Of entrance to a
quarrel; but being in,
Bear’t that the opposed
may beware of thee.
Shakespeare, Hamlet I, 3
Despite what many may
think, I am not a big fan of America, especially now.
Especially when they
have former president Bill Clinton come to Jamaica and have us pay JA$13,000
per plate to have him tell us nebulous things while the Haitians are starving
as stated in the article “Clinton lauds
Jamaica, Caricom for suppport to Haiti”, published Tuesday October
26 2010, The Jamaica Observer, The Jamaica
Observer.
This is not for lack of
funds but distributions of said financial aid that was collected and lies,
supposedly, in the financial institutions in Haiti.
This money is yet to be
disbursed to help those still living out in the streets, as per the rant by
political commentator Dickie Crawford on Smile Jamaica, aired Wednesday
October 27th 2010, Television Jamaica, The Jamaica Observer as well as a prior
letter of his to the editor entitled “Boycott Clinton's
Visit”, published Sunday October 24 2010, The Sunday Observer, The Jamaica Observer.
Cholera has broken out
among the populace, making the situation worse as stated in the article “Cholera outbreak
spreads towards Haiti's capital”, published Saturday October 23
2010, The Jamaica Observer. More
“hype”-pocrisy than I can bear, thus the world of Telecoms beckons me again, as
political grandstanding has no mathematical solution.
I refer to the quarrel
that has broken out which effectively boils down to a case of misrepresentation
by Telecom Provider Digicel as to whether their Digicel Broadband 4G Network is
truly worthy of the title 4G as stated in the article “4G Quarrel”,
published Wednesday October 27, 2010 by Mark Titus, Business Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner. Media circus, here
we go again.
My memory is a bit off
of late, but I do recall writing a similar article for my blog on this very same
subject. My archive of articles has gotten deleteriously large, so a quick
sorting reveals that it is indeed the case, so forgive me if I crib from my previous blog article, entitled “CLARO vs FLOW -
Cats and Dogs The Revenge of Kitty Galore”.
It is good to note at
this point, lest we forget, that these competing technologies [LTE and WiMaX]
are not yet 4G.
That seal of approval
can only be bestowed by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union), the
Telecommunications arm of the UN (United Nations).
They had indicated that
WiMaX and LTE, more specifically WiMaX 2 (IEEE 802.16m), are indeed 4G, albeit
not officially so as stated in the article “4G: What's in a
name?”, published October 21, 2010 12:42 PM PDT by Marguerite
Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength,.
The ITU’s conditionality
is simple: Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM), effectively the
same signal multiplexing inherent in WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple
Access).
A descendant of CDMA
Networks and speed capability demonstrable in achieving 100MBps and higher, a
criteria neither of these technologies can achieve when the 4G Data Network is
loaded to capacity. Thus Digicel 4G Broadband is guilty of false advertising,
technically speaking, as they are not quite 4G.
So there you have it
folks. I could, as I am a tad sleepy and thus prone to misspell my words, end
the article here and make it short and sweet. But a few parting shots first.
LIME is correct – sort of. The definition of 3G is set by the blessing of the
Telecommunications Papacy, essentially the ITU. The Holy See must bless the
technology based on it meeting the criteria.
Since Telecom Provider Digicel
Broadband offering does not meet these criteria, effectively Telecom Provider
LIME’s case submission to the FTC (Fair Trading Commission), as per the
analysis of Regional vice-president for legal, regulatory and corporate
affairs, Camille Taylor, is spot on.
Quoting examples is not
cutting it, as they too call themselves “4G” yet are not fully compliant to the
standards set out by the ITU. But wait, hold your horses! Digicel offering of
WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d, e) is upgradeable to WiMaX 2 (IEEE 802.16m), as
per the very same article and thus at which point would be capable of meeting
the requirements of the ITU 4G working group, which does indeed specify:
1. 100MBps data rates
between UE (User Equipment) and servers, (possibly shared between upload and
download?)
2. The use of Orthogonal
Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM), to which WiMaX already complies.
WiMaX’s technology is an
Open Architecture crib of LTE and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n), which ironically is
capable of speeds of 300MBps best effort – and Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n)
Networks are nowhere near this quarrel about “G”, which to uninitiated and superstitious,
looks more like a complaint between an Apprentice and his Grandmaster with
regards to his Order or Level of Degree in his respective Lodge.
Thus, I think the
solution is clear: Telecom Provider Digicel needs merely to bump up their speed
to 100MBps via a software upgrade to the new WiMaX 2 (IEEE 802.16m) protocol,
for as it appears, some hefty fines and lots of groveling will soon be under
way, as LIME is correct on this one, as per the ITU.
That cannot be too hard,
as Columbus Communications, the parent company of Triple Play Provider FLOW, is
a wholesaler of Fiber Optic connectivity and T1 access as per the article “Information
superhighway revolution to hit Jamaica”, published Friday April 3rd 2006, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Additional purchase and
enabling/provisioning of T1’s for Internet Access to their MGW (Media Gateway)
and thus the WiMaX enabled tower Infrastructure, would be a welcome boost to
the current lackluster speeds currently being experience by many Digicel
Broadband Customers.
It would be a win-win
for all involved, including Telecom Provider Digicel, as they would be able to
offer 10MBps, best effort, as promised.
Telecom Provider Digicel
can reserve the prime 100MBps speed for its Business and Residential Customers
willing to shell out the big bucks equivalent to what Triple Play Provider FLOW
currently charges its Customers as stated in the article “FLOW to bring
100Mbs to Jamaican homes”, published Saturday October 16 2010, The Jamaica Observer.
Telecom Provider CLARO
may be planning to offer to its Customers as stated in the article “Game on!”,
published Friday October 22, 2010 by Mark Titus, The Friday Financial Gleaner, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Additional services,
such as Backup Storage, MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Games),
Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Services, Video Calling, et al, can be provisioned as
Premium services to attract Customers to buy into effectively what is a push
towards the ultimate Mortal Kombat, as per the movie and
the video game.
Small Telecom Providers,
such as Dekal Wireless Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks and Nubian-1
Tech Services Limited would surely have to follow suit. This would leave
Telecom Provider LIME in the REAL pickle of having to upgrade to LTE – and
their island wide 3G Network is not even near completion.
Especially as DSO
(Digital Switch Over) as stated in the article “Slow road to
digital switch-over - Cable groups mum; Flow ahead but Network
coverage behind”, published: Saturday August 15, 2009 by Mark
Titus, Gleaner Writer, The Jamaica
Gleaner would swing the balance of power in favour of
the Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks.
Especially if the
“White” Space Frequencies are made on offer license free as per the actions of
our most Northerly Neighbor, the United States of America as stated in the
article “FCC to open up
vacant TV airwaves for broadband”, published Monday September 13,
12:35 am ET By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer, Yahoo! News and now officially
confirmed in the article “FCC officially
frees TV white space spectrum”, published Thursday September 23
2010, CNET News.
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