[SBP]Broadband market set for shake-up

viking

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS-qqqs=news-qqqid=13512-qqqx=1.asp

Broadband market set for shake-up

16 April 2006 By Adrian Weckler
The broadband market is set for a major shake-up as the country’s leading mobile phone operators prepare to launch broadband packages for high-speed internet access later this year.

Vodafone and O2 have confirmed that they will introduce broadband products for laptop users over the coming months.

The move will open up the market to a large proportion of the estimated 600,000 people around the country who are unable to access broadband through their landlines.

The services will match broadband speeds offered by companies such as Eircom and Smart Telecom. To access the broadband, laptop users will be offered a special data card and Sim card. The technology will work with any laptop.

According to recent figures from Eircom, 15 per cent of the population - 600,000 people - [*cough* and the rest who are connected to exchanges whose lines are of bad quality] cannot access landline broadband, as their phone lines cannot be connected to a broadband network.

‘‘By the end of the year, we should have most of the country covered,” said Chris Handley, head of product development with Vodafone.

Ireland has one of the lowest rates of broadband take-up in Europe. Last week, a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranked Ireland 23rd out of 30 countries for broadband penetration, just ahead of Hungary and the Czech Republic.

‘‘If you want to go to a rural area and start a business, the lack of broadband seriously affects you,” said Tim McCarthy, general manager of Dell Ireland.

‘‘If we don’t get ourselves up from 23rd in the broadband league, we’re going to seriously feel the pain.”

zuma

Haha....shake up?

These products will be incredbile expensive and their speeds will barely be classified as broadband.

watty

Very odd article

If 3G:

It isn't Broadband as it is not flatrate but pay for what you transfer.

I'll be surpised if speed is more than 300K

Also in many areas a 3G phone uses GSM. With out "Edge" (300k), then outside a 3G mast it will be 28K.

IMO this is spin and the products are already out there.

It is VERY VERY VERY expensive, per kbyte, possibly more expensive than GPRS on GSM and that isn't cheap.



Unless of course this is some different technolgy, not 3G, but then we would have heard of the licence award on Comreg. Two companies HAVE got mobile wireless data licences that can just about do BB. But even if O2 and Vodaphone has bought those two companies, we are a bit away from a National Roll out.

Such a buy out or competitive partnership would likely be public very quickly.

I'm puzzelled as to what this can be about:

The services will match broadband speeds offered by companies such as Eircom and Smart Telecom. To access the broadband, laptop users will be offered a special data card and Sim card. The technology will work with any laptop.

3G can do about a 1/10th of Eircom/Samrt BB speed.

lucernarian

I believe that some countries, like the Czech Republic, have broadband products that work over some kind of 3G-like service. They can get higher speeds than 384 kbps. This is just one link I found:
http://www.ipwireless.com/news/press_062005.html
I believe there are also technologies such as HSDPA but I'm not sure on their potential. Mabye Vodafone are using one of these 3.5G services?

If Vodafone can offer these services through their existing frequency allotments, then why would they need one of those wireless licences that ComReg awarded?

Sponge Bob

You will get all you can eat 'up to 384k' for c. €125 a month incl VAT, comparable with VSAT I suppose. Maybe as low as €99 a month.

If they introduced 1.5Mbit HSPDA at about €49 a month I would be interested but first they must all go build a decent 3G network and then upgrade it to HSPDA (sor of 3g 2nd generation data) .

More 3G BS really (Someone talk to Adrian <again> please )

viking

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=TECHNOLOGY-qqqm=nav-qqqid=13427-qqqx=1.asp

Irish mobile phone operators are to enter the broadband market by the end of the year. Vodafone has confirmed that it will launch a broadband service for use with laptops.

Using a datacard and a mobile Sim card, the laptop will connect to the internet at speeds similar to conventional broadband services. O2 looks set to follow, with trials beginning in the summer.

‘‘By the end of the year, we should have most of the country covered,” said Chris Handley, head of product development in Vodafone Ireland.

Handley said that Vodafone was currently ‘‘tweaking’’ its network equipment to prepare for the launch.

The technology, known as high speed data packet transfer, will initially give speeds of 1.2 megabits per second (Mbs), about the same as most home broadband connections.

However, Handley said that ‘‘within a short time’’, speeds on the Vodafone product would be increased to over 10Mbs, far above most conventional broadband speeds.

