Nokia Siemens rolling out EDGE Evolution in Q3: like EDGE with half the slow

While we first got wind of a EDGE Evolution rollout from Ericsson, Nokia Siemens isn't about to let one of those young upstart carrier equipment manufacturers steal its top-of-the-heap EDGE thunder, and has just announced the "launch" of its Dual Carrier EDGE software solution, marking the first steps of rolling out EDGE Evolution to the company's radio portfolio. The software upgrade doubles current EDGE speeds to 592kbps, and will be available from Q3 2008 onwards. Nokia Siemens won't stop there, though, EDGE is going to get another bump not too long after that to EGPRS 2, with download speeds of 1.2Mbps and uplink speeds up to 473kpbs. What's unclear at the moment is what existing phones (iPhone, we're looking at you) will be able to manage this with a firmware update, and which ones are going to be stuck in the past, but we're hoping for a good bit of the former.

[Via GigaOM]

[L @ Mar 27th 2008 11:25AM]

And I'm sure those numbers matter much in the already overcrowded GSM channels...

[teslasnp @ Mar 27th 2008 2:44PM]

i thought good parties had big crowds...

you're not invited.

[Sneakz @ Mar 27th 2008 11:25AM]

This would be great if AT&T could roll this out in conjunction with a EDGE firmware update from Apple. Unlikely, but cool.

[crazzyeddie @ Mar 27th 2008 11:28AM]

It would be nice if this could be applied to the iPhone, but I still think everyone wants a true 3G solution.

At least the 3G iPhone has this capability for when it falls back to Edge though...

[crazzyeddie @ Mar 27th 2008 11:30AM]

EDIT: At least the 3G iPhone SHOULD have this capability for when it falls back to EDGE.

And on another note... Engadget should have an edit capability.

[Xultar @ Mar 27th 2008 11:30AM]

Why are they improving Edge? How much life is left on that? A couple of years? 5 @ the most?

[zachary miller @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:15PM]

Even GPRS is still supported by most phones and that predates Edge. The GSM system likes to do things together, so roaming isn't a problem. As long as phones are still made to use a data standard, then phone companies will still support them. This is a pretty quick fix and won't take such as much time as the transtion to UMTS, which would be great for rural communities who will be waiting for the 3G wave to hit them for a while. It's great for Europe since they have buy up more spectrum just for UMTS and it's a slow process. Here in the states AT&T is using the spectrum they already have, so it's a bit faster of a rollout, but they are still dependent on the supply of base station equipment to be made by the manufactures.

[Brodie @ Mar 27th 2008 11:33AM]

EV-DO Rev. A

That's my response to this...

[zachary miller @ Mar 27th 2008 3:03PM]

Enemy Verizon's Data Operation isn't very good for roaming seeing as like 15% of market even uses CDMAone/2000 standards. In fact thats a 3G standard so you can't compare the two and to that I say HSPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Brodie @ Mar 27th 2008 3:08PM]

Wahhhhh... did a bunch of iPhone fanboys vote me down because they don't have 3G on their phones? My point is why bother improving an outdated system when there's something much better available. EV-DO in my case, HSPA in other cases... This is like saying that someone has managed to double the data capacity of a CD... Who cares? DVDs hold way more.

[Engadgetluvsappl @ Mar 27th 2008 11:33AM]

So, this is news but Symbian 9.2 being effectively Jailbroken ISN'T?

Every little update/hack for the iPhone engadget features, yet for a platform with many more millions of users, there's no mention. Where is the fairness, ENGADGET?

[Jon @ Mar 27th 2008 11:53AM]

Go read a different blog if you don't like this one. What's so hard to understand about that?

I really don't understand why people whine so much about what topic gets covered on Engadget. Either scroll past it or go and read one of the billion other gadget blogs out there.

[happy_penguin @ Mar 27th 2008 4:21PM]

Thank you Jon. The level of nastiness shouldn't exceed what we pay for Engadget, $0. These guys will actually respond so be nice about it.

[Dhomas @ Mar 27th 2008 11:46AM]

The nerd in me can't help but chuckle at the term "EDGE Evolution:" Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution Evolution. It's like people who say "ATM Machine."

