Herbalist Dr MziziMkavu
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 3, 2009
- 42,318
- 33,125
Wireless carriers look for ways to ease smartphone data traffic
AT&T says it now has more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots around the country in places like Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, McDonald's, hotels and airports. The Wi-Fi service is free for iPhone customers, as well as for those who have certain other smartphones. The use of Wi-Fi helps ease cellular network traffic, and is being encouraged by several wireless carriers now.
View related photos
With increasing network congestion and data demands, wireless carriers are now welcoming, even encouraging, customers use of Wi-Fi on their smartphones. Some are also employing devices known as femtocells, which can boost cell coverage at home as well as take some pressure off networks. AT&T, whose network is the most dramatically affected by its legion of iPhone users, has been testing femtocells in some cities, and may announce a femtocell service for its customers this week at the Las Vegas gathering of CTIA, the wireless trade industry association.
The nation's four largest cellular carriers Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are planning to upgrade their networks to 4G, or fourth-generation, wireless which will handle larger amounts of data, such as video downloads or streaming music, more fluidly. But 4G networks will not be built out nationwide for at least a few years, and improvements are still being made to 3G, or third-generation, networks.
Femtocells, which resemble Wi-Fi routers, can route calls and data over a home broadband connection. Verizon Wireless and Sprint both have femotcell programs that are more voice- than data-oriented, said Aditya Kaul, ABI Research practice director for mobile networks. Sprint, too, may soon introduce femtocells that are "data-oriented."Wi-Fi, in particular, has gone from being a perceived threat to a welcome relief for carriers, who are working feverishly to make sure their networks can handle increasing amounts of data traffic generated by users of smartphones like the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm, Motorola Droid and Google Nexus One.
Previously discouraged
A few years ago, Wi-Fi "was somewhat discouraged because operators were worried if people had a device with Wi-Fi in it, it would cut into data plan revenues," said Peter Jarich, Current Analysis' research director for telecom infrastructure and mobile networks.
"But now that kind of issue goes away, because if you're going to buy a new smartphone or some sort of device with data capabilities, carriers are requiring data plans with them." And, "if they're requiring the data plan ... they're getting their money one way or the other," he said.
"It's much more in their interest to say, 'Yeah, go on and use the Wi-Fi, get your traffic off the network and then I can free it up for everyone else.' "
Verizon Wireless, for example, previously didn't carry a large selection of smartphones equipped with Wi-Fi. When the high-profile BlackBerry Storm landed exclusively at the carrier in late 2008, it was sans Wi-Fi. But its successor, the Storm2, has it, and in general, "you're seeing it in more and more devices," said Jarich.
Tiered pricing?
Monthly data plans for smartphones start at $30 at AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile. Sprint's "Simply Everything" plan starts at $69.99 a month, and includes unlimited data and text messaging, and 450 voice minutes.
In a still-shaky economy, carriers aren't looking to raise rates yet although some believe it's inevitable, perhaps as way of discouraging heavy-data users, especially when 4G becomes a reality.
"Operators are going to have to change their pricing structure, doing tiered mobile broadband, rather than 'all-you-can-eat' packages," said Kaul of ABI Research. "This will take away some of the excessive network load."
A "big topic" in the industry is "fair use" pricing, said Jarich. Maybe carriers will say, 'When you get to a certain point of usage, we limit the bandwidth you can get at certain times, or maybe we promise all-you-can-eat data, but after youve used a certain amount, then if that cell site youre on is congested, you sort of go to the back of the pack.'
"Ultimately, the idea is, how do we avoid the network being overloaded and how do we assure that theres capacity for everyone?"
Justin Denison, vice president of strategy for Samsung Mobile in the United States, says one future possibility is for device makers to collaborate with carriers on how data use is "scheduled" to help ease congestion.
"Lets say you want to download 'Avatar' on your new Samsung smartphone, and you want do do this during rush hour on the train," he said. "Thats probably the least desirable time for you to download a movie, obviously, because theres lots of people wanting to talk on the phone at that time.
