re: Wireless Week on Edge
>> Will EDGE Call Calm Concerns?
Kristy Bassuener
Wireless Week
November 1, 2001
Nokia and AT&T Wireless Services today completed the first live EDGE data call using a live GSM network environment. The call was made using Nokia's 1900 MHz UltraSite base station and prototype EDGE handsets.
'Today's call reinforces our technology choice and commitment to bring multimedia wireless services... to our customers,' says Rod Nelson, CTO for AT&T Wireless. 'EDGE is an integral part of our long-term strategy and now other carriers are reinforcing it as the right choice for carriers that want to deliver 3G services in both the U.S. and globally.'
News of the live call follows Cingular Wireless' announcement Tuesday to convert its markets using TDMA technology to GSM. The move will pave the way for Cingular to offer third-generation services based on EDGE technology. Theoretically, EDGE can offer wireless data speeds up to 384 kilobits per second or more in end-user devices. However, critics of EDGE, including wireless analyst Andrew Seybold, point out that there is little proof that EDGE will perform in the 'real world' outside the lab environment.
Adam Guy, senior analyst of mobile wireless research for the Strategis Group, points out that whatever problems there are or will be with making EDGE happen, the force of having two U.S. carriers (VoiceStream Wireless also cut an EDGE equipment deal last month with Ericsson) on board could give the technology some momentum.
'EDGE is either going to work or nobody is going to use it,' Guy says. 'My uncertainty about EDGE has been [from] a market size and scale perspective.'
Separately, AT&T Wireless continues to roll out its GSM/GPRS service with the addition of three new markets in the Midwest. Customers in Detroit, Flint and Ann Arbor, Mich. as well as Toledo, Ohio can now access enhanced voice and data services from AT&T Wireless. The company plans to have GPRS up and running in Florida shortly. <<
- Eric - |
