Bmobile WIFI Project/4G upgrade...

[captainchris]

So anyone else's DATA ( EDGE ) not working??

[Husk4197]

I can assure you 4G is coming to B-Mobile.
The current time frame for implementation is 8months.
Cell sites need to be upgraded and it is in its preliminary stages.
Site upgrades should be completed in 8 - 12 weeks.

[Arcmanov]

Something just occurred to me this morning, so I did a little research, and I was pretty disappointed to learn that a lot of current smartphones, and mine in particular, might not be compatible with this planned 4G network.
The reason I say this, is because, according to the news article, TSTT's proposed implementation is going to use the HSPA+ standard, which is WCDMA based, and our phones are GSM based.  Mine in particular is compatible with the HSDPA standard, so I'm wondering if it will be able to take advantage of this at all.

This is ONE time I'd love to be wrong, or else you know what that means...new phone... which I ain't exactly considering right now. 

Please correct me if I'm wrong.



SwiftKeyed from my Samsung Galaxy S2 with Tapatalk 2

[captainchris]

Same here. The HTC Sensation isnt HSDPA+.

EDIT:
from reading a bit there. I realize the difference is huge. 14.4mbps vs 21mbps. I know those are dream speeds, but does it have anything to do with not being able to connect or utilize a 4g configured network?
From my understanding 4G is just a standard and not a must as dependant on the phone it can switch over to 3g allowing still fast yet enjoyable data usage.

[woodyear99]

Same here. The HTC Sensation isnt HSDPA+.

EDIT:
from reading a bit there. I realize the difference is huge. 14.4mbps vs 21mbps. I know those are dream speeds, but does it have anything to do with not being able to connect or utilize a 4g configured network?
From my understanding 4G is just a standard and not a must as dependant on the phone it can switch over to 3g allowing still fast yet enjoyable data usage.

It has to be along those lines, don't think they would want to alienate the majority of their customers.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note using Tapatalk

[Exar_Kun]

You're worrying about nothing here I assure you. HSPA+ is used in Europe where GSM rules supreme. There's absolutely no way that TSTT, Digicel or anybody is going to switch to CDMA.
I've been to technical presentations in other territories where HSPA+ was planned to be added onto existing GSM networks, and both Ericcson and Hua Wei were presenters to that operator. Both of those are obviously the companies that will be doing the work locally for Digicel and TSTT respectively.
In essence, your phone will work just fine. As I said before, I've seen Digicel HSPA+ running here on test phones just fine.

As far as those speeds you're quoting, 21mbps, 14mbps etc. Don't count on it. Those are theoretical max speeds. They will never, read: NEVER, happen in an actual use environment. Unless you stand directly under the cell tower. Then you might get it. For practical purposes expect download speeds somewhere like 4-7 mbps.

[Arcmanov]

Thanks for the clarification.

+ 10

4-7 Mbps you say...

Well for what I've been using all these years, those speeds will be like finding the Holy Grail. 



SwiftKeyed from my Samsung Galaxy S2 with Tapatalk 2

[woodyear99]

Thanks for the info. If it's faster than edge and lube free I will take it.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note using Tapatalk

[QuickDraw]

Thanks for the clarification.

+ 10

4-7 Mbps you say...

Well for what I've been using all these years, those speeds will be like finding the Holy Grail. 



SwiftKeyed from my Samsung Galaxy S2 with Tapatalk 2

3G could deliver those speeds, easy. but don't look to get it from tstt. Why bother to make a service u oferin better? When U could make much more $ by selling a brand new service for twice the price.

[Exar_Kun]

^
I honestly think you have no idea what you're talking about. Obviously TSTT has a bad rep but there's no reason to go making up stuff.

[Arcmanov]

Super hard LOLz0rz @ 'lube free'.   Woody, you have me deadin here here with that one yes.   

We'll just have to wait and see.



SwiftKeyed from my Samsung Galaxy S2 with Tapatalk 2

[QuickDraw]

^
I honestly think you have no idea what you're talking about. Obviously TSTT has a bad rep but there's no reason to go making up stuff.

U right, I doh work for or with tstt, or digicell so i doh know nutting about it at all but what i kinda rememba i read on an article about 3G customers in england and the sort of speeds they was getting when they did tests.


