FAQ Discussions - please read the sticky FAQ thread first

Who cares. Aslong as we get the service, I'm really not going to favour my Vodacom/MTN HSDPA because they were the firstest
 
entrepr said:
I'm new to the thread and I saw the press release that Vodacom would be first to launch in April .. blah blah .. first yet again etc and yet MTN says on its Website ... finanical results .. that it has already gone live and is first in Africa ... blah blah ... Who do we believe and do journalists check the stories.
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Can't comment on MTN but I'd suggest you see where you can actually buy a HSDPA card and where it's working on HSDPA.

Typing this, I'm sitting in Hermanus on HSDPA and the last throughput test I ran sat around 1.2Mb/s....

There are about 150 Vodacom people here, most with HSDPA cards and during the day (with everyone online) I was getting 800-900Kb/s. Not too shabby!
 
V3G and heavy use

vodacom3g said:
Typing this, I'm sitting in Hermanus on HSDPA and the last throughput test I ran sat around 1.2Mb/s....

There are about 150 Vodacom people here, most with HSDPA cards and during the day (with everyone online) I was getting 800-900Kb/s. Not too shabby!
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V3G, are you saying that the usual download speed is 1.2Mb/s, but when 150 extra people climb onto the network, it drop down to 800-900Kb/s? Eish, sound like either Vodacom employees are real heavy users, or the bandwith is a bit limited?

:D

I am kidding. We are all jealous man!! I can't wait for the day when I can change my name to HSDPAisDaMan

By the way, V3G, since the solution is based on data usage, I asume that Vodacom will not get into the permanent connected market, where you could run webservers and stuff of your HSDPA solution?
 
vodacom3g said:
Can't comment on MTN but I'd suggest you see where you can actually buy a HSDPA card and where it's working on HSDPA.

Typing this, I'm sitting in Hermanus on HSDPA and the last throughput test I ran sat around 1.2Mb/s....

There are about 150 Vodacom people here, most with HSDPA cards and during the day (with everyone online) I was getting 800-900Kb/s. Not too shabby!
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What a slap in the face for Telkom. We must be the only country in the world where the mobile operators give you more speed than the fixed line one.
 
3GisDaMan said:
V3G, are you saying that the usual download speed is 1.2Mb/s, but when 150 extra people climb onto the network, it drop down to 800-900Kb/s? Eish, sound like either Vodacom employees are real heavy users, or the bandwith is a bit limited?

By the way, V3G, since the solution is based on data usage, I asume that Vodacom will not get into the permanent connected market, where you could run webservers and stuff of your HSDPA solution?
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Remember, all these people are on one cell so the shared resources will get loaded. In any case, I'll take 800Kb/s anyday!

The current products are usage-based but once the infrastructure is in place and technologies like WiMax is commercially available, who knows.......?
 
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Is HSDPA any good for online gaming? I'm currently using iburst and am really unhapppy about the shaping, it's become totally useless as far as online gaming?

Is the HSDPA service also shaped?

Thanks :D
 
ic said:
LOL, it's not a phobia as such - more of a personal preference :).

Anyways since my 7 year old notebook died last month, I am faced with having to get a new notebook that was actually manufactured in this millennium, and whatever I get, it will probably take me down that ExpressCard path...

v3g, are there any ExpressCard HSDPA data cards available yet from Option|Novatel?
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They are on the way, but I don't think we have right now.
 
Who the heck decided to make things complicated by naming it HSDPA? Since it's basically a software upgrade we could call it 3G 2.0, like with USB.
 
We've been trying for a while to disconnect the access technology from the service. This was one of the drivers in the marketing to say you get a specific bundle, irrespective of the connection speed with a guarantee to always give best possible speed.

However, the whole industry is going down the complex, acronym route and thus it will probably be known as 3G HSDPA or just HSDPA.

There is no industry accepted definition for 3G, 3G+, 3.5G, 4G, etc. They're all marketing terms, often abused as only marketeers can.
 
What speed can I expect?

Although HSDPA is being launched with a maximum download speed of 1.8Mb/s, it is important to realise that this is a best possible speed when all parameters are perfect.

Radio access is not like copper where you have a known bandwidth and bits are clocked at a fixed rate, say 512Kb/s on ADSL.

Radio systems must work under varying conditions and as such were developed to provide best possible speed taking all factors such as RF conditions, number of users, etc. into consideration.

With HSDPA, you see a distinct drop in throughput as you move away from the cell center.

I've been watching my throughput over the last few days and have seen numbers as low as 600Kb/s (!) and as high as 1.4Mb/s. Average is probably between 800-900 Kb/s.
 
Haven't been doing long term latency tests yet, but the whole feel is more snappy.

Mu current session has now been up for more than 3 days, i.e. since I arrived I've not been disconnected.
 
Howdy V3G

Can u maybe hint at the new card cash prices, and also which one u would recommend? Also hints as to what new data pricing we can expect (R498/GB or R399/GB, etc)? I'd like to buy a new card but obviously depends on availability and price.:cool:

Many thanks

Underneath-the-Radar
 
1) Is the maximum total bandwidth on an HSDPA tower the same as a 3G tower?
2) If a specific tower has 3G and HSPDA capability, how is the bandwidth shared between the two?
3) Ditto on the latency, please give us ping results for a local and a few international sites. But don't cheat! Do a few now if you can but also please during peak times :)

3Gisdaman said:
By the way, V3G, since the solution is based on data usage, I asume that Vodacom will not get into the permanent connected market, where you could run webservers and stuff of your HSDPA solution?
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This would be great. Our company is chucking our Diginet line so everything is now running over ADSL. We still want some sort of backup.
A HSDPA router with static IP would be ideal.
 
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neoassasin said:
When will HSDPA cell phones be available?
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No idea, I played with the Samsung HSDPA phone a few weeks ago, but have had no confirmation as to commercial availability. But at least it's real.

We had exactly the same situation when 3G was launched, the data cards were in better supply than the phones. When Vodacom launched 3G, only the E1000 was available. Now (I believe) there are more than 200 3G phone models available worldwide. Not sure what the local count is.
 
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