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Wireless Networking Hardware

Cingular To Offer Mobile High-Speed Internet 207

Posted by timothy from the a-held-breath-never-boils dept.
ArbiterOne writes "ZDNet has the story: Cingular is moving ahead with its plans to offer wireless high-speed Internet access to consumers. Lucent Technologies has agreed to provide the technology, and Cingular has agreed to buy out AT&T Wireless, and become the number-one cell carrier in the US."
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Cingular To Offer Mobile High-Speed Internet More

Cingular To Offer Mobile High-Speed Internet

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  • small (Score:2, Interesting)

    by mp3LM ( 785954 )
    ...as much as I love the internet, and new technologies...interent on cell phones is too small to do anything with!

    I mean..it's great if you wanna...uhm...uhh...
    oh wait! it's not great, it sucks!

    But people, seriously...if you want to get on the internet so badly...don't leave your house
    There is no need to sqiont at a little tiny screen that wont even display anything right.

    • Your complaint has foundations in laziness. (Score:4, Informative)

      by King_of_Prussia ( 741355 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:35AM (#9504844)
      Viewing the internet on such a small screen is very possible, and is done successfully by hundreds of thousands of people around the world every day. If it is not usable on your particular phone, may I suggest purchasing a replacement?

      Many cellular phones feature browsers that were created on a whim, as a way of beefing up the features list prior to going on sale. Most Ericsson phones for instance have very poor browser functionality. A lot of the new phones coming from Nokia and Sony are light-years ahead of the first primitive attempts. A word of advice though - stay away from imported asian phones, they may look flashy and high-tech, but any are designed to be used for as little as a month before needing replacement.

      Of course, this being slashdot, home of the technically adept, I feel obliged to mention the ultimate way to experience the internet on a cellular phone - via linux. Of course, this way is not for the faint hearted, but those steadfast in their dedication to that plucky Swede's [lunix.com] OS will find that the Kyocera 1080 is admirably suited for an ultra-light linux distro, with built in internet functionality. If only I still had mine, I could truthfully claim to be making this post by cellphone!

    • Re:small (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ObsessiveMathsFreak ( 773371 ) <obsessivemathsfreak.eircom@net> on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:39AM (#9504863) Homepage Journal
      I disagree.
      Mobile internet still has its uses.
      GPRS is well suited to rss feeds in paticular. I have a small phone screen, 95*60 px I think and I always read the bbc news while I'm on the bus, or driving or just don't have a net connection handy.

      Though for anything else, it does pretty much suck, agreed.

      However a large number of, PDA type devices with larger screens are appearing, so there is hope for mobile browsing. Now if only web developers would embrace xml,rss and css like they're 'sposed too!! :E

      P.S. Is it possible to get slashdot on a mobile(wap) phone. Maybe an rss reader for phones?

      • Re:small (Score:5, Informative)

        by PaoloHu ( 173684 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:51AM (#9504919)
        there is an rss feed for slashdot...

        http://slashdot.org/slashdot.rss

        it doesn't show the comments - but it is there

      • Re:small (Score:2, Informative)

        by super awesome ( 700604 )
        A site I used to frequent on a daily basis called MacRumors [macrumors.com] introduced a while back a wap versioin of their site at wap.macrumors.com [macrumors.com] providing a great service to its mobile users.

        Maybe Slashdot already has this buried somewhere, or it could be introduced. I'm sure many readers would find it useful.

      • Re:small (Score:2, Funny)

        by dangerz ( 540904 )
        I always read the bbc news while I'm on the bus, or driving

        That's safe.
      • I found a F/OSS Midlet RSS reader on sourceforge.
        Unsurprizingly, It's called 'RSS Reader MIDlet'.
        It's available here [brothas.net]. Cheers for the slashdot rss link as well(I feel so dim)

        To avoid this comment as being blasted offtopic, I will add that cell phone growth would be increased if more cell phone owners knew about the existence of rss readers for phone(or perhaps of the existence of rss at all).
        At the moment most providers just push their ludicrously overpriced games and ringtones as the main feature of GPRS/W
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • In the US, T-Mobile does unlimited WAP GPRS for about $5/mo (in addition to your normal talk plan.) There's also unlimited unfettered GPRS (eg no port blocking) for $20 per month, or $30 without a talk plan, if you plan to use it with your laptop.

