Is that really true? Verizon took all Cingulars GSM towers and integrated them into their CDMA network? AT&T bought Cingular for the customers and not any infrastructure? I highly doubt that...
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O2 Apologizes for Wireless Network Performance Issues in London
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Is that really true? Verizon took all Cingulars GSM towers and integrated them into their CDMA network? AT&T bought Cingular for the customers and not any infrastructure? I highly doubt that...
The advantage of that (and the reason Verizon did it) is you would NOT get dropped voice calls because of too many data users.
So no, the boat would look different
Except you could still get crappy data service because of too many data users.
I also don't think Verizon did it to protect their network, they just didn't have the technology in place to support simulataneous voice/data and probably didn't want to spend the $$$ to implement it.
very true..
and this apology - why is it only London specific? It was down in many other parts of the UK - i was affected for a few days re: data until someone turned the green light back on!
Were you getting call issues as well? Using the phone in london was a huge challenge, I gave up in the end and resorted to my cheap Lebara nokia that I use for calling abroad. Atleast that worked. It might have been because Londoners were at times getting no usage, whatsoever.
A friend of mine had an iPhone 3G on O2 in London and kept missing or dropping important calls while his wife was pregnant due to O2's poor 3G network. Kept having to turn 3G off so he just went back to his iPhone 2G for better call reliability. This is one example of many I know of.
I think here in Spain we have the best compromise between the two: unlimited data and "tiered" plans.
We do have unlimited data, but we pay for a certain amount of data at top 3G speeds.
15 eur = 200mb
25 eur = 1gb
40 eur = 3gb
if you go over your data allowance, you still have unlimited data, but speed drops from 3G speeds to 128kbps.. very slow but usable.
more importantly, Movistar seems not to have strict thresholds, only when you go over 50% of your data allowance for 2 months in a row, your speed starts to be limited down. i.e. you use 200mb every month but once you go over and use 500mb. Most likely, your conection won't be speed-capped unless you go over your 200mb for more than 1 month in a row.
I pay for 1gb.. and normally use 1.2 or 1.3 everymonth and have never had any caps.
How many iPhones does your provider service? 100? Be careful there. You might be one new iPhone subscriber away from crippling your network.
Look, you're making a valid argument. The carriers advertised something unlimited that wasn't. It shouldn't have happened, I agree. But now that we're here, now that we're up against capacity constraints, where do we go from here? The way forward isn't continuing to offer this.
My problem is less with your position than with the outcry that AT&T gets when they suggest capping data usage. The problem here is that the public is putting pressure on carriers to offer something unlimited that's not unlimited.
I noticed this when I moved from Lyon (France) to London. In Lyon, my iPhone (first generation) worked perfectly.. never had any problems, but in London, my iPhone 3G fails to accept calls or make calls from time to time.. and sometimes SMS arrive hours after I have sent them / other people have sent them to me
Not my point at all!
Yes, you have cities. I have been to Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver on several occasions. None of these are NYC in terms of density, and you have multiple iPhone carriers.
I was replying to the person that said he has no problems with congestion in Canada. My point being; that is no surprise.
Maybe unlimited data is problem in US and UK but Europe in general has MUCH BETTER AND MODERN network so there isn't problems. Regarding your laptop data plan statement it sounds idiotic from my very European standpoint. We have had unlimited data plans for ages and they are much cheaper then in states. Also you can tether what ever you wan't, you can use mobile data all you like with your laptop and what ever... and yes, the data just flows without problems. So stop complaining and finding silly excuses for service providers.
At least you city boys get an occasional 3G reception with O2, i live out in the arse-end/ country side part of Essex and have never seen a 3G reception at home or the villages around me (regardless of network), so have to travel well out before i get 3G.
But my phone reception on O2 is nearly always perfect as we have an O2 aerial in my town. Don't understand why it doesn't put out a 3G signal though? lol
But my phone reception on O2 is nearly always perfect as we have an O2 aerial in my town. Don't understand why it doesn't put out a 3G signal though? lol
lol, o2 are terrible. The thing that made me so annoyed was when I was in the Piccadilly Circus area of London, I had a full 3G signal, and I tried to use Google Maps and got the "Could not activate cellular something". It drove me CRAZY that in the middle of London, I couldn't get a proper wireless signal.
o2 are awful, absolutely terrible.
Edit* I can't get a signal at my work place in Wimbledon, nor in Wimbledon train station, or London Bridge train station
o2 are awful, absolutely terrible.
Edit* I can't get a signal at my work place in Wimbledon, nor in Wimbledon train station, or London Bridge train station
Verizon puts voice and 3G data on different carriers.
The disadvantage of that is that it doesn't natively support simultaneous 3G voice and data.
The advantage of that (and the reason Verizon did it) is you would NOT get dropped voice calls because of too many data users.
So no, the boat would look different
Actually that is kinda how networks operators around the world configure their GSM/WCDMA networks.
