[APPLE-L]: INTEREST: the state of cellular phones in Canada

NOTE: if errors in the following are spotted, please feel invited to correct same. Thanks.

Wayne

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...from: http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/generic/ 0,295582,sid40_gci1078079,00.html

What is this 3G/4G/etc. thing anyway? --------------------------------------------------------

Let's start with "cellular telephones": First of all, "cellular" generally refers to the wireless telephone family. It is just starting to compete, in terms of data transmission (which is to say, non-voice,) with the wireless Internet family that includes Wi-Fi and the other 802 wireless IEEE standards. But it is a completely distinct set of standards. The only place the two are likely to merge is in devices which incorporate a marriage of both the cellular and Wi-Fi standards [such as Apple's announced iPhone].

[In the following, "G" stands for "Generation" and is not related to "Gigabytes". It should be noted that the as the Generations evolve, higher data transmission speeds are attained .]

Briefly:

- 0G (the 0th Generation, if you will): Wireless telephone started with what you might call 0G if you can remember back that far. The great ancestor is the mobile telephone service that became available just after World War II. In those pre-cell days, you had a mobile operator to set up the calls and there were only a handful of channels available to the entire population of wireless telephones which is why the operator was needed to "schedule" the call.

- 1G (the 1st Generation, although nobody actually called it that): The big boom in mobile phone service really began with the introduction of analog cellular service called AMPS (Analog Mobile Phone Service) starting in 1981. This generation is 1G, the first for using cell technology that let users place their own calls and continue their conversations seamlessly as they moved from cell to cell. AMPS uses what is called FDM or frequency division multiplexing. Each phone call uses separate radio frequencies or channels.

- 2G (the 2nd Generation): One 2G standard uses a digital version of AMPS called D-AMPS using TDMA (Time division Multiple Access). A competing system also emerged using CDMA or Code Division Multiple Access. As you might suspect, the two are incompatible but you can have one phone that works with both. Europe embraced yet a third standard called GSM which is based on TDMA. Digital transmissions allow for more phone conversations in the same amount of spectrum compared with analog transmissions. They also lay the groundwork for services beyond simple voice telephone calls. Data services such as Internet access, text messaging, sharing pictures and video easily lend themselves to digital technologies of TDMA and CDMA.

(3G) - Now that a cell phone is not merely a cell phone, but also a PDA, a messaging system, a camera, an Internet browser, an email reader and soon to be a television set, true broadband data speeds are needed as is a new generation of cellular phone technology. That new generation of cell phone service has been dubbed 3G for 3rd generation. 3G is a new wireless standard promising increased capacity and high-speed data applications up to two megabits. Third generation wireless employes wideband frequency carriers and a CDMA air interface. Implemented in Europe as UMTS (also marketed under the name 3GSM) and CDMA2000 in North America, its goals are high-quality multimedia and advanced global roaming (in house, cellular, satellite, etc.). You will also encounter the 3G term EVDO (Evolution- Data Optimized ) which is the data transmission standard in the CDMA2000 specification.

4G: The fourth generation being championed in Japan will boost the data rates to 20 Mbps. These speeds enable high quality video transmission and rapid download of large music files.

...from: http://www.nttdocomo.com/pr/2007/001319.html TOKYO, JAPAN, February 9, 2007 --- NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that it achieved a maximum packet transmission rate of approximately 5Gbps in the downlink using 100MHz frequency bandwidth to a mobile station moving at 10km/h. The field experiment of fourth-generation (4G) radio access took place in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture on December 25, 2006.

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[LightTechnologyJargon ON] Where is Canadian cellular communications? -------------------------------------------------------------------- So, no without some of the jargon, the first generation of today's cellular phones have been around since about 1981. Canada's cellular providers seem to currently be working toward 3G:

- Rogers Communications (Fido): On February 2006 at the 3GSM Conference in Barcelona, Rogers announced that testing for their 3G/ 3.5G UMTS/HSDPA network would be complete by March 2006. The network was brought online for select markets on November 2, 2006, with further expansion during 2007. UMTS/HSDPA is officially available in the Golden Horseshoe of Ontario, including Brampton, Burlington, Hamilton, Mississauga, Oshawa, Richmond Hill, Pickering, Newmarket, Markham, Niagara Falls, Oakville, St. Catharines, Toronto, and all points between. So far, users are reporting performance in the 2-3 Mbit/s range on the HSDPA network, and 1 Mbit/s using UMTS.

