Bridging 3G, EDGE, GPRS, and WiFi 93
Rob writes to tell us CBR is reporting that T-Mobile is expanding their core network to provide seamless integration of 3G, EDGE, GPRS, and WiFi networks. From the article: "Nortel said it was able to provide T-Mobile with the new service thanks to integration of Nortel's existing Gateway GPRS Support Node with Azaire Networks' IP Converged Network Platform. Azaire's IP-CNP provides an integrated hybrid network by extending the services from the existing 3G and GSM core network investments over new access technologies like WiFi and WiMax, Nortel said."
GPRS/EDGE and the MDA (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't have one, but from what I've read about the MDA is that it already supports EDGE, GPRS, and wifi. I currently use a Sidekick 2 (hiptop) and it uses only GPRS. I don't know if it's because some people have moved over to the EDGE network with compatible devices but I have noticed a significant speed increase on their GPRS network.
I am drooling over the MDA (minus the fact that it runs Windows Mobile). Connection, at broadband speeds, pretty much whereever I am is a great thing to look forward to. I have to decide if it's worth switching to Windows Mobile and paying $450+ for it
Re:GPRS/EDGE and the MDA (Score:2)
I switched from a Sidekick2 to the MDA on the first day they came out. I had the Sidekick 1 from the first day it came out a few years back... what can I say, I like my gadg
sidekick was way better than sidekick2 (Score:2)
Re:GPRS/EDGE and the MDA (Score:3, Insightful)
Getting a PDA that has a specific network technology built-in is going to have you looking for another PDA when the other networks have better plans or faster speeds. You might want to consider getting a PDA with Bluetooth, and use as a modem a Bluetooth-enabled phone that works on the network du jour.
TLA explanations (Score:5, Informative)
For anyone who didn't order alphabet soup, here are the wikipedia articles on about 3G [wikipedia.org], about WIFI [wikipedia.org], about GPRS [wikipedia.org]. Not sure about EDGE.
Re:TLA explanations (Score:1)
Re:TLA explanations (Score:3, Informative)
Re:TLA explanations (Score:2)
Because not one of those acronyms is a TLA [wikipedia.org]
Re:TLA explanations (Score:3, Funny)
Re:TLA explanations (Score:2)
Hahahahaha
I bow to the master.
Re:TLA explanations (Score:1)
Re:TLA explanations (Score:1, Flamebait)
Mmm, I love the smell of burnt karma!
PS: EDGE: Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution
Re:TLA explanations (Score:2)
Ya know, the website that has definitions of everything and links from every word in the definition?
It's in the
Or am I mistaken?
Expanding... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Expanding... (Score:2)
Re:Expanding... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Expanding... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Expanding... (Score:1)
Re:Expanding... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Expanding... (Score:1)
Re:Expanding... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Expanding... (Score:2)
I remember having tons of problems in Los Angeles but not nearly as many in Pittsburgh, where I presently live. Maybe things are just overloaded in LA.
D
Re:Expanding... (Score:2)
Re:Expanding... (Score:1)
Re:Expanding... (Score:2)
Re:Expanding... (Score:2)
incorrect. How did this get insightful?
T-Mobile has native coverage in most of the country. California/Nevada is a special case; T-Mobile has purchased the old Pacific Bell/Nevada Bell GSM network [t-mobile.com] from Cingular. Cingular and T-Mobile had a special "Joint Venture" agreement; Cingular was able to enter the NYC market via T-Mobile's network, and T-Mobile was able to enter the CA/NV market via Cingular's network. Both networks, while using the identifier of the carr
Re:Expanding... (Score:2)
As someone who works for Cingular. T-mobile does have their own network, but have pretty good agreements with us, and use a lot of Cingular towers in many other areas than in the one mentioned.
Sometimes we have issues at the switch level and t-mobile 611 calls are routed to our ops.
T-mobile relies heavily on Cingular.
Puto
Re:Expanding... (Score:2)
Of course. The main difference is that outside of CA/NV, coverage T-Mobile claims as its own on coverage maps is T-Mobile coverage, not that of another carrier. The CA/NV joint venture was claimed as native T-Mobile coverage and billed accordingly. Outside of CA/NV, T-Mobile doesn't sell coverage in markets where it doesn't have its own (read: MNC 310260) network.
Enhanced Data GSM Environment (Score:1)
Re:Enhanced Data GSM Environment (Score:2)
Very weird coincidence (Score:5, Informative)
It all works flawlessly from my standpoint, and this isn't even T-Mobile's entire network. I'm amazed at the speed of the EDGE connection (consistent 150kbps download in most of Chicagoland), and even more amazed at the amount of restaurants with open WiFi connections. I may run over to Popeye's right now and buy a way overpriced soda just to thank them financially for the connection.
