Comment Re:Circuit Switched? (Score 1) 108
I can't believe WAP uses real circuit switched networks! This has to be a misunderstanding of this author. I don't know the details of WAP, but can anyone confirm that it doesn't use circuit switched networks? Perhaps the author misinterpreted something.. perhaps WAP phones make a dedicated connection to a WAP server for a certain amount of time, and the author interpreted that as circuit switched. Any know know any details?
You are correct : to access the "internet" through a WAP device you call the WAP gateway with your phone which is a legitimate phone number. You therefore get a dedicated circuit up to the WAP gateway which then forwards your requests to the internet the usual packet-switched way.
I would however like to point out that to those who have not read the WAP specs that WAP is a protocole stack that comprises about 7 layers if I recall : the first few abstract the bearer (ie I am doing data transfer over GSM, SMS, analog or others and it's quite a kludge). Then you have an SSL-like layer and WML.
The key point here is that "others" : realise that once GPRS (coming to an friendly operator near you as soon as october in France...) is out, you' ll be able to query all you usuall WAP servers out on the internet without the need to go through the WAP gateway except for HTML->WML translation with your new phone/network at about 2 or 3 times the speed, and THAT is really packet-switched once you have sent your first packet to the internet.
Also, once UMTS is out, you'll be able to do your usual WAP queries (which are nothing more than "weird-HTTP" queries returning WML) to the same servers and get an even better service.
To sum it up : it is a mistake to say that WAP is bad because WAP is not an implementation : it is a series of protocols that does the best with what is currently out there. As our wireless networks become more packet switched and faster, WAP will become faster.
Philippe
You are correct : to access the "internet" through a WAP device you call the WAP gateway with your phone which is a legitimate phone number. You therefore get a dedicated circuit up to the WAP gateway which then forwards your requests to the internet the usual packet-switched way.
I would however like to point out that to those who have not read the WAP specs that WAP is a protocole stack that comprises about 7 layers if I recall : the first few abstract the bearer (ie I am doing data transfer over GSM, SMS, analog or others and it's quite a kludge). Then you have an SSL-like layer and WML.
The key point here is that "others" : realise that once GPRS (coming to an friendly operator near you as soon as october in France...) is out, you' ll be able to query all you usuall WAP servers out on the internet without the need to go through the WAP gateway except for HTML->WML translation with your new phone/network at about 2 or 3 times the speed, and THAT is really packet-switched once you have sent your first packet to the internet.
Also, once UMTS is out, you'll be able to do your usual WAP queries (which are nothing more than "weird-HTTP" queries returning WML) to the same servers and get an even better service.
To sum it up : it is a mistake to say that WAP is bad because WAP is not an implementation : it is a series of protocols that does the best with what is currently out there. As our wireless networks become more packet switched and faster, WAP will become faster.
Philippe