            Actually, you should be able to get that GPRS Internet access at no extra cost [anandtech.com]. It's not something they advertise, but if you set up a connection through the phone that dials *99***1# (or maybe just *99#) and logs in with no username and no password, you'll ha

      • Last summer I wrote quite a lot of comments on slashdot from my 3650.

        I preferred the more lightweight Doris browser over the Opera one(the built in wap/xhtml-mp browser is crap).

        Mobile browsing is here *now*(been for quite some time), for news, slashdot, and other types of stuff. All it takes is to take a little consideration when developing web pages(KISS type of pages work the best, which I would prefer on 'full' browsers as well..), it's quite easy to use for example css(different css's when mobile bro
    • Yeah... and the interent is really slow too. Those guys never hurry!

      "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...."
    • "...as much as I love the internet, and new technologies...interent on cell phones is too small to do anything with!"

      That's a good thing when you're sending an internet connection to your laptop via your phone.
    • Ignore the phone's dinky display and pathetic keyboard -- plug a real computer into it.

    • ...as much as I love the internet, and new technologies...interent on cell phones is too small to do anything with!

      That's why you use Bluetooth or infrared to connect your notebook or PDA to your phone. Instead of having your phone do everything, it just shovels bits back and forth. I spent the second half of last week in a hotel for this event [beerandloafing.org], and having 'net access through my phone saved a small fortune in phone charges. (The speed is equivalent to dial-up, but with higher latency. It didn't cost

  • Interesting... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Brandon Glass ( 790653 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:26AM (#9504801) Homepage

    The choice of UMTS sets Cingular apart from Verizon, which is further along in using a system known as EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized). UMTS is based on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology that supports data rates of up to 384 kilobits per second, Cingular said. An enhanced version called High Speed Downlink Packet Access would offer peak data rates of 14.4mbps. GSM is well-established in Europe but less widely used in the United States.

    Hopefully this will mean that it will be easier to travel from a cell phone usability point of view... on the other hand, CDMA is superior to GSM, so is this a case of comprising technical superiority for the sake of compatibility?

    • Re:Interesting... (Score:5, Informative)

      by barcodez ( 580516 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:37AM (#9504859)
      It's not really for use with your mobile phone.

      This [laptopshop.co.uk] is currently available in the UK. Which is a mobile modem for your laptop. Obviously there are other usages, like in car internet (not for the driver!), iPOD could connect to itunes to get tunes you want when out and about. It's not just about phones...
      • However at 25mb per month and 1.50 per additional Megabyte you'd end up spending three times as much on bandwidth charges as you did on buying the song!

        The Data card is a great idea but it is far too expensive, and Windows-only at this time. When they do a USB one for my iBook, and slash the call costs, I'll think about it...

      • Re:Interesting... (Score:3, Informative)

        by Horia ( 602444 )
        Wow, it costs 20.00 Per Month for 25Mb(50Mb)! That is some expensive contract.

        I live in Romania and out CMDA operator Zapp has 15$/mo contract for 600 minutes @ 128kbps ulimited transfer. Well, actually dependin on the signal, sometimes it is more like 56kbps but at least I could browse the net in the most obscure mountain village or province bacwards hotel where ppl never heard of internet.

        So, 36000s * 5K (medium) = 17.5Gb of data for 15$

        That is around 1$/Gb.

        Our CMDA operator used to charge the same an

    • Re:Interesting... (Score:3, Informative)

      by kunudo ( 773239 )
      CDMA is superior to GSM for use in the US, because of the low average population density. GSM is superior to CDMA in other situations. You just pick what's best for the task at hand.
      • This doesn't make any sense to me. You would think in a low-density population, you could exploit TDMA to give extra empty timeslots away to increase average end-user bandwidth in underutilized cells.

        But can you give away extra codes in CDMA to better utilize underutilized cells?

      • Those are the wrong reasons and the wrong conclusions. As a consumer, superiority is a combination of pricing, coverage and equipment in the areas where you use your phone. That is it, and will vary by person and even over time for the same person.