O2 will launch with speeds of 3.2Mbs, due to a different technology provider. No pricing information is available yet for either operator, but it is likely to be more expensive than conventional broadband and aimed predominantly at the business sector.

‘‘You could probably say that, although we haven’t really settled on a pricing model yet,” said Oliver Coughlan, chief technology officer for O2.

Mobile phone operators currently offer a scaled-down version of the technology in the form of datacards, which are inserted into laptops and use Sim cards. These connect over operators’ networks at far slower speeds than broadband and are relatively expensive to use, due to the way that operators charge according to the amount of data downloaded.

However, Vodafone is set to change this pricing model to another format for its broadband service, according to executives.

‘‘In some ways, it could overtake the landline market,” said Tim McCarthy, general manager of Dell Ireland. ‘‘I think it could be the final step. The combination of broadband access with mobility is more powerful than just broadband access.”

Accessing the internet using laptops with mobile phones is a growing market in Ireland.

While operators will not disclose how many of their customers use their datacard products, almost 7,000 Vodafone customers use their 3G phones to connect their laptop to the internet. It is likely that this figure alone exceeds the total number of daily wi-fi connections in Ireland.

Computer manufacturers have noted these figures and are responding with long-term deals with mobile operators.

Last week, Dell officially launched two new laptops with Vodafone Sim card ports specially built in to take advantage of the new mobile broadband.

It follows a similar announcement by Lenovo earlier this year, while HP is shortly expected to announce its own deal with a mobile operator.

So is this a statement by computer manufacturers that wi-fi access has been disappointing?

‘‘I wouldn’t put it like that,” said Greg Tierney, product marketing manager in Dell Ireland. ‘‘I’d see them more as complementary technologies.

“The idea is that you connect using the most appropriate way available to you wherever you are.”

Yet laptop-makers would not be altering their production methods to accommodate new schematics if they didn’t sniff a serious gap in the market.

The move into broadband by mobile operators looks set to affect the debate about broadband availability in Ireland.

Earlier this month, Eircom announced that 30 additional telephone exchanges outside Dublin had been enabled to deliver broadband to small towns. A statement from the company claimed that 85 per cent of telephone lines were now connected to a broadband exchange.

However, it made clear that future roll-out is aimed at population centres of over 1,500 residents. With over half a million people still unable to avail of fixed line DSL, this could represent a large market for mobile operators to target.

However, it is expected that Vodafone and O2 will initially eschew the chance of a mass market product and chase a corporate market instead. This is reflected in their higher pricing models.

Few in the industry expect the products to be available anywhere close to the price of a standard broadband, which costs around €30 per month for a 1MB or 2MB connection.

‘‘This is a potentially huge opportunity for the mobile operators,” said one analyst.

‘‘There’s a seriously large group of people who cannot get broadband and would be open to looking at this type of technology.”

At present, other than satellite broadband, dial-up internet access is the only way of getting online for up to half a million people.

Meanwhile, Magnet Entertainment has launched a new business service, Magnet Business.

The company has rebadged products from Netsource, a broadband company it recently bought.

This extends Magnet’s reach in the business sector, although its residential products are still limited to small pockets of the population.

Sponge Bob

Thats HSPDA , tell us clearly next time Adrian FFS !!!!

Voda will upgrade all 3g cells this year or next.

02 (who have crap 3g coverage anyway) will start a trial which will last as long as their 3g rollout to date....2009 anyone ?????

About 15% geographic coverage by end 2006 at best ...someone MUST talk to Adrian !!!

watty

This will not "shake up" the Broadband market much!

Sponge Bob

and it will only be provided in 3g areas which are Dublin Galway Cork Waterford Drogheda Dundalk Limerick and thats about it .

They all have wireless from Digiweb Metro and even Clearwire which is better quality and better coverage than HSPDA which is not launched at all or current 3g data at 384k . Check the anorexic Vodafone 3g coverage here and remember that the other operators are worse

watty

Some quite mad claims are made for HSPDA. Basically it allows four times the carrier data rate when conditions allow (good signal, low interference). Getting more than 1.5Mbps would involve less users. Getting more users (another claim of HSPDA) requires lower rates (350kbps).

It would seem unlikely that the 3G operators will charge any less for this than the currently horrendusly expensive 350Kbps 3G service, and logically would charge more. Unless you are in a small cell, contention ratios are very high.

IF every street was a cell or two, with national coverage and prices arround 60 Euro a month (it will be much more) then it might be a contender. At the minute it is smoke & mirrors.