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 27th 2008 12:34PM]

I don't know what you're talking about.

In the meantime, I hate the people that stand right behind you at the ATM while you're entering your PIN NUMBER.

[Sam @ Mar 27th 2008 12:48PM]

Courtesy of the Department of Redundancy Department

[Dhomas @ Mar 27th 2008 1:30PM]

@PhilxBefore

"I don't know what you're talking about."

EDGE = Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution. So EDGE Evolution is a little redundant.

ATM = Automatic Teller Machine. So calling it an ATM Machine is equally redundant.

It doesn't seem quite as clever when I have to explain it, somehow...

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 27th 2008 6:02PM]

@Dhomas

If you read my post, I clearly capitalized the end for a reason... I'm sorry you missed that.

I'm sure you'd have known that PIN Number and ATM Machine are two of the most commonly used pleonasms.


(Engadget's retardo reply system originally posted this at the bottom of someone else's comment.)

[Dhomas @ Mar 27th 2008 10:38PM]

@PhilxBefore

Yeah, I got it, but only after posting my reply. Good one. Voted up!

I thought these were tautologies, though... Same thing, I guess.

[Nils Mattisson @ Mar 27th 2008 11:48AM]

That "young upstart carrier equipment manufacturer" was founded 1876 and, last time I looked, the market leader.

[patsy @ Mar 27th 2008 12:00PM]

Sarcasm is like a box of chocolates: you never know who's going to get it.

[Nils Mattisson @ Mar 27th 2008 1:02PM]

All the more reason pointing it out. You wouldn't want to leave anyone out of the fun, would you?

[patsy @ Mar 27th 2008 1:51PM]

Methinks someone just signed up on Engadget today to unload a bit of their Swedish insecurity. No need to worry there, we like most things Swedish. Ericsson is just fine, but your women are even better.

[fuhreralmighty @ Mar 27th 2008 11:49AM]

Why the hell does it always have to be the iPhone first? Are Engadget users developing a bias?

[jason @ Mar 27th 2008 12:21PM]

FREE EDGE update for iphone? This is the same company that charged to enable 802.11N in the Macbooks...right???? Good luck.

[temper @ Mar 27th 2008 3:19PM]

Duh, iPhone's revenue is recognised over 2 years, this is why they can do updates for free on the iPhone, and why you have to pay for the updates on iPod Touch ...
If you really need to complain, look for something else.

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 27th 2008 6:01PM]

@Dhomas

If you read my post, I clearly capitalized the end for a reason... I'm sorry you missed that.

I'm sure you'd have known that PIN Number and ATM Machine are two of the most commonly used pleonasms.

[Ubuntu 7.10 WindowsXP @ Mar 27th 2008 2:08PM]

I think this is good all around. I don't use an iPhone (may never use one), but I do use EDGE. Faster download/upload is great news. While someone made a point that the GSM is over crowded, this will still virtually double throughput.

[munford @ Mar 27th 2008 3:04PM]

This won't be a FW upgrade for any phone. It has to be a new phone. It needs HW support.

[needaboost @ Mar 27th 2008 9:42PM]

how do you come by this knowledge....

[munford @ Mar 27th 2008 10:33PM]

edge evolution uses different modulation on air interface . no software upgrade can give you support for that. it has to be a new radio chip on the phone.

[zephead @ Mar 27th 2008 3:07PM]

This sure as hell better NOT be an excuse for Apple to not put 3G in the iPhone. I'll be seriously pissed if they skimp out on 3G because of this.

[Big Sam @ Mar 27th 2008 5:50PM]

HSPA is my response. And I can make phone calls and use data at the same time. Don't spend more money rolling out Edge updates, spend it expanding HSPA coverage.

[Miguel @ Mar 27th 2008 10:04PM]

Go get yourself an iPhone and you won't feel so left out.

[mx @ Mar 29th 2008 11:39AM]

I’m no wireless expert, but I’d imagine that the carriers have the capability to hook up to multiple Edge connections simultaniously, so it would just require a software update to merge two of those edge connection together as “one” connection; but my existing iPhone only has “one” reciever/transmitter and no ability to merge two edge connections.
Thoughts?