State and future of 3G in UAE(Etisalat) and worlwide.

[marwan]

Now that I have had the 6630 and 6680 on 3G for quiet sometimes, i would like comment on the service and and it’s advantages/dissadvantages, and this is only based on my provider’s 3G service(Etisalat in the UAE…monopoly…for now)

Adavntages:

-384kbps on your mobile is like having DSL on your phone, ofcourse with a good browser such as opera or netfront your gonna get the full potential from 3G speed by browsing the web

-Video Calling

-MMS pics/video send out very fast

-also our provider increased the MMS attachment size to 300KB from 100KB(could this be due to 3G even though there arent many subscribers?) as of last year, there were only 5000 3G subscribers in the UAE (only crappy motorola phone was available, and no one likes/uses moto here, which is due to the low user base), got this from some website. I don’t know what the current number is, but Nokia is king here, and with the 6630 and 6680 out already, I’m expecting that number to double…atleast(which will hopefully improve the 3G coverage and price rate due to more users)

Disadvantages:

-Videocalling is over rated! I have tried it several times, the quality of the video is like mobile realplayer 3GPP playback like, not bad, but video quality is set by your provider, so it’s them to blame.

-Here we also pay 75fils(20cents appx) per minute of video call (ouch!)

-surfing the net is per kilobyte which is cheap, like 1 fils per k (0.3cents appx), but if you do it often it racks up. GPRS subscription price is 30dirhams(appx $10) and 3G is 25 dirhams(appx $6)

-on 3G the bill racks up faster since you don’t have to wait for dowload and you would have the patience to wait for it,with GPRS if it gets slow, you disconnect and save yourself the cash 

-I can videocall on my PC practically free on a bigger screen(only broadband bill applies, which is flat rate per month)

-Coverage of 3G in UAE is focused mainly in all major cities(abu dhab, dubai….), but the problem is when you go indoors(depends where) you get no 3G coverage and the phone switches to GPRS(which I don’t mind) BUT…(next point)

-The handover from 3G to GPRS or GPRS to 3G is unbearable, it takes approx 20-30seconds to switch over, and if ur in a bad coverage area you spend more time handing over instead of surfing the net.

-both 6680 and 6630 make a whisteling sound from the speaker when on 3G(when the icon is visible) once it switches to G(GPRS) the sound is gone). Though the 6680 does it alot less when on 3G.

-Also on both phones, you have the option to set the network to “Dual or GSM” (Dual=3G/GPRS GSM=locked to GPRS only) which for some reason, both phones suffer from disconnecting when you’re on a call and the phone is set to “dual” and it switches from 3G to GPRS or the other way round while talking.. Again, this is not the phones faults, it’s the provider. This has been tested on my 6630(and also my friends 6630) and my current 6680 which dissconnects less on Dual mode. Users of 6630/6680 in other countries don’t have any of those problems.

-Not many people are aware or educated of 3G(in general), so I think whomever is resposible needs to spend more time promoting/educating people about 3G, in this part of the world and the rest(except japan and korea ofcourse lol)


For the time being since im not videocalling, and want to avoid disconnection so I’m setting my phone to “GSM” mode.

So please discuss 3G in UAE and 3G future in general worldwide. I like to hear your opinion on this matter. And please feel free to add any pros/cons regarding 3G. Ofcourse when i get the chance i will email Etisalat complaining about their 3G related problems.

and btw, EDGE is testing in dubai and abu dhabi.

Thanks, and sorry if my post sounds cluttered, I’m trying to get everything out in this post a.s.a.p! lol

Marwan

[im92109210]

in yesterdays news paper there was that article about another telecommunication service provider coming to the u.a.e. that will surely reduce the prices due to competition and boost services and quality.. i cant wait :D

[Karim]

That is why I don't like 3G.
I feel it will only be fully matured in 2008-2009...

[marwan]

i know, i work for the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority in the UAE(TRA for short), for people that don't know, TRA is the equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission (http://www.fcc.gov/) in USA :)



Telecommunication Regulatory Authority website (http://tra.ae)

[marwan]

That is why I don't like 3G.
I feel it will only be fully matured in 2008-2009...


by then 4G would be out, or atleast EV-DO, Wimax and Wifi would have taken over!

[Karim]

4G wouldn't be out in 3 years.
3G needs to mature in most countries first.

[3gpeasy]

Users of 6630/6680 in other countries don’t have any of those problems.

If only that were the case.
Virtually every 3G phone/network combination in the UK has pretty severe handover problems, which nobody seems to have a definite timeframe for sorting out.
Maybe the only answer is 100% 3G coverage; we should be so lucky

[Cyberdog]

100% coverage, ahh yes now we're really dreaming aren't we?!! You never know, might happen at some late stage of our lives, when new RF technology comes out that can overcome current limitations.

[3gpeasy]

it'd be possible now, it'd just be expensive.

theoretically, current technology would allow much faster speeds and more coverage; it'd just be really expensive which is why networks tend to have a cycle of investing, then milking the investment for every last penny before investing again. which is why competition is so necessary, to give networks something to keep up with (each other) otherwise we would still have 1G analogue networks which worked in city centres, and not much else.

nobody's got infinite money to invest, though, not even vodafone, lol

[marwan]

Maybe the only answer is 100% 3G coverage; we should be so lucky


i read somewhere that in japan, out of the approx. 70 millions mobile phone subscribers, 26 million subscribers are on 3G 0_0 that's pure sick,

i wonder if video conferenceing on 3G is very popular in japan or if they only use it for net surfing/email/download and such. also it would be interesting to know how the hand over is in japan/korea. anyone got any info on those countries? i also know EV-DO big over there, that's 2mbps :eek: my computer DSL isn't even that fast! lol

[zalameh1]

-Here we also pay 75fils(20cents appx) per minute of video call (ouch!)



u think thats expensive!!!! on VodafoneNZ a txt message costs 20cents (around U.S. 13cents).. THATS FOR A TXT MESSAGE!! its costs $1.30 per minute for calls in peak and 49c offpeak.
telecomNZ has a plan of 500txts for $10 a month but they are a CDMA network and they have the ugliest phones around.. but the calling rates are the same as vodafone.