Bux - Do you think it would be correct to assume that since it is packet data, the factor that would most determine price would be the amount of data consumed, not the speed at which the data was delivered?
First, some definitions. Packet-switched and circuit-switched are not completely disjoint sets, and depending on who you talk to you will get different, overlapping, definitions. For instance, to a switch designer, surprisingly 'packet switched' does not always mean just that my data comes in little packets which are interleaved with your packets. (ATM does this, and yet it is commonly referred to as circuit switched for reasons which are beyond the scope of this note.) For the purposes of wireless, packet switched means that bandwidth can be grabbed by the phone with very little communication with the basestation, and as soon as the handset is done, the bandwidth is available again to other users. Circuit switched means that each time the phone wants more bandwidth, it must renegotiate with the basestation for another discrete line. Since this negotiation process was designed for voice, it is a slow process, both to set up and tear down. Therefore a circuit switched system tends to leave the bandwidth assigned even when not in use because it is too difficult to tear down and re-set up. In some limited sense, IS-95 is already packet switched by this definition since, within its 14.4, it gives up bandwidth and takes it back autonomously. But, IS-95 is not 'packet-switched' for more than 14.4kbps. After that it is circuit switched. Thus, carriers will charge per 14.4 channel, not per Mbit.
Clark
PS For a lone user in a lone cell, I'm sure the Motorola stuff is the same bits/hz as other IS-95 offerings. |