        As a carrier, CDMA is way better for the simple reason tnat it is upgradeable using the same frequencies and is forwards and backwards compatible. You don't need expensive new spectrum nor do you need to supply new handsets. GSM/TDMA was a good design for it

        • Um, so what you seem to be saying is that CDMA is superior to GSM if you already paid for CDMA. I find this unsurprising.
          • Did you actually read the article I posted?

            What I said was that given mobile infrastructures have to change over time (new speeds, new features, power requirements etc), CDMA is way better for that than TDMA/GSM because of its forwards and backwards compatibility.

            And if you want to be pedantic, the 3G GSM network is based on CDMA as well. ie the GSM carriers decided to drop TDMA and move to CDMA for their 3G. From that you can conclude that CDMA is superior to TDMA/GSM for the carrier even of they alread
    • Hopefully this will mean that it will be easier to travel from a cell phone usability point of view... on the other hand, CDMA is superior to GSM, so is this a case of comprising technical superiority for the sake of compatibility?

      correct me if I'm wrong, but don't newer GSM standards (certainly needed for 384kbp) use CDMA modulation?

    • Re:Interesting... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by dj245 ( 732906 )
      UMTS is based on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology that supports data rates of up to 384 kilobits per second

      Unfortunately Real world speeds of GSM [treocentral.com] approach that of a 56k modem. Hardly something to write home about. Maybe with this UTMS they will reach 384 kilobits/s of real world speed. Still, if this UMTS is 1/10 of the advertised speed, it will be a usable speed for surfing the web. 56k speeds just don't cut it for pulling down image-laden webpages anymore.

    • Re:Interesting... (Score:5, Informative)

      by jodonoghue ( 143006 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @07:06AM (#9505166) Homepage Journal
      UMTS is based on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technology that supports data rates of up to 384 kilobits per second, Cingular said. An enhanced version called High Speed Downlink Packet Access would offer peak data rates of 14.4mbps. GSM is well-established in Europe but less widely used in the United States.

      I'm quite surprised to see such an inept statement from ZDNet. UMTS is an umbrella term which covers the set of specifications for GSM, WCDMA and their interworking.

      In this case, Cingular is focussing on WCDMA which, at the air interface layer has more in common with CDMA2000 than with GSM. WCDMA uses a CDMA-based air interface with upper protocol layers based on GSM (you could view this as like moving from copper Ethernet to fibre: the upper protocol is still TCP/IP, but faster...)

      At the risk of starting a flame war, I think it's reasonable to say that today, GSM/WCDMA has a more highly evolved set of upper layers than CDMA2000, but CDMA2000 has a better optimised radio interface (EV-DO is considerably faster than the 384 kbit/s you can get with WCDMA - I know colleagues who consistently get around 800 kbit/s real data rates with EV-DO modems, where around 200 kbit/s is more realistic for WCDMA).

      While, as explained above, I wouldn't like to characterise either CDMA2000 EV-DO or WCDMA as superior to the other, I think it is reasonable to state that EV-DO is the more mature and stable system right now. I use a 3G mobile in the UK, and there are still a few glitches around the edges, although things are improving rapidly (the main issue is handover between WCDMA and GSM, which is technically very challenging, and isn't an issue in CDMA2000 networks). I will say that if you're interested in data on the move, both EV-DO and WCDMA offer a user experience which is subjectively very similar to using a DSL connection, and is light years ahead of using GPRS (or CDMA2000-1X) in the performance offered.

      HSDPA is at least a couple of years away from deployment in commercial networks, and probably won't initially work at 14.4 Mbit/s.

      As for the issue of travelling... Well, WCDMA phones (almost) all have GSM capability, so will work in most parts of the world (the only place my GSM phone failed to work in the last five years was rural Laos!), and dual-mode CDMA2000 phones with GSM capability are extremely close to market, which will enable global roaming for CDMA users on GSM networks. From a practical point of view, users of either type of network will have the option of near global roaming.

      I suppose I would summarise by saying that both systems are 'good enough' for most data users, and both will offer global roaming. Most people will probably be quite happy to choose based on price plan and phone they like best...

    • CDMA is superior to GSM ..

