Cingular lights up two HSDPA markets

Phoenix, Seattle! Your names have been named, friends, as America's first officially HSDPA-lit cities—enjoy Cingular's high-speed 3G. Oh, wait, you can't, no HSDPA phones release in North America yet. Ah well, hang on, we'll get back to you shortly on that; still this should be way, way less than astounding to those paying attention, but really it's just one for all the naysayers who said Cingular's HSDPA network was years off.

[Thanks, Vic]

[TZK @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Cing already charges your testicles for unlimited EDGE - whats the projected price for this? A pancreas?

:-P

[Jojo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Finally, a "Turbo High Speed" 3G network starts to make a presence in the US! Bring on HSDPA!!!

[Jordan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Are the phones going to have a turbo button like the old 386s?

I am interested in how this affects capacity. It's awesome that they are turning it on, and everyone is giddy about the data speeds, but what is the deal with voice? More channels? HSDPA shares voice/data channels where 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO keeps them separate, right? (Until 1xEV-DO Rev A anyway)

[Huh? @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Ok.. Someone fill me in here. Anyone have an example of a HSDPA-compatible phone? UMTS isn't the same as HSDPA, right? Basically, if I bought a UMTS 3G phone, will it be compatible?

[G-lo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

**Important Question**
How much does Cingular charge you guys for unlimited EDGE?!? I had it for $25 bucks but got an un-smart phone (W800) so I went back to the 4 meg. Should I just keep it until I get my next 3G phone?

[Roopesh Sheth @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

G-lo: Unlimited data (including EDGE) is $40/month.

[Christopher Dechter @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

I have unlimited data for $20/month. I signed up in July of this year, though I think that plan isn't available any longer. At the time, it took three people (including one Cingular rep) to decipher the various data plans and options so as to avoid the useless (ringtones and such) and get the straight data plan.

[G-lo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Well.. I was an old AT&T customer. I've had the P800 smart phone for the past couple years with the $25 unlimited data plan and accessed full html site. I just called and got "granfathered" in to my old mMode plan which I was told is unlimited and uses EDGE as well.

So technically, I got the $40 plan for $24.99 bc i'm an old AT&T customer.

[J Sykes @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

you guys spelled phoenix wrong...but yea this isnt really important to me because im stuck with a nokia 6015i [thanks metropcs...you commies]and nowhere near phx...come on hsdpa in atlanta!

[KC @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

#4 - you are correct, just because a phone is UMTS does not mean that it supports HSDPA. Think of HSDPA as the EDGE for UMTS. It is an optional feature.

#3 - EV-DO always has seperate voice and Data channels no matter what revision you are talking about.

[oliver @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Don't forget Dallas/Ft Worth

From Seattle times:

"Yesterday, however, network equipment vendors issued releases that Cingular's new networks were up and running in Seattle and Phoenix using Lucent Technologies and in the Dallas/Fort Worth area using Ericsson equipment."

[Frankenstein Black @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

In addition to the 2 markets above (Seattle and Phoenix), RCR is reporting 16 more by the end of the year. They include;
- Tacoma
- Portland
- San Francisco
- San Jose
- Salt Lake City
- Las Vegas
- San Diego
- Dallas
- Austin
- Houston
- Atlanta
- Chicago
- Detroit
- Washington DC
- Baltimore
- Boston

And they also mentioned devices from;
- Sierra Wireless (Air cards)
- Nokia
- Motorola
- Novatel
With soon to come models from;
- LG
- Samsung
No model numbers were listed.

SWEET. NOW BRING ON THE VIDEO PHONES!

[PHug @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Hmm... My verizon contract is up in Jan. If Cingular gets HSDPA here in D.C. by then i may have to switch.
Will need Cingular to couple it with a good PDA phone but it's not like Verizon has anything to offer me in the PDA phone department either.

But hell i'm a "nay-sayer" and i still don't believe them so NAY! NAY! NAY!

[Spiderman_00 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Hopefully they will connect the I-5 corrider from Seattle to Portland soon.

