What is EDGE and more importantly do we have it in NZ?

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nix

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#9729 9-Oct-2006 12:56

i need to replace my aging iPaq 6365 and am looking at another HP - the HP 6828 Multimedia Messenger.

From the specs - "Intg Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE wireless radio with automatic band
transition, Intg WLAN 802.11b& Intg BT v1.2 wireless tech"

So will this EDGE business give me some sort of high speed data access here in NZ?

Or should I be looking elsewhere - at one of the iMate series for example. I'd love some advice / opinions!

Basically I want:

A basic phone
2 MP camera
MP3 playback
WIFI & Bluetooth
Internet thats faster than GPRS - currently I set up my iPaq as a bluetooth modem for my Toshiba tablet when I'm away from home. Ordinarily I like to be able to check my email or check out a wikipedia page , update my blog from the PDA.
I like to be able to take notes, keep essential data at hand - so WM is useful but not essential. Some sort of ability to read txt files at least though.

Regards

nix

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#48012 9-Oct-2006 13:04

Edge is not in NZ, we instead have UMTS. it is between GPRS and UMTS. Other places like Asia, North America and some part of Europe has it.

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chiefie

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#48013 9-Oct-2006 13:07

Oh! if you want to replace your 6365, don't get 6828, get Imate JasJam as it has HSDPA and you will appreciate the faster speed on HSDPA. i'd avoid anything not UMTS at the very least.

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grant_k

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#48014 9-Oct-2006 13:12

chiefie: Oh! if you want to replace your 6365, don't get 6828, get Imate JasJam as it has HSDPA and you will appreciate the faster speed on HSDPA. i'd avoid anything not UMTS at the very least.

Yep, I'm hanging out for HSDPA on my next phone.

Jama's blog ( http://www.geekzone.co.nz/Jama ) makes very interesting reading in this respect with its comparisons of the various mobile broadband technologies. Vodafone's original 3G (UMTS) was still not really competitive with Telecom in terms of speed and latency.

FINALLY, with the move to HSDPA, Vodafone are within a whisker (Slightly worse latency, Download speed around 30% slower, but Upload speed about 2.5x faster) of Telecom's current EVDO Revision. Not before time!

Keep in mind though that all of this is very much a moving target with HSDPA and EVDO scheduled to receive further speed upgrades in coming months.

Cheers,
Grant.

3g

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#48020 9-Oct-2006 13:38

Adding to the earlier answers, EDGE is big in the US.

Main reason (imho) that the US has gone EDGE (whereas here in NZ we went straight to HSDPA) is that EDGE is effectively an upgrade of the existing infrastructure, whereas UMTS (and HSDPA) require new infrastructure - which explains why Vodafone 3G isn't available everywhere that GPRS is available.

In NZ we have the luxury of being relatively small (compared to the US at least), so it's viable for NZ to leapfrog EDGE and go straight to UMTS & HSDPA. The US markets need(ed) a stepping stone to the higher speed technologies, which EDGE gives them.

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#48025 9-Oct-2006 13:53

And in the meantime if you need to fallback from 3G you go all the way back to GPRS instead of a bit more enjoyable EDGE experience (yes I used it in the USA).

Grant, I am using a vodem. Its performance is 1/2 of the performance of a PC card solution, making it actually very much equivalent to CDMA EVDO Rev 0. I am going to test another PC card pretty soon, and I expect it to perform better, like the Sierra Wireless I had before.

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#48027 9-Oct-2006 14:01

freitasm: And in the meantime if you need to fallback from 3G you go all the way back to GPRS instead of a bit more enjoyable EDGE experience (yes I used it in the USA).

Yes, and GPRS sucks, I've had to use it a lot when Telecom staff kicked me out of the wireless Hotspot at Mystery Creek Fieldays...

freitasm: Grant, I am using a vodem. Its performance is 1/2 of the performance of a PC card solution, making it actually very much equivalent to CDMA EVDO Rev 0. I am going to test another PC card pretty soon, and I expect it to perform better, like the Sierra Wireless I had before.

, that's interesting. I thought that with the transfer speeds available on USB 2.0, it should be plenty fast enough to keep up with HSDPA, but obviously not so... Or do you think some other factor is coming into play here?

I noticed that Jama was using the Sierra AirCard 850 for those tests and presumably it has the CARDBUS (32-bit interface). The results sure were impressive...

Cheers,
Grant.

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#48034 9-Oct-2006 15:06

The devices are very different. For your information, the PC card I tested was Jama's, and that was an 1.8Mbps card... Vodafone is sending a new version, 3.6Mbps to test.

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Jama

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#48035 9-Oct-2006 15:08

The issue is around different antenna technologies.
Vodem = uni directional (moving it around will affect performance)
AirCard 850 = omni directional (it picks up the best reception around the antenna)

Also, the Vodem performance will be impacted by obstacles such as the laptop lid hence the reason for the USB cable and the velcro. You should stick it as high as possible on the back of the laptop lid and use the USB cable to get it away from the laptop.

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#48038 9-Oct-2006 15:29

Jama: AirCard 850 = omni directional (it picks up the best reception around the antenna)

Does the AirCard 850 have an external antenna? i.e. not just one of those flip-up antennas attached to the PC Card itself?

Yeah, omni-directional is the best way to go so long as the signal strength is high enough...

Jama

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#48046 9-Oct-2006 16:00

AirCard 850 has a removable, external antenna

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#48050 9-Oct-2006 16:28

Just unpacked my Merlin XU870 HSDPA card here...

Will test it later from the mall and compare with the vodem and the AirCard.

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#48051 9-Oct-2006 16:36

Nice Express Card

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#48054 9-Oct-2006 16:47

Jama: Nice Express Card

Mauricio: Which of your many Mobile Devices has ExpressCard slots?

Or are you using the PCMCIA adapter?

ExpressCard is a pretty new type of slot which hasn't appeared on too many laptops yet.

Cheers,
Grant.

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#48056 9-Oct-2006 16:50

Jama, thanks for the link! Posted a picture here: http://www.geekzone.co.nz/freitasm/1519

Grant17, it comes with a PC card adapter. I use a Toshiba Tablet PC M205.

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#48059 9-Oct-2006 16:56

Jama: ... Vodem = uni directional (moving it around will affect performance) ...

So what is the most favourable orientation for a Vodem, assuming one knows the direction of the Vodafone antenna? E.g. point Vodem's non-USB end at antenna w. Vodem horizontal flat on its back?

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