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Just In Case 3G Isn't Speedy Enough

Posted by Hemos on from the faster-and-faster-it-goes dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Will we soon be able to download music or videos on our cell phones? Yes, with the arrival of the next 3.5G technology, as reports Jennifer L. Schenker in this International Herald Tribune article. "NTT DoCoMo Inc., the Japanese company that introduced the first third-generation digital mobile phone service in the world, is preparing to pioneer wireless services that are at least 40 times as fast." DoCoMo will use "a technology called HSDPA, for high-speed downlink packet access, also known as 3.5G, [which] is expected to deliver data at as much as 14.4 megabits a second." This new technology will not arrive in Europe before 2006 at least. Check this column for a summary."

8 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. 2006 eh? by RajivSLK · · Score: 5, Funny

    This new technology will not arrive in Europe before 2006 at least.

    Japan now and in europe in 2006 -- early extrapolations of this trend indicate that this technology will splash into the north american market as early as 2032.

    Lets keep our fingers crossed.

  2. In Europe? No way.. by fille · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "All European operators are eventually expected to move to 3G networks to ensure that there is enough capacity to handle voice and increased data traffic."

    I don't think it will be introduced in Europe in the near future. Even WAP is a total disaster here. When will these people learn that we don't need 14.4 Mbits on our cellphone? We just want to make a call and send SMS. Japanese people may like the newest gadgets but in Europe, people do not get excited by this technology..

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    History matters..
  3. Where are the applications? by nnnneedles · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It would be nice to have an mp3 player that you could travel with and continuosly download music to without having to dock it to a stationary PC.

    other than that and multiplayer gaming, what cell phone applications possibly need this bandwidth?

    They are having a hard time coming up with useful applications for current cell phones with gprs as it is.

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    Will code a sig generator for food
  4. i hate to be a buzzkill by gTsiros · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but we'd prefer broadband in our home for less than a kidney/month and have it *now* instead of 14Mb in our cellphones in 3 years.

    How come greece sucks so much that we're the only goddamn country in europe that still hasn't got dialup.

    i pay fucking E100/month for sucky dialup.

    you really think this 3g shit is going to make us happy?

    get lost.

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    Looking for people to chat about multicopters, coding, music. skype: gtsiros
  5. 3G is a gimmiky flop by jocks · · Score: 5, Informative

    We have had 3G introduced here in the UK and so far it is awful. The handsets are expensive, the service is expensive, the battery life is very poor, the phones don't play mp3/ogg, the reception is extremely bad and you cannot get "The Internet" on the system either (they don't like you talking about that).

    Call it what you like and make it as fast as you like but no-one is biting. It is an expensive technology conceived and financed at the height of the .COM boom which will never make its money back.

    Our biggest telecoms company wrote off the £9-billion license cost last week to try and stimulate the market. Guess what...no change.

    The first commercial vendor of 3G (a company called "3") has already resorted to pron to try to raise interest.

    Save your money, buy more memory or a bigger screen, or send your money to Ethiopia, but don't waste your cash on this junk it will only disappoint.

    1. Re:3G is a gimmiky flop by jocks · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I disagree with you. I think the technology is poorly conceived. Don't get me wrong, it is brilliantly done and very, very clever but it still does not "work". There is no way that I would make a call to my missus in a public place, shouting at a handset held two feet from my face. There is no way I would take out my expensive phone and make a video call in the pouring rain. There is no way I would make a video call whilst walking because I would end up bumping into people, standing on dog turds or falling down stairs. I cannot use the phone in bright light because of the ill-conceived TFT screen.

      Basically I can only fully use the phone inside, in privacy. I'm sorry, I have a life.

  6. I'll be impressed ... by TheGrayArea · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When we can get less dropped calls and actually get decent cell phone coverage away from the interstates. Check out the cell maps of the major carriers, they all hug the lines created by interstates. You go to a rural area like I'm from and the coverage is crap. IMHO the feature set of cell phones is starting to creep into the "that's cool, but I don't think I'll ever need it" category. The camera phones have got to the be worst.

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    This space for rent.
  7. At 14.4 Mb/s... by Markus+Registrada · · Score: 5, Funny
    The battery life for these things will be about three minutes.

    Assuming that by the time the networks get built we can use fuel-cell batteries, then the problem will be heat build-up. Can you imagine a phone with a fan? Heat pumps are little help, because they can only move heat from inside to the case, and you can't have the phone getting too hot to hold. "Are you happy to see me, or is that a 4G phone in your pocket?" I suppose ice fisherman could use them to keep their hands warm.

    Before these things could become practical we would need asynchronous-logic chips or spin-coupled logic, both over a decade off.

    The days of defrauding investors are far from over.