Bennyfone

[BEagle]

I see from http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/net_fkcw.shtml that the sun-soaked South Atlantic tourist resort is planned to have a mobile phone network in Jan 2006. That should make life easier for many folk at last.

C&W will be running it - but at least it'll be GSM900 rather than the GSM1900 and GSM850 systems used in the rest of South America. So it should be compatible with most UK dual band phones.

[Vim_Fuego]

Easier perhaps...But having been 'raped' by C&W for phone cards down there myself, how much will they charge per minute? Also who will tell an upset and homesick servicemen (or those of the drink 'n' dial persuasion) to terminate the phonecall before he has spent a months wages on a single call.

I'm all for progress and the betterment of conditions for our people down there and anywhere for that matter...but at least the cards gave you a harsh but nessecary reason to put the phone down!

Would it not be great if the government appraoched Cable and Wireless and negotiated a sensible rate for the F.I. The increased usage over the long run on a lower rate would compensate for initial short term losses.

[airborne_artist]

Given the relatively compact areas of population (mil and civ) in the FI (excluding Camp), I'd have thought that the FI was crying out for a wireless IP service provider, which would then enable VOIP (eg Skype). It could easily be done (and billed) using existing technology.

[althenick]

Airbourne,
The problem WiP is that it has an incredibly short range compared to GSM/GPRS/3G. It would require a lot more Sites than moble. Also voip has one big snag at the moment; which is Quality of service. Meaning that at present in cannot reserve Minimum bandwidth (at least 16Kps) for clear voice. So you'd only have to get someone whose sharing your site to make a big download to make Voip calls inaudiable. Theres a new IP addressing system on the horizon which should overcome this but the big companies aren't willing to put the money into it.
Having said that if they go by the same rules for coverage as they have in the UK (OFCOM require 90% population coverage)
then it shouldn't be a problem. Just put one mast in the centre of Port Stanley!

[ORAC]

Wimax (http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3412391) and IPv6 would seem the solution for voice and broadband. Equipment is starting to become available. Should replace WiFi as the standard in laptops etc within a year or so.

[BEagle]

Which will give the nerds and geeks who seem to run things another excuse not to maintain the virtually universal 802.11b/g system.....

Quite happy with 802.11b! I don't want to play arcade games with some geek in California or Tokyo at several Gbps - just give me 2Mb broadband wherever I roam at reasonable cost and I'll be happy.

As for Bennyfone, it will be very interesting to see what the rate to the UK will be. Or, even more so, the rate for receiving calls from the UK... Particularly as Cable and Witless will have a monopoly.

Oh - and what actually is the point of 3G?

[Lou Scannon]

Permit an old retiree a comment.

Do you still have the old BFPO system that allows post at reduced rates, ie UK rates?

Then surely it should be brought up to date and mobile phones/internet be provided at UK rates as well.

...or would that be too optimistic?

[egbt]

Oh - and what actually is the point of 3G?

So I can surf PPrune from France :E :E :E :cool:

[Talking Radalt]

What's the point of 3G? This isn't the centrifuge thread yer know!

Mobile phone in the FI = longer string between the tin cans :ok:

[airborne_artist]

WiMAX has a range of up to 30 miles with a typical cell radius of 4–6 miles, so you'd have Stanley and MPA covered very easily with two Wimax cells.

You could set up the Wimax as a backhaul to the telephone exchange with in-building WiFi access points.

Charge the guys £25 month for all they can use and you'd be in profit, I expect, plus you'd have happy teddies.

I get my 1mb internet access from a wireless access provider, using a tower owned by Thames Water 8500m from Artist Hall, and use a wireless router to give us access thoughout the mansion, even into the West Wing...

[Flatus Veteranus]

BEagle

Your mastery of the technology is admirable and never ceases to amaze me. In my days our eyes used to glaze over at much talk of "wiggly amps". But I do have a problem. Being a rustic, I find myself mid-way between two telephone exchanges, both of which are broadband-enabled, but both of which (BT assure me) are too distant to afford an adequate signal. What do I do?

My requirements are probably even more basic than yours. I would like to be able to view the video strips which are frequently linked to this board, showing interesting incidents. But (eg) it took me most of an evening to down load the strip showing the Typhoon's spectacular rehearsal for RIAT. When I visit my son-in-law and daughter in France , I "borrow" one of his computers and all is revealed. He has France Telecom's high speed broadband permanently connected for his business. Can I get connected to broadband through some wireless network? Voice-over would be nice (I could then jettison one of my terrestrial lines) but not essential. Cheers!

[BEagle]

Normal wifi just links a wireless-enabled computer to a modem/router connected to a broadband phone line by using a low-powered 2-way data signal in the 2400 MHz band.

I understand that it is possible to form some form of 'community' system with other rustics living in caves and forests in the middle of nowhere. But I don't have any idea about what that might entail - or the cost.

So I'm sorry, but I guess you'll just have to wait for the coming of electrickery to your patch of bondhu to be able to use broadband - to replace signal flags, smoke signals, speckled Jim and man-with-forked-twig....

[egbt]

Flatus

BT extended (then dropped?) the official range of Broadband some months ago so I'd have another go.

See this (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3575964.stm) which claims there are no longer any distance limits for 512Kb services

Being another rustic I only got mine in May when BT finally gave up waiting for everyone in the parish to order to meet their minimum usage requirements and it make a big difference - even compared to my old ISDN service.

[Champagne Anyone?]

Mobile phones in the Falklands? Must be a great Bennyfit to everyone down there!!:p :p

[Roadster280]

BEagle:

"I understand that it is possible to form some form of 'community' system with other rustics living in caves and forests in the middle of nowhere. But I don't have any idea about what that might entail - or the cost."

I think you may have answered your own question on what the point of 3G is.

