New Wireless Broadband option!!! EV-DO IWMC.

[TriniXaeno]

Well fellas,

Just on the heel of the recent announcement of TSTT's EDGE network, comes another amazing technology from TSTT again.

EV-DO.

Weird acronym that translates into high speed wireless internet pwnage.

Always on, unlimited downloads and for only $500.00 a month ($375 if you commit to a 3 year contract)

Max speed is 2.4mbps but realistic speeds are 400k - 700k. (That is faster than the average DSL home connection)

Latency is 100 - 250ms (close to dial up latency level)

but don't throw away your DSL router just yet, the upload speed maxxes out at a lowly 100k. (The only downside)

This thing is not a fixed antennae on your roof type deal. We are talking about a true mobile wireless internet high speed connection. It goes where you go and even works in transit.


I got excited over EDGE. Well EV-DO blows EDGE totally out of the water and is the standard for wireless internet in Japan and Korea. The only thing better is FLASH-OFDM which is still in testing stages.

Here is the definitions for the technologies.

EDGE
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution -- this 3G technology allows wireless transmission of data at speeds up to 384K bit/sec. It's based on GSM technology and allows for high-bandwidth services such as multimedia. It has more support in North America than in other areas where technologies such as CDMA2000 and UMTS may be favored.

EVDO
Evolution Data Only/Evolution Data Optimized is an "evolution" of CDMA networks that is based on the 1xRTT standard, providing faster wireless data transmission speeds of 400K bit/sec. to 700K bit/sec. with a theoretical peak of 2.4M bit/sec. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Corp. in the U.S. were rolling out the service in early 2005, connecting to laptops via a plug-in card.

FLASH-OFDM
Flash-OFDM is a proprietary cellular broadband technology that network operators can deploy either for notebook computers of mobile users or serve as a fixed wireless access system, bridging the "last mile" to connect computers in homes and small offices. Key features include an all-IP architecture and fast speeds. The technology is capable of letting users traveling at 250 kilometers per hour to download data at speeds up to 1.5Mbit/sec. or upload at speeds up to 500Kbit/sec. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) works by splitting radio signals into smaller low-speed signals that are transmitted in parallel, reducing crosstalk and using bandwidth efficiently, but decreasing range.


Benchmarks
http://www.evdoinfo.com/EVDO/Info/What_is_EVDO_2005021237/

And you can read more about EV-DO here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EVDO

Some attached pix stolen from the awesome evdoinfo website:

[Spazosaurus]

Yes but as far as I know EV-DO is strictly a CDMA tech...and we dont have a CDMA network here. I'll be happy to be wrong though cuz this is great news. That works out roughly 2.5 times faster than our DSL down speed for just around $100 more. Upload speed kinna sucks though.

[TriniXaeno]

yeah, well TSTT does in fact have a CDMA network up and running.

Laqtel is supposed to be using CDMA as well.

coincidence? I think not.

[W1nTry]

DAMNIT Baego spill de beans... anyways you are correct, TSTT has a CDMA network in place, in fact it exists on their own TDMA network. I.e. all the towers they were using for the TDMA network are now part of their CDMA network. As for it NOT being fast, that's a LIE, there is a TSTT worker in a conference with us and he was using it yesterday. SO before our very eyes he was happily surfing away without a problem streaming audio and video whilst surfing. He said he's managed to get up to T1 speeds over it already. Trick is, if you're in an area that had poor TDMA coverage (which is few places but they do exist) you won't get good reception for EV-DO... also as far as we were told by TSTT it's not something available to the public per say, however if you work for a company who has an account manager with TSTT (to handle your corporate users) they are the ones that will organise it, I don't gather its' a walk in and sign up deal. But hey that's just what TSTT staff told us, so who knows.

[Spazosaurus]

Seriously??? CDMA? T1 speeds??? Any idea of a public availability date?

[suzieboy]

This EVDo sounding real cool...
So wat alya sayin we had to have specific types of cellphones or special modems to receive signals?

