Edited by author 09-03-2003 05:04 AM
When the GPRS standard was first proposed, sceptics said that it didn't have the capacity that a serious service would need. Now, it turns out that some carriers are finding it hard to meet existing demand and are switching data services off.

The first to admit to doing this is Globe Telecom in the Far East...

Talking with the CEO of Cellglide the issue is that the network operators have not learnt the lessions of their fixed counterparts in terms of datanetworks and traffic shaping.

Just like the SMS boom we have seen the networks release GPRS without the necessary network tools to allow easy use. Thus we have a situation that sees a cell become congested with as few a 4 users. Any one remember the launch of GPRS by Cellnet a few years ago. The FT and Telegraph were so impressed at just what a SNAFU it was that they devoted a quarter page to highlight just how poor GPRS was. Since then we have had more and more handsets released, the MNOs have overhauled their Portals to match the ability of "fast" data and from what I can see done little else to inprove speeds. The standard answer from my provider is that "you are billed by the byte sir and the network transfer data when capacity allows so regardless of how long it take for the page to load it still costs the same." and they wonder why I prefer to use my Laptop in a Hotspot!

The larger issue as I see it is that any move by the network operators to reimpose a walled garden approach will be to stifle and effectively eliminate any form of third party provision of services. Whether these be third party IM tools, or entertainment based services, or any other service which runs over the GPRS/WAP bearer.

If customers cannot access content providers who are located externally to the MNO environment, then the effect is to kill off the market prior to it's start. (or is this their plan?)

With third parties releasing new services every month, this poses a serious threat to small and medium sized businesses.

I've been amazed by the number of emails I have had, too; from people saying, in effect: "This is true! I thought it was just me, and I must be thumb-fingered. Why does nobody raise an outcry?"

Edited by author 09-09-2003 07:35 AM
"I've been amazed by the number of emails I have had, too; from people saying, in effect: "This is true! I thought it was just me, and I must be thumb-fingered. Why does nobody raise an outcry?"

Which networks? I regularly hit my t-mobile GPRS account really hard and don't have any speed problems.

I'm having big problems with Orange. Once again, my target WAP page is unreachable on GPRS, fine with GSM diallup, fine with Opera/Win in WAP viewing mode :-(

In general, it's every day around 9am, 6pm, and all of Friday afternoons...

Network- wide, or confined to a particular area? Could be a BTS capacity issue if it's localised.

Edited by author 09-11-2003 07:22 AM
Connection speed tester at http://www.info-techs.com/speedtest says I'm getting 37.1 kbps on GPRS at the moment.

Try it (and post results) if you have suitable kit- this was using an Ipaq 3870 connected via Bluetooth to a nokia 6310i on t-mobile in St Albans. It would be interesting to see results from different places and networks- and at different times of the day.

I had a long conversation with Orange Data, and I seem to be (a) living in a cell that had (still has IMHO) a long-term transmitter problem, and (b) travelling to work which has a cell that appears to be groaning under the load and Orange have a load more planned. They have planning permission and are waiting to start work apparently. How unlucky is that ?! However, just for fun I had to go to London on the train the next day and did a GPRS test all along the route, and got about 70% usability. What did surprise me was that sitting in Starbucks off Oxford Street GPRS was again very poor. I think insufficient bandwidth is the cause here. I just want to get it sorted as I have landed some paid(!) development work and need to be able to use GPRS on a regular basis.

Generally speaking, people I talk to think things are getting worse. I'd quite like to look at the metrics of GPRS; if people actually used the data that the phone networks are dreaming about charging us for, how many new masts they'd need.

Edited by author 09-22-2003 04:04 AM
>if people actually used the data that the phone networks >are dreaming about charging us for, how many new masts >they'd need.

Depends on how much spare air interface capacity they have now, and how much voice capacity they're willing to dedicate to GPRS in order to guarantee throughput. The answer could be none or lots depending on what the BTSs look like. A simple spreadsheet driven 'we will need x more masts to support y GB of data usage' won't add up as it really depends on local loadings, overhead and BTS capacity.

Peter can you do some speed tests?

Can do.. Is there a WAP site where I can do this, otherwise I could try from home linking via my laptop.

http://www.info-techs.com/speedtest will do you on a laptop. Don't know about WAP sites, I'm sure it's possible but can anyone be bothered ;+)

Guy - turn the argument around, if people could actually use GPRS they'd make enough to pay for more masts etc very quickly, remember that it's far from cheap...

I find GPRS coverage and availability on Vodafone in SE England is appalling.

Coverage should be pretty much identical to GSM unless Voda have some severe interference problems. What's your voice coverage like?