Vodacom first with live LTE network

Well done Vodacom!

150Mbps download speed......Telkom can only dream. :p
 
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Great, now you can finish your tiny cap even faster :rolleyes:

At least the latency is better.
 
Smiley_lauf said:
how will this benefit the simpleJoe on the streets of Kwamashu?
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LTE brings quite a few advantages to mobile broadband. Clearly sheer throughput is one but another is the spectral efficiency of the underlying OFDM, allowing more bits per MHz of allocated bandwidth.

Both of these will allow average throughput per user to increase and thus ease congestion on the tower, which means everyone will get a better slice of the pie, even Joe.

As always, the big challenge is getting sufficient backhaul to the towers.
 
Good to see you're back Jannie!

Just a quick check.....is there something faster (and perhaps better) than the Vodafone B970 router on the horizon, or is that the only 3G router available from Vodacom?
 
I get the feeling it is of more importance to be 'first' with some new technology, than to iron out the wrinkles in the existing technology and get it stable enough for the broad spectrum of users who are struggling with it.
 
Roadrunner said:
I get the feeling it is of more importance to be 'first' with some new technology, than to iron out the wrinkles in the existing technology and get it stable enough for the broad spectrum of users who are struggling with it.
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2G and 3G are pretty stable technologies, both with many years of stabilisation behind them. The challenge is (as always) deployment and, specifically, the resources needed to do so, backhaul, spectrum, etc.

Rather see your two points as two parallel activities;

One the one hand you want to roll existing technology out to every corner of the country. In SA this means upgrading more towers to 3G, and beyond, and (most importantly) get the backhaul in place.

One the other hand, technology development is only accelerating and one has to stay on the curve for a number of reasons.

So you will always see this 'pyramid' effect. New technology enters at the top and as it moves down the stack the deployment gets wider and wider.

Thus today Vodacom covers close to 99% of the population with GPRS/EDGE (see it as the base of the pyramid), more than half of that with HSPA, less with HSPA+ and (soon) the tip with LTE.

This process you see with any technology out there, be it cars, computers or mobile networks.


@kingrob, got no clue, most likely. Will find out.
 
kingrob said:
Good to see you're back Jannie! Just a quick check.....is there something faster (and perhaps better) than the Vodafone B970 router on the horizon, or is that the only 3G router available from Vodacom?
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If you want an all-in-one router the B970 is great (I use it as well), but there are a few other options with routers with a USB port as well. I know Antowan has helped a few clients with that...
 
isn't this a repeat article. The content looks very familiar?
 
rpm said:
If you want an all-in-one router the B970 is great (I use it as well), but there are a few other options with routers with a USB port as well. I know Antowan has helped a few clients with that...
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I know some of the Billion ADSL routers support HSPA USB modems, but I want to be mobile. Just plug my router out, plug it in at the new place and I'm up and running. Like Jannie said once, the B970 is actually not that big, you can carry it with you in your laptop bag (and then sell bandwidth to everyone at the meeting. :) )

More wanting a 14.4Mbps HSPA router (that hopefully doesn't loose the config settings with a power failure) to see 14.4Mbps speed in action and be able to watch YouTube videos without buffering. That will make me very happy.
 
jannievanzyl said:
LTE brings quite a few advantages to mobile broadband. Clearly sheer throughput is one but another is the spectral efficiency of the underlying OFDM, allowing more bits per MHz of allocated bandwidth.

Both of these will allow average throughput per user to increase and thus ease congestion on the tower, which means everyone will get a better slice of the pie, even Joe.

As always, the big challenge is getting sufficient backhaul to the towers.
Click to expand...

Jannie, any plans by VodaCom to make the Fibre MetroNet available commercially to households close to the link, i.e. being the first to provide FTTH in SA ?
 
Joe Average said:
Jannie, any plans by VodaCom to make the Fibre MetroNet available commercially to households close to the link, i.e. being the first to provide FTTH in SA ?
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I guess for those who can apply for a second bond; Yup. :)

What I'm saying is every new technology launches with a steep price. Then, as uptake increase, pricing comes tumbling down. So the first adopters are either those for whom the service is essential (typically business) or an early adopter (people like myself who try to download the internet).

There is no rule that says a consumer can't buy a 'business' product, it's more a function if the value makes sense for a typical consumer.

So today you'll see fiber mostly going to corporate buildings, office parks and a number of residential estates (where the fiber probably distribute over copper, but sometimes fiber).

But soon(ish), we'll see more and more fiber to the home.
 
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