Cell C 'deploys MPLS network in six weeks'

Finally some good news from CellC

Initially the network will carry Cell C's data traffic (GPRS and EDGE wireless services), but, in due course, the full capabilities of a next-generation-network will be leveraged to transmit voice traffic using VoIP, he adds.
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Waiting eagerly for CellC to go live with its MPLS network - this really has the potential to make Virgin Mobile more attractive for data transfer via EDGE [coverage still an issue of course], and it should drastically improve data QoS on CellC's network :).
 
Hope this means faster data rates. Now the reason for not investing in 3G becomes clear.
 
Ok, so as a layman, cellc's MPLS network once implemented, Cellc's network is ahead of vodacom & MTN? (its more advanced?, capable of doing thing better? etc)
 
But as i understand it, its not just for data, its for voice aswell. So, instead of routing calls from "tower over telkom to next tower to handset", it will keep the call on its own network and result in cheaper calls via its own network ?
 
Prometheus said:
Hope this means faster data rates. Now the reason for not investing in 3G becomes clear.
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Won't really help that much I don't think, it'll affect the internal routing, but you'll still have the EDGE speed limitation from the handset to the tower, you're just more likely to get nearer the theoretical maximum I suppose.
 
14 months.. I wonder if they will become cheaper?
 
Syndyre said:
Prometheus said:
Hope this means faster data rates. Now the reason for not investing in 3G becomes clear.
Click to expand...

Won't really help that much I don't think, it'll affect the internal routing, but you'll still have the EDGE speed limitation from the handset to the tower, you're just more likely to get nearer the theoretical maximum I suppose.
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Yep, MPLS is not going to make EDGE any faster than the absolute maximum of 473.6 kbit/s, it just means that data being transferred through MPLS nodes, will be transferred more reliably...
 
Are there any EDGE devices that are actually capable of reaching that speed? Most don't seem to go above 236kb/s or so.
 
Syndyre said:
Are there any EDGE devices that are actually capable of reaching that speed? Most don't seem to go above 236kb/s or so.
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AFAIK your EDGE device would have to support the maximum allowed number of timeslots and then grab and hold onto them, IOW one would never get 473.6 kbit/s.
 
LabAnimal said:
But as i understand it, its not just for data, its for voice aswell. So, instead of routing calls from "tower over telkom to next tower to handset", it will keep the call on its own network and result in cheaper calls via its own network ?
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But who supplies their network? At the moment Telkom supplies MTN's and Vodacom's network. They can use their own network anyway even without MPLS as it's only a protocol. It makes packets easier to route and identify however so I don't know how much of a difference it will make really.
Syndyre said:
Won't really help that much I don't think, it'll affect the internal routing, but you'll still have the EDGE speed limitation from the handset to the tower, you're just more likely to get nearer the theoretical maximum I suppose.
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Of course you can't go faster than your link speed. Atm we're not getting the maximum however.
AmaDownload said:
Prometheus said:
Hope this means faster data rates. Now the reason for not investing in 3G becomes clear.
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I'm not sure what is meant with this comment?
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I'm not sure about what you are unsure of.
 
AmaDownload said:
I am not clear on the strategy of not investing in UMTS/HSDPA in 2006/2007?
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If Cell C just invested in a network that will take them 14 months to pay off it makes sense that they would not invest in 3G now but rather ensure that their network is ready for when they do start rolling it out. But hey maby a quarter of Vodacom's and MTN's customers will move over to them and VM and they will start rolling out a few months early. (Yeah right but we can dream can't we) For now they don't have the subscribers to sustain a 3G network. I was just worried that they were doing nothing except collecting cash which is thankfully not the case.
 
and also ensures end-to-end quality of service (QoS), he claims.
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Nice marketing spin. While MPLS does make it a little simpler to engineer a QoS network, its usage alone does not automatically guarantee end-to-end QoS. Anyway MPLS's usage is quite common these days and it's hardly leading edge. Many medium sized companies already use it today for their VPN needs.
 
I just hope this wasn't what Cell C meant by "upgrading the network" after Virgin Mobile launched.
 
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