Industry watchers love nothing more than a good old technology war. In the past, we’ve had Token Ring versus Ethernet, GSM versus CDMA and DECT versus CT2. Now, a new technology debate is brewing between HSPA and WiMAX for dominance in the emerging mobile broadband market. But such battles are rarely just about technology, and the mobile broadband debate is no exception.

The GSM world has seen it all before. Over the years, industry commentators have questioned whether investment in GSM-based 3G technology is worthwhile and wondered whether a succession of alternative technologies would render GSM/WCDMA obsolete. In the meantime, GSM/WCDMA operators have been steadily building their 3G businesses – rolling out networks, adding subscribers and delivering ever-enhanced functionality.

Today, the latest commercial releases of HSPA radio networks support download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps – more than a match for most fixed-broadband connections – and they are set to become even faster. GSM/WCDMA radio networks are continuing to evolve to meet growing user demand for mobile-broadband services, through further enhancements in the downlink and uplink, and on to Long Term Evolution.The performance of HSPA and Mobile WiMAX technologies is comparable. Both technologies offer similar peak data rates, spectral efficiency and network complexity. However, Mobile WiMAX requires more cell sites to offer the same coverage and capacity as HSPA. A major hurdle for WiMAX operators will be to overcome the initial high capital expenditure of the radio access network.HSPA is built on the firm foundation of the 3GPP family of standards, and the scale operators get through the established 3G ecosystem makes it very cost-efficient. HSPA can be built out using the existing GSM radio network sites and is a software upgrade of the installed WCDMA networks. Since HSPA devices are also backward compatible with WCDMA and GSM it means users can get nationwide coverage from day one.

By being pitched as a “data play” technology, with voice supported by other radio technologies, WiMAX is perceived as not having to meet regulatory requirements. However, the trend is towards more regulation of VoIP services, especially in areas such as caller ID and location provision for emergency services. WiMAX is unlikely to be exempt from regulatory requirements in the longer term.

HSPA also provides global roaming over GSM/WCDMA networks, as well as wide area coverage within many countries. WCDMA has passed the 150 million subscriber mark and is growing at a rate of 6 million per month. Since Ericsson rolled out the first commercial HSPA system in 2004, more than 150 operators in around 70 countries have launched commercial HSPA services – including major mobile operators such as AT&T, Telstra, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

The Global mobile Suppliers Association reports that HSPA services are commercially available in eight countries in the Americas, 13 countries in Asia Pacific, nine countries in the Middle East/Africa, and 38 countries in Europe. HSPA is commercially available today in 26 of the 27 countries that comprise the European Union.

Juniper Research expects there to be about 1.8 billion broadband subscribers globally by 2012, with about 1.2 billion on mobile networks – with WCDMA/HSPA accounting for nearly 70 percent of mobile-broadband subscribers.

HSPA offers excellent mobility from day one, with over 300 HSPA-enabled devices available on the market – including PC cards, USB modems and modules, laptops with integrated HSPA modules, Fixed Wireless Terminals (wireless routers), phones, PDAs and media players. HSPA terminals have fallback toGSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA, and embedded modems will be available in early 2008.

While WiMAX-certified products were likely to be embedded in notebooks and PC cards during 2007, WiMAX-enabled phones will not appear on the market until 2008. It will be difficult for WiMAX handsets to match the volume and cost structure of current mobile phones – especially as the handsets cross multiple frequencies, meaning multiple radios for roaming. Industry analyst Gartner forecasts that worldwide sales of WiMAX-enabled phones as a proportion of total mobile-phone sales will remain extremely low (below one per cent), at least until 2010.

Deploying any type of cellular system incurs capital costs, no matter which technology is deployed. Because the core network behind WCDMA/HSPA is the same as for GSM, a lot of the investment has already been made. GSM/WCDMA infrastructure is already serving more than 2.5 billion subscribers worldwide – delivering tremendous economies of scale.
There is sometimes a misunderstanding that the WiMAX technology is free from Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues.

In GSM the setting of reasonable accumulated IPR costs has led to a global market with hundreds of chipset and handset vendors. More than 800 million handsets were sold during 2006. By reaching similar IPR agreements in WCDMA/HSPA, products can be offered to customers with very low IPR costs. We believe the same reasonable accumulated rates – at a moderate single-digit level – should also apply to new players in the HSPA and WiMAX arenas.

For WiMAX, it has yet to be seen which players will win large market share, and so their IPR costs are unknown. However, it is unlikely that IPR will provide any differentiator between HSPA and WiMAX.The unprecedented demand for WCDMA/HSPA means additional radio spectrum is going to be critical. It is estimated that by 2010 more traffic will be generated by data services than by voice in mobile networks, yet until about 2015, the only additional internationally agreed spectrum identified for 3G technologies is the IMT-2000 extension band, being 2500-2690 MHz. When allocating new spectrum it will be important to ensure that licensees can leverage on technologies with economies of scale. This will create the right conditions for the licensees to offer affordable broadband services based on a low total cost of ownership for the network and devices.