[Doc Zaius @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

There will be no HSDPA to UMTS fallback as current UMTS towers will be software upgraded to HSDPA. You will however see data-centric devices with a HSDPA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM fallback. SE just debuted a UMTS/EDGE/GPRS PC card.

Where GPRS/EDGE had dedicated channels for voice and data, UMTS has no barriers. The burst nature of net traffic allows voice data to take advantage of the extra room... meaning greater call capacity. UMTS alone allows for about three times the call capacity of it's older brothers. In addition it allows for flexibility in the amount of dedicated bandwidth to the specific nature of the traffic. Ie. Voice would have a set amount of bandwidth, webpage browsing could have a narrow band with burstability, and video streaming could have a broader band with burstability (more action, higher fps, a big burst of data).

Because HSDPA builds on the data capacity of UMTS it inherently allows for more calls. Furthermore the transition to CDMA over TDMA removes the physically implemented barrier of time slots.

You can conceptualise TDMA as someone chatting on a PC with multiple people at the same time with one keyboard.. giving each chat only enough time to send/recieve a message and then moving on to the next in a continuous cycle.. it appears on the other end that they are talking to multiple simultaneously but in reality they are not.

CDMA is the same scenario, only the person has multiple monitors, multiple arms and multiple keyboards.. and they actually are carrying different conversations on at exactly the same time.

CDMA leaves only the physical limitation of RF; as we have witnessed in the PC world, you can always make computers go faster.

[Doc Zaius @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

BTW UMTS/HSDPA is already installed in many more locations... just waiting for those engineers to flip the switch. The real limitation as noted by Cingular execs is the availability of compatible handsets for the American market. Provisioning/Billing is really not an issue as it is already well underway in Cingular's unified nationwide billing system.

[Motorola 3G Victim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

OK, I just plugged my A845 in and it's charging... I'll take it to work in a few hours and see what I can see.

[Motorola 3G Victim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

The A845 finds the 3G network for limited periods of time and then switches back to 2.5G. The phone can pick up email using its onboard client and 3G. Standby time is 30 minutes and the phone gets ultra ultra hot. I had to leave it plugged in at the office to keep it juiced and it would still shutdown to cool off. I suspect the on-the-air UMTS protocol for setting transmit power is opting for full power all the time.

They told me I would be able to continue making and receiving calls with the phone, seems they were wrong. I have yet to make a single successful call as the phone reboots when I place a call and it switches from 3G to 2.5G before the call can terminate to the number dialed. Ditto when I call it from a land line.

This truly is the worst fiasco I've heard of in cellular history. The network is turning this thing into a coffee warmer! And rapidly discharging the battery in 30 minutes can't be good for the battery either.

I'll take my 2nd A845 to work with me tomorrow but I suspect it will mimic its brothers bad behavior (ie this phone didn't develop a failure mode whilst asleep for two months.)

On the upside, I'm getting more bars on the 3G network than I got before. But that could also just be a symptom of the phone's spastic 3G/2.5G yoyo-ing.

Hopefully they will make good on the new phones soon.

[Doc Zaius @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Clarification/updates on the earlier post. HSDPA will be limited to data cards with EDGE/GPRS/GSM fallback. UMTS will be utilized on handsets with EDGE/GPRS/GSM fallback.

Cingular is shooting for an average of 400-700kbps for UMTS and upto 1.8mbps for HSDPA.

Major markets will be lit throughout the end of the year and most should be live by early 2006.

Pricing points will remain the same (at least for now) for data card access at 59.99 unlimited with a qualifying voice line/plan through the promotional period ending in december. Then back to 79.99. Pricing should remain the same for PDA's and regular handsets at 44.95 and 19.99 respectively.

Note to Motorola 3G Victim:
The A845 was certified only for AT%T's UMTS network when it was launched a year ago. If you order one now through the business channel you will still be activated on the legacy at&t network. There are currently no announced handsets certified to work coherently with the Cingular UMTS network. -- This could be why your experiencing problems.