Buying new handset. HSDPA vs UMTS coverage.

Forums › Mobile handsets › Buying new handset. HSDPA vs UMTS coverage.

some8

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#29914 23-Jan-2009 10:35

Hi guys.

Looking around to buy a new phone. I was wondering, how many people actually benefit from HSDPA connection? Before 6220 classic, I was using HP HW6965 and was on dreading GPRS connection. Gosh that thing was slow. With 6220 classic, it supports HSDPA but most of time it was only connecting to 3G instead 3.5G. Doesn't this mean it was connecting via UMTS rather than HSDPA? Will I really benefit by buying a handset with HSDPA connection or would it be just a piece of mind in reality?

I was just wondering which would be more practical to aim for because I have more choice over smartphones if UMTS would suffice. I mean what would be the point of getting HSDPA if It has so little coverage? I don't work in CBD but rather all over the country, mostly away from CBD. So if I'm only going to benefit from HSDPA when I'm at CBD, I don't see much point of narrowing my choices down with the phone supports HSDPA.

Cheers.

sbiddle

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#191481 23-Jan-2009 10:44

All Vodafone 3G cellsites support HSDPA and have done for quite some time now.

some8

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#191487 23-Jan-2009 11:02

But how come my nokia only connects using 3G only? It was showing 3.5G when it was initiating the connection, but after that it was 3G??

sbiddle

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#191492 23-Jan-2009 11:25

some8: But how come my nokia only connects using 3G only? It was showing 3.5G when it was initiating the connection, but after that it was 3G??

The network only uses HSDPA as needed. Any time a data connection is established it uses 3G and then HSDPA kicks in. Connections will then fall back to 3G if your connection is idle.

some8

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#191499 23-Jan-2009 11:37

Ahhh I see. It looks like I was connecting by HSDPA all the time then! I didn't realise that's how it works. I was wondering why it only showed 3.5G when I was loading the website and then goes back to 3G. Learn something everyday! :) Thanks for the help. I will go for handset with HSDPA then.

BTW. I know, theoreticaly, there are hugh difference between HSDPA and UMTS connection speed. I never used UMTS before. Only GPRS and HSDPA. In that case, does UMTS really that much slower than HSDPA in real life?

Thanks again. :)

johnr

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#191508 23-Jan-2009 11:49

UMTS covers HSDPA

The speed difference between release 99 (WCDMA) and release 6 (HSDPA) is huge

John

some8

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#191521 23-Jan-2009 12:20

Thanks for the help. But I was wondering UMTS VS HSDPA? Not WCDMA vs HSDPA.

Cheers.

johnr

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#191524 23-Jan-2009 12:24

UMTS is WCDMA / HSDPA

Google UMTS and read about it

John

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NealR

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#191535 23-Jan-2009 13:02

Here is something I wrote recently that may help. Strongly recommend Google & wikipedia

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of the third-generation (3G) cell phone technologies.
Currently, the most common form of UMTS uses W-CDMA as the underlying air interface. WCDMA Rel99 supports 384kbps in downlink and uplink.
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is a collection of mobile telephony protocol that extend and improve the performance of existing UMTS protocols. Three standards, HSDPA, HSUPA and HSPA+ have been established. HSDPA supports down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.4 Mbps. HSUPA supports up-link speeds up to 5.76 Mbit/s. HSPA+ (also known as: HSPA Evolution & Evolved HSPA) provides data rates up to 42 Mbit/s on the downlink and 22 Mbit/s on the uplink LTE Long Term Evolution aka 4G

The intention of this text was to allow people to use the various acronyms in the correct context.

When it comes to devices each can have a combination of HSDPA, HSUPA and Rel99 speeds.

Example:
High End Data card
   Downlink: HSDPA Cat10 14.4Mbps
   Uplink: HSUPA Cat6 5Mbps

Popular PDA
   Downlink: HSDPA Cat6 3.6Mbps
   Uplink: Rel99 384kbps

The comments I write on this forum do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer and as such cannot be taken as official statements of my employer.

some8

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#191550 23-Jan-2009 13:46

Thanks for all the comments guys.

So there is a visible difference you can notice in New Zealand when you do mobile browsing? Like there is hugh difference between my Ipaq HW6965 and Nokia 6220 classic. Though this is GPRS against 3.5G. I'm wondering speed difference between typical 3G and 3.5G in REAL life and in NEW ZEALAND. Not in numbers on the paper but how you feel it personally in everyday situation. Noticable? Superior? barely? same?

I understand where you guys are coming from but I'm not really here to learn about all telco specifications. I would have looked at wiki already if I wanted to learn about different speicifications.

I'm here to get some feed back on mobile browsing experience on 3G phones against 3.5G/HSDPA phones in everyday situations. Phones are advertised as 3.5G/HSDPA device with mega bps rating and 3G/UMTS device with Kbps rating. I just wanted to know this actually makes any difference in mobile browsing, especialy in New Zealand. Like ADSL they say this speed and that but its never like what they say on the paper when it comes to everyday life.

If you have been doing mobile browsing with none 3.5G/HSDPA phone(i.e SE P1i) and upgraded/played with 3.5G/HSDPA(i.e Nokia E71) capable device, then please let me know whether the browsing speed was any different, and if so, by how much. Of course I'd take the horse power of each device in account.

I could of course, google the info on this, but I wanted to find info specific to New Zealand area.

It goes back to my opening post again. Will I benefit from 3.5G devices in NZ for mobile browsing. Or 3G device will be suffice enough? If you have any personal experience on this, please let me know.

Cheers.

NealR

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#191588 23-Jan-2009 15:38

@some8, going back to your original post.

Both Telecom NZ and Vodafone NZ will have nationwide WCDMA networks this year. Thus, you will have HSPA (which you call 3.5G) nationwide. You will need to contact each operator for the category of HSDPA & HSUPA they will have as they upgrade throughout the year. TelecomNZ have announced they will have both HSDPA+HSUPA when we launch our new network in a few months time.

The difference in data speeds between WCDMA (Rel99, 384kbps) and HSPA (HSDPA, HSUPA) is huge. WCDMA Rel99 is only 384kbps (up and down) whilst HSPA networks are supporting 14.4Mbps down with 5.6Mbps up. There is just no comparison.

Given a choice I would never buy a device that did not have at least HSDPA, my preference is the latest HSDPA+HSUPA device.

Sadly the worlds most popular 3G PDA/MP3Player (purchased on a recent trip to the UK) is not HSUPA, it is only HSDPA (3.6Mbps) with Rel99 (384kbps) up.

But I am happy to live with that :) For now.

The comments I write on this forum do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer and as such cannot be taken as official statements of my employer.

some8

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#191631 23-Jan-2009 17:35

Thanks for the kindly response and the intel Neal.

I don't call it 3.5G but because it is told so everywhere, spec sheets and even on the phone. But anyway roger that Sir! I will just focus on buying HSDPA capable device now. :)

Cheers a tone and have a jolly good weekends.
Mark.