Cdma

[duderoo]

How will they limit each handset to the area in which your phone number resides.

 

[ic]

How will they limit each handset to the area in which your phone number resides.

From what I've read in the past, NeeTel is not allowed to offer a cellular type of service, so each CDMA2000 device [phone handsets, modems] will be linked to one and only one base-station, so you could probably carry your brick CDMA2000 phone with you when visiting some neighbours in your area, but the moment you move into another CDMA2000 base-station's coverage area, you will not be able to use your CDMA2000 device until you return to the coverage of the base-station that your device is linked to.

Personally I think this is a crap restriction - considering that even iBurst SA is allowed to provide nomadic coverage via its base-stations, just seems very unfair that NeeTel should not be allowed to offer the same to its customers.

 

[Prometheus]

The information on the Neotel site gives a little bit more but seems to be more 'sales' oriented and not enough technical. What does 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.

Likely Neotel doesn't know either. I can understand that they don't want to commit to something they may not deliver but it would help to be slightly less vague. The site doesn't seem to have been updated since the trials were started and they should know more by now. It's way too early for a detailed AND accurate map of coverage but they could say where the towers are located.

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

Rev A has a fast packet establishment to reduce latency and the air interface is also optimised to reduce latency. This should have a greater overall impact on the actual speeds achieved. Apart from a 3.1 Mb/s downlink burst rate it also has a 1.8 Mb/s uplink burst rate that could also have a huge impact especially for your gaming. Rev B has an increase in the carrier bit rate and offers multiple carriers that can be bonded together like ISDN. Rev C forms part of Ultra Mobile Broadband but like the 28.8Mb/s for hsdpa it isn't expected for quite some time but possibly before it.

From what I understand Neotel provides the renting of the equipment included in the monthly price so upgrades shouldn't be a problem. As long as you don't break it they can always give it to someone else as they're not selling it. Neotel will be providing a service comparable to hsdpa and since they don't require the high frequency - they're using the 900MHz band - the coverage would be comparable or better than that of gprs.

And don't worry about being a stickler for details 'cause as they say the devil will be in the details.

 

[Prometheus]

I don't think EV-DO and GPRS or even EDGE can compare or play in the same arena lol. EV-DO is a collection of standards as is 3G/HSDPA and GPRS/EDGE is a completely different set of standards. The specifications for UMB are already being finalised and commercial roll-out is expected from mid-2009. The 275Mb/s upstream and 75Mb/s downstream compares favourably to HSPA. Vodacom seems somewhat jealous but they still have a possible chance of *hint* impressing me with their WiMax.

LLU may sound like "the answer" but there are many places Telkom has failed to provide. It will also take them at least 5 years to shorten the loop to provide xDSL. Might as well go the fibre route which will take just as long. CDMA is the only way to keep the masses happy while that is happening.

There's no reason to test CDMA2000 to see if it works like elsewhere in the world as it has been proven time and again with the same manufacturers. Afaik physics functions the same although maths is somewhat different here. Rather just to test it to see what can be expected on Neotel's network.

They wouldn't be on the same wireless network though, i.e the same towers?

I was thinking that the CDMA will be used by far more people, simply for telephones or internet too, so they couldn't have uncapped connections running off those towers because they will become oversaturated. Or is this not really a problem? I suppose it depends on the extent of their rollout.

I realise that everything will be on the same network once it gets to their internal network, but wireless signal and throughput aren't a problem there.

What I meant by the network being one and the same was EXACTLY that. The voice part will essentially be on the same connection that you use for your internet. Only difference it would have a higher priority so if it has to choose between two packets it will choose the voice packet. VoIP can run effectively on a 64kb/s connection and this will have little impact on internet anyway.