Heading for the EdgeAT&T launches EDGE 'almost 3G' network ( old news - 06:35PM Wednesday Nov 19 2003) tags: business · wirelessIn response to Sprint ads claiming the AT&T wireless network is sluggish, the company takes to the Comdex floor to announce the launch of their "EDGE" wireless network. There's a lot of talk about AT&T's announcement around the web, the Motley Fool proclaiming that " Americans are finally getting their first taste of 3G services envisioned years ago." Yeah, Well - sort of. According to the FCC website, to be able to call a service 3G (third generation) wireless, it must be capable of minimum speeds of 144kbps. AT&T's EDGE technology sees speeds ranging from 100 to 130 kbps, with occasional bursts to 200kbps. They're skirting the definition somewhat, but marketing departments are by nature shifty animals. Despite AT&T's claims, the only major vendor to offer true 3G is Verizon, and even that 1xEVDO network is only available in San Diego and Washington D.C. The EDGE service is available for $79.99 a month including unlimited data transfer. It's certainly a step-up, but it's far from a third generation revolution. The AT&T press release has additional detail.
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Unit649
I B U, Who U B?
Premium
join:2000-01-22
Stockton, CA
| Not bad Would be good speed. Pretty cool if they can get it working right without messing up other networks  | |
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bky
moof moof
Premium
join:2002-07-05
Austin, TX | Ouch $79.99 a month? I'll wait for the rates to drop and the service to mature. | |
|  | Sprinter99
join:2003-10-10
Grants Pass, OR | Re: Ouch I think I'll just stick with my Sprint service for now... | |
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MrTangent
join:2001-12-28
Earth
| Re: Ouch said by Sprinter99  :
I think I'll just stick with my Sprint service for now...
How fast, on average, is your Sprint PCS connection?
How much is it a month (normal phone bill +$15, right)?
Does it drop out like regular phone calls do (i.e. how reliable is it)?
Would you recommend it?
Reason I ask is because I'm considering buying a cell phone soon for a mobile internet solution for an Apple notebook that I'm also buying soon. Thanks in advance, btw.
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"War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength." | |
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aSic
application specific
Premium
join:2001-05-17
Wakulla, FL
clubs:
| Re: Ouch said by MrTangent :
said by Sprinter99 :
I think I'll just stick with my Sprint service for now...
How fast, on average, is your Sprint PCS connection?
How much is it a month (normal phone bill +$15, right)?
Does it drop out like regular phone calls do (i.e. how reliable is it)?
Would you recommend it?
Reason I ask is because I'm considering buying a cell phone soon for a mobile internet solution for an Apple notebook that I'm also buying soon. Thanks in advance, btw.
How fast.. usually near 110-130kbps. Speeds vary by market. Thats where they usually hang here. In different areas I've seen less, and in some I see closer to 3g speeds.
How much, normal bill +$10. Although if you sign up now, the revised TOS expressly prohibits connections to a PC. Many ppl do it anyways, and they wont come down on you unless you use very heavily.
Does it drop out like regular calls? I've *never* experienced a "droppped call" unless I was in a moving vehicle...and I've been with Sprint since they launched in my market back in 8/98, with the 9600bps 2g link. If you're stationary, it is as rock solid as a landline connection. It will time out and require reconnects, (to keep those PC users irritated enough to stay off) but thats easily overcome.
Would I recommend it? Are there no other options than cellular service? Then heck yeah. You cant beat it.
Apple? Good luck locating USB drivers... I'm sure some exist, but still..good luck.
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Thats the long and short of it. You want more info, visit the Cellular Forum
Cheers.
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Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say. | irc.fj33r.com #dslr | Starband and DirecWay Certified Installer - Starband SRS GE4 C4/S69 | |
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MrTangent
join:2001-12-28
Earth
| Re: Ouch said by aSic :
How fast.. usually near 110-130kbps. Speeds vary by market. Thats where they usually hang here. In different areas I've seen less, and in some I see closer to 3g speeds.
