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Bridging 3G, EDGE, GPRS, and WiFi
Rob writes to tell us CBR is reporting that T-Mobile is expanding their core network to provide seamless integration of 3G, EDGE, GPRS, and WiFi networks. From the article: "Nortel said it was able to provide T-Mobile with the new service thanks to integration of Nortel's existing Gateway GPRS Support Node with Azaire Networks' IP Converged Network Platform. Azaire's IP-CNP provides an integrated hybrid network by extending the services from the existing 3G and GSM core network investments over new access technologies like WiFi and WiMax, Nortel said."
T-Mobile will offer the new service to customers using laptops and dual mode PDAs, such as the T-Mobile MDA Pro, beginning in summer 2006.
;)
I don't have one, but from what I've read about the MDA is that it already supports EDGE, GPRS, and wifi. I currently use a Sidekick 2 (hiptop) and it uses only GPRS. I don't know if it's because some people have moved over to the EDGE network with compatible devices but I have noticed a significant speed increase on their GPRS network.
I am drooling over the MDA (minus the fact that it runs Windows Mobile). Connection, at broadband speeds, pretty much whereever I am is a great thing to look forward to. I have to decide if it's worth switching to Windows Mobile and paying $450+ for it
For anyone who didn't order alphabet soup, here are the wikipedia articles on about 3G, about WIFI, about GPRS. Not sure about EDGE.
Please help publicise swpat.org - the software patents wiki
I would prefer it if T-Mobile expanded their core network to provide CALLS THAT DON'T DROP...after that, let's worry about the other stuff.
heres a quick one on EDGE as well, just for those of all ya'll out there that haven't heard. EDGE.
I am sitting in my car, right now, as I type this. I had to check my e-mail (T-Mobile sends an SMS to my phone when it detects new mail on my POP3 server). I am currently using an EDGE connection (Laptop -> Bluetooth Modem of my T-Mobile Samsung t809 cell) to connect. While I am sitting here (McDonalds parking lot), my laptop detected and picked an open WiFi access point from the Popeye's Restaurant across the street, overriding the T-Mobile EDGE connection.
It all works flawlessly from my standpoint, and this isn't even T-Mobile's entire network. I'm amazed at the speed of the EDGE connection (consistent 150kbps download in most of Chicagoland), and even more amazed at the amount of restaurants with open WiFi connections. I may run over to Popeye's right now and buy a way overpriced soda just to thank them financially for the connection.
I just ftp'd two photos of where I'm at right now to prove my story. Check http://www.unanimocracy.com/photos/popeyes1.jpg and http://www.unanimocracy.com/photos/popeyes2.jpg in a few minutes. I love technology.
As an American, I read about these nifty phone network upgrades and know that I will not see them for at least 3 years. Why is this? Is it the geographical size of the market? The size of the customer bases that subscribe to the networks? Regulatory restrictions? User demand/knowledge/acceptance of these features?
I am inviting anyone in the know to please beat me with the clue stick!
I was curious to see, but got this error instead:
;)
OOPS!
The page you tried to access does not exist on this server. This page may not exist due to the following reasons...
Unfortunately the pictures do not work, maybe you should go over to Popeye's and load up on free napkins & condiments instead?
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
When a subscriber enters a zone where a connection is possible, this tech allows TMobile to 'phone home'. Then they have profiles on how to route all the services to that handset.
So they need to:
know about each protocol.
know how to phone home
know about the gateway services for each service the _ subscribes to.
know how to bill for that route
So it is non trivial.
[% slash_sig_val.text %]
Will operators truly start offering seamlessly swithcing mobile/WiFi models to consumers? As long as the operators refuse to subsidize hybrid models they can prevent rapid pick-up of these models. But when the first major operator (or a cluster of smaller challenger operators) gets serious about offering hybrid phones, the ARPU pressure could suddenly spike in a brutal manner.
WiFi telephony is kind of unreliable and weird for most consumers - but as a supplementary feature in a GSM/GPRS/EDGE/W-CDMA phone it's lethally appealing. How about cutting your mobile minutes roughly in half by seamlessly swithching to WiFi every time you are at home?
It's a great marketing angle for the first operator latching onto it. Once you get 4-6 operators embracing the concept, the whole sector ARPU outlook is going to crater.
Will T-Mobile play the Judas goat?
why couldn't we just bypass the cellular guys altogether (skipping 3G, GPRS and Edge). and instead focus on creating a new VoIP based service in conjunction w/ WiMAX?)
actually I am happy to see you, however that is in fact a banana in my pocket.
This can be a big plus on EDGE services compared to EVDO. I just hope network saturation doesn't kill QoS.
Haha, I keep my own napkins in the car at all times (I'm a complete and total mess when it comes to attempting to eat and drive). As for condiments: I stay away from the sugars and the corn syrups ;)
I think the photos work now, for some strange reason my FTP client had to reconnect about 50 times to upload the photos -- bad host errors, time to switch from GoDaddy to a real host I guess.
Got it man, it does work! Hopefully, you will be able to make better phone calls too.
Now off to Popeye's for some overpriced carbonated high-fructose corn syrup water and/or some instant heartburn!
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
FCC has already allocated the frequencies the reset of the world uses for 3g. That is why the US does not have 3g.
I know this is completely offtopic and go ahead and mod it as such. The topic reminded me of a device I had been trying to find, thought maybe I would ask and see if anyone knows of this existing.
Is there such a thing that can pickup a open 802.11 network and rebroadcast it as a bluetooth lan connection. It would need to be small like no bigger than a ipod mini.
I am not looking for any suggestions for a work around (eg bluetooth dongles on a 802.11 enabled laptop). Just looking for something that can convert and rebroadcast and be very small.
