend the nearest Service Centre where the modification can be done while you wait. Alternatively if that is not convenient [Dogcow: It's not] we will raange for a courier to pick up your phone, complete the modifications and return to you within 48 hours [Dogcow: One wonders what one is supposed to do while these "on the spot" modifications take 48 hours to complete].

  We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you. If you have any questions regarding this matter please call 1-800-224-537.

  Yours sincerely,

  J B Chun
  Senior Manager
  Hyundai Electronics Australia

  [Dogcow: I just called Hyundai Electronics Australia and Mr Chun is apparently in Korea]

  • Anybody that's used a GSM phone will know the characteristic tones that the phones emit when near electronic devices, in particular the ones when a call is received, when a call is in progress or when the phone acquires or moves cells to a new tower. Initially I thought that CDMA phones were immune to this phenomena, but recently as I've had the phone in a bag near an operational (and old) portable CD player, upon tower acquisition/cell handoff, the phone puts out a fairly strong single or double burst RF energy which sounds like a whooshing sound on the CD player.
   

• Wednesday, 26th January, 2000 - The further I roam with the CDMA phone, the more bad service areas I find. If you're using a CDMA phone, be sure to report them to Telstra on their customer care number at 018 018 111. As of today, they've still not installed anything in the Sydney city underground rail stations, and the service is actually pretty terrible on the southern line heading into the city. It's also woth noting that the service (or lack thereof) is gaining some interest in the political community because of problems that Federal MP Bob Katter from QLD has been having on a highway route which was previously covered by an analogue service. One final thing - if you've had some experiences of your own with a CDMA phone, please send them in - I'd like to publish them here as appropriate.

• Sunday, 7th May, 2000 - I noticed today that SMS messaging works on the CDMA network. That is to say though, you can receive messages - you don't appear to be able to send them. When I called 018 018 111 to ask about the availability of send capabilities, I got some moron that summed up the release schedule as "they have priorities, and they'll get to it when they get to it". At this point, Mr Nice Dogcow disappeared and I turned into Mr Angry Customer and asked why I'd been paying for an essentially incomplete and patchy service for 9 months and that apparently my money wasn't ensuring that CDMA sat somewhere reasonable on the "priority" list. I'll be calling back tomorrow to speak to someone in Customer Assurance. While I'm happy that I can receive SMS messages, Telstra's inability to build rudimentary services like messaging into a network in 9 months really just signals how hard Ziggy's cutbacks are biting.

Sunday, 19th July, 2000 - Well, I couldn't have been more wrong noting that SMS was working back in May. Turns out that the service was testing all the way through May and June and really only went online (though Telstra claimed it was still in testing) in early July. I'm using RedRock's MessageNet service (www.redrock.com.au) for an email to SMS gateway and as of this week, it's working great. I specified to RedRock that I wanted the email address of the sender and the sender to appear at the head of the message. No problem. If you want to use the service, the $25 plan for 50 messages works well enough - they simply re-bill you once you use up the 50. As to whether SMS sending works from the phone, that's still a bit of a mystery because when I've tried, the phone indicates "SMS Message Success" or words that effect but the person I'm sending to just never gets the message.

As far as coverage and strength of service is concerned, the service on the rail line heading south is now a bit better - it feels like they've added some CDMA cells on the tower across the river from the new Wolli Creek station which would cover Arncliffe, Wolli Creek itself, Tempe and most of the way up to Sydenham which is covered on the northern and southern approaches by two other towers. Coverage is still non-existant on the underground stations and I've not had any calls back from Telstra regarding this.

The only other niggling problem with the phone is that at times while the signal strength from tower to phone is great - the signal strength from the phone back from the tower is abysmal. This is with "13K Voice mode" enabled and "Enhanced" voice privacy enabled.

Finally for today, I just had a call from a gentleman in Canberra asking about the quality of the service in rural areas. My experience thus far on two trips to Canberra and a couple of trips around Blackheath in the Blue Mountains in NSW is that the service is "okay". There's certain places that the service drops out, for example, on the trip from Sydney to Canberra, but not significantly more nor more significantly less than any of the other providers using GSM phones (there were 4 of us in the car on the way down, me with Telstra CDMA, one guy with Telstra GSM, one with Optus GSM and one with Vodafone GSM). Further to this, on a trip to Western Australia in April, the CDMA service came online literally around that time, and from Mandurah down to Bunbury, Busselton, Margaret River and Augusta it only dropped out a few times in areas I doubt any phone would have coverage - up to 40km away from a populated area and in "difficult" terrain.

Tuesday, 25th July, 2000 - First entry of two today. The Hyundai HGC-120E is available from Telstra as a pre-paid phone for $35 with $35 included calls. The service needs to be used with Telstra for 24 months, but excluding the Orange service below or the Optus CDMA network (which is leased from Telstra anyway), there don't appear to be any major gotchas. Strathfield Car Radios in Sydney had them available online as of yesterday but stock availability in stores around the place appears to be sparse. For $35 basically outright, if you're interested in CDMA and have a few spare bucks, give it a try and let me know how you go.

Tuesday, 25th July, 2000 - Orange finally made a big public release of their "Orange One" service today. It's covered here in the news and here on the Orange site itself.

Basically instead of them entering the market by reselling local and long distance services over Telstra copper going into your home, the Orange service works on the basis of differential billing - you have a "LocalZone" number and a mobile number and are charged depending on whether you're at home (you get charged a flat rate) or whether you're out and about (you get charged mobile rates).

The service looks okay, with the absolute minimum cost being $15 (excl GST) a month rental on the thing, which can be increased to something more like a mobile plan depending on the number of mobile calls you're likely to make in a month (the cost per minute on mobile calls drops as you go to higher plans).

Local calls (ie within Sydney or wherever) are charged at 22c flat and mobile calls are about the same sort of rates as other mobile plans. That is, about 60c per 30 sec on the cheapest plan and down to 17.5c per 30 sec on the "I talk waaaay too much" plan.

About the only thing not listed there are the prices for the 3 phones they're currently shipping, but when I asked the phone operator, this is what they were as of today:

Samsung SCH-411 = $29 on a 12 month plan (incl GST)
Samsung SCH-620 = $189 on a 12 month plan (incl GST)
Qualcomm 860 = $59 on a 12 month plan (incl GST)

SMS Messaging is also available on the service for both sending and receiving. Messages are 22c each (incl GST) when sent from the phone, but no pricing is listed on the Orange One site for their email (ie email -> SMS, "you have mail" (TM AOL) -> SMS and SMS you've received CC: -> email) services. The operator on the phone let me know that it's basically 25c per message for each of these.

The value on this service appears to come from the fact that it's a mobile phone being billed like it's a normal phone when you call local places from home. The only oddity is that on the phone, their helpful on hold message claims that they offer plans etc without complexity, when in fact the Orange One plans are about as complex as you can get. If you can figure them out, it looks like a nice service.

If I needed another phone for voice calls (and they covered my area - official coverage stops about 2 streets away), it'd probably be worth a try. For data? Forget it.