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Vodafone and 3/Hutchison Merger Followup

It was announced back in February of this year that Vodafone and 3 were to merge, in a hope to be more competitive in these troubled financial times. My comments on the proposal was initially bleak, but in light of some more recent news my thoughts on the proposal are coming around. The news in question is the article on Whirlpool “3 set to utilise Vodafone network”

The access to Vodafone’s 2G network is in addition to the announcement back in April that 3 will roam onto Telstra’s NextG network. ie. When your out of the 3’s CBD coverage, you’ll get the advantage of using Telstra’s wide country coverage. However should you use any data on Telstra’s network it will not be included in any caps. At present the additional usage charge is $1.60/mb, under the new Telstra NextG agreement the roaming data charge will be 50c/mb. This is still quite high, but I do like the fact that I can still get coverage in the country areas of Western Australia for Voice and SMS.

So where is the advantage of gaining access to Vodafone’s 2G (or Voice/SMS/Slow Data) network? The original Whirlpool article suggests that data usage on the Vodafone 2G network will be included in 3’s cap. However what will my phone do when it can’t find 3’s 3G network? Will it drop back to Vodafone 2G or Telstra NextG? Whirlpool Forum members are seeing the Vodafone network appear as “3″ in addition to “3 (3G)”. Perhaps the SIM will instruct the phone to choose anything with “3″ in the network name. This also bring’s 3’s coverage to a mix of their own 3G (Voice/SMS/Fast Data) in the CBDs, Telstra’s 2G/NextG and Vodafone’s 2G in the CBD / Country. I also wonder if this will have any affect on the Telstra NextG whilst roaming agreement ?

Enough of me brain dumping for the morning, time to get back to my email and coffee.

RB

Movember – Halfway There!

The three critical stages of the Mo

Stage 1 - Proof facial hair can be grown (Check!)

Stage 2 - A clean canvas (Check :()

Stage 3 - Cultivation (Check!)

Movember 2009 – Let the Growing Begin!

I’m finally using the facial hair for the power of good and growing a Movember moustache for reals this year. Unlike last year’s chopper/trucker mo that turned up after a close shave, this year I started November 1st clean shaven and registered at the Movember website.

What many people don’t appreciate is that close to 3,000 men die of prostate cancer each year in Australia and one in eight men will experience depression in their lifetime – many of whom don’t seek help.

Movember is now in its sixth year and, to date, has achieved some pretty amazing results by working alongside The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCFA) and beyondblue: the national depression initiative. Check out further details at: http://au.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs.

Mo progress will be logged (with photos!) on my Movember profile page.

To sponsor my young and impressionable Mo, you can either:

• Click this link http://au.movember.com/mospace/223349/ and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account
• Write a cheque payable to ‘Movember Foundation’, referencing my Registration Number 223349 and mailing it to: Movember Foundation, PO Box 292, Prahran, VIC, 3181
• Hunt me down and throw cash at my feet to worship the fuzz that is my Mo

Remember, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

Offerings of names for the new found fuzzy member of the family will also be accepted. Hope to see lots of Mobrothers and Mosisters out there on the streets of Perth!

RB