I really heard my fadda talkin bout this New Wireless Broadband option we might get through his company he works for and i real doubt de man but it cud be a reality....{fingers crossed}.....lol

[Heady]

i see the latency close to dial level dat means ot sucks for online gaming? cause 500 a month aint sounding bad atall.

[TrinireturnofGamez]

 TSTT and they greasy mc ,   i want 512k DSL!
  It isn't good for gaming  , but better than greendot  , latency and upload bandwidth will hold you back , the upload is barely more than dialup ... So you can't host a game server really..
  In certain areas it will go down and up... esp in the bush .

 Tomshardware did a review of it in the states , out in the bush you only get 128-256k data speeds and high latency.. much better than dialup ...

http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/04/25/evdo_from_the_woods/

[TriniXaeno]

but that's just it.

Trinidad is an island. We ain't exactly big like the states.

That means most of us will have access to this network at top speed.

I'll have my unit to test soon enough though! so expect a hands on review soon.

[W1nTry]

Lucky MCs... I doubt reception will be good in my area sad to say... but the mobility part is the real selling point. My net access goes wherever I go and that's what wil bite ppl.

[TriniXaeno]

OMFG!!!

EV-DO is teh pwnage.

Got the device today and fired it up promptly at HQ. (St. Clair, Port of Spain)

The setup took less than 5 minutes. Took the unit out the box, screwed in the two antennas, plugged in the power, the ethernet cable and away we went.

Initial impressions weren't stellar. We got max of around 100K download speed but it frequently dipped below 30K. Impressive for a wireless connection but nothing to write home about when compared to DSL's rock solid 32K performance. No dips.

Latency was as expected. 250 - 300ms to the GATT site. That's about dial up like performance.

For comparison, my DSL connection averages 133ms to the GATT site.  The 100ms difference will break you in FPS games but will suffice for RPGs.

OK, so what was that first pwnage rant about???

Well I decided to take the device home to see how it feared in Diego Martin. Blotoye!
132K max and seldomly dropping below 90K. For the uninitiated, 132K download speed is equivalent to T1 or 1.5mbps.

Those sort of figures cost upwards of TT$3000.00 a month from TSTT in wired DSL.

That's 3-4 times faster than my regular DSL connection at the same residence.

A 4GB Linux DVD ISO that would normally take 3 days to download will now complete in less than 24 hours.

Now that's just too much awesome for a wireless broadband internet service with dial up like latency and true portability for $500 a month or less if you go the contract route.

In fact, it is scary. TSTT has a real winner on their hands here.

Your mileage may vary. Obviously location has a big impact on this device.

My assumption is that the St. Clair, Port of Spain area has incredibly more wireless traffic going on from cell phones and other antennas that caused the relatively poor performance. Diego Martin is a lot less congested and that may explain the increased speed.

Now there is a downside (always is).

You'd think that since EV-DO is hitting 100K downloads easy, that it's upload would be equally impressive. Not so. The upload speed tops off at a lowly 18K.

It is not too bad considering that a typical residential DSL manages only 24K upload itself (something crixx and I recently tested) which is not a whole lot faster. Still it is something to consider.

Reliability is the next big question. Over the coming days I will see just how consistent the service performs.

All that speed won't do a gamer much good if he keeps getting disconnected every 5 minutes. lol

[Spazosaurus]

As far as i can understand from what u said, this thing is just in a testing phase right? How does one become a tester for this sort of thing? lol. Ok. I remember that you also got to test run greendot when it was first introduced and the speeds were massive, I can't remember how fast u said it actually was but it was a whole lot faster than it is now. Based on that, is it not reasonable to conclude that with this service being introduced to the masses that it could suffer a similar fate? Performance done aient so hot in St Clair/Newtown where tech is. So what happens to people like me who might be interested in this service and live in a populated area?

This leads me to believe that this service is more suitable for people who absolutely need fast on the go net OR cant get DSL OR people who live in largely residential areas and could get real fast dl's because of less air signal traffic. I cant help thinking though that the speed wont continue when people start to jump on it which will then leave the main benefit to be portability.

