EDGE On The Brink ...
mQ,
He [Dr J] didn't emphatically say EDGE wouldn't exist, just that he'd be surprised [wasn't that it] ...
Sort of. He expressed his opinion and at CTIA Wireless 2001 he was quoted as saying:
"I don't think EDGE will ever see the light of day."
>> EDGE On The Brink, Claims Qualcomm Chief
Tony Dennis
Total Telecom
Las Vegas
21 March 2001
Message 15536760
Qualcomm's controversial chairman and CEO Dr Irwin Jacobs has predicted the demise of EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution), a 2.5G data standard. "I don't think EDGE will see the light of day," Jacobs told Total Telecom at the CTIA Wireless 2001 show in Las Vegas. ... Backing up his dismissal of EDGE, Jacobs pointed to U.S. network operator, AT&T Wireless, which, he claimed, "will ultimately end up with CDMA." ... Jacobs said EDGE suffers from restricted coverage issues as well as requiring extra infrastructure equipment. "I don't see there being an economic opportunity for EDGE," he added. ... <snip>
IMJ then entertained us in his portion of the next two earnings CCs by explaining why he thought EDGE wouldn't work, or wouldn't work well, while expressing confidence that the majority of TDMA operators in the Americas would flip to CDMA rather than GSM EDGE, which unfortunately did not come to pass.
Not to be outdone by Dad, the chip off his block was quoted as making this statement at the 2002 3G World Congress in Hong Kong a year later:
"EDGE is pretty bogus. There are a couple of operators in the US who'll spend a lot of money trying to get manufacturers to build equipment for them because they don't want to use CDMA."
tinyurl.com
The good news is that Qualcomm is now one of those manufacturers spending money to "build equipment for them," meaning someone at Qualcomm saw the light of day, even if they saw it later than others saw it. At London Analysts Day last November, as IMJ went through the obligatory 'ITU approved 3G technologies' slide he simply referred to EDGE as "3G in existing spectrum that some carriers will employ."
<< and he didn't think it made sense, which it still might not. >>
As for whether or not EDGE with AMR makes sense, the opinions of you, me, Irwin, or Paul are irrelevant. What is relevant is that 118 mobile wireless network carriers in 69 countries have already decided that it makes sense to them and within 18 months the number will probably be double that. It's a no brainer for many. It works and works well, is available nationwide here in the US, is a considerable improvement over GPRS, offers QoS and supports multitasking of voice and data and will support rich voice in R'5, and it coexists seamlessly with both GPRS and WCDMA. Five of the top six infra providers supply EDGE kit for all four of the traditional cellular and PCS bands, all of the top six handset suppliers are currently shipping EDGE enabled devices, and the first EDGE enabled UMTS handsets are already shipping. Within 12 to 18 months all but the lowest end GSM GPRS devices will be EDGE enabled, as will virtually all UMTS devices.
<< BTW, it's Woosh, not Whoosh >>
Woosh, Swoosh! So it is. Thank's for the correction. I'll commit that to memory and adjust my spell checker accordingly. I should probably also state that I was somewhat mixing up technologies. We were discussing flavors of OFDM and Woosh technology is of course a TDMA/CDMA hybrid (supposedly) 3GPP standardized UMTS TDD-HCR technology from IPWireless deployed in 15 MHz x2 of IMT-2000 core spectrum. Supposedly they were going to begin offering carrier grade UMTS TDD-based VoIP service that would replace subscribers’ residential landlines by the end of 2004 or early 2005. Do you know if they have yet done that?
tinyurl.com
What do you think of Skype skype.com and what impact will it have?
Don't know. Evidently Skype works reasonably well. I'll have to try it one of these days. In a general sense I think VoIP for mobile wireless is a ways out, but I also think that it will eventually be commonplace, and circuit-switched voice will eventually fade away.A few years back mobile wireless carriers did not seem the least bit interested in VoIP. That mood is definitely changing.
We'll soon be seeing articles titled "VoIP on the Brink."
Best,
- EriQ - |
