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Posts: 165 | Thanked: 9 times | Joined on Jul 2007
#22
Originally Posted by rs-px View Post
Here's my view.

If I use wifi, I get a fairly constant connection provided I don't move around.

If I use 3G (I have a 3G phone), I often get a crappy connection with lotsa packet loss, even if my phone is showing full signal strength. It might be perfect if you're sitting in the heart of New York city but most people aren't Maybe this is caused by mobile signals having to travel from transmitters outside, while wifi transmitters are usually inside the room with you.

I read a comment on Slashdot from a guy working in the Telco industry that most insiders are writing off 3G, and see 3.5G as a stop-gap for 4G. Apparently 3G was just badly designed.

But, like I said, the key thing here is cost. I don't like paying by the minute for my Internet. Business users might be different but humble individuals find it oppressive.

I want it to be free. If you ask me, FON is a genius idea and very much in keeping with the modern community-oriented Internet -- I share my connection, and you share yours with me. Beautifully simple, and the technology is both cheap and proven.
Well, if I had a nickel for everytime inaccurate information was posted on Slashdot...

That aside, there is no 3G or 4G "standard." There are 2 competing families of cellular protocols, CDMA and GSM, controlled by their respective masters (Qualcomm vs the rest of the world), and championed by their users (Verizon+Sprint vs the rest of the world). Each is engaged in a constant game of oneupsmanship that everybody has started numbering by rough generations (2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G...). AFAICT, rollout of the 3G GSM protocols (namely, UMTS+HSDPA) seems to have gone pretty well in Europe. Sprint and Verizon apparently haven't had nearly the uptake of their 3G network (EVDO) that they wanted, though frankly that could easily be chalked up to their expensive data plans for phones with limited options. AT&T has had similar luck w/UMTS here in the US, for largely the same reasons (combined with their rotten customer service and limited coverage areas). So to have some "industry insider" rant about how 3G is crap, is crap itself. It's more likely that the US dinocarriers are increasingly losing touch with their customers, and are blaming it on the networks (that they themselves built) being flawed in some way.
 

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