Sprint Accelerates 3G Plans with EV-DO
Change of heart
Like 3G for example.. Verzion first offered 3G service in OK City before Sprint, and then Sprint busted out with Nationwide 3g service all at one time.
Another example,
Verizon PTT was terrible, and was only on one handset in a limited market. Sprint's Readylink has not been advertised and is doing great.
Sprint's decision is a sound decision, not a concession. It is based on the reality that in a competitive marketplace they must equal their strongest competitor. They need EVDO now and will implement EVDV when it is available or even skip EVDV if something better comes along.
It really doesn't matter because both Sprint and Verizon have at least 2-3 years head start on the ...
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SPCSVZWJeff said:
Just to put the record straight: CDMA 2000 is a 3G platform. When WCDMA comes out it will be a 3G platform. So CDMA 2000 is 3G. There are some people with the myopia that only WCDMA is 3G. Early in the 3G game it was widely acknowledged that both CDMA2000 and WCDMA are 3G platforms. To say that there was no 3G before EVDO is like saying there was no 2G before GPRS.
I'm going to have to disagree. When you talk about CDMA 2000, you're implying CDMA 2000 1xRTT. It's not that I think 1xRTT is or isn't 3G... I just think it's an invalid argument to have.
EV-DO is even more different from 1xRTT than 1xRTT is from IS-95. But the point is that they're all different. To go by data rates alone, ...
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Chamiltor said:Well...1xRTT is capable of speeds up to 144 kbps. In bursts or course...from my experience speeds average 60-80 kbps. Supposedly, in order for data to be considered 3g, speeds must make the 144 kbps mark. Me? I think if you're not running consistently at 144 kbps, you're not running at 3g speeds.
From what I understand, and I am not any kind of authority, but CDMA2000 1xRTT has been known as 3G for the past year at least. Not only by it's users, but by the wireless companies and the rest of the wireless world. Could be wrong.
The competitive picture played a role as well. Cingular is talking about WCDMA hsdpa and verizon is doing DO as well. No one knows what nextel and t-mobile will do.
I would love to see the data regarding actual EV-DO usage and take up rates. I don't think verizon has all that many users on DO and i don't think they are getting all that much money out of EV-DO. I think its biggest impact is in keeping or attracting coporate customers in general even though they may not actually use DO much if at all.
viper said:
I think what has happened is that the latest release of EV-DO includes a lot of the features of EV-DV that sprint was holding out for.
Actually, there are two versions of each standard. (It's never simple, is it? 😉 )
EV-DV release C (the first version) has the same speeds and most of the same features as EV-DO release (the current version).
Meanwhile, release D of EV-DV, and release A of EV-DO, boost the forward rates from 2.4 to 3.1 Mbps, and boost the reverse (upload) rates to 1.8 Mbps, to support things like video calling and fast uploading of megapixel photos.
But both versions of EV-DV, and release A of EV-DO, are all still a couple of years away. So in order to launc...
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EV-DV release C (the first version) has the same speeds and most of the same features as EV-DO release 0 (the current version).
Think about having a cell phone and paying 79.99 a month for DSL like speeds anywhere that is covered by their enhanced network. Why pay 49.99 a month for your home connection, espically if you have a laptop? This is the future of internet connections and this has to have a lot of companies concerned. Wi-fi is going to be the equivalent of an 8-track player.
Sprint has to see this and they know they had to act. Verizon is eying the business customers more and more. Push to talk (albeit a rather large failure), global phone, and this are...
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kp2575,
I don't think EV-DO has the capacity to support many users doing that given the existing spectrum holdings of most carriers.
What you described is exactly the market trial that nextel is conducting right now in Raleigh Durham. Nextel has a big fat chunk of spectrum up at 2.5-2.8 GHz. They are using flarion gear for the trial. I put the links below. Judging from their service offerings, Nextel appears to be testing the business case of data, something which no one has figured out beyond SMS and imode. whoever figures t...
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thank you for the excellent post. The current release of EV-DO supports low latency operation as well making EV-DO at least theoretically capable of voice over IP. I am not saying it will be used for that any time soon if at all but it makes for an interesting variable.
the other issue is support. EV-DO has a good amount of vendor support already. There is a lot more uncertainty hanging around EV-DV product support.
I still question the actual impact of EV-DO on the market though. Last i looked verizon was making very little of its money from data and less still from enterprise data.
Cingular and Sprint's announcements (HSPDA and EV-DO) suggest that data is important to someone.
viper said:
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I still question the actual impact of EV-DO on the market though. Last i looked verizon was making very little of its money from data and less still from enterprise data.
Cingular and Sprint's announcements (HSPDA and EV-DO) suggest that data is important to someone.
I think the issue is speed. 1xRTT and EDGE are slow. For someone used to broadband (any corporate user) they seem downright pokey. But when people can get broadband speeds anywhere - no compromises - I think that's pretty compelling. It means people can actually get work done from anywhere, not just "stay in touch" like now.
But it's also part of a bigger picture. I think eventually, the cell phone companies will...
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This forum is closed.