T-Mobile's UMTS Network Functioning

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=4189' target='_blank'>http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=4189</a><br /><br /></div>"T-Mobile, the cellphone arm of Deutsche Telekom, said Thursday its long-awaited third-generation network was up and running, with the lack of UMTS phones the only problem remaining. "<br /><br />UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) is now available in 200 German areas. The only current limitation is the lack of UMTS devices. It goes on to say that new devices would automatically select the best connection for calls. Regardless if it's the UMTS network, GPRS, or even a Wireless LAN. 8O I would love to have a device that would automatically select the best network to send and receive voice or data on. When I'm at home it can select VOIP using the wireless network. And when I'm out and about it would switch back to GPRS. Very cool.

[possmann]

:beer: they always get the new stuff first - WWAAAAAAH!

[ClayMJohnson]

Good article!

Obermann states, “… new devices would automatically select the ideal connection without the customer needing to concern himself whether this was UMTS, its precursor GPRS, or a wireless LAN.” Connecting to multiple networks is great. I think they should also be smart enough to choose the best and cheapest network. Obviously there would be some trade off with what is the best and the cheapest. Anyway having a device that can connect to multiple networks is one thing, but what is lacking is implicit connectivity. Going from a UMTS network to a VoWLAN, VoWWAN or some type of VoIP would require explicit connectivity. Once seamless implicit connectivity works then we will not need to concern ourselves with what network we are on. This type of connectivity will be great for inside buildings.

Oh yea ... Obermann talks about the handoff without interruption. I worked on the UMTS network at Nortel and I would like to see the easy handoff from a UMTS (3G) to a 2G or a 2.5G network. Wonder what the drop rate is?

Clay Johnson-