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To: quartersawyer who wrote (8571)	12/16/2000 10:58:11 AM
From: Kent Rattey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

gsmworld.com

To: quartersawyer who wrote (8571)	12/16/2000 2:12:07 PM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

Re: GPRS at BT Cellnet << please give me a link for GPRS evolution to higher rates of transmission? >> Kent supplied a good one. The following articles discuss the first 2.5G GPRS commercial network implementation. It will be interesting to see similar analyses for the 2.5G 1xRTT implementation by SKT. We will then be able to see how the 144 kbps peak data rates translate into single user throughput. Notice that (like Sprint PCS) BT Cellnet is using Bluekite data compression, and data optimization technology. BT Cellnet was an early pioneer of mobile wireless data. There is an interesting presentation from Mike Short of BT Cellnet, made at "Mobile Communications into the Future", on September 11, It is a 3.1 MB powerpoint presentation so it loads slowly: gsmdata.com >> BT Cellnet GPRS Network - Progress So Far Ben Wood Mobile Lifestreams 23 October 2000 The following news report outlines the progress to date of the BT Cellnet GPRS network as presented to Mobile Lifestreams. BT claimed to make their first GPRS call in November 1999 and launched their first live service in the form of a beta trial in February 2000 comprising 300 - 500 users. The service was commercially launched on 22nd June 2000 (the first GPRS network in the world - one day ahead of T-Mobil in Germany) covering certain areas of the UK and using the SMG 29 GPRS standard. The network has now been fully upgraded to provide nationwide coverage using the SMG31 standard (widely accepted as the full commercial standard for GPRS) as a result of BT Cellnet's Nokia radio Infrastructure being upgraded to support this. Currently two key products are available - pure GPRS bearer services with a variety of interconnect options and GPRS access across the Internet. To address the corporate market, BT Cellnet have also launched the PocketNET Office suite. This allows corporate customers to access standard Microsoft products (Outlook, Calendar and Contacts) as well as allowing access to optimised web content via the Bluekite client / server (see www.bluekite.com). Currently BT Cellnet have 12 corporate customers using the service and have found it challenging to get these customers to adopt this technology - particularly due to the fact that they are concerned about security. In the future they intend to offer similar levels of corporate access to "Outlook" functions using WAP. When discussing the true throughput capabilities of GPRS a number of issues were highlighted, in particular latency. Typically end users can expect at least 2 to 3 second delay when making a GPRS connection. This can be dependant on the performance of the handset that is being used, but is also due to the fact that the bandwidth availability has to be negotiated with the network. Additional delays can be added as a result of connecting to external networks such as the Internet or Intranets. The throughput that can be expected on the current GPRS capabilities offered by BT Cellnet is approximately 20Kbps when using two timeslots. On average BT Cellnet believe that it is realistic to expect 10Kbps per slot giving a theoretical throughput of around 50Kbps when fully functional multi slotting handsets are available (1TS up and 4 TS down). BT Cellnet have dimensioned their network to support 30% of customers using GPRS and believe this will allow them to have healthy growth over the next 18 months. It was made clear that there is certainly no desire by BT Cellnet to displace existing wireline traffic as they accept that users will connect from their office or home using a fixed solution rather than a wireless connection. The fact that GPRS is a premium service will be reflected in the tariffing. BT Cellnet are currently undertaking roaming testing with Ericsson, Nokia and Nortel Networks and by the end of 2000 hope to have at least one roaming partner in place. << Re: Making Data Pay (music to my ears) >> BT Cellnet (UK) Announce Tariff Plans For GPRS Ben Wood Mobile Lifestreams At a recent briefing BT gave the first indication of their proposed tariffing structure for GPRS. Currently BT are offering a single promotional tariff for developers and early trialists of £15 (approx $22.50) per month including 50MB of data per month however they are about to