This is our second Wanaka Case Study.  The location is Lake Wanaka Outlet. We chose this location because it is popular with campers, bikers and fisherman.

As you can see from Telecom's website (picture below) it is predicted to have no mobile coverage, but there is coverage close nearby.

Below picture shows us here about to do the testing.

Our tests begin with the Telecom Huawei E586E Hotpsot. The Telecom coverage here is not as bad our first case study at Treble Cone.  The picture below shows we were able to connect to the network and obtain peak Download and Upload speeds of 1.57Mbps and 0.78Mbps respectively.

We then connect the AY15 antenna and obtain excellent speeds of 6.6Mbps download speed and 1.58Mbps upload speed. That's pretty fast don't you think?  

We then move to test the R54 phone with the AY15. Again similar results to Treble Cone.  Only difference being as the coverage here is not as bad as Treble Cone the R54 obtains full service bars when the AY15 antenna is connected.

Picture below, R54 with AY15 connected.

Some further FAQ to these Tests

(please click on this link if you haven't read our FAQ to the Treble Cone Tests)

1. Did we learn anything different from this case study compared to our first study at Treble Cone?

No not really.  We confirmed again that Telecom's prediction of coverage is pretty accurate. We did find that coverage at this location is not as bad as our test location at Treble Cone. We put this down to the fact that when you compare Telecom's prediction of coverage at both these locations you can see coverage here is a lot closer than it is at Treble Cone - hence we confirm coverage to be better.

2. What do we think of 6.60Mbps and 1.58Mpbs downlink and uplink data speeds?

We think that is pretty hot really. That is web surfing at high speed!  If you didn't know, peak speeds depend on how busy the network is.  So in other words it is a shared resource so the more people you have connected off the same base station the slower the peak speed.  We conducted these tests in the afternoon during the working week.  So you may even get greater UL and DL speeds during times of the day where less people are connected to the network.

3. So what does this mean?

Well if you like to surf the internet, conduct web design (as I am doing at the moment), gaming or any other high speed connection, you can do this while you are camping, or trout fishing (that reminds me of a fairly recent XT CEO Telecom add?) at the foot of the Wanaka Lake (We think that is pretty NZ cool).  It may not be for everyone but if you happen to be one of those people who can only go to places to take a holiday as long as they have good internet connection or can be contacted by a mobile - well here is your answer on how to achieve it.