3G

Jerrek · Jan 9, 2004

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK6.story&STORY=/www/story/01-08-2004/0002085509&EDATE=THU+Jan+08+2004,+07:50+AM

http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/37026

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">The nation's only true third generation wireless network is about to go national. Verizon has announced the company intends to invest $1 billion into its EvDO BroadbandAccess system to bring the network country-wide by 2005. The service, which offers wireless speeds between 300 and 500kbps (with infrequent bursts up to 2.4Mbps), is currently only offered in San Diego and Washington D.C.

According to Verizon's press release, the upgrades will begin immediately, with many areas going on-line throughout the summer of 2004. The service will be available for a flat rate of $79.99 monthly, with a one-year contract. Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg is set to demo the service later today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

EvDO is already commonplace in Japan, and performance is more often 2.4 Mbps than the slower 500 kbps. The neat thing is that my cellphone (maxing out on the CDMA-1X network at 144 kbps) is compatible, and that Telus Mobility will soon follow Verizon in rolling out EvDO. That means 500 kbps average, with bursts of 2.4 Mbps straight to your cellphone. Speeds increase if you don't move around.

At $80 a month, this service isn't cheap, but that will hopefully change in the future when Sprint, the other Bells, and Telus follows suit.

The clock is ticking................... 1,174 kb/s - I brake for no one
http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/cogeco.jpg

Jerrek · Jan 12, 2004

Perhaps a solution for South Africa as well? It seems Nigeria is getting CDMA-1X, which is what we have right now. Connection speed is only 144 kbps, but that is better than dialup. The article also indicate that EV-DO may soon come to Nigeria. EV-DO runs at 300-500 kbps, and bursts of 2.4 Mbps.

It will mean that a CDMA-based cellular network is set up. GSM is such an archaic and inferior technology it is sad (or stupid?) to see anyone implementing such networks today. There is NO upgrade path because GSM is based on TDMA, which is dead. The GSM 3G network, or UDMA (in an effort to scrap the American CDMA name, they named it UDMA. Also known as W-CDMA), might come around in 2054.

http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/3322.html

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Multi-Links Telecommunications and Nortel Networks today announced the commercial launch of Africa's first CDMA2000 1xRTT network, positioning Multi-Links to reach more than 500,000 customers in Lagos. The network, deployed by Nortel Networks, will enable Multi-Links to significantly boost network capacity to accommodate a greater number of voice calls and will also support future expansion of wireless services into other parts of Nigeria.

Less than two percent of Nigeria's population of 130 million people has access to fixed telephone lines, according to Pyramid Research, suggesting the new network will contribute greatly to Nigeria's overall telecommunications penetration rate.

Multi-Links is currently expanding its network to increase capacity in Lagos to 500,000 subscribers and is installing independent networks in six other cities. Expansion plans are based on CDMA2000 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO technologies which will offer data transfer speeds surpassing those of the vast majority of landline connections in Nigeria.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

The clock is ticking................... 1,174 kb/s - I brake for no one
http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/cogeco.jpg

Mux · Jan 19, 2004

Jerrek, you have posted some interesting posts and links.
I am not sure if you made a typing error: <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> The GSM 3G network, or UDMA (in an effort to scrap the American CDMA name, they named it UDMA. Also known as W-CDMA), might come around in 2054.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"> surely you meant UMTS and not UDMA?
I enjoyed the article you posted:
http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/10/GSM3G.shtml
Have a look at:
http://www.cellular.co.za/technologies/3g/3g.htm
and
http://www.ipwireless.com/news/press_120903.html
http://www.axcera.com/news/sentech.php

Cheers
Mux

Jerrek · Jan 20, 2004

Yes, UDMA is the same as UMTS. A technology that is based on CDMA, but isn't backwords compatible with GSM, meaning, new infrastructure is needed.

The clock is ticking................... 1,174 kb/s - I brake for no one
http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/cogeco.jpg

ckleynhans · Jan 21, 2004

UDMA is an American standard and UMTS is an European ETSI standard. UMTS is build on 2G (GSM), 2.5G (GPRS) and should, (if properly implemented) provide compatibility with both. It is therefore more likely that local service providers will choose UMTS.

GPRS is obviously also a "Always On" service and but operates at much slower speed. It is incredibly expensive in this country and it would appear that local service providers used the same trick as Telkom used with ADSL i.e offer a service that you don't really want to offer at such prices that nobody will really take it up. There is little difference to carry a GPRS phone with you and your laptop accross the country or use the Sentech wireless modem (provided coverage exists) with you and operate it at a much cheaper rate.

