Subject: [NEXTEL-1] US Data Services Are 'Awful'

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 19:41:58 -0500

US Data Services Are 'Awful'
03.18.03

NEW ORLEANS -- CTIA Wireless 2003 -- Agilent Technologies Inc.  (NYSE: A - message board)
today showed that wireless data service is universally horrible on currently available
networks in the U.S.

Following in the footsteps of a similar test in Cannes last month (see Wireless Nets Suck,
Says Expert), Agilent is running data transfer tests here in New Orleans on the
Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 1xRTT networks being operated by Sprint PCS
(NYSE: PCS - message board) and Verizon Wireless, and the general packet radio service
(GPRS) networks being offered by AT&T Wireless Services Inc.(NYSE: AWE - message board)
and T-Mobile USA.

Agilent's verdict: They're uniformly awful. Sadly, Agilent won't reveal which network is
the absolute worst, even after many deep and probing questions from Unstrung (oh
alright... we offered them $20 to tell us).

Pundits may have expected CDMA 1xRTT networks to handle data better than GPRS networks.
After all, they do offer faster data transfer rates -- around 40-50 kbit/s compared to the
20 kbit/s or so offered on GPRS.

However, Rafael Andrade, senior RF engineer for Agilent says that's only part of the
picture. Once they start transmitting the data, the CDMA networks are faster, but first a
session has to be set up between the network and the device, and that can add
significantly to the amount of time a user waits to view a Webpage or download email.

At the show, Andrade had recorded session setup times of up to 50 seconds (!) before
devices started to transmit data.
At the moment, users just can't expect to get the kind of quality of service they do on
voice calls with data, Andrade reckons [ed. note: and let's face it, voice can be pretty
ropey at times]. "It depends on so many different factors: what city you're in, how close
you are to the transmitter… it's really not predictable.".

www.unstrung.com

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