Sponge Bob

watty wrote:

At the minute it is smoke & mirrors.

Its worse, its ISDN on the move for urbanites and should never make the front page of a national ( so called quality) paper as BB

jesus_thats_gre

Sponge Bob wrote:

You will get all you can eat 'up to 384k' for c. €125 a month incl VAT, comparable with VSAT I suppose. Maybe as low as €99 a month.

If they introduced 1.5Mbit HSPDA at about €49 a month I would be interested but first they must all go build a decent 3G network and then upgrade it to HSPDA (sor of 3g 2nd generation data) .

More 3G BS really (Someone talk to Adrian <again> please )

Well HSDPA will be launched before the end of the year so you can look forward to that

As for the price, hopefully its kept reasonable.

Sponge Bob

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Well HSDPA will be launched before the end of the year so you can look forward to that

Its almost irrelevant to me when the same areas have the cheaper and faster clearwire or digiweb metro options

As for the price, hopefully its kept reasonable.

You are a veritable mine of information on the topic JTG , unless its all you can eat for no more than €99 Vat inclusive then it cannot even begin to get traction beyond the large corporates.

If it were around €49 a month it would get traction. I refer to Germany where FLAT RATE 3G DATA is now €40 a month albeit not the faster HSPDA 3G data but the original up to 384k variant .

Can you have a word with 'someone' ....not Adrian obviously .

Urban Weigl

Sponge Bob, some new information about this.

Base, who also use the E-Plus network, now offer the same deal for €25 a month, though you also have to take their mobile flat rate, so the total package cost is €50 a month.

For that, though, you get UNLIMITED calls to land lines and the E-Plus network. So in other words, for the price of Irish line rental, you get a mobile phone with unlimited calls included... And for an extra €25, you also get flat rate broadband. No download limit. What's the cheapest DSL package you can get from Eircom, without a cap or time limit? Granted, 3G is slower, but it has the advantage of being mobile. And with HSDPA just around the corner...

jesus_thats_gre

Sponge Bob wrote:

Its almost irrelevant to me when the same areas have the cheaper and faster clearwire or digiweb metro options

You are a veritable mine of information on the topic JTG , unless its all you can eat for no more than €99 Vat inclusive then it cannot even begin to get traction beyond the large corporates.

If it were around €49 a month it would get traction. I refer to Germany where FLAT RATE 3G DATA is now €40 a month albeit not the faster HSPDA 3G data but the original up to 384k variant .

Can you have a word with 'someone' ....not Adrian obviously .

Ah its been that long since I touched on anyting like this that I don't really have any sold info for you at all besides knowing that HSPDA will be launched this year..

It's rude to name drop by the way..

Sponge Bob

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

It's rude to name drop by the way..

But I expected you to comment on the tech and its capacity / range etc ..where available of course. What you say on these 3G matters is fairly gospel around here .

My beef is with the fact that it will only be available in urban areas to all intents and purposes and that the SBP asserted otherwise and mislead its readers.

Scruff

Sponge Bob wrote:

My beef is with the fact that it will only be available in urban areas to all intents and purposes and that the SBP asserted otherwise and mislead its readers.

Agree totally. know plenty of peope living in rural areas that are never going to be able to get cabled broadband and would jump on the opportunity to get even 384kbs quasi broadband if the mobile network in the area supported it in their area.

Also why is this going to be laptop pc-card only? there would also be a market for a pc based version via usb or pci. not everone who cant get bb has laptops.

Sponge Bob

you can get a pcmcia slot and put it in your pc

http://www.pci-to-pcmcia.com/pci_to_pcmcia.php?lang=

thats not the issue because the tech will not make it into rural areas.

Cryos

FYI

Vodafone has done these types of tests in the likes of germany, recently proof of concept test on a section of Vodafones network proved highly sucsessfull. As HP are heavly involved with Vodafone i got some of the gist of the info from someone i know on the vodafone account.

I myself only have 380k datacard speed atm.

jesus_thats_gre

I heard a little something recently and I actually think you are going to be very impressed Sponge...

Sponge Bob

all you can eat , no cap, up to 1.5Mbits HSDPA and around €49 a month incl VAT is it then JTG , thats me being very impressed . If its over €100 you may take it I am not impressed at all.


PAYG variant for €69 a month or so. Min 1 month contract . /me still very impressed at that.