So lemme ask u 3 questions:
1, what is the max 3G speeds companies advertise in england / usa?
2, granted u can't get the max, becus of real world factors, but are men in them places still able to get real world speeds within the range touted above as 4g?
And 3, if das true for them, why tstt's own graphics showing a figure for 3G so far below what is the norm for them in foreign?

Iif teh answer to those is what I think it is, then my statement will stand. If i wrong i honestly wrong and could admit it.

[firstchoicett]

4 G is coming in about 7 months to Digicel I'm sure both networks will offer same time but rates high .

[Exar_Kun]

Okay so a few things. Let me define some terms.
2G = GSM, CDMA
2.5G = EDGE
3G = UMTS, HSPA, EVDO (rev A, rev B )
3.5G = HSPA+
4G = WIMAX, LTE

There are certain technical specifications a technology has to meet in order to be classed into one of these categories. On a technical level, these classifications are essentially correct for general technical use.
From a marketing point of view though, "4G" means everything under 4G and also HSPA+. Why? Because HSPA+ supports higher speeds than WIMAX which is an accepted 4G technology.

We have the following in T&T
Digicel = GSM, EDGE
TSTT = GSM, EDGE, EVDO rev A, WIMAX

EDGE is the technology we currently use for get data. EVDO rev A was what TSTT got when they bought out Laqtel's infrastructure. This is a CDMA technology not usable with our GSM phones. It was what TSTT used to launch blink on the go. WIMAX is used for blink on the go turbo, with regular blink of the go being shunted over to it as TSTT prepares to return the spectrum to TATT.

So you probably already knew a lot of that already. I just wanted to say it so we're all on the same page. Now then, when you start talking about 3G speeds in England there's a few things need to be known. What kind of network is this? Generally speaking, ANY network anywhere in the world is going to be optimized so that it can get what the accepted real world performance is. That's part of the service the vendors provide when they install the system. Network congestion and signal quality can affect this.

As for the advertised max speeds, generally they tend to advertise the theoretical max I'd think. What they actually get, well here's something PC Mag did a year ago:


So you get an idea what people are actually getting in the US. Notice this is a lot less than advertised. But you can get those advertised speeds. I know a case where a co-worker of mine was standing literally under an LTE tower in another country and was pulling about 50mbps. So there's a huge gap here you need to realize.

The last thing you asked, about a TSTT graphic for 3G. I'm not familiar with it. Maybe you could link me? Unless you mean the MiFi device? That's a just basically a blink on the go turbo modem so it would have a speed along the lines of BOTG turbo.

4 G is coming in about 7 months to Digicel I'm sure both networks will offer same time but rates high .

It's coming MUCH faster than that bro. Thing is already up and running. Digicel's launch is imminent. It would take 7 months to get it up and running from scratch.

[Arcmanov]

Boom.

+10 again.

It would have taken me a few days well to condense all that info.  Stellar explanation there.
I think you answered a LOT of peoples' questions with that one post.  Including mine. 

When you're well informed, you're well informed.  Hats off to you, sir. 


At least, now I'm comfortable that I don't have to get a '4G phone'.  My SGS2 was bloody expensive... so I don't
even want to speculate on the price of the SGS3 (or similar).

[woodyear99]

4 G is coming in about 7 months to Digicel I'm sure both networks will offer same time but rates high .

How much ky do I need?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note using Tapatalk

[Fkacn_tt]

Decent post Exar_Kun but do you know what frequency they will be operating on, this is important still for persons who might not have tri/quadband 3g/4g phones.

[Exar_Kun]

You can be pretty much assured that it's going to be a spectrum that is generally supported and I'll tell you why. The critical component from a commercial point of view in a 3G launch is devices. Operators who are launching these networks generally need to seed the market with devices for many months before in order to have a successful uptake. You might not realize this but operators subsidize a lot of the handsets that they sell, both through their stores and their dealers. So seeding a market with handsets not only becomes a question of getting people to shell out the money, but it's also a cost to the operator since they take a hit with each handset sold. So it's in their interest to have an upgrade path that doesn't alienate customers and also one that is heavily supported by device manufacturers.

To answer your question though, I think Digicel is either 1900 or 2100, tbh I've forgotten which it was. bMobile just signed their deal, I don't know what their frequency would be, though I couldn't say it anyway due to nda.
I think though that as long as you have a fairly modern phone, especially one that's currently being advertised and sold by an operator you would have no issues at launch.