offer a range of new "commercial" tariffs which are outlined below. BT Cellnet have defined a range of USER PROFILES and created BUNDLES to go with them: - Consumer WAP - 1MB of Data (Approx 1000 WAP screens) - PDA / 2 Way messaging - 5MB of Data (Approx 2000 Emails) - Laptop Average User - 10MB (Approx 1000 Emails + some attachments) - Laptop Power User - Bundles of 25MB/50MB/100MB of data It is anticipated that BT Cellnet will announce the pricing related to this structure shortly. BT Cellnet have also implemented service management controls to track down heavy users and the new tariffs will incorporate a contract with "overage" charges (i.e. the cost per MB when you exceed your bundle) and they will also define what they call "abuse" levels at which point customers will be disconnected. When discussing tariffing over the last few months, BT Cellnet have put forward a variety of tariffing options but have not been prepared to commit to the solution they are going to adopt, however from the outline above it would appear they will be going for a bundled approach. The options previous discussed include: - Usage - on a per MB basis - Time of Day rates banded into various categories e.g. Day/Evening/Night - Bundles of data - e.g. 10MB, 25MB, 50MB bundles per month - Large order discounts - Pool contracts In addition to this, BT Cellnet plan to offer some discounts for bulk buying by corporate accounts. For Corporate / Large Customers wishing to connect their host systems to the BT Cellnet GPRS network the following tariffing has been presented: BT Cellnet currently offer a leased line via their Cellnet Link 60 package. This offers Voice & Data combined service connecting to GPRS Network at a cost of £7K (approx US$10.5K) per annum for a new installation and £2K (approx US$3.5K) per annum for an upgraded connection to an existing leased line. Companies that already have an existing IP Virtual Private Network (VPN) can upgrade their connection to link to the GPRS Network for £2K (approx US$3.5K) per annum. It should be noted that this excludes Internet access and CPE. For customers that set up their own link to the network there is a charge of £2K (approx US$3.5K) per annum for each APN. For dedicated GPRS Data Link services based on leased line within 200 km of a BT PoP (which covers most of the UK apart from the depths of Cornwall etc.) the cost is based on the bandwidth required as follows: 128Kbps - £5K (approx US$7.5K) 256 Kbps - £6K (approx US$9K) 512 Kbps - £7K (approx US$10.5K) 2MBps - £10K (approx US$15K) << Also: The first commercial launch of a 2.5G network (5 months ahead of 2.5G 1xRTT) >> World First commercial GPRS network launch- 26th June 2000 Simon Buckingham Mobile Lifestreams 31 May 2000 On June 26th 2000, BT Cellnet of the UK launches the GPRS network together with the first GPRS based service, PocketNet Office. The new service is the first commercial GPRS service to be announced in the world. At launch GPRS will be available in southern England (excluding London and the surrounding area), with the rollout for London and the remainder of the UK planned to be completed within 2 months. Full coverage information is available on the Cellnet website: webmap.btcellnet.net. The site will be updated each day during the roll-out period to show the latest coverage. PocketNet Office will allow corporate organizations (typically 500+ employees) to give their staff access to services on the Corporate LAN via their laptop computer. Enhanced Web browsing and access to Microsoft Office-based Email and scheduler services will be provided. Customers need a server installed in their corporate premises. The following tariffs will apply to connection and per month charges during the promotional period 26 June to 30 September. GPRS charge per user per month is £15.00 excluding VAT, £17.63 including VAT. Connection charge is zero. Usage Allowance: There is a usage limit set at 50 Megabytes per user per month. In the event of a user exceeding this limit, BTCellnet reserves the right to charge a promotional price of £1.50 per additional Megabyte used. The usage limit of 50 Megabytes per user per month has been set at a high level to allow maximum use of this new technology during the introductory period following this launch only. This will enable feedback on likely usage patterns to be collected to allow BT Cellnet to design longer-term tariff propositions. The usage limit should not be taken as an indication of the likely level of permitted use in those longer-term tariffs. << - Eric -