      Your bigoted view stinks of "systemism". :-)

      For a reasonable number of users per channel (say 50), GSM provides a BETTER QoS than CDMA. CDMA is supposed to be good because after a certain limit (of number of users/channel), the deteoriation in GSM is faster than that in CDMA. So strictly from the user point of view, GSM is actually better. Also, if I am not wrong, the UMTS will actually provide higher data-rates to the user than CDMA-2000.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Coupld of questions (Score:5, Interesting)

    by manavendra ( 688020 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:28AM (#9504813) Homepage Journal
    1. When we say "high speed", what bandwidth are we talking about?

    2. How accessible is this high speed for today devices like say, mobile phones? Can I use my cell phone to browse at high speed?

    • RTFA (Score:5, Informative)

      by Tranzig ( 786710 ) <voidstar@freemail.hu> on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:40AM (#9504868)
      1. When we say "high speed", what bandwidth are we talking about?
      The article says: It has already signed up Lucent Technologies to provide equipment that currently supports data speeds of up to 2 megabits per second (mbps). The gear ultimately could support speeds of up to 14.4mbps.

      2. How accessible is this high speed for today devices like say, mobile phones? Can I use my cell phone to browse at high speed?
      No, it will be available for the yet to come 3G mobiles that have been promised for many years already. I have a feeling that we will need to wait more for them and when they become available they will be called 4G, skipping 3G. We have seen such thing a couple of times already.

      • Re:RTFA (Score:2, Informative)

        by Xrikcus ( 207545 )
        Yet to come? My 3G phone will pull 300k quite happily... depends on where you are in the world, of course, and 3 doesn't offer proper data services in the UK, annoyingly. Vodafone does offer a 3G card for laptops, with fast, but very expensive, mobile data.

  • Cost (Score:5, Insightful)

    by barcodez ( 580516 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:29AM (#9504816)
    There is no mention of what the cost is or indeed what the price model is. Do you pay for time, bandwidth, QoS?

    Having a high bandwidth connection is all very well but if it costs $10/Mb then ill just wait until I'm at the office to connect.

    Technologies like this are only useful to the vast majority of people once a certain price point is met. I imagine there is a large cost to recoup be the OpCos so it will be sometime before we can all sling a 3G modem in our laptops and forget about it.

    • Re:Cost (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ForestGrump ( 644805 )
      Well, currenetly your paying a high cost for low data rates.

      Something like 20/mo for 5 meg transfer, and up to 80/mo for "unlimited", where you get a max of 130ish/sec or somethign like that.

      more info cingular page [cingular.com]

      But you must remember. End users don't care for doing data. They just want voice. Data is targeted at businesses, whose workers know nothing about money...its a business expense.

      Grump
  • I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't mind if cell-phones had built-in wifi support. With wifi hotspots becoming more prevalent these days, they would seem a good alternative to lugging around a laptop, and (somewhat) cheaper than buying a PDA.

    Any thoughts?

  • Don't expect it to work (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:32AM (#9504831)
    Cingular is my cell phone company (at least until my contract expires) but their customer service reps are completely clueless about most of those little technical details such as how to get voice mail to work (they only know how to reset it). Forget it when it comes to "data" services. I have been told that I had to take my phone to an authorized service center (not my local phone store) to enter the IP address for data services. They would not give me the address to enter myself. Cluetrain doesn't stop here!

    • Re:Don't expect it to work (Score:5, Funny)

      by Rebel_Princess ( 717142 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @06:18AM (#9505025)
      Being a CSR, you get sent to the store because trying to instruct/walk-through customers on how to do anything on their phones is far too time consuming to bother with - the blunt end being, you're gonna fuck it up anyway and get sent to a store, cut your losses and get to the other people waiting.
      If we had the ability to yank the phone out of your hands after you've unsuccessfully tried turning on your phone for the 19th time, we would sir.
      This doesn't apply to 1% of the calls, sorry if I sound a bit cranky, but after the 40th "What rate plan am I on?" and the answer of "See, at the top of your bill? In giant fucking letters that says Rate Plan and Rate Plan Summary? Well if ignore that, it's a trick! You're real rate plan is unlimited daytime with rollover, unlimited mobile to mobile and unlimited nights and weekends... sorry to mislead you there, but we can't just have everyone know they're on that plan, only the ones clever enough to call in!"

      Thank you for choosing Slashdot and have a nice day.

    • I have been told that I had to take my phone to an authorized service center (not my local phone store) to enter the IP address for data services. They would not give me the address to enter myself.