Available to all and on the market for christmas .




do tell !!!!

Blaster99

And back on planet reality we're in a country where the main supplier of broadband won't give you all you can eat for less than €180 a month and we're talking wireless where caps (or high price) is a must or the service will perform poorly.

I'm sure hints of the pricing and packaging can be deduced by looking at other Voda networks.

smellslikeshoes

Blaster99 wrote:

And back on planet reality we're in a country where the main supplier of broadband won't give you all you can eat for less than €180 a month and we're talking wireless where caps (or high price) is a must or the service will perform poorly.

I'm sure hints of the pricing and packaging can be deduced by looking at other Voda networks.

Well we can always dream:)

jesus_thats_gre

Sponge Bob wrote:

all you can eat , no cap, up to 1.5Mbits HSDPA and around €49 a month incl VAT is it then JTG , thats me being very impressed . If its over €100 you may take it I am not impressed at all.

PAYG variant for €69 a month or so. Min 1 month contract . /me still very impressed at that.

Available to all and on the market for christmas .




do tell !!!!

Jesus you are not half picky.. But you still should be impressed..

Cryos

Sponge Bob wrote:

all you can eat , no cap, up to 1.5Mbits HSDPA and around €49 a month incl VAT is it then JTG , thats me being very impressed . If its over €100 you may take it I am not impressed at all.


PAYG variant for €69 a month or so. Min 1 month contract . /me still very impressed at that.

Available to all and on the market for christmas .




do tell !!!!

Your not too far off sponge!

uncle_sam_ie

What ever happens, I bet it will leave rural Ireland out in the cold.

jesus_thats_gre

uncle_sam_ie wrote:

What ever happens, I bet it will leave rural Ireland out in the cold.

I imagine that population centres and commuter routes will be treated as a priority at first.. However, I don't know.

uncle_sam_ie

I can just see it now.
"New mobile wireless BB service now serving Dublin,Cork and Limerick. Pre launch,Waterford and Galway.

Gee, I can't wait. :rolleyes:

Sponge Bob

uncle_sam_ie wrote:

I can just see it now.
"New mobile wireless BB service now serving Dublin,Cork and Limerick. Pre launch,Waterford and Galway.

you are on the right track but its a tad more widespread. see my linky poo just below which shows vodafone 3g coverage .

http://62.17.23.101:8080/liteview6.5/servlet/MapGuideLiteView?REQUEST=MAP&WIDTH=696&HEIGHT=696&FORMAT=PNG&LAYERS=VodafoneCoverCombo.mwf&BBOX=-50000,0,450000,500000

If you live in the RED bits and only in the RED bits.... nowhere else.......then you may be able to get an up to 1.5mbit product sometime later this year and not pay an outrageous amount for it every month .

jesus_thats_gre

Sponge Bob wrote:

you are on the right track but its a tad more widespread. see my linky poo just below which shows vodafone 3g coverage .

http://62.17.23.101:8080/liteview6.5/servlet/MapGuideLiteView?REQUEST=MAP&WIDTH=696&HEIGHT=696&FORMAT=PNG&LAYERS=VodafoneCoverCombo.mwf&BBOX=-50000,0,450000,500000

If you live in the RED bits and only in the RED bits.... nowhere else.......then you may be able to get an up to 1.5mbit product sometime later this year and not pay an outrageous amount for it every month .

Hmm that looks about right but I reckon you could be bigger red dots by the time this hits the shops..

I have no idea about the finer details of the product but I heard O2 are planning on offering a broadband service over their 3G network sometime in the future also. Not exactly a revelation I know but sure... I have no idea what their 3G coverage is like but maybe Sponge might have an idea..

Laguna

uncle_sam_ie wrote:

What ever happens, I bet it will leave rural Ireland out in the cold.

Spot on, lets give areas in Ireland that already have access to broadband MORE ways of doing so and leave the rural towns and communities who as yet have no broadband access without still. If you're in rural (my location only being semi rural at most) Ireland and want broadband, just give up it's not going to happen. I thought a company called Permanet.ie would be the solution to my problem, they've got my area as listed for future access, the same way it's been listed since Feburary, when I ring them to ask when BB will be available from them to me (and I'm looking to buy one of their higher priced business packages) and they don't seem to have a clue when it's coming (and they're the company providing it) nor do they actually care that their laissez faire attitutde to my business enquiries will lose them a customer in me if they ever do come.