Cdma

This sounds kinda strange. Anyone know anything about this technology?

How expensive is it and where else in the world is it used?
 
Im generally not in favor of American technologies....they are usually not too compatible with the rest of the world......PAL/NTSC is one of many of those technologies. I hope we dont have similar compatability issues here.
 
Leftfoot said:
Im generally not in favor of American technologies....they are usually not too compatible with the rest of the world......PAL/NTSC is one of many of those technologies. I hope we dont have similar compatability issues here.
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Why would it matter for your home phone and (mostly) fixed internet? They'll have to use different phones with any wireless tech.

I guess Neotels initial CDMA internet offerings won't really be what we are looking for. There will probably be quite tight caps seeing as they need the network mostly for phone calls which cant be comprimised, so I'm waiting for news on their WiMax. Hopefully it will be the fixed implementation and finally give us >1mb wireless speeds with decent caps.
 
We didn't go from TDMA straight to CDMA, the author seems confused. We went TDMA->FDMA->CDMA
 
I think this product is gonna drive prices down big time especially in the lower end of the market, which is a really good thing.

I've spoken to a number of people in the know at Telkom and apparently they're ready and waiting. Prices are gonna drop big time at the bottom end. For example people currently subscribing to DSL384 are outlaying around R 400 p/m for adsl and telephony. This product from Neotel will probably be priced at around R 150 to R 180 p/m. That's a decent saving. So Telkom will be forced to drop their prices to stay competitive.
 
Neotel has already indicated there are no fixed monthly subscriptions, so they're likely to better Telkom by over 100 bucks already.

On an aside, I've threatened Telkom with Neotel (since I talking to them about fibre with a pop only 200 metres away), would you believe my saix dedicated link has been down for 5 days!

D
 
Garyvdh said:
This sounds kinda strange. Anyone know anything about this technology?

How expensive is it and where else in the world is it used?
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It's actually just a confusing article.

CDMA is widely used in various forms around the world such as WCDMA used in the Vodacom 3G/HSDPA networks. (and most of the world)

Neotel intends to use CDMA-2000, a popular 3G standard in the US. (But not really anywhere else)

Best is to compare it directly with 3G (which it is). Needs a similar network to Vodacom/MTN.
 
They can keep their wireless. If I want wireless I will go through iBurst, MTN, Sentech, Vodacom, a WISP or even Virgin Mobile. There are mucho choices in the wireless game but bugger all in the physical "I have an actual beautiful copper/fibre line straight to my house" market.

I thought that they were supposed to be a fixed line competitor to Telkom??
 
They were supposed to be a fixed line competitor and as far as I understand it, they ae buidling a fiber network. They've been laying fiber all over the country. However, the main reason they've gone wireless, is because it will allow them to get going more quickly, and it means they don't have to wait for Telkom to unbundle the local loop.

As for latency issues and the contention by some that they will stay with MTN, Vodacom or whoever, remember taht Neotel now has direct access to SAT-3. They also have or are establishing an interent hub (doubt that's the right word) in Johannesburg which should alleviate high latency.

Anyway that's just how I understand their plans.
 
pkid said:
They can keep their wireless. If I want wireless I will go through iBurst, MTN, Sentech, Vodacom, a WISP or even Virgin Mobile. There are mucho choices in the wireless game but bugger all in the physical "I have an actual beautiful copper/fibre line straight to my house" market.

I thought that they were supposed to be a fixed line competitor to Telkom??
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We'll have to see what their bandwidth prices are. The data prices on the wireless providers are absolutely ridiculous. It may be wireless but I don't think you can compare Neotel's future offerings to the current wireless providers


i don't understand all the fuss and irritation with neotel. everything will happen eventually. This is South Africa, things move slowly. We should be used to it. Don't balme Neotel. At least they're trying to come up with a competitive solution and wireless is the only way to do it quickly.
 
Leftfoot said:
Im generally not in favor of American technologies....they are usually not too compatible with the rest of the world......PAL/NTSC is one of many of those technologies. I hope we dont have similar compatability issues here.
Click to expand...
I don't get your comparison. PAL and NTSC are two different technologies and so wouldn't be compatible with each other. CDMA2000 is used as a standard in a lot of countries and you'll necessarily need a new handset that's provided.
Ekhaatvensters said:
I guess Neotels initial CDMA internet offerings won't really be what we are looking for. There will probably be quite tight caps seeing as they need the network mostly for phone calls which cant be comprimised, so I'm waiting for news on their WiMax. Hopefully it will be the fixed implementation and finally give us >1mb wireless speeds with decent caps.
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The network is one and the same ip network. Everything including WiMax goes over the same systems. Voice is essentially VoIP.
 
if their system doesnt need electricity i will switch as at the moment i work off a laptop. my adsl goes through a router. whenever i am loadshed i can still work i just have no internet connectivity. so if they have a system which allows me access without electricity or that has a battery backup then i'll switch.

on a side note has anyone though that maybe eskom and telkom are in cahoots and this whole load shedding thing is just a way for telkom to enforce the 24 hour reset? lol
 
Clearly the article is aimed at the uninformed / man-in-the-street but even then it's lacking some crucial details like coverage, performance and expected cost.

It could only be me, but the articles seems incomplete. Surely the purpose of an article is to provide information, cover the topic from start to finish? Unless this was an extract of a definition entry for wiki or something.

The information on the Neotel site gives a little bit more but seems to be more 'sales' oriented and not enough technical. What does
... preparing for commercial launch to customers in the metropolitan areas of Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban. Neotel's converged services featuring high speed Internet with carrier-grade voice are due for commercial availability in early 2008.
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mean? For example is it all central JHB and surrounds or only around heavily populated municipalities with gaps in and around the city? Some maps to this effect would be very useful - if they can also be accurate.

It offers a very smooth migration path from basic voice to high-speed internet through EV-DO, offering peak data speeds of 2.4 megabits per second (average data speeds 400-600 kilobits per second). CDMA 1x EV-DO provides a satisfactory customer experience for all standard internet usage, including sending/receiving emails, browsing the internet, and downloading content as well as applications.

and

Evolutions of CDMA 1x EV-DO technology are already in the pipe-line, with EV-DO Rev A offering peak 3.1 megabits per second, EV-DO Rev B in the near future which will deliver peak speeds in the region of 15 megabits per second and EV-DO Rev C in the longer term, which will deliver peak speeds of over 70 megabits per second.
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I would be very happy to have coverage and actually obtain a reliable / sustained average performance of 400-600kbps for my online games.

It's curious though, the small increase from 1xEV-DO to Rev A compared to the large increase in Rev A to Rev B to Rev C. What sort of timeframe could the consumer expect between 'upgrades' and would such require newer equipment? This will help us in planning which services to go for and help decide whether to hold thumbs for a fixedline service offering in the future or not.

I guess I've always been a stickler for details :cool:
 
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friedpiggy said:
if their system doesnt need electricity i will switch as at the moment i work off a laptop. my adsl goes through a router. whenever i am loadshed i can still work i just have no internet connectivity. so if they have a system which allows me access without electricity or that has a battery backup then i'll switch.

on a side note has anyone though that maybe eskom and telkom are in cahoots and this whole load shedding thing is just a way for telkom to enforce the 24 hour reset? lol
Click to expand...

Why don't you use a usb adsl modem with your laptopn when the powers out.

This load shedding is really getting to me. I'm at breaking point - can't take this any more. Productivity is really down. I check the eskom website for load shedding schedules but they're always wrong. What's the point. I don't think it's too much to ask for a little head's up.
 
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