      Then you either didn't ask the right person, or you did ask the right question. I'm a Cingular customer, and I purchased my phone from a third party to get an unlocked phone of the make/model I wanted (because Cingular didn't sell that phone online or in its retail stores).

      When I needed to setup Internet
    • According to the July 2004 issue of CPU Magazine [computerpoweruser.com], 21.2% of AT&T users and 17.9% of Cingular users say that they "definitely will" or "probably will" switch to a different provider this year (behind Nextel at 8.8% and Verizon at 10.4%, and better than T-Mobile and Sprint, at 25% and 21.9%, respectively).

      They may be the largest provider with the merge, but they're going to have to find another key innovation to keep customers than just high-speed internet.

    • Here's the info to make it work yourself!

      I had the same problem - I purchased a Nokia 3650 direct from Nokia (back in the days before Cingular started giving the 3650s away) so it obviously didn't come preconfigured for Cingular...thankfully I managed to get hold of a friendly 2nd level support bod who pointed me to this PDF [cingularinteractive.com].

      For those that can't be bother to click the link:
      Connection Name: Cingular
      Data Bearer: GPRS
      Access point name: wap.cingular
      Username: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
      Prompt pass: No
      Password: CINGUL

  • Think OUTSIDE the box.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Segway Ninja ( 777415 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:36AM (#9504847)
    I know this is an unfarmiliar concept tosome of you, but hear me out.

    One GSM Modem + One Laptop + One provider offering High Speed wireless internet over its network = a Laptop on the internet.

    We've got such setups going in New Zealand, and it's slowly becoming mainstream.
    • I actually used to do this relatively often with my iBook + Sprint PCS Samsung A500 phone. One winter I was working from home, and I decided on several occasions that the workload for the day was light enough that I could pack up my equipment, hit the slopes and do work at the ski lodge cafe every few runs.

      It was pretty sweet. Now that I've got a Treo 600, it does not appear possible to direct the phone's datanet connectivity to a connected computer. Anyone here know how to do that?

    • A laptop on the internet?

      Sorry I'm confused. What is insightful about this? How is this thinking outside the box?

      • It's thinking outside every other post I saw before it... They were all complaining about the small screen, and the inability of using a Cellphone for high speed, anyway.

        The title is rather inaccurate, I geuss...

    • Re:Think OUTSIDE the box.. (Score:3, Informative)

      by Masa ( 74401 )
      Emphasis on the word "slow", right?

      If I haven't misunderstood anything, the "High Speed" in the GSM network means approximately 28.8 kbps transfer rates (and with GPRS it's 56 kbps).
      • Actually with EDGE you're looking at maximum connection speeds of 384kbps with 48kbps per time slot. While a good EDGE connection won't compare to a high speed DSL or cable connection it doesn't necessarily have to in order to be useful. Web browsing and checking/sending e-mail doesn't exactly require a 4mbps internet connection. For many simply being able have an online presence is enough. Instant messaging, RSS feeds, and e-mail aren't necessarily technologies in need of überbandwidth.
        • Actually with EDGE you're looking at maximum connection speeds of 384kbps with 48kbps per time slot.

          You're right, but I haven't heard that EDGE would be very commonly implemented or supported currently. I hope that it would be supported as soon as possible, because...

          Instant messaging, RSS feeds, and e-mail aren't necessarily technologies in need of überbandwidth.

          ... I have to use Lotus Notes over GSM network and it is a pain in the ass. Out company policy is that while working outside of the

    • OMG!!!! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by autopr0n ( 534291 )
      OMG, that's so novel, so un-thought of ever before.

      That's so outside the box! And just think what if we put wifi cards in laptops! Then you could surf the web, without paying outrageous telco charges!
    • What are the data charges like? When i was in NZ in 2002, call charges were an insane NZ$1.49 a minute. Where i come from, thats daylight robbery. So if data charges are just as high or worse, i don't see how it will take off.


    • Add a BlueTooth cell phone and a BT module [integrated | USB Plug] to your laptop and you don't even have to take the phone out of it's holster.

      Mac users are doing that with compatible phones, as all Mac laptops have integrated BT now. Is that standard on PC laptops?