I might not be professional aircrew, but I served with the RAF when in the Army, and find Pprune very relevant to my own experiences in the mob, and latterly as one of Delta's and BA's best customers. Fortunately, one of the things I do know about is these magic phone thingies.

3G offered a number of benefits over 2G: spectral efficiency, high bandwidth to the handset, packet switched data (i.e. not circuit switched data), always-on, low latency, cheap IP core, etc etc. The idea was to provide 384kbps to the handset in ubiquitous coverage at the same cost as today's 2.5G GPRS.

Unfortunately, the UK and German governments extracted around £45billion in licencing fees from an auction specifically (by a professor of economics) designed to extract maximum fees. This made the deployment cost, and cost to the consumer both rather larger than anticipated. Thus the interest level waned somewhat. Enter Wifi and Centrino microprocessors. Great where they work, but that's rather limited.

3G was a great technology. Unfortunately, much like the TSR2, the great promise was shafted by the politicians in a spectacular own goal for UK plc. Well done chaps. W@nkers.

[BEagle]

I have yet to discover any real 'killer application' for 2.5G GPRS, let alone 3G.... Yet Vodafone, for example, are enthusiastically pushing ahead with their 3G coverage plans.

Rather than concentrate on cheaper, more reliable mobile data connection between laptop and internet, the phone companies seem to be promoting gimmick ridden handsets with cameras, MP3, streamed video (on a 1.5 inch screen?) and other yoof-toys. I use a 2.5G Vodafone Mobile Connect card as an e-mail system of last resort when away on business if I cannot obtain a 802.11b wifi link. It is slow (allegedly up to 56K but that is never achieved in practice), unreliable and VERY expensive. Its 3G sibling is bulkier, has poorer coverage and is even more expensive - but is, of course, quicker when it can actually find a 3G connection. Not really much use.

Take handsets. The Nokia 6310i still seems to be the phone of choice for most business people. Triple band, simple to use, decent battery life, clear display, easy menus. Plus 2.5G GPRS which I use very rarely - mainly to check TAFs and METARs. Yet for some unaccountable reason Nokia stopped making it and now seem to aim their products squarely at the more lucrative yoof-toy market with silly ringtones, low definition cameras, music etc etc. Whereas all business people want is to be able to talk to their colleagues from anywhere and to send/receive the odd text message - at reasonable cost.

3G connectivity provides only 0.384 Mbps whereas 802.11b wifi provides data connection at about 30 times that speed - and at a fraction of the cost. Is anyone really going to buy blocky, low qualtiy video clips from their heavy, battery guzzling 3G handset? I suspect that the novelty value will disappear with the first bill.

3G is a technology looking for a market; 802.11b is a technology which serves a market. If there are any w@nkers, it is the people who wasted all that money on licences for a system which simply doesn't have an unique selling point strong enough to provide sufficient revenue to recover the start up and roll-out costs.

[MadsDad]

Flatus, PM sent.

[Gainesy]

FV,
Long story short, but BT was still telling me that my home could not have Broadband access two months after I was BB enabled, left hand /right hand syndrome.

[PPRuNeUser0211]

Beags,

Get yourself an XDAIIi or similar from O2 (or T-mobile or someone). GPRS connects well, you get internet explorer, messenger, outlook etc etc and a whole world of free utilities of the internet (realtime weather and all that jazz if you want it). Pretty sure (side by side comparison with 56k dialup) its faster than 56k, but don't have the spec with me so can neither definitively confirm or deny that, but its quick enough to be gentlemanly.... tri band and all that jazz as well.

You'll never look back!

(did I mention it has 11b (I believe, though think the newer model has g))

All those with distance issues for broadband! BT say it's unlimited for 512kbps but on older phonelines at long distance they'll say its a quality of line issue to get around it. My folks live about 6>8km away from their exchange with an old as houses phone line and they can get it, but it drops the connection continuosly so not worth having (although granted a guy that lives 500m closer gets it fine.)

[Roadster280]

I think the issue with 3G vs Wifi is one of mobility. They arent really comparable. Wifi is great for relatively static access. I.e. half an hour in the airport lounge, or in a station.

3G is truly mobile, it performs handovers from Node-B to Node-B as the handset moves. Wifi CAN do this, but noone has a large enough network to do it.

Of course Wifi has a much better bandwidth than 3G, and certainly GPRS.

Totally agree with the handsets. I had a Nokia 3G brick before I moved to the states, where I have a Motorola Razr. Both seemed to be aimed at the feature-tarts that wanted cameras and the like. I dont give a monkey's about those. However, the Razr is small, light, and functional as I need it to be. It is poorly made though.

There is a term called ARPU in the business - Average Revenue Per User. This is the reason why all these useless video clips, ringtones etc are being pushed. Again, I refer to my post about the licence fees. Vodafone et al had no choice. Compete or die.

[Self Loading Freight]

For what it's worth, I was at the launch of the first European HSDPA network on Tuesday. It was on the Isle of Man, and Manx Telecom said they got near-full coverage with 30 base stations. Thing worked as advertised, with just over 1.3Mbps peak and an average of 400Kbps. Will be up to 10Mbps peak by 2008. They reckon that it'll need the introduction of an ancillary technology, HSUPA, for VoIP to make sense - but I think that's them trying to protect their voice revenue. Which they can't do: Skype works a treat. The CEO of France Telecom said last week that it was game over - voice is now free, so get used to it. Hm.

The interesting thing is the pricing, which has yet to be sorted out but I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up with something like a gigabyte a month for fifty quid, with extra megabytes for around fifty pee.

Here's my report... (http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/3ggprs/0,39020339,39236217,00.htm)

[steamchicken]

SLF, are you who I think you are?

[PPRuNeUser0211]

one might suggest that SLF's named report kinda gives that away?