How much, normal bill +$10. Although if you sign up now, the revised TOS expressly prohibits connections to a PC. Many ppl do it anyways, and they wont come down on you unless you use very heavily.
Does it drop out like regular calls? I've *never* experienced a "droppped call" unless I was in a moving vehicle...and I've been with Sprint since they launched in my market back in 8/98, with the 9600bps 2g link. If you're stationary, it is as rock solid as a landline connection. It will time out and require reconnects, (to keep those PC users irritated enough to stay off) but thats easily overcome.
Would I recommend it? Are there no other options than cellular service? Then heck yeah. You cant beat it.
Apple? Good luck locating USB drivers... I'm sure some exist, but still..good luck.
Thanks for the info. Almost every USB phone driver is built-in to OS X, actually. My sister's new Sanyo was built-in when I set up her Sprint PCS with her iBook. OS X has come a long way, especially with iSync and so on.
The thing I'm waiting on is for Sprint to come out with a Bluetooth-enabled phone so I can get online without wires of any kind. Sprint is supposed to be supporting a new(ish) Sony-Ericsson Bluetooth phone but haven't released it yet. Bluetooth (I hate wires!!!) is a necessity so until they support it, I won't sign up.
But again, thanks for all your information. It is invaluable. Take care.
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"War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength." | |
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SuperJudge
Magus
Premium
join:2002-11-14
Albany, GA
clubs:
| Re: Ouch said by MrTangent :
said by aSic :
How fast.. usually near 110-130kbps. Speeds vary by market. Thats where they usually hang here. In different areas I've seen less, and in some I see closer to 3g speeds.
How much, normal bill +$10. Although if you sign up now, the revised TOS expressly prohibits connections to a PC. Many ppl do it anyways, and they wont come down on you unless you use very heavily.
Does it drop out like regular calls? I've *never* experienced a "droppped call" unless I was in a moving vehicle...and I've been with Sprint since they launched in my market back in 8/98, with the 9600bps 2g link. If you're stationary, it is as rock solid as a landline connection. It will time out and require reconnects, (to keep those PC users irritated enough to stay off) but thats easily overcome.
Would I recommend it? Are there no other options than cellular service? Then heck yeah. You cant beat it.
Apple? Good luck locating USB drivers... I'm sure some exist, but still..good luck.
Thanks for the info. Almost every USB phone driver is built-in to OS X, actually. My sister's new Sanyo was built-in when I set up her Sprint PCS with her iBook. OS X has come a long way, especially with iSync and so on.
The thing I'm waiting on is for Sprint to come out with a Bluetooth-enabled phone so I can get online without wires of any kind. Sprint is supposed to be supporting a new(ish) Sony-Ericsson Bluetooth phone but haven't released it yet. Bluetooth (I hate wires!!!) is a necessity so until they support it, I won't sign up.
But again, thanks for all your information. It is invaluable. Take care.
I'm usually in Albany, GA, which doesn't have the best coverage. On Visions, I could pull anywhere from 85 - 256, and usually stayed right around 85 - 115.
There were a lot of billing discrepancies however, and I got charged for connecting the phone to my laptop, and charged quite a bit ($400+), and it took quite some time to get that issue resolved, as their billing agents are very quick to point fingers and brush you off.
Billing also doesn't seem to know that, in order to use visions with a laptop now, and not get charged heavily (per a rare agent in tech support), you need to purchase a PCMCIA card ($100) and pay to have a separate number for it, as well as a monthly charge, which I don't have much detail on.
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MediaXPeer | |
| | | | | | | Sprinter99
join:2003-10-10
Grants Pass, OR |  sorry I didn't get to it first...
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JoshNJ
Premium
join:2001-12-25
Freehold, NJ
| said by aSic :
Apple? Good luck locating USB drivers... I'm sure some exist, but still..good luck.
apparently the drivers are built into os x...