  • Death to telephone numbers (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pubjames ( 468013 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:42AM (#9504882)

    Now we're getting mobile wireless (which of course means we can do mobile VOIP) can we please get rid of telephone numbers? They feel increasingly primitive to me. It's much easier to remember name.surname@company.com than 023633463453.

    Of course the problem is with personal numbers, rather than office-based ones. Of course your work is one thing that defines you (bob.thompson@company.com), as does your physical location bob.thompson@london.uk. But not everyone has a job, and location based identifiers don't make much sense for mobile numbers. Any solutions?
    • Of course the problem is with personal numbers, rather than office-based ones. Of course your work is one thing that defines you (bob.thompson@company.com), as does your physical location bob.thompson@london.uk. But not everyone has a job, and location based identifiers don't make much sense for mobile numbers. Any solutions?

      Same way people have email addresses now. They buy a domain name, get a DynDNS [dyndns.org] name (what I currently use), or they sign up with an alias provider that sets them up with a username a
      • And, for the record, I think DNS for VoIP is a cool idea. Only question is whether or not it'll use the same DNS namespace as the rest of the Internet, or if it'll use its own.

        I think it needs a new one. Currently a lot of people don't have email addresses, even in those countries where internet use is widespread. What happens when everyone in the world needs one? I believe the current system couldn't cope with that.

        Fortunately, most people don't move that much, so probably location based is enough. Some
    • May I point out that - under the hood - company.com is also a number? We have this DNS thingie that turns names into numbers and it seems that we all are fine with this.
      I am also fine with having "Bob" in my phone('s phonebook - that sounds silly, doesn't it?) and it does not bother me at all if it resolves to a number.

    • who REMEMBERS phone numbers in head anymore? Just about the only long number I can pick up from top of my head is my own.

      all the rest of the numbers in my phone I have just typed in once and everytime after that the number is just the persons name it belongs to as far as I need to care.

      Just one of the reasons why around here people are more likely to use their mobile phones for calling people than their landlines, even if they still have a landline(of course, sometimes it's just cheaper to use the mobile
    • can we please get rid of telephone numbers?

      sure! you can call me at A43b.53ce.002a.0053.00ce.feff cellphone
      A43b.53ce.002a.0053.00ce.ff01 home
      A43b.53ce.004b.0153.d0ce.fecf work

      what? you were expecting ipv4?

  • Good Chance they Don't Get It (Score:5, Interesting)

    by weston ( 16146 ) <westonsd@@@canncentral...org> on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:52AM (#9504921) Homepage
    Cingular, in a statement announcing the 3G testing, described general aspects of some services it might offer consumers with the new network. The offerings could include downloading film trailers and sports highlights, access to e-mails with large attachments, and locating automated bank machines, movie theaters or restaurants.

    If this is what they're thinking of, they don't get it, and if that's what they offer, I certainly won't.

    I realize not everone wants/needs SSH. But the thing with this kind of offering is to offer a *platform* open enough that all kinds of folks can develop interesting services. Do this, and you don't have to do focus groups to discover what people will like -- a market will do it for you.
    • Yup, that's the problem with 3's services in the UK. They have all these silly music and news downloads, location services, video calls, things like that, with a specific charge for each. What I want to be able to do though is check my home imap server from my phone... can I do that? No chance. I use the phone because they also have cheap calls, but it certainly isn't for the 3g services. They are slowly considering opening it up properly, and keep saying they will, but it's been 18 months and they've not d
    • The offerings could include downloading film trailers and sports highlights, access to e-mails with large attachments, and locating automated bank machines, movie theaters or restaurants.

      Bank of America already offers this service via their 1-800 automated system. As far back as two years ago I could call from my cell phone and ask it to tell me the closest ATM - and it was usually pretty accurate.

      I don't know if it was because of my carrier - Sprint PCS - or because of my account type - Premier - or a c
    • Looking at movie traliers while your at the theater trying to decide what movie to see might be kind of convienent.

      But yeah, these kinds of suggestions (other then large attachments) have been bandied about since the beginning of the 'information superhighway' talk.

      It has more to do with the fantasies of corporate pigs then the desires of individuals.

      It isn't what you or I want, its what the CEOs and stuff wish would want. You know what the original conception of the "information superhighway" was?
      • Depends on how you think. I married one of those "let's go see *a movie*" types, but if I didn't already know which movie I wanted to watch I wouldn't have come to the theater.