Jerrek · Jan 21, 2004

No. GSM is "sort of" compatible with GPRS, but only because it uses a completely new frequency spectrum. However, W-CDMA (UMTS) isn't compatible. You can't use a W-CDMA phone on a GSM network *unless* the GSM network supports W-CDMA, or, the phone supports both modes (making it big and expensive). Making a network W-CDMA compatible is *very* expensive because a lot of new equipment is needed.

On the other hand, CDMA EV-DO is completely compatible with CDMAone. If I buy a 3G phone, I can use it on a 2G network and a 2.5G network without a hitch, even if that particular network isn't 3G compatible. That is the major difference.

Because CDMA is backwards compatible so well, and because the 3G infrastructure costs is a lot less than that of W-CDMA, CDMA EV-DO is growing significantly faster than W-CDMA. AT&T rolled out EDGE a few weeks ago. It costed them a pretty penny, and it is very expensive for users. It can barely sustain 110 kbps. On the other hand, I can easily sustain 140 Kbps on my CDMA phone, and CDMA EV-DO is coming later this year. That will mean 2.4 Mbps.

Moral of the story: GSM is going the way of the dinosaurs, and existing CDMA infrastructure has a huge advantage over traditional GSM infrastructure because it is the same base technology and compatible.

I'm also wondering whether CDMA implementations other than W-CDMA is illegal in South Africa like it is illegal in Western Europe. W-CDMA is not the way to go. CDMA EV-DO has an upgrade path to voer 4 Mbps where W-CDMA needs whole new frequency spectrum allocations. In addition, EV-DO is cheaper. I still find it a little puzzling why Sentech would implement a W-CDMA system, when Japan and south Korea are prime examples that EV-DO is better.

The clock is ticking................... 1,174 kb/s - I brake for no one
http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/cogeco.jpg

mbs · Jan 22, 2004

For ProASM -
Care to take Jerrek's point further, if you have any insight into the decision regarding Sentech's choice of technology?

Jerrek · Jan 22, 2004

I'd definitely be interested. Is CDMA illegal in South Africa, or can an operator buy a frequency spectrum for the use of CDMA? (It is impossible in western Europe).

The clock is ticking................... 1,174 kb/s - I brake for no one
http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/cogeco.jpg

ckleynhans · Jan 23, 2004

CDMA stands for Carrier Detect, Multiple Access. There is nothing in the technology that will make it illegal as it represents the radio frequency access technology itself and not the marketing name. UMTS is a higher level of technology i.e it contains W-CDMA as part of the package as well as the protocols and other associated technology to make the higher bandwidth on the network available as a complete cellular solution which includes data services, voice, location triangulation etc. Part of the high bandwidth is achieved by using smaller cells which will allow fewer subscribers for the available bandwidth. It also uses software antennas that can sweep and select a subscriber.

UMTS is an enhanced form of GSM in the sense that a lot of the protocols that were used for the GSM were enhanced for GPRS and again enhanced for UMTS. The same standards bodies worked on them. UMTS is very advanced in any case to the older technologies. A properly implemented UMTS phone (device) will support GPRS and GSM. But even if doesn't, an upgrade to UMTS by the service providers will backward support GSM and GPRS. You can't change all subscribers overnight to a new technology and therefore it has to be this way. Many GSM subscribers haven't noticed that the network has been upgraded to GPRS. The same will apply with UMTS, only those that can afford and know what it is about will use it.

The technology used in the state based on W-CDMA is not called UMTS and is standardised by ANSI.

There are different flavours of UMTS and the standards bodies handled them in a sequence. There are TDD and FDD technologies and I can't remember the rest now.

3G stand for 3rd generation compared to two version of GSM which made up 1st and second generation and GPRS which fits in inbetween and which is now called 2.5G.

Sentech is using TDD technology in its 3G technology. Exactly what is implemented in their systems i.e how complete an 3G implementation they have is not clear yet, would like to know. If their base stations support the full UMTS implementation for instance, they can become another cellular network operator that sneaked in through the backdoor. In any case, the technology is good and makes it ideal for a data services rollout.

3G licenses were sold in Europe on government auctions and was one of the sole reasons why quite a few telecommunications companies run into trouble as they completely overspend on these. It was the main reason the dot com crash started.In South Africa, apparently, licences won't be sold but just be leased to cellular operators and they won't have to invest nearly as much money as their counterparts in Europe.

