Will Mobile ever be Broadband?

watty

Probably not for economic reasons rather than just Technical (Link) . You need too many base stations.

T-Mobile USA told the FCC that having an open network caused it severe overloading and network degradation, thanks to one incompetent Android developer.

The developer in question created an Instant Messaging application that drove traffic up by 1,200 per cent in one instance. As it became more popular, T-Mobile was obliged to offer technical support to the developer or risk the stability of its network. Now the mobile operator said it thinks that mandated net neutrality would prevent it from taking remedial action next time.

via el Reg

Mobile can't cope with always on traffic. It copes best with bursty use that has low overall traffic. Like Web Browsing (without Flash or Video) and Email.

Vodafone in Ireland is already now selling essentially a Mobile Web + Email package rather than a real Internet connection.

I'm not a supporter of the US "net neutrality" campaign as popularly proposed, but what Vodafone are doing and T-Mobile proposes is the other extreme and replacing Internet with just WWW.

The Web is not the Internet. It's only one application.

watty

Prices may rise to much higher instead of lower than Broadband

Data now makes up the majority of traffic carried by network operators, but data use is being subsidised by the cost of voice calls, which is why operators are so worried about VoIP. Without the expensive voice calls operators will have to start charging data users proper rates, and none of us wants to see that happening.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/27/everything_everywhere_q3/

also

The operator also reckons it's now carrying half the country‘s wireless data - 100TB a day, which accounts for 97 per cent of the overall traffic including voice. 3 is publicly very pleased with that, but just like the other operators voice still brings in around two-thirds of company revenue - so the three per cent of traffic that is spoken is subsidising all those YouTube sessions to an enormous degree.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/14/3_biggest/

So not only is Mobile best suited for er, Mobile Use rather than Broadband, the current pricing model in the long term, and especially on LTE isn't sustainable.

So they are never going to do the x4 higher or more density of Masts needed to give reliable ENTRY LEVEL "broadband" speeds

drunkmonkey

Spent most of the day looking at the red light on my eircom router. It made me think of this post.
I thought, if it looks like broadband and acts like broadband, It may just be broadband. :rolleyes:
Either way without it today I would have been lost and it sure acted just like broadband.

Mobile may not be "broadband" but it's 100% Internet

watty

How much percent of times are there DSL line faults compared to Mobile not even connecting?

Dialup is more reliable than Mobile. You really need to stop being an apologist for the Mobile phone Networks.

The ONLY thing mobile is good for is Mobile. If it wasn't mis-sold and mis-promoted it would be up to x4 better for true Mobile "on the go" users. It was NEVER designed as a solution for prolonged or fixed access. The clue is in the name.

drunkmonkey

watty wrote: »

How much percent of times are there DSL line faults compared to Mobile not even connecting?

Dialup is more reliable than Mobile. You really need to stop being an apologist for the Mobile phone Networks.

The ONLY thing mobile is good for is Mobile. If it wasn't mis-sold and mis-promoted it would be up to x4 better for true Mobile "on the go" users. It was NEVER designed as a solution for prolonged or fixed access. The clue is in the name.

I'm well aware DSL lines have a lot more uptime, Dial Up may have a higher uptime but it's not better. For all it's faults a half decent mobile connection is 1000 times better than dial up.

The latest euro stats say that 10% of Mobile Brodband Users are enjoying an on par service as there fixed line counterparts. That figure can only go up.

I've fixed line, I would not swap it for Mobile but there's a lot of people for either financial or location reasons have no choice but to use Mobile, some are quite happy. I'd say the figure in Ireland is well above 10%.

I'd say mobile broadband has a future. I can see costs rising dramatically along with data usage. 10GB may be more than the average person needs today but i'd put that figure at about 50GB by 2015 or sooner.

watty

10%, proof that for 9/10 people fixed is better.
No it won't go up. It's inherent.
Mobile Internet has a future.

Mobile has no future as a replacement for Fixed Broadband. It would cost the same to give universal 4Mbps average LTE as universal Minimum 50Mbps FTTC/FTTH, and the LTE would not be reliable or consistent. In fact the only way to have GOOD Mobile Internet is universal Fibre Broadband!