3G. Wireless Communication Solutions

In the U.S., CDMA-EVDO coverage from Verizon and Sprint are currently using their initial EVDO implementation, hyped as 2.4 Mbps (but realistically 64Kbps up and 300-500 Kbps down). A CDMA tower has a capacity of 35 calls per sector per 1.25 MHz channel.

Now Revision A, a software upgrade, is being tested. Qualcomm says Rev A will provide 3.1 Mbps down and up to 1.8 Mbps up (perhaps 500-700 Kbps down and 256Kbps up). The upstream speed increase is a big deal - it allows the Data Only (DO) channel to now carry VoIP calls reliably. Network operators will start to move to Rev. A in early next year.

The Revision B standard will be published in the first quarter of 2006. It is said to double the speed when it gets installed in 2007 or 2008. Using a standard 1.25 MHz CDMA channel, a user might see peak speeds of 4.9 Mbps, (vs. Rev A with a peak speed of 3.1 Mbps and Rev 0 with 2.4 Mbps). A carrier could even join 15 channels into a 20 MHz super channel with download speeds of 73.5 Mbps and uploads of 27 Mbps.

More info 3G-CDMA at CDMA Development Group

Cingular is in another camp GSM-WCDMA, and in middle of their fork lift upgrade to 5 Mhz wide, full WCDMA 3G service. (Normal UMTS speeds is said to be 200 - 320 kbps). Almost as soon as the new 3G gear goes in, an HSPDA software upgrade is scheduled. HSDPA demos have been going on all year. T-Mobile and Nokia have been testing a HSDPA solution that offers end users significantly faster download speeds - up to 1.8 Mbps in the first phase, compared to 384 kbps on standard WCDMA 3G networks.

Cingular adoption of HSDPA will be the big deal. Cingular became the first global provider to launch a commercial High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) network last month. Cingular has Lucent and Ericsson HSDPA gear installed in Seattle, Phoenix and Dallas/Fort Worth. Base station equipment is now starting to reach the market and handsets will follow, with widespread deployment anticipated in 2006 and 2007.

Cingular’s customers can access the enhanced data speeds expected to be between 400 kb/s to 700 kb/s. Current UMTS handsets and data cards sold originally by AT&T Wireless will continue to work on the three networks at normal UMTS speeds of 200-320 kbps. Later in 2006, Cingular will start selling its first HSDPA handsets, which will contain an early release of the HSDPA chipsets, supporting network data speeds of 1.8 Mb/s.

The HSDPA standard has 12 separate categories, the 10th iteration of which supports HSDPA’s full theoretical capacity of 14.4 Mb/s.

For 3G-GSM at 3GPP - The 3rd Generation Partnership Project

This entry was posted on Monday, November 21st, 2005 at 8:28 pm and is filed under Mobile Wireless, 3G, Broadband Wireless, Mobile Broadband, EVDO, CDMA, GSM. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.