»www.sonosphere.com/resources/Spr···SVision/
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"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies." - Thomas Jefferson | |
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LaWirelesWeb
join:2000-10-05
Culver City, CA
clubs:
| i use my sprint phone with a cable i bought at radio shack to connect to my mac g3 series powerbook. with sonnett g4 upgrade 512 ram and 60 gig hd. i use a usb mcally card for the hookup since i dont have usb built into laptop.
the driver is built into osx
according to tos you are not allowed to use the phone like this but i have been doing it for almost a year and it does not cost a penny more then my regular billing.
in los angeles i get speeds of 40k to 90k usally surfs the web ok and i use timbukto to connect to my home pc network with no problems.
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»www.LaWirelessWeb.com | |
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Sisqo
World Champs. Babe Who?
Premium
join:2002-08-14
Methuen, MA | The price tag is a little steep! | |
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TheToro
Premium
join:2003-06-05
London, UK | the Speed is slow is it the same 36 and UMTS?
Here, in Europe the UMTS or the 3G in the case if they are the same, is growing, and the broadband is bigger is about 384kb. | |
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wireless123
@170.35.x.x | Re: the Speed is slow UTMS is the same as WCDMA in the states. This is the common path GSM networks will take (cingular, ATT and Tmobile). Cdma providers such as verizon and Sprint will use EVDV which will use less spectrum and achieve more speed then UTMS/WCDMA | |
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DotDitDot
@algx.net
|  Re: the Speed is slow
Out of curiosity, does WCDMA keep the same vocoder as current GSM networks??? | |
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TheToro
Premium
join:2003-06-05
London, UK | What? sorry i cant understand you, the english is not my natural language... and u guys are using a technical language, is very hard for me | |
| | | | cchhat01
The Guru
join:2001-05-01
Elmhurst, NY
| Re: the Speed is slow yes, it is a technical term? Vocoder is the voice encoder in wireless technology.
TO answer that question... I am not quite sure if that is the case. It should be making use of the same vocoder because voice doesn't need to be compressed any further.
And for some people's general information... GSM Vocoders are supposed to be the most robust, meaning that they offer the true quality of sound in wireless technology. However AT&T and Cingular have sort of garbled it up by incorrect implementations. I am happy with the way in which T-Mobile has tweaked their network.
I would guess that GSM has a long way to go before it really matures here in the US. This 3G of AT&T is more or less a crap version of 3G, trying to sell a 2.8G. ANd $79.99 is way too expensive. My suggestion is go with T-Mobile and get their GPRS T-Zones for free with a new activation instead.
and thats all for my two cents.
regards,
Ricky Ponting
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AthlonXP 2200+, ASUS A7V333, 512MB DDR333 PC 2700, 80GB WD HDD w/8MB cache, and more... | |
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TheToro
Premium
join:2003-06-05
London, UK | Re: the Speed is slow yes, it is a technical term?
HA HA , very Funny ¬_¬....
¿acaso puedes hablar otro idioma que no sea Inglés? | |
| IAmTheEvilest
There Is Nothing Like A Restart
join:2001-01-03
Santa Barbara, CA
clubs:
| Old News... Sorry to break this to you, but the EDGE network has been up and running for quite a while. Anyone how has or had a Nokia 6200 will know that it has been up for about 2-3 months already. It was just recently that AT&T has officially launched.
Unlike T-Mobile's GPRS, the $80 unlimited is actually a supported configuration. For unlimited access on T-Mobile's unreliable network for PCs, it would be $20. While I would agree that AT&T is primarily overpriced, it is priced at where the rest of the competition is. Take a look at unlimited for Verizon and Sprint. The price is about the same.
T-Mobile hasn't announced any upgrade plans, thus we do not know what T-Mobile will do. So right now, they can only compete in terms of price, not quality of service.