I just ftp'd two photos of where I'm at right now to prove my story. Check http://www.unanimocracy.com/photos/popeyes1.jpg [unanimocracy.com] and http://www.unanimocracy.com/photos/popeyes2.jpg [unanimocracy.com] in a few minutes. I love technology.
Re:Very weird coincidence - OOPS (Score:2, Flamebait)
OOPS!
The page you tried to access does not exist on this server. This page may not exist due to the following reasons...
Unfortunately the pictures do not work, maybe you should go over to Popeye's and load up on free napkins & condiments instead?
Re:Very weird coincidence - OOPS (Score:2)
I think the photos work now, for some strange reason my FTP client had to reconnect about 50 times to upload the photos -- bad host errors, time to switch from GoDaddy to a real host I guess.
Re:Very weird coincidence - OOPS (Score:2)
Now off to Popeye's for some overpriced carbonated high-fructose corn syrup water and/or some instant heartburn!
Re:Very weird coincidence (Score:2)
Re:Very weird coincidence (Score:2)
Re:Very weird coincidence (Score:2)
You can do the same thing in Windows, but of course it's not quite as slick.
D
Re:Very weird coincidence (Score:2)
In Windows XP (which I have to use because of 2 of my programs that I run my businesses from), selecting a preferred network is fairly easy, it just takes 3 clicks or so.
Re:Very weird coincidence (Score:2)
Re:Very weird coincidence (Score:2)
Firstcall is a good shop -- one of the few that I see making it through the next few years while the industry shakes down all the flack.
Re:Very weird coincidence (Score:1)
Don't you hate it like this? My T616 phone polls my IMAP server for email every couple of minutes, for free, and downloads the new emails it finds onto the phone (or at least, a 5k portion of the text part of the email). It's a native TCP-speaking inhabitant of the internet and so email+web works independently of my phone provider.
Re:Very weird coincidence (Score:2)
I figure I could set my PDA to poll (via EDGE via my phone) every few minutes, but nothing is that important. The SMS through T-Mobile is very fast, and I have a massive SMS allotment each month as I'm grandfathered into a very old T-Mobile (maybe Voicestream even) phone plan.
Only In Europe... (Score:4, Interesting)
As an American, I read about these nifty phone network upgrades and know that I will not see them for at least 3 years. Why is this? Is it the geographical size of the market? The size of the customer bases that subscribe to the networks? Regulatory restrictions? User demand/knowledge/acceptance of these features?
I am inviting anyone in the know to please beat me with the clue stick!
Re:Only In Europe... (Score:3, Interesting)
EDGE has already been rolled out in the Minneapolis metro. I know it has already been launched elsewhere as well. I guess it's not "three years" for everyone.
Re:Only In Europe... (Score:1)
Ah ha. The cluestick hurts, but it builds character!
What about 3G though? I remember reading about how it was in Japan in 2002(I think...) but that it would take a couple years to be offered here.
I am not intending to make an America-centric complaint, it is only curiosity.
Re:Only In Europe... (Score:3, Interesting)
My guess, BTW, is that T-Mobile is interested in this wi-fi stuff because they're farthest back in the pack to deploy 3G data. They're mostly stuck with EDGE, and they won't be able to compete w
Re:Only In Europe... (Score:3, Informative)
In North America, the same CDMA phone does not work with Verizon and Sprint - the technologies are slightly different. GSM operators T-Mobile and AT&T have less than half of the overall market - and a GSM variation operating on different bandwidths than the global 900/1800 combo. There
Your 3g Freqs (Score:1)
Re:Only In Europe... (Score:3, Informative)
I'll gladly beat you with the clue stick.
As an American, you've had access to the better technology for quite a while
Re:Only In Europe... (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, it is you who is missing the point. Go look at some prices. Vodaphone, for instance charges 90 Euro - $107 - for 500 minutes. Verizon, by comparison, will sell you 2000 peak minutes for $100, which more than makes up for the incoming charges. European carriers can't provide the services that Sprint and Verizon can provide in the US.
Europe standardized on a bad standard. In their rush to standardize, they didn't let the technology develop sufficiently. Now they are in the position of abando
Re:Only In Europe... (Score:3, Informative)
Firstly, there are the providers using GSM (most of which are on bands different to the bands seen in europe, australia etc)
Secondly, there are the providers on CDMA (like verizon) each of which has their own phones and wont let you use any other phone on the network.
Then you have providers rolling out things like UMTS (aka 3G) which is yet another standard.
Not to mention the propriatory motorola develo
Re:Only In Europe... (Score:2)
So what?
Europe is currently running two completely incompatible standards - GSM and UMTS.
With AMPS virtually dead and IDEN at end of life, the US is running two incompatible standards, GSM and CDMA2000.
Eventually, the GSM providers in Europe and the US will migrate everyone to UMTS and GSM will finally die like the old US TDMA system. Dual mode phones for UMTS and CDMA2000 are trivially simple, because UMTS is a CDMA technology differing from CDMA2000 only in software.