  • I hope it's better than their phone service (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Quattro Vezina ( 714892 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @05:55AM (#9504927) Journal
    Because if it's anywhere near as bad as their normal phone service, you'll never be able to connect.

    I just moved into a new apartment (about a week and a half ago), and my phone, with Cingular service, isn't much more functional than a paperweight now.

    There are about three spots in my apartment I get any signal at all, and I have to be standing up to do so (one spot is right at my couch, so I can test this).

    I thought it was because GSM sucks, but that was dispelled after I talked to two of my neighbours, both on the same floor as me--one has AT&T (now owned by Cingular, but they still probably use their old equipment), and the other has T-Mobile. Both are getting great signals, and both providers use GSM--it looks like the problem is entirely Cingular's fault.

    Ach--why the hell did I have to get a new phone in December, thus renewing my two-year contract? I'm this close to hiring a lawyer to bully/harrass Cingular into releasing me from my contract...

    By any chance, does anyone know anything about how to boost power to the internal antenna of a Sony Ericsson T226, or if doing so will matter signal-wise?
    • Internal antenna widgets.

      Come on, hear me out. I bought something on ebay and they sent me a cell phone internal antenna with whatever I bought for free. You know, the ones that used to cost $30 on TV. I don't know if I can get a signal in places where before there was none, but it did increase the number of signal bars in my apartment from 2 to 4.

      I trust it about as far as I can throw it, and its light with lots of surface area, so thats about 5 feet probably. But I bet you could find one in a dolla

    • I just moved into a new apartment (about a week and a half ago), and my phone, with Cingular service, isn't much more functional than a paperweight now.

      Maybe it's just your phone. I have yet to find anyone on the planet SATISFIED with their cell phone service (certainly not on slashdot, aka bitch-about-everything-dot). I have Cingular GSM and I love it. Boston Metro area, I can't remember the last time I was somewhere where I didn't get service with my Nokia 6800, and I travel around the region a lo
    • If your neighbor with T-Mobile gets a good signal then it's your phone. Cingular and T-Mobile use the same network.
    • Everyone I know who owns a T226 complains about the poor reception. Two of my co-workers have them too, and inside our office building their signal strength shows barely off zero, barely able to work while I can stand right next to them with my Nokia and get more than half-strength displayed and no dropped calls inside the worst places inside the building. BTW, we're all on the same provider - ATTWS.

      Your solution would simply be to get a better phone.
    • Depends on where you are.
      According to an SBC guy I talked to - On the West coast, T-Mobile uses Cingular's network.
      Cingular is going to take over the existing AT&T Wireless network for their own purposes.

  • Speed comparison simulator for CDMA2000 EV-DO, CDM (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sanspeak ( 734959 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @06:04AM (#9504975) Homepage Journal
    Which Mobile Internet technology is the best ?

    May be you can find it, by playing this simulation game here [lucent.com] at Lucent.com [lucent.com]. The simulator here shows the differences in bandwidth and roundtrip delays for various mobile technologies. The simulator compares CDMA2000 EV-DO, CDMA2000 1X, GPRS and EDGE. A UMTS, GPRS, GSM-Data and Modem version. There are two version of the simulator one with EV-DO & one with UMTS.

  • What will that fix? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ryzynforce ( 199741 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @06:19AM (#9505028)
    It still does not take away from the fact that AT&T Wireless has, by far the worst customer service I have the displeasure to experience. I hope cingular can fix that...
  • I would settle for reliable coverage when making normal phone calls. Frequently the network is spotty in my area, and has been "scheduled for expansion" according to customer service. How about you get that right and then try something new? Since I'm using my phone primarily as a um... phone.

  • Free alternative... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Oliver Aaltonen ( 606410 ) <aaltonenNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @07:40AM (#9505289) Homepage
    For T-Mobile customers: all T-Mobile accounts -- including prepaid EasySpeak customers -- have free WAP access available. T-Mobile doesn't charge minutes usage or bandwidth used for GPRS internet access. If your cell phone can connect to your laptop via Bluetooth, IR or with a cable, this means free internet access via GPRS from your laptop. The speeds aren't great, about that of a 56K modem, but definitely useable for the convenience it offers. Check out T-Mobile.HowardForums.com [howardforums.com] for more details and discussion. If you're interested, more information on my experience with T-Mobile GPRS internet access and a Nokia 6610 here [aaltonen.us] and here [aaltonen.us].