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The two biggest things: the universe & human stupidity --Albert Einstein | |
| | keason
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Ann Arbor, MI | not a substitute for a land line GPRS and Sprint have terrible latency - 500ms or so. Forget about running terminal services or anything interactive. Hopefully ATT has made some progress with the newer network. | |
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treo
@cox.net | Re: not a substitute for a land line Im sitting here logged into a WinXp pro box via a TS client using a Treo 600 and T-Mobile GPRS. The latency is not that bad at all, and its actually useful. | |
| | | | keason
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Ann Arbor, MI | Re: not a substitute for a land line What latency to you get with the Tmobile GPRS? | |
| | JJV
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Seattle, WA
clubs: | Re: Old News... Att has worse gsm service than Tmobile. They are just starting to build thier network.
I would avoid any gsm service in the USA. | |
| | | IAmTheEvilest
There Is Nothing Like A Restart
join:2001-01-03
Santa Barbara, CA
clubs:
| Re: Old News... Sorry... but the last time I used T-Mobile GPRS, I was disconnected mid-download. I did not suffer the same problem with AT&T Wireless. And I was not moving either.
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The two biggest things: the universe & human stupidity --Albert Einstein | |
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DotDitDot
@algx.net
| Rumour has it that T-Mobile USA is going to launch their EDGE network in Q1 2004. Most of their new buildouts for the past year have been with EDGE hardware, and they have announced numerous contracts for EDGE hardware with the vendors over the past years. | |
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BrushedTooth
Remember To Shop Smart Shop S Mart
join:2001-02-12
Brecksville, OH
| EDGE is 3G..... EDGE is 3G as it meets the minimum requirements for 3G, so I would call it "almost 3G", unlike verzion and Sprint. It it is slow 3G, but still a step in the right direction.
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"I am just like a clock upon the wall, always moving but never really going anywhere" | |
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anon_guy_5678
@nokia.com
| Re: EDGE is 3G..... EDGE is faster than CDMA 2000.
But CDMA 2000 is officially 3G by the folks that really matter - The 3G Consortium : »www.3gpp.org/
EDGE is not.
BTW, we'll be seeing EDGE from Cingular and T-Mobile soon. They already have it in most markets, they just haven't announced it. | |
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BrushedTooth
Remember To Shop Smart Shop S Mart
join:2001-02-12
Brecksville, OH
| Re: EDGE is 3G..... From all the minimum requirements of 3G I have read EDGE satisfies them. Yes Cingular, T-Mobile, and Dobson all have EDGE rolled out in various markets, although at this time I believe Cingular will only offer 2+1 for EDGE, but that might be a rumor.
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"I am just like a clock upon the wall, always moving but never really going anywhere" | |
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cvrefugee
Premium
join:2003-09-15
Corona, CA
| Sprint PCS Out of all the wireless providers, Sprint is the best in terms of their data network. They only charge $15/month (on top of your voice plan) to use their internet, email, and picture messaging (with a camera phone). Unlimited usage. I've used it a lot and find it very useful. No airtime minutes are used unlike Verizon. T-Mobile has caps (no unlimited anything) and AT&T is too expensive. You can use the internet on T-Mobile and AT&T (plus Cingular) only in select parts of the country. Sprint PCS was the first wireless carrier to open up their 3G network NATIONWIDE. Anywhere you get a Sprint signal you can use their 3G applications. Not to mention they started ReadyLink (like Nextel's PTT) NATIONWIDE for only $5/month (if you already have Vision - Sprint's 3G program). They have the better quality phones and great family plans. I've used Cingular, Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. Out of those Verizon is the best, but Sprint is better. Okay, this is starting to sound like a commercial! | |
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BrushedTooth
Remember To Shop Smart Shop S Mart
join:2001-02-12
Brecksville, OH
| Re: Sprint PCS Maybe in your area, but Sprint is awful in Ohio, Michigan, PA, KY, basically the whole midwest, East, and most of the South. T-Mobile offers unlimited data for $20 a month and their coverage is a bit superior of SPCS.
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"I am just like a clock upon the wall, always moving but never really going anywhere" | |
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cvrefugee
Premium
join:2003-09-15
Corona, CA
| Re: Sprint PCS
Coverage Maps |
said by BrushedTooth :
Maybe in your area, but Sprint is awful in Ohio, Michigan, PA, KY, basically the whole midwest, East, and most of the South. T-Mobile offers unlimited data for $20 a month and their coverage is a bit superior of SPCS.
