E220 Old Technology

[Darknet]

I'm in the market for a serious upgrade and this little devil crossed my browser. As far as I can tell it was released last year and was designed for 1.8 Mbps. It has undergone a firmware update which made the top speed 3.6Mbps.

** If I wanted to use it in Europe or some more civilized country that has 7.2Mbps will there be an upgrade or has it peaked already. Should I be looking at the more advanced Novatel XU870?

 

[Syndyre]

AFAIK no country has 3.6Mbps yet, let alone 7.2Mbps and at the rates you'll be charged in Europe you won't be able to make much use of the extra speed!

 

[SecretCode]

AFAIK no country has 3.6Mbps yet, ...

So is MTN lying when my E220 says it's connected at 3.6Mbps?

 

[Syndyre]

I'm guessing that's just the port speed or theoretical maximum, MTN and Voda definitely don't have 3.6Mbps yet...

 

[Darknet]

So is MTN lying when my E220 says it's connected at 3.6Mbps?

This is max speed & not the actual spd.

 

[Darknet]

AFAIK no country has 3.6Mbps yet, let alone 7.2Mbps and at the rates you'll be charged in Europe you won't be able to make much use of the extra speed!

http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Sept2006/3583.htm

Vodafone becomes the first operator in Portugal to offer Internet access at broadband speeds of up to 3.6Mbps, around 10 times faster than currently available with 3G.

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http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/commun...to_3_6Mbps_HSDPA/0,130061791,339272291,00.htm

Hutchison's 3 is set to join the HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) 3G club, and will implement the turbo-charged HSDPA 3.6Mbps across its entire network.
#
While Vodafone's enhanced 3G broadband network is built predominately around HSDPA 1.8, Vodafone spokesman Greg Spears revealed that some parts of Sydney and Melbourne, including the airports of both cities, are already served by HSDPA 3.6 base stations.

 

[Syndyre]

Oops.

 

[SecretCode]

I'm guessing that's just the port speed or theoretical maximum, MTN and Voda definitely don't have 3.6Mbps yet...

On the Voda network my colleague gets a report of 1.8Mbps.

But of course we don't get that throughput when downloading mail or browsing individual sites, and I have no wish to waste my monthly MB on a test downloading from multiple parallel sites ... at least not yet!

 

[Syndyre]

Is your colleague maybe using the Vodafone software and you're using the Huawei or MTN F@stlink software? Just thinking they might report it differently. MTN will definitely announce when they launch 3.6Mbps HSDPA though, especially if they beat Vodacom to it so I'm pretty sure it hasn't happened yet.

 

[SecretCode]

He's using Vodafone software, I'm using Huawei and MTN F@stlink software. But it's the windows connection that reports the speed. It must be getting that from the modem not the software?

 

[vodacom3g]

Some relevant points:

- E220 supports 3.6Mb/s

- Vodacom (and MTN) is currently on 1.8Mb/s. Vodacom is due to upgrade in this year to 3.6 and then to 7.2.

- 3.6Mb/s connected speed is a line of text generated by the application and does not refer to actual connection speed. Use LED on modem to check bearer.

- Some networks are already on 3.6.

- XU870 will support 7.2

 

[wallace]

Vodacom wishes it was 1.8Mb/s. More like 500kbps.

 

[Darknet]

Vodacom wishes it was 1.8Mb/s. More like 500kbps.

((He he, I'll preserve your post b4 it gets deleted.))

My point it the e220 is already at max capacity upgrade and cant be used for 7.2Mbps when it comes.
OLD technology.
QED.

 

[vodacom3g]

My point it the e220 is already at max capacity upgrade and cant be used for 7.2Mbps when it comes.
OLD technology.
QED.

Not really. The networks only support 1.8 at the moment and this modem can go to 3.6.

AFAIK, there is no modem available yet that can support 7.2. They will be coming soon, but currently the E220 is actually 'cutting-edge'

But it's a fast changing world.

 

[atomcrusher]

AFAIK, there is no modem available yet that can support 7.2.

The Merlin XU870 Express card is available (not in SA of course, but in other advanced countries). OK - it's strictly speaking not a usb modem, but still enables connection at 7.2 mbps.

Well done to VC for reducing prices .. let the (war) games begin! I.e. between VC and mTN ...