DoCoMo delays HSDPA rollout til next year

Excuse us whilst we recover from a brief fainting spell upon learning that for once, the good ol' U.S. of A. is actually going to be rocking some high-speed cellular technology ahead of its Japanese counterparts. DoCoMo is reporting a delay in the rollout of their HSDPA upgrade to their 3G network, which now won't start the testing phase until later this year. They'll have it commercially available by next year, but they're saying there's no way this will happen before April. Meanwhile, Cingular is set to unveil their HSDPA network later this year. Say wha? We're still not convinced it wasn't a misprint, but we're keeping the smelling salts close at hand just in case.

[GaLupo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

This has to be some kind of error
American Cell Phone Network Superiority
Wasn't too long ago when i was stuck on the Star Tac VIP series and my host family in Japan had video cellphones.

[mehool @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

go Cingular, go go Go Cingular.

[Justin @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Yeah, I'd actually be shocked if Cingular's network was actually up and running with a handset (not just a PC card) by the end of the year... pleasantly shocked of course, but still, I really don't believe it.

And just having it up in airports doesn't count!

[narco @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

It's a shame too because I absolutely despise Cingular. I have a plan through them (not by choice, through acquisition of AT&T) and their service and plans suck. Luckily I have a year left on my contract for 1,000 anytime minutes, and free three-day weekends starting at 7pm for $39. Cingular's $39 plan is for 450 anytime minutes -- what a rip.

Fishes,
narco.

[T @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Must Agree with Narco
DAM CINGULAR!!! GO TO HELL!!!! DIE DIE!!
K know sorry for the outrage. But cingular is the worse POS I have ever used in my life. I got switched over to them, BY FORCE due to the merger, and now I hate them with a passion like none other. I had mpx which had nothing but problems and they refuse to give me a new phone UNLESS I cancel my current contract and resign with them for ANOTHER year!! I had to talk to them for OVER 8hrs with out any luck. SO TAKE MY WORD STAY AWAY FROM CINGULAR even if they got EDGE... GO TO VIRIZON!! And no matter what technology they bring out I will always hate them!!! ARRRRGGGGGGGGGG I CANT SAY HOW MUCH I HATE THEM!!!!!!!!! F***#*#*#**#*#*#**#**#*#**#*# *************************


You get the point!

[Permanent4 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

A baby bell-owned mobile phone company rolling out a major technology advance quickly? I'll believe it when I see it. Verizon will release a Treo 670 (or whatever the next Treo will be called) with full EVDO support before we see anything resembling an HSDPA network rollout that covers as many cities as Verizon has now.

I'm not saying it'll be like waiting for Duke Nukem Forever, but we'll be waiting a while.

[Roy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Hell T, I was on the phone for more than 4 hours just to switch my AT&T service for 5 phones over to Cingular.

[Ben @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Yeah, don't count your chickens.

[T @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

WOW sorry for you pain roy!! WHY DID YOU SWITCH????? you should have just waited and finished your plan with ATT and then MOVE away from them! Yea they suck basically!! Any one want to start a website or any other campain against cingular? I SAY WE BRING thos son's of bitchees down!!! DOWN I SAY!!!!

[Pete D @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I hate to say it, but Cingular is doing everything they can to get this network up and running asap. With it, they will actually surpass EV-DO speeds. As for Verizon getting the Treo 670 (a totally made up device) before HSPDA is deployed in any number of cities. This is 100% false. There will be at least 20 markets (in addition to the 6 already up) by the end of 05 and all major markets up by the end of 06. On the other hand, Verizon will be figuring out if they are going EV-DV or EV-DO rev A and having to switch everything to a VoIP.

[Thought @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

First, Verizon already has a 3G network up and running in EVDO. It remains to be seen if HSPDA by Cingular will indeed be faster, but even if it is, it won't make that much difference, as the Verizon EVDO is very fast. Plus, being CDMA the Verizon network can tolerate more traffic without any slowdown in speed.

By the time Cingular does roll out HSPDA, Verizon will be on its way to its 4G network.

So basically Cingular is at least one year behind Verizon from a 3G technology standpoint.

Also, in general, GSM sucks compared to CDMA...GSM is really an extension of an old technology.

So I give Cingular credit for wanting to catch up, but I do feel that from a technology standpoint they are running from behind.

[Steve @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

I have both Verizon and Cingular. GSM is far better than CDMA in many respects. I get no static or break ups in my calls and with just one bar on my GSM phone I can hold a conversation for an hour whereas with CDMA one bar gives me very intermittent service.

[Lars Cosh-Ishii @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

Hi Barb:

Just noticed this so thought I would add a few comments.

Firt of all, to put things in perspective, DoCoMo has in effect corrected their original roadmap for roll-out as indicated by former President and CEO Tachikawa made during this press conference December 2003:

DoCoMo Pre-Christmas Press Briefing
December 10, 2003
http://www.wirelesswatch.jp/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=489
QUOTE FROM EXTENDED TEXT:
3.5G HSDPA handsets are already on order from manufacturers and first models will be delivered by the end of fiscal 2004 (Mar.31 '05). Commercial service launch will be 1H05 with an estimated 2 Mbps throughput "Much faster than EVDO," remarked Tachikawa.

Second, the upgrade from exisiting W-CDMA to HSDPA is only a software patch on the carriers network side, no new base stations etc. The challenge then of course is waiting on the new embedded cell phone chipsets to be configured, tested and delivered en masse. No doubt the teams at NEC, Panasonic and Fujistu are working around the clock to get the best spec. possible.

So, if Cingular does indeed launch their network earlier, I'd guess it will be for PCI data cards. Otherwise would love to know what OEM is providing HSDPA enabled handsets for them?

Cheers,

Lars.

[Jordan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:21AM]

HSDPA is not a 3G service, it's 3.5G. UMTS was 3G and this is 5 times as fast. According to CNet it is 3.5G.