"So the carrier might say, 'You know, wed prefer that you not do it then,' or ask you, 'Can we delay your download until sometime later this evening?' Maybe you dont intend to watch it tonight, maybe you intend to watch when you get on a flight at 10 p.m., so you theoretically would give the network the option to download that movie to your phone when it was most desirable for the network."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35985027/ns/technology_and_science-wireless
View related photosWith increasing network congestion and data demands, wireless carriers are now welcoming, even encouraging, customers use of Wi-Fi on their smartphones. Some are also employing devices known as femtocells, which can boost cell coverage at home as well as take some pressure off networks. AT&T, whose network is the most dramatically affected by its legion of iPhone users, has been testing femtocells in some cities, and may announce a femtocell service for its customers this week at the Las Vegas gathering of CTIA, the wireless trade industry association.
The nation's four largest cellular carriers Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are planning to upgrade their networks to 4G, or fourth-generation, wireless which will handle larger amounts of data, such as video downloads or streaming music, more fluidly. But 4G networks will not be built out nationwide for at least a few years, and improvements are still being made to 3G, or third-generation, networks.
Femtocells, which resemble Wi-Fi routers, can route calls and data over a home broadband connection. Verizon Wireless and Sprint both have femotcell programs that are more voice- than data-oriented, said Aditya Kaul, ABI Research practice director for mobile networks. Sprint, too, may soon introduce femtocells that are "data-oriented."Wi-Fi, in particular, has gone from being a perceived threat to a welcome relief for carriers, who are working feverishly to make sure their networks can handle increasing amounts of data traffic generated by users of smartphones like the iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm, Motorola Droid and Google Nexus One.
Previously discouraged
A few years ago, Wi-Fi "was somewhat discouraged because operators were worried if people had a device with Wi-Fi in it, it would cut into data plan revenues," said Peter Jarich, Current Analysis' research director for telecom infrastructure and mobile networks.
"But now that kind of issue goes away, because if you're going to buy a new smartphone or some sort of device with data capabilities, carriers are requiring data plans with them." And, "if they're requiring the data plan ... they're getting their money one way or the other," he said.
"It's much more in their interest to say, 'Yeah, go on and use the Wi-Fi, get your traffic off the network and then I can free it up for everyone else.' "
Verizon Wireless, for example, previously didn't carry a large selection of smartphones equipped with Wi-Fi. When the high-profile BlackBerry Storm landed exclusively at the carrier in late 2008, it was sans Wi-Fi. But its successor, the Storm2, has it, and in general, "you're seeing it in more and more devices," said Jarich.
Tiered pricing?
Monthly data plans for smartphones start at $30 at AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile. Sprint's "Simply Everything" plan starts at $69.99 a month, and includes unlimited data and text messaging, and 450 voice minutes.
In a still-shaky economy, carriers aren't looking to raise rates yet although some believe it's inevitable, perhaps as way of discouraging heavy-data users, especially when 4G becomes a reality.
"Operators are going to have to change their pricing structure, doing tiered mobile broadband, rather than 'all-you-can-eat' packages," said Kaul of ABI Research. "This will take away some of the excessive network load."
A "big topic" in the industry is "fair use" pricing, said Jarich. Maybe carriers will say, 'When you get to a certain point of usage, we limit the bandwidth you can get at certain times, or maybe we promise all-you-can-eat data, but after youve used a certain amount, then if that cell site youre on is congested, you sort of go to the back of the pack.'
"Ultimately, the idea is, how do we avoid the network being overloaded and how do we assure that theres capacity for everyone?"
Justin Denison, vice president of strategy for Samsung Mobile in the United States, says one future possibility is for device makers to collaborate with carriers on how data use is "scheduled" to help ease congestion.
"Lets say you want to download 'Avatar' on your new Samsung smartphone, and you want do do this during rush hour on the train," he said. "Thats probably the least desirable time for you to download a movie, obviously, because theres lots of people wanting to talk on the phone at that time.
"So the carrier might say, 'You know, wed prefer that you not do it then,' or ask you, 'Can we delay your download until sometime later this evening?' Maybe you dont intend to watch it tonight, maybe you intend to watch when you get on a flight at 10 p.m., so you theoretically would give the network the option to download that movie to your phone when it was most desirable for the network."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35985027/ns/technology_and_science-wireless