How Sentech got hold of theirs is difficult to ascertain and it would be nice if somebody can enlighten us. Obviously, it is limited, probably to data services only, but eventually the sky is the limit.

-----------------------
| Christiaan |
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Jerrek · Jan 24, 2004

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">There is nothing in the technology that will make it illegal as it represents the radio frequency access technology itself and not the marketing name. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
The European Union member countries, before the EU even formally existed, passed legislation banning the implementation of any other cellular network other than GSM. Other countries have followed suit. Combined with the bribery (hint: you pick GSM and we'll build a factory in your country [*cough* Brazil]), that made GSM the most "popular" system in the world.

In Western Europe, you will find no CDMA networks.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">A properly implemented UMTS phone (device) will support GPRS and GSM.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
And cost an arm and a leg.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">But even if doesn't, an upgrade to UMTS by the service providers will backward support GSM and GPRS.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
And unless you build phones with support for GSM/GPRS *and* W-CDMA, the phone won't support both. And if you build a phone that supports both, it will cost an arm and a leg.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">The technology used in the state based on W-CDMA is not called UMTS and is standardised by ANSI.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
W-CDMA and UMTS is the same thing. Europeans call it UMTS because they hate calling it CDMA, an American invention.

ref: http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/August2003/5766.htm

ref2: http://www.denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/10/GSM3G.shtml - "UMTS is another name for W-CDMA and is also known as GSM 3G. It uses a modification of the GSM protocol stack and replaces the TDMA air interface with a CDMA air interface."

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">If their base stations support the full UMTS implementation for instance, they can become another cellular network operator that sneaked in through the backdoor. In any case, the technology is good and makes it ideal for a data services rollout.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
And that is the question. Why pick UTMS, when it is such an obvious inferior system to CDMA EV-DO? Is it because South Africa may have followed Europe's lead and banned CDMA-based networks (other than W-CDMA)?

And some more on the mess in Europe: http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1353050

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Imposing W-CDMA as a single standard in 3G now looks like a big mistake. Far from reinforcing Europe's leadership in wireless, it has done the opposite. Morgan Stanley recently concluded that Asia now leads the world in the adoption of 3G, followed by America. Europe is last.

...That is because as Europe struggles with W-CDMA, a rival 3G technology called CDMA2000 is working well elsewhere.

...In Japan, CDMA2000-1X and W-CDMA are competing head to head, and the results make grim reading for European operators. Japan's NTT DoCoMo launched the world's first commercial W-CDMA network in October 2001. Since then, it has signed up a mere 135,000 subscribers, far short of expectations.

Its rival KDDI, in contrast, launched a CDMA2000-1X service in April 2002, and has already signed up 2.3m customers.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Basically, the various European mobile operators are having a hard time because of technological constraints within their nationally mandated technology base:

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">And others are beginning to ask if they can have permission to deploy CDMA2K instead, but the bureaucrats in the EU aren't having any of it. Yet.

I confess to a deep feeling of satisfaction about this on a personal level, primarily because of all the horse**** I put up with from GSM fans over the years when they talked about how superior the European approach to this was.

The thing is that if the US had followed the same policy, CDMA would never have been given the chance to prove itself. We now have just as good of nationwide systems and just as much portability as the Europeans do, only our system is fundamentally better. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

For more technical details:

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">The essence of the RF level superiority is that the move from CDMA --> CDMA2k is easier than the move from GSM --> WCDMA because the former maintains spectrum backward compatibility while the latter does NOT. Protocol-wise, CDMA2k and WCDMA are at rough parity.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

The clock is ticking................... 1,174 kb/s - I brake for no one
http://home.cogeco.ca/~johannj/net_stuff/cogeco.jpg

ckleynhans · Jan 25, 2004

As said, UMTS is the name on parallel with GSM of the enhanced form of GSM that uses CDMA technology. Whatever the sources say, UMTS is an ETSI european standard. CDMA is the technology used in the physical layer of the UMTS standards. I have written some software on the Radio Resource Layer Protocol RRC stack as well as on the Non Access Stratum NAS part of the UMTS communications protocol. I didn't have to consider any Americans or American sentiment when I was doing it. The standards were developed by many companies which included Nokia, Ericsohn, Alcatel etc. Many of these companies were also developing the system that was going to be used in the states based on W-CDMA.

Before I get into major arguments, I will have to check all my sources again as it has been a while since I have been involved and then I will be able to explain in full.

-----------------------
| Christiaan |
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