The closing of the popular CDMA spectrum by Telstra has been making headlines all over Australia for months. The deadline for the shut down is finally here, and whether Australians like it or not they will be left with Telstra’s new Next G spectrum in its stead.
Telstra’s closeout of the CDMA spectrum has met with resistance since the company first started pushing it. They even went so far at one point as to send people door to door trying to make the idea more popular. As evidenced by continued bad press, that plan may have backfired.
The company is replacing the CDMA network with its new Next G technology. Complaints coming from all over Australia say that Next G does not offer the same coverage as CDMA did. People are reporting significant holes in the network, even as CDMA is removed from the equation.
The biggest obstacle to the closure for the last few months has been the objections of the New South Wales Farmers’ Association. Until the last few days, they were objecting to the closure of the CDMA network, saying it would leave people in the Bush without coverage and that Telstra has not done the legwork needed to fix the issues. National Farmer’s Federation (NFF) spokesperson Brett Heffernan said “The systemic problems that we saw earlier this year have dissipated and we are comfortable with the closure of CDMA.”