Look at the map. On the GSM networks, analog roaming doesn't exist. No GSM signal = no signal. Sprint's analog/digital roaming uses Verizon's network. Only $5 extra a month and no roaming charges for Sprint. On the map, only the gray areas indicate no service. Now look at where T-Mobile doesn't have service. | |
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cvrefugee
Premium
join:2003-09-15
Corona, CA
| All coverage maps
todos |
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| | | | | millenniumj
join:2004-02-03
Perth Amboy, NJ
1 edit | Re: Sprint PCS Number one, coverage maps (especially Sprint's) have errors and most carriers blow them up.
T-Mobile (and all German companies for that matter) are known to be very modest with their specs.
I have used T-Mobile service in areas where the map shows no coverage.
Sprint is garbage anyway, as I was once in the middle of NYC and i had no coverage on my sprint phone.
I always have had coverage with my T-Mo phone, and it has NEVER dropped a call!!!
Plus CDMA is 1960's technology while GSM is 1980's technology.
GSM networks in Europe have GSM coverage across the whole country. For example, T-Mobile Germany's coverage map (»www.gsmworld.com/cgi/imap_gsminf···e=middle), and Vodafone's Germany map (»www.gsmworld.com/cgi/imap_gsminf···e=middle). And look at all of the marine coverage!!! | |
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DotDitDot
@algx.net
| Yeah, it really is sounding like a commercial.
You're a little misinformed concercing T-Mobile. There are no data caps, and you can use the current GPRS service anywhere in the country where they have a signal. The same will apply when EDGE launches, you will be able to use it nationwide. They never launch half-assed networks where you can only use certain features in select markets.
The family plans of T-Mobile still beat out the Sprint ones in terms of value if you do the math (Someone else did it on howardforums.com).
Phone choice and preference is a personal matter; I'm not a big fan of all the clam-shell phones. | |
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cvrefugee
Premium
join:2003-09-15
Corona, CA
| stuff said by DotDitDot:
You're a little misinformed concercing T-Mobile. There are no data caps, and you can use the current GPRS service anywhere in the country where they have a signal
True, I didn't notice that T-Mobile now offers unlimited internet for $19.99/month. But they don't include text messaging, which is an extra $6.99/month per 1000. Sprint's Vision is only $15/month (free on plans $100+) and has unlimited internet and messaging. I meant to say that the internet only works on AT&T's GSM network, so unless you're on their GSM network you can't get net access.
said by DotDitDot:
They never launch half-assed networks where you can only use certain features in select markets
I hope you're talking about Verizon there, because Sprint launched 3G nationwide, not in select markets.
said by DotDitDot:
The family plans of T-Mobile still beat out the Sprint ones in terms of value if you do the math (Someone else did it on howardforums.com)
I have a good family plan but right now Sprint isn't offering any good deals there. I pay $100/month for two lines, 2000 anytime minutes, unlimited internet/messaging, unlimited nights & weekends, and unlimited PCS-PCS. They also give us unlimited picture mail and a $5 credit towards screensavers/ringers/games (off Sprint's website). I prefer to use 3gupload.com for that stuff.
said by DotDitDot:
Phone choice and preference is a personal matter; I'm not a big fan of all the clam-shell phones.
As for the clam-shell phones, Sprint has many PDA phones and a few candy-bar style phones. Check out the Sanyo 5500 on phonescoop.com - it will be the best phone around.
Also, when I download a game, for example, it downloads at like 15kbps - pretty good if you ask me.