  • Article is SO incomplete. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Magnus Pym ( 237274 ) * on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @07:53AM (#9505341)
    1) Verizon already offers high-speed mobile data access to customers in San Diego and Washington.
    This is based on CDMA EV-DO. This technology gets 2.4Mbps peak (500Kbps average) on the downlink, and 153Kbps peak (80Kbps average) on the uplink. A nationwide rollout is expected later this year.

    2) Sprint announced that they are going to do the same thing yesterday. They expect to have service later this year/early next year.

    3) CDMA EVDO has been successfully deployed for the last 2 years in Korea (6 million subs) and for about 9 months in Japan (subs not known). Dozens of devices/phones are available.

    4) Cingular's service is NOT based on GSM. This is the next generation of GSM (3G) which is based on CDMA technology. The complexities of this upgrade are much more than that of going from CDMA to EV-DO. W-CDMA will give you about 2Mbps peak (500 Kbps average) on the downlink, and far less on the uplink. This is over 3 times the bandwidth used by CDMA EV-DO.

    Magnus.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • 1) Verizon already offers high-speed mobile data access to customers in San Diego and Washington. This is based on CDMA EV-DO. This technology gets 2.4Mbps peak (500Kbps average) on the downlink, and 153Kbps peak (80Kbps average) on the uplink. A nationwide rollout is expected later this year.

      Yes, and as someone who lives in the Washington DC area and had a chance to play with it, it really is quite good - I was expecting some sort of a "catch", but there is none - you get what seems like a very fast con

  • I dont get it.. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by LordJezo ( 596587 )
    Everyone is buying each other, getting newer and fancier phones, getting fancy high speed internet, but still no one can match Verizon in terms of actually being able to get a signal and make a call... how come they are not focusing on that before all the extra fluff?
  • A company does not become the "Number One" anything just because of size. I stuck with Verizon Wireless because of their good customer service and wide coverage, even in the boonies.

    Before I ever think of Cingular as "Number One," they're going to have to prove that they can be just as good at quality of service as Verizon.

  • iFido Service in Canada (Score:3, Informative)

    by jaraxle ( 1707 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @09:09AM (#9506001)
    http://www.fido.ca/portal/en/packages/ifido/ifido. shtml [www.fido.ca]

    Fido, a Canadian GSM cellular service provider is beginning to roll out a service called iFido... wireless 2.2Mbps internet access. Currently it's only available in certain areas of BC, but myself and a few others here in Winnipeg are (im)patiently waiting for it to come to the rest of Canada.

    I'll be glad when I can finally move 100% away from the phone and cable companies here. Right now, I'm 100% off the phone company (MTS), using Fido for my phone service, but still stuck with Shaw (cable) for high speed internet access while using satellite for TV.

    ~jaraxle

  • If I'm not mistaken, this might have something to do with a (publically known) contract stipulation that they would build out 4 high speed data markets by X date.

    And not to fan old flames, but isn't UMTS basically WCDMA ? Such that the gsm vs cdma arguments are largely mooted by the fact that all of the next generation GSM protocols are carrier division based rather than time division (GSM works by dividing the broadcast frequency into multiple time chunks for each device)

  • Nothing New (Score:3, Informative)

    by RobFrontier ( 550029 ) on Wednesday June 23, 2004 @11:26AM (#9507541)
    I already use my Sprint Phone along with the data cable from Future Dial to get my Internet access. I get speeds about 3 times as fast as dial-up, included with my Vision package. So basically $15 a month and I'm getting 150K. It's not blazing fast, but it works for me.

  • Unnoted Point... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by bullitB ( 447519 )
    Since FCC regulations of public spectrum use was something of a hot topic on /., thought I might bring this up...

    Cingular is now planning to simultaneously run four different cell network, Analog (AMPS), IS-136 ("TDMA"), GSM and now UMTS/WCDMA. This is going to take a whole crapload of spectrum space, considerably more than any other carrier. Since spectrum limited, doesn't this concern anyone? How is planning to get away with this?

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