Note, however, that Rogers already offers GSM/EDGE (the predecessor to UMTS) all across Canada. EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) is a digital mobile phone technology built on top of GSM that allows for increased data transmission rate and improved data transmission reliability. GSM/EDGE is generally classified as a 2.75G network technology since it does not include true 3G technology but is merely an enhancement to the 2G standard. EDGE has been introduced into GSM networks around the world since 2003, initially in North America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Wireless http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Data_Rates_for_GSM_Evolution

- Telus: Telus employs the CDMA2000 standard for their cellular network, and its 3G EvDO network has since been deployed and marketed as "broadband on the fly". Telus has also been involved in a controversy similar to that of the American telecom firm Verizon, where it crippled the Bluetooth function of its mobile phones and devices, forcing customers to access its network more often and thus increasing charges and revenue.

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

- MTS Wireless: EVDO (which MTS is referring to as "Mobility High Speed") service is available within MTS EVDO coverage areas (currently Winnipeg & Brandon), where technology permits. Data download speeds of 400-700 kbps per second are average technology speeds that users will experience based on manufacturer’s specifications. Data download speeds will vary depending on user’s location and hardware.

http://www.mts.ca/portal/site/mts/ menuitem.a275cbc6dbb0d4e50e14081031248a0c/? vgnextoid=56970331b4dca010VgnVCM1000000408120aRCRD&vgnextchannel=0b1ccc8 78fc81010VgnVCM1000000408120aRCRD

Interesting side stories: a) Entitled "China skips 3G and goes to 4G cell networks" the January 30, 2007 post describes how 3G cell technology is not available in mainland China but it looks like they'll be going directly to 4G as a successful field trial and launch has been done in Shanghai.

http://www.cellphones.ca/tag/4G http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=534007

b) On Monday, February 12, 2007, Microsoft filed an application with the FCC for an enigmatic wireless device that could be used to talk over the Internet. The device is described as being used for “consumer broadband access and networking,” which doesn’t sound like vanilla VoIP. Microsoft goes on to say that the device would use OFDM as its communications protocol, not WiFi or Bluetooth. The standard OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) is a modulation scheme that is used widely in upcoming 4G standards.

http://crunchgear.com/2007/02/09/zne-phone-confirmed-launch- scenario-4g-wimax-action-rumors-off-the-wtf-o-meter/

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[NoJargon ON] The first generation of today's cellular phones have been around since about 1981. These phones have been dubbed 1G or 1st Generation cellular phone technology. Many of today's cellular subscribers in Canada are using 2G (2nd Generation) phones. Some Canadian cellular/ wireless phone providers are providing true 3G technology but at the moment this is most likely restricted to high-end devices such as BlackBerry units. In addition, other Canadian providers have enhanced their 2G technology (e.g. GSM/EDGE sometimes referred to as 2.75G) and are using this enhancement as a "stop gap" to provide faster data transmission for their cellular technology while they upgrade their networks country-wide to true 3G technology.

The switch to 3G (and then 4G) cellular technology is driven by the need for high-bandwidth data transmission cell phones.

As this an Apple oriented mailing list - in Canada - let's look briefly at how this affects the upcoming iPhone release:

1) Apple's iPhone will initially support only the GSM/EDGE standard. This seems to have been a strategic move on Apple's part as GSM is huge in Europe and many Asian countries; it is available in Canada; it is the standard used by the Cingular network in the United States. Cingular is the largest cell phone provider in the USA. It is widely speculated that the iPhone will remain GSM/EDGE for the duration of Apple's contract with Cingular (2 years) after which an iPhone supporting other true 3G (possibly 4G?) standards will also be released.

[NOTE: Cingular has recently announced that it is changing it's name to ATT.]

2) Rogers Communication/Wireless is the only network which supports GSM/EDGE in Canada. Rogers purchased this network from ATT Wireless (Canada) when it closed down.

3) Rogers has announced that they are in negotiation with Apple attempting to reach an agreement that will allow Rogers to release the iPhone in Canada "sooner rather than later".

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