Woohoo...all I need is the stock to go up another 400% and I can break even!
Ahhh, it's always nice to know America's on the forefront of technology. I love this place. What? You mean it's only in Europe? What do you mean T-Mobile doesn't have UMTS in the states? As a former employee, all you business-suited technocrat wannabes can sit back down, because it takes FOREVER for T-Mobile (DT) to translate to T-Mobile (USA). In fact, if you RTA, you'll see that Nortel doesn't provide any infrastructure in the USA (though perhaps the article doesn't mention any either because it's beyond the scope of an article that is Euro-centric, or because Nortel doesn't provide their American infrastructure, I'm not sure). Frankly, T-Mobile USA and DT might as well be seperate companies, with the exception of where the money goes (TM USA provides quite a bit of capital for the DT folk, who last time I checked were struggling), which is to the DT execs, and where the marketing paraphanelia comes from (i.e. the big pink T). T-Mobile's (US) UMA plans have been sidetracked for more than a year now, with a planned launch initially scheduled for 2005. UMA= universal mobile access, the seamless handoff between Wifi and Cellular networks. Good luck to anyone who wants to see this stateside, the FCC, lack of sufficient political and financial capital, and internal company shenanigans will keep this on the other side for a while.
When they say seamless, do they mean I can make a VOIP call on WiFi, and when I go out of range of the WiFi it seamlessly hands over to GSM? Or I can start a download on a WiFi connection, and have it continue over UMTS, EDGE or GPRS when I pick my laptop up and walk out of the cafe? Or do they mean seamless as in they bill you at the same GPRS rates for data downloaded over T-Mobile branded WiFi?
There are existing HLR/VLR profiles for a IMSI to support various data services. It sounds like they are tieing WIFI into that and using the information provided by the non Nortel vendor to coordinate priority and handover.
Pretty interesting stuff if you ask me.
You know you can simulate something similar with a bluetooth 3G phone and a centrino laptop. Yes, even in linux. You just don't get a mobile IP address, but that's not a problem for 99% of users - only if you want to receive VoIP calls (sif!)
In order for your calls to move around un-interrupted you need to be able to hand over to adjacent cells.
GSM has something called a VLR or Vistor Location Registry which keeps track of which radio cell you are on. And the radio equipment like the BTS, BSC, etc make constant calculations on your signal strength. As you reach the edge of a cell the system automaticly hands you over to the next cell without dropping your call. Sometimes it hands you over from one radio to another within a cell.
This has to be done because each cell is only a few square miles.
Wifi and other wireless network data services do not support handover functionality. You need a VLR and radio equipment that can handle the cell handovers and a master device like an MSC to handle and keep track of it all.
you could do like a skype WIFI type deal but you would have to manually reconnect every time you moved to a different radio, dropping your call and having to start over again.
A managed GSM network handles all of this for you in the background.
Then you have the really advanced stuff like CDMA2000 where your not only hopping radios but hopping frequencies as well. Mobile infrastructures are a lot more complicated than you might believe.
It's true that Tmobile doesn't use the Nortel GGSN in North America (I think they went with Nokia or something) but in most of the markets the core network is Nortel, especially on the radio side.
Several carriers are using Nortel equipment to build out their GPRS and EDGE networks as well.
Most of the standards are compatible so you can have a variety of equipment on a site. But there are thousands of "core" networks in the US built on Nortel systems.
It's true that the market conditions in Europe and the US result in different focus on the network elements, but the systems are fundamentally the same.
A lot of it has to do with different regulatory requirements between the EU and the FCC.
In any case both are way behind South Korea and Japan when it comes to the latest technology and products. This is more of a cultural difference than a monetary one. People are slow to adopt new technology in the west.
It would be nice if TMo expanded their network to cover the entire United States. I don't care about and won't pay for 3G until there's uniformly good coverage over every square mile of the US.
The same way it's always 'insightful'. Someone who doesn't know what they are talking about makes a statement, and someone who knows even less thinks they're a god.
At the time I thought the addition of meta-moderations would improve things, but 6-7 years on it's still the same.
It's a college kid's site... I think it was nicely summed up on someone's sig a few years back as 'like a steer... a point here and a point there, with a whole load of bull in between'. Most people don't have a Scooby.
The irony is this nstatement is far more insightful than the original drivel about t-mobile not having a base-station network, however it will remain forever below the radar...
I remember that ctrl-shift popup like it was yesterday. Man, what a great tool that was. Sidekick2 was never as good. It took like 30k -- man, who has 30k to blow on something like that? :-)
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
EVDO is a good 5X faster than EDGE, i.e. they are not even in the same class. EVDO is real 3G, while EDGE is only 2.5G and competes with 1xRTT, not directly with EVDO. GSM is several years behind CDMA in data services. Tmo with EDGE is where Sprint and Verizon were with 1xRTT 3 years ago...
3G (as inherited from the previous technologies) has things all those Wi*whatever* could only dream of: it has mobility and SIM (subscriber identification module).
speaking of mobility, does wifi give you that? i can find you anywhere you are roaming? how, dyndns? what if operator you roam to gives you private addresses being NATed? give me a break.
then, with SIM, the operator knows exactly who asks for resources and who should pay for that. it can be extended greatly if you think about it, you just know who is behind every request for resources and you know that dude's subscription (QoS).
whish SIP being extended beyond just VoIP and conferencing to every connection being made. that would be thing about control, security and billing. wanna SSH connection to a point A? make SIP request for that, authorize, resources will be allocated (admission control), firewall will be set up to pass you through, CDR will be created. tasty!