Where is the issue?
Re:Only In Europe... (Score:2)
They're incompatible because they require two different radios implementing two different multiplexing/modulation schemes. The carriers were forced to develop dual mode phones because there w
What this means. Traceroute and PING (Score:2)
When a subscriber enters a zone where a connection is possible, this tech allows TMobile to 'phone home'. Then they have profiles on how to route all the services to that handset.
So they need to:
know about each protocol.
know how to phone home
know about the gateway services for each service the _ subscribes to.
know how to bill for that route
So it is non trivial.
They add it to your VLR/HLR profile (Score:1)
Pretty interesting stuff if you ask me.
Living in Interesting Times (Score:5, Insightful)
Will operators truly start offering seamlessly swithcing mobile/WiFi models to consumers? As long as the operators refuse to subsidize hybrid models they can prevent rapid pick-up of these models. But when the first major operator (or a cluster of smaller challenger operators) gets serious about offering hybrid phones, the ARPU pressure could suddenly spike in a brutal manner.
WiFi telephony is kind of unreliable and weird for most consumers - but as a supplementary feature in a GSM/GPRS/EDGE/W-CDMA phone it's lethally appealing. How about cutting your mobile minutes roughly in half by seamlessly swithching to WiFi every time you are at home?
It's a great marketing angle for the first operator latching onto it. Once you get 4-6 operators embracing the concept, the whole sector ARPU outlook is going to crater.
Will T-Mobile play the Judas goat?
Re:Living in Interesting Times (Score:1)
See 3GPP TS 22.234, Requirements on 3GPP system to Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN) interworking [3gpp.org].
Re:Living in Interesting Times (Score:1)
If you're talking about T-Mobile US, why not? Aren't they the only US operator that hasn't paid billions for 3G spectrum? They should be best positioned to offer a very competitive package of flat/"free" WiFi SIP and data together with cheap/pay-as-you-go GSM/GPRS/EDGE fallback when "on the road".
However the custom access point, if true, would be a killer, at least for me. If I can't use their SIP service over any IP connectivity I happen to be in the range of, how ar
Re:Living in Interesting Times (Score:2)
screw 3G...etc (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:screw 3G...etc (Score:3, Insightful)
WiMAX is going to be hard pressed to handle high populations densities of major cities - mobile networks now flavors to handle both rural areas (GSM, CDMA) and cities (W-CDMA, CDMA-2000).
Handovers handovers handovers (Score:1)
GSM has something called a VLR or Vistor Location Registry which keeps track of which radio cell you are on. And the radio equipment like the BTS, BSC, etc make constant calculations on your signal strength. As you reach the edge of a cell the system automaticly hands you over to the next cell without dropping your call. Sometimes it hands you over from one radio to another within a cell.
This has to be d
Re:Handovers handovers handovers (Score:1)
Re:Handovers handovers handovers (Score:1)
I haven't read up much on wimax but the handover will probably be provisioned on the network side which means that you can hand over from one access point to another within the same network but most of the access points are different people in different networks so its not like you can drive through the city handing of
Re:good for competition (NOT: sorry EVDO EDGE) (Score:2)
Offtopic questions about interconnectivity (Score:1)
Is there such a thing that can pickup a open 802.11 network and rebroadcast it as a bluetooth lan connection. It would need to be small like no bigger than a ipod mini.
I am not looking for any suggestions for a work around (eg bluetooth dongles on a 802.11 enabled laptop). Just looking for something that can conver
Re:Offtopic questions about interconnectivity (Score:1)
Re:Offtopic questions about interconnectivity (Score:1)
Good for my Nortel shares? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Good for my Nortel shares? (Score:1)
Re:Good for my Nortel shares? (Score:2)
Re:Good for my Nortel shares? (Score:1)
America the beautiful (Score:3, Informative)
Re:America the beautiful (Score:2)
Doesn't want to say that they are going to sell tmobile usa, because that could hurt the price if it is perceived that tmobile(DT) has to sell from a position of weakness
Hasn't been aggressive in 3G in the US because they have a small user base (it is likely easier to sell 3G services to your existing customers rather than win converts), licensing the spectrum is big money, and it does not appear they are certain they really want to own tmobi
Re:America the beautiful (Score:2)
T-Mo USA's 3G delay has more to do with spectrum than anything else - they are waiting for new spectrum auctions because there's just not enough room in T-Mo's existing 1900MHz licenses.
Nortel is all about infrastructure in the US. (Score:2, Insightful)
Several carriers are using Nortel equipment to build out their GPRS and EDGE networks as well.
Most of the standards are compatible so you can have a variety of equipment on a site. But there are thousands of "core" networks in the US built on Nortel systems.
It's true that the market conditions in Europe and the US
Re:America the beautiful (Score:2)
The other problem is this is Nortel. Give me Lucent any
Seamless (Score:2)
Cover the entire US first! (Score:1)