EDGE on the "edge"

[sgs]

A while ago (when MTNBB was still around) I enquired about EDGE towers running at std GPRS speeds. The outcome: Signal quality is too low causing a slower coding scheme to be selected.

However, now I read this bit on the Vodacom forum:

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=35587&page=2

According to one of the radio guys who contacted me the Stellenbosch 3 tower (apparently on top of the British American Tobacco building) does not have full EDGE yet. It only has the MCS5 coding scheme, which gives 22.4 kbps per timeslot, which for 4 timeslots, the max a 6680 can handle, gives 89.6 kbps. I got 87 kbps on my test, so full (available) speed there too.

It would seem then that if the netmonitor indicates "EGPRS support" = 1, it means that the tower supports EDGE coding schemes, which is MCS5 to MCS9, but you wouldn't know exactly which one. So, using the netmonitor, you still wouldn't know if you are supposed to get the full 236 kbps that EDGE can theoretically deliver.

This document, http://www.ericsson.com/products/white_papers_pdf/edge_wp_technical.pdf explains the different coding schemes.

I wonder if MTN's been sneaky (probably not intentional ) and did the same thing - upgraded to a higher CS on some base stations but did not install full EDGE support? (And Netmonitor incorrectly shows this as full EDGE capability?)

Methinks its time to drive out to the culprit tower and see what type of speeds I can get from right next to it...