T-Mobile, Cingular, and AT&T all share the same cell towers. GSM technology can only handle 3-5 calls per tower. Dropped calls anyone? I had Cingular back when they were Pacific Bell Mobile Services. They were great until T-Mobile showed up. Now AT&T is converting over to GSM. I moved and only Sprint & Verizon have a signal in my house. So I said tchau to Cingular! | |
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bhhurd
Premium
join:2003-02-13
Korea
1 edit | Re: EDGE is 3G..... EDGE only meets the minimum requirements of 3G if you change the definition. The ITU original definition of 3G included systems that met the following performance levels:
Stationary - 2 mbps (EDGE is not even close to this)
Pedestrian - 384 kbps (EDGE is well off this mark also)
Mobile (120 kmh) - 144 kbps (EDGE might meet this with the SE EDGE pc card, but 2+1 handsets like the Noki 6200 will not)
Handsets are getting 90 - 130 kbps with EDGE, however like all wireless data networks, it depends on location and tower usage. | |
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BrushedTooth
Remember To Shop Smart Shop S Mart
join:2001-02-12
Brecksville, OH
| Re: EDGE is 3G..... Yes EDGE only meets the mobile requirement for 3G, anf that is what it is being sold for, except the except the PCMCIA cards which under optimal conditions should get around 384Kbps.
cvrefugge, I dont use T-Mobile, I actually have AT&T now, but I found their coverage to be superior to SPCS, but remember that is in the Mid-West. I also find SPCS map to be very misleading as do my friends who travel.
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"I am just like a clock upon the wall, always moving but never really going anywhere" | |
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Raheinm
@ibm.com
| Re: EDGE is 3G..... I had att and in my home area I was roaming and they tried to charge me for it.. T-mobile, has very I mean very lil' reception here.. but Sprint on the other hand I have service no matter were I go.. And 4 the people that has sprint now and don't think the service is good then go buy a new phone b/c yours probably sucks.. Sanyo is the way to go | |
| | | trunksy
join:2002-01-31
Arcadia, CA
2 edits | EDGE does meet 3G but not in it's current state on AT&T's network. It was approved on theoretical speeds that EDGE could reach in future iterations with additional channel usage on equipment that isn't publicly available yet. It will get better with phones with higher timeslot usage like Nokia's 6230 using 4+1 timeslots available sometime this quarter (1Q 2004). You're right. That's still nowhere near 3G speeds.
With UTMS already available in Australia, Austria, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Sweden and the UK and 17 other countries getting UTMS by the end of the year, why are we poor saps in the US still talking about a technology that is a 2.5G technology and possibly a 3G technology if we tweak it enough? Shouldn't we be leading technology? Hello? We were the first to the moon and if Bush has his way, Mars. | |
| | | | keason
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Ann Arbor, MI
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| Latency is awful for Sprint - what about others? I use Sprint with a Sanyo 4900 USB phone.
Best latency is 350 ms with range from 350- 2sec.
averages around 600.
This has been fairly consistant wherever I've used it - Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Sacramento.
I'm basing this from ping times from public web site which usually range from 40-70 ms from a T1. | |
| oppedahl
join:2001-09-23
Dillon, CO
| ATTWS Edge service is slower than advertised It turns out that many users of the AT&T Wireless Edge data service are unable to get anywhere near the advertised speeds of 100-130k bits per second. See »forums.attwireless.com/attws/boa···e.id=727 for details. | |
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jgreg
@verizon.net | Re: ATTWS Edge service is slower than advertised I agree, with first SIM got 6kbs to 15kbs.
Second SIM get 15kbs to 45kbs. | |
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Megaspooner
@co.uk
| Slingbox will get your Tmobile contract cut off (not Wifi) In the Uk TMobile web n walk unlimited data plan for browsing on my MDA Compact 2 seamed the perfect partner for a slingbox from my NTL cable source, BUT heres the sting ,TMobile state in their small print that video streaming is not allowed and anyone caught will be put on an unusably slow connection or CUT OFF alltogether?!?!
What I want is an unlimited use of my already paid for tv service across my mobile phone network which I have also already paid for.
How many companies feel they have the right to have a bite of the cherry before my tv picture gets to my eyes.
Just think how great things would be and move forward if mobile companies weren`t so greedy.They are slowing innovation by their greed.
From,
One very pissed off consumer. | |
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