Ericsson sees HSPA and HSPA Evolved, with downlink speeds of 42Mbps and uplink speeds of 12Mbps, as the natural mobile-broadband technology choice for the near future, with LTE just around the corner to bring us new levels of performance. Technology choices made today will influence operations for many years to come, so while it remains to be seen if WiMAX can offer a viable business case, building on existing HSPA networks represents the fastest way to deliver mobile broadband to the masses.

Source : THIS DAY

Do you remember using the Internet back when you had to dial in using a modem. If you are unlucky enough to still be using dial-up Internet access, I feel for you. The internet is a growing and dynamic entity and everyone will have broadband sooner or later.

Naturally companies try to offer access to internet in growing number of ways. Assuming the user has the correct hardware, a wi-fi account, and is in range of the transmitters, the service allows the user to connect to the internet at broadband speeds without the use of cables. Users can log on to the internet at these hotspots provided they have an account with the broadband supplier and the necessary wireless equipment, such as a wireless laptop or broadband-enabled mobile phone.

An extra phone is the only way to get calls that cannot be received due to the dial up connection. Fixed line operators are now incorporating wireless with their traditional phone services providing ease of having one device and one bill for both mobile and fixed line calls. You can take it out of your phone bill.

Broadband phone actually uses voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to carry phone calls through the internet. There are also a number of companies that has VoIP as a free service.

Digital Subscriber Lines, or DSL uses the existing customer phone lines to provide internet or intranet access to businesses and homes using high-speed broadband technology of varying levels. But even with all the technology that has gone into the making of the Internet, there seems to be more to be expected than has been seen. It's easy to understand why; the technology industry defines it in different ways as well.

Just be sure you do not choose an ISDN line (because it is getting obsolete) or power line (because the technology is not mature, and it will be some years before the bugs are ironed out). The cheapest broadband deals allow for such technology to reach our homes for less than $10 per month. Ok, on to the two major broadband access methods, cable and DSL. There is cable access, DSL access, satellite access. Although cable broadband internet is a whole lot faster than dial-up, I usually experience a slight delay when opening a webpage.

Perhaps most people do not notice the latency associated with cable internet, but it got my attention right away. So are cable television modems, which have similar speeds. Approximately 4 million people in the UK use ADSL with an extra 2 million using a cable connection, meaning 6 million people in the UK have an always-on internet connection.

The fact is that anything less than the speed supplied by a broadband cable has become inadequate for today's internet users.

Providers
However it has emerged that broadband providers touting such products are not revealing the full story to their customers. The key will be for broadband providers to develop the services that broadband allows for, and to deliver them to as many households as possible. High-speed Internet services are growing in popularity because intense competition from broadband providers is continually driving the product exposure in the marketplace to new highs, and prices to new lows. Connecting to the Internet for the first time in your home or office is as easy as securing a fixed telephone line (which you probably already have) and signing up to one of the dozens of Broadband Providers, like AOL and others.

Satellite
Bummer indeed, but you still have broadband Direct PC by satellite and it seems to make it through those clouds and so you can surf the NOAA website and get the latest results or watch video streams of the local TV station right. Broadband Internet by Satellite is about the coolest invention in the World and indeed it has helped the unconnected become connected even if they live in the middle of nowhere. Did you know you can get a special satellite antenna hooked up on your motor home or recreational vehicle that will enable you to get the Internet anywhere in North America.

Television
So they are bundling broadband with other products, such as home phone, digital television and mobile. The acronym is used to describe services which broadcast on-demand television programming to consumers, delivered via a broadband connection on normal telephone line to TV screens. Broadband television is a means of providing TV programs via the Internet. Broadband Television is being hailed as the biggest change in the way we watch television since it was first invented.

With broadband now commonplace, internet accelerators have gone out of fashion somewhat with creaky old modems consigned to the bin. However, as broadband speed is often subject to wild variations depending on where you live, who your ISP is, how far you are from the telephone exchange etc, some people might find that there’s still a place for internet accelerators in their lives. Here’s a selection of the top 10 that cover broadband modems, dial-ups and network connections. None of these can guarantee to speed-up your connection and you should contact your ISP if you’ve got serious problems.

Throttle - Boost your internet speed by 200%

FastNet99 - Tweak DNS settings to increase your browsing speed

BeFaster - Optimise your speed online and offline

Internet Speed Up - Tests and configures your connection according to bandwidth

Modem Booster - If you’re still on a modem, this could increase speed by 300%

WorldWebAccess Accelerator - Includes pop-up and spam killers

Internet Accelerator - Optimises internet speeds over network connections

TweakMASTER Pro - Tweaks everything from DNS settings to dial-up modems

NetSpeeder - Optimises your TCP/UDP port settings

Google Web Accelerator - Very simple accelerator that sits in your taskbar