In my country 3G phones uses the WCDMA network for both data and voice. If a specific cell is overloaded with data and you have to make a voice call, the call is transfered back to the GSM network - its called a load based scenario in network terms.
No offense, but that argument is rubbish. As you've pointed out, the population density of the UK is *much* higher than that of the United States. Does that mean there are no network problems in the States? Of course not. What matters is *local* population density. Canada's major cities are no less dense than equivalently sized US ones.No offense, but Canada has less than the population of California spread out over an area 140,000 square miles larger than the U.S. That's 1/10th the population density of the U.S., and only 1/75th that of the U.K. With four separate carriers, it's the last place where there'd be any potential for network congestion. OK, maybe Greenland is the last place, but Canada is right up there.
This is not just a London problem, I know people way outside of London also having these problems.
They've also not been fixed because I had it happen to me yesterday.
Glad to see they're admitting it's crap and actually trying to do something though. I have noticed it get faster and a little more stable recently, but still far from reliable.
If these problems are not fixed by the time I upgrade to whatever iPhone comes out next, I will be getting it on another network.
They've also not been fixed because I had it happen to me yesterday.
Glad to see they're admitting it's crap and actually trying to do something though. I have noticed it get faster and a little more stable recently, but still far from reliable.
If these problems are not fixed by the time I upgrade to whatever iPhone comes out next, I will be getting it on another network.
That is not correct. If you need to upgrade your network it can be done in months - NOT YEARS - if you are willing to pay for it. New cell-sites can take years, but network capacity upgrades only takes months.
Telenor in Denmark only has 3.6 mbit WCDMA in the larger Danish cities and covers the rest of the country with GSM basestations. Telenor has just ordered a total network upgrade of their entire WCDMA and GSM network. All existing GSM and WCDMA basestationens will be upgraded to Nokia flexstations with 21 Mbit WCDMA and all the new basestations will be LTE ready. Telenors entire network is being upgraded in just under 10 months.
Starent takes care of the back-bone network.
Before august 2010 all Telenor base-stations will be WCDMA with 21 mbit thous giving Telenor nationwide WCDMA service - from downtown Copenhagen to even the smalles islands or smalles towns with a population of less than 50 people.
A telco can roll-out an entire network upgrade within one year if they are willing to pay for it.
Further more all WCDMA operators have the option to expand capacity using different carriers. Here in Denmark all operators have 3 carriers at their disposal - a single cell-site can potentially handle provide 3 x 21 Mbit WCDMA.
I can't find the link but a study in Denmark showed that the average iPhone user uses less than one GB per month. That can be compared with the average data used by internet users with a 3G USB dongle.
The average Danish internet user with a 3G USB dongle uses around 8 GB per month.
It really makes you think - Are Iphone users really to blame for network congestion???
No offense, but Canada has less than the population of California spread out over an area 140,000 square miles larger than the U.S. That's 1/10th the population density of the U.S., and only 1/75th that of the U.K. With four separate carriers, it's the last place where there'd be any potential for network congestion. OK, maybe Greenland is the last place, but Canada is right up there.
Fun fact of the day: Tele Greenland is currently upgrading all their basestations with WCDMA from Nokia Siemens Networks.
All villages in Greenland with more than 100 citizens have access to PSTN, ADSL, GSM and very soon also WCDMA 3G services.
Tele Greenland has a 1600 km long radiolink-chain to support all of services. The chain consists of 36 link-stations with a capacity of 7 x 155 mbit.
And what has this to do with 02 and AT&T network issues? A hunter can sit on the ice in north-west Greenland 10 km from the nearest village and still watch YouTube on his Cellphone.
The same is difficult to do in downtown London, San Fransisco or NewYork - BECAUSE THE TELEPHONE COMPANIES DO NOT SPEND ENOUGH MONEY UPGRADING THEIR NETWORKS!
If they are promised unlimited, they should be able to use an unlimited amount
If not, they shouldn't be told unlimited
Well, it´s not about the attitude, but about the promisses the companies had made: They advertise and specifiy unlimited data access for a fixed sum of money. If they do so, they must deliver it, independant from one consuming just 1GB of traffic, and another one doing 10GB so. I don´t need to care baout technical details, I want what I ordered, nothing else.
If they want fixed traffic limits, they need to advertise them accordingly. But it´s plain stupid and not right to blame the customer for using what he paid for.
PS
Here, in Germany, we have squarefeets of fineprint specifying the contract details. So the advertisment reads "unlimited access" for US$50,- e.g., but an abnoxious footnote gives you the meager details.
You may summon it: It´s false advertisement. They want to hide contract details from the customer. They want him to sign a contract under false pretense, plain simple.
Here are some real examples from Denmark. We do not have unlimited plans and the examples are from different danish Telcos:
1 GB data with 1024 kbit/sek - 10$ per month
10 GB data with 7.2 mbit/s - 30$ per month
20 GB data with 7.2 mbit/s - 60$ per month
20 GB data with 21 mbit/s - 100 $ per month
Data spend over the allowed limited is aprox. 0.06 $ per MB.