This device....can you possible divulge a little more details of its characteristics or was your vague description intentional?

How does it handle p2p apps? Torrents etc. Are the relavent ports that facilitate the use of these networks open or is the connection only work for ftp/http?

[TriniXaeno]

ports are wide open. Firewall is your responsibility this time around. As opposed to residential DSL, where TSTT enables a firewall by default.

Also, you are absolutely right. This baby is not headed for mass market deployment. It will balk under pressure.

TSTT is aiming it at the last mile. That is, the areas that wired DSL won't reach.

(and no I am not just saying that to discourage everyone so that the air waves remain free and my downloads speeds remain high) lol

My day job at BG is responsible for the early beta action. Though this is not  beta per say. It is officially launched by TSTT but just low key.

It is beta for our company. The intention is to roll this out to our employees who cannot get DSL service. We have quite a few stuck in a rut.

As for downloads, a picture is worth a thousand words. Stay tuned.

[TriniXaeno]

pix as promised.

[Czar]

Not bad...impressive for wireless indeed...

btw, as I recall from my days of T1 at work in TT, the speeds maxed out at just under 200KB/sec...but still, 132KB/sec is no slouch...by TT standards anyways.

[SPK]

Aimed @ areas that wired DSL can't reach you say...?

Then all I have to say is....


W0000000000000000TTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!Shift+11111!!!!111!

Finally something better than dialup here in Grande!!!

Though the odd thing is that some areas in Grande have DSL, even though TSTT themself says that they don't have DSL up in Grande just yet......

So where do I sign up? I will definitely take this service once it is available in this region! Shed some more light plz...

[Spazosaurus]

Impressive by ANY t&t standard. Wide open ports? U lucky mc. Just out of curiousity, what does the device look like? Pics?

If it is being aimed for the "last mile" customers, can't they be categorised, in a way, as tha mass market? After all, they are normal customers. Not sure if I making sense there.

So...If normal "last mile" customers can access this, what's to stop people who within DSL range from getting it too? There would have to be some sort of stipulation that once u can get DSL, you can't get the EV-DO?

I know you cant answer but i just wondering out loud.

In light of this tech, it's possible we DSL users might get a lil 512k connection sometime soon then?

[Saxito Pau]

Significant news I have gentlepeople.

TSTT have a website with full info about EV-DO.

http://www.tstt3g.co.tt

So for all ye doubters.... it is COMING!! WOOOOOT!! (proceeds to do rain dance to hasten TSTT's process of full implementation.....)

and even sweeter news (straight off their FAQ):

Can TSTT wireless broadband be used for fixed service?

TSTT’s wireless broadband is primarily targeted to mobile users. However, in cases where TSTT cannot provide its ADSL service, it will provide fixed high speed internet service using its EV-DO network. In this case, the user will be supplied with an EV-DO gateway that has a RJ45 10MB Ethernet interface. TSTT will offer a reduced price for the wireless broadband service in this case.

but they limiting you to their own hardware. but it have nice 'toys' out there for ev-do (www.evdoinfo.com)

High download speed averaging between 400 and 700Kbps

but the lil buggers expensive no (insert preffered cuss word)!!!

Service Pricing

There are 3 charges for the service a one time device charge, a one time sign up fee and a monthly rental.

$1,575 (FREE with contract of 1 year or more)

Sign Up Fee:   $600

Monthly Rental:  $500 month to month

   $475 1 year contract

   $425 2 year contract

   $375 3 year contract

Reduced pricing will be offered when TSTT wireless broadband is used for fixed service due to TSTT’s inability to provide ADSL service. Prices do not include VAT.

(still...good news for you SPK)

(...gets tired from doing rain dance... somebody call NEO, need some cheese here...)

[SPK]

And according to their coverage map, I am in range!!!!

Now it's just to see how reliable the connections are, before making a definite choice...

[W1nTry]

Never be too hasty with comparing TSTT's supposed coverage area with what is actual eh. I am in a service area as well but i'm 90% certain I won't have coverage in my house.