[TriniXaeno]

hhahaha @ how much Ky will I need.

woody you not easy yes.

Expertly written exar, thanks for the heads up once more.

[QuickDraw]

Okay so a few things. Let me define some terms.
2G = GSM, CDMA
2.5G = EDGE
3G = UMTS, HSPA, EVDO (rev A, rev B )
3.5G = HSPA+
4G = WIMAX, LTE

There are certain technical specifications a technology has to meet in order to be classed into one of these categories. On a technical level, these classifications are essentially correct for general technical use.
From a marketing point of view though, "4G" means everything under 4G and also HSPA+. Why? Because HSPA+ supports higher speeds than WIMAX which is an accepted 4G technology.

We have the following in T&T
Digicel = GSM, EDGE
TSTT = GSM, EDGE, EVDO rev A, WIMAX

EDGE is the technology we currently use for get data. EVDO rev A was what TSTT got when they bought out Laqtel's infrastructure. This is a CDMA technology not usable with our GSM phones. It was what TSTT used to launch blink on the go. WIMAX is used for blink on the go turbo, with regular blink of the go being shunted over to it as TSTT prepares to return the spectrum to TATT.

So you probably already knew a lot of that already. I just wanted to say it so we're all on the same page. Now then, when you start talking about 3G speeds in England there's a few things need to be known. What kind of network is this? Generally speaking, ANY network anywhere in the world is going to be optimized so that it can get what the accepted real world performance is. That's part of the service the vendors provide when they install the system. Network congestion and signal quality can affect this.

As for the advertised max speeds, generally they tend to advertise the theoretical max I'd think. What they actually get, well here's something PC Mag did a year ago:


So you get an idea what people are actually getting in the US. Notice this is a lot less than advertised. But you can get those advertised speeds. I know a case where a co-worker of mine was standing literally under an LTE tower in another country and was pulling about 50mbps. So there's a huge gap here you need to realize.

The last thing you asked, about a TSTT graphic for 3G. I'm not familiar with it. Maybe you could link me? Unless you mean the MiFi device? That's a just basically a blink on the go turbo modem so it would have a speed along the lines of BOTG turbo.

4 G is coming in about 7 months to Digicel I'm sure both networks will offer same time but rates high .

It's coming MUCH faster than that bro. Thing is already up and running. Digicel's launch is imminent. It would take 7 months to get it up and running from scratch.

that chart real nice but no, the chart not showing what the advertised speeds is anywhere. so i going to help you out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8267313.stm

that link is to a bbc article, showing date and has a table showing results from a survey a company did about the same as yours right? but watch this too from the same year and on one of the same networks

so both of us have data dat showin outliers that falling near or in your 4-7mbps, right? so we can agree that 3G CAN deliver those sort of speeds in foreign?



last time I even bother to pay attention to tstt's evdo (evdo is 3g) was when it first came out, all i can remember is tstt was promising one thing and delivering another. they had this info as there ad graphics

 http://www.tstt3g.co.tt/html/home.html

High download speed averaging between 400 and 700Kbps

that page still there so i assume they still offering it in one form or another and that as a company they keep there pages up to date. the speedtests i saw for evdo was DISMAL and men compare it to dial-up and plenty people was asking why they wasnt getting the speeds advertise.guess tstt fall down on the "service the vendors provide" thing that time eh? compare what they offering in the page, and what ppl in both our charts getting for 3G in foreign. lower end of the scale, even if tstt is now delivering on there promises.

evdo and 3g improved over the years. did it improve here? from what u said, it seems not. could they have improve it here to match? i dont doubt it.

this is what i meant when i said "Why bother to make a service u oferin better? When U could make much more $ by selling a brand new service for twice the price."




to me this whole 4G thing still looking like they just want to milk the customer since everyone and their child have a 3G capable smartphone and so many people have nothing but edge and we all have to scrunt, or connect to a wifi router that already connected to the internet. that IS what this 4G going to be as well till after summer ent?

dont get me wrong ti is a step in the right direction, but it still hilight how bad they play the fool with us. and i not going to trust tstt or digicell to deliver what they promise cat in bag. we did that for evdo and look what happen 


now that we both explain if you really feel that is an unfair thing for me to say, then I apologise for my comments




on a different note though, i see somethng that says "sprint htc evo 4G" there in your chart, you can confirm that all those results was with a 3G network or a 4G? because if was really 4g..............