10-29-2002, 09:33 AM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,350
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How fast is GPRS?
http://www.ppcw.net/stories.php?story=02/09/24/7007368
People who have used GSM phones to wirelessly connect to the Internet and have switched to GPRS will feel a relief when it comes to GPRS speed. People who were only used to broadband net access and use GPRS will feel disappointed when it comes to GPRS speed. Next to that some report to get 40k connections all the time, others peak at 20k. So, how fast is GPRS? What are the limitations? Read an -older, but still great- article on PPCW.NET on the subject.
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10-29-2002, 10:51 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 91
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GPRS speeds over time...
I'm an early adopter when it comes to GPRS - I had it maybe a month or so after Fido rolled it out in Canada, paying at one point up to $100 or more a month for bandwidth-limited access.
Today, I'm on one of the best GPRS plans (pricewise) on the planet - $50 a month, unlimited bandwidth, N. America wide access at no extra charge (via Fido and Voicestream / T Mobile). It may be worldwide, I'm not entirely sure.
I recently wrote an article on my personal site about GPRS speeds:
http://www.spiffle.com/rants/10-08-2002_07-30pm
To precis it here, early on, I wasn't impressed with the service. Via the card I used to have, then my Motorola P280 phone and a usb connection, I was lucky if I could see 2,000 bytes a second, and packets-loss was massive. I was very close to dropping the service at one point.
As recently as this summer, I was still seeing speeds below 3,000 bytes a second at the best of times, and massive packet losses and delays. But lately, in Vancouver and Richmond (BC, Canada) at least, I've seen some serious improvements. Packet losses and ping times can be low still, but most of the time, I see 4,500 up to 6,500 bytes/sec speeds (what's that in comparison to a 56kbit modem?), and I had the amazing phenomenon recently of being able to access the internet from rest stops on the highways, in the middle of no where.
The ability to connect to the net wirelessly while on business travel was amazing. I had my iBook connected to the net for almost two days straight while in Boston recently, and it's relatively painless - like a 56k modem, it seemed. IM'ing and email was easy, web page loading was a bit more difficult.
Still, GPRS isn't where I'd like to see it, just yet. I remember the lofty claims of ISDN speeds when it was first introduced or announced. It's no where near that speed, and at times, it crawls. Performance with my pocket pc or sony clie is similarly excrutiatingly slow - I accessed AvantGo once through my irda ports on the Motorola and clie, and it took over 30 minutes to get my 1.5mb worth of data. Since the ir should be 115kbit a second, where's the holdup?
Once GPRS does match it's initial claims of ISDN speeds, I'll be very happy with the service... maybe for a few years. Then I'll want more. 
Mark
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10-29-2002, 01:54 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 22
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GPRS...? What about CDMA?
Why is this site so anti CDMA?
Sprint just went to a 10.00 a moth unlimited data plan on thier high end plans, but you guys dont even act like cdma is an option.
For those of us in the US that can use sprint, its the best option out there....
Real world speeds well over 60k
Cip
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10-29-2002, 04:37 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,350
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I'm far from anti-CDMA. I just don't write about it, as I have no possible way to have personal experience with it. In Europe, we don't have CDMA, and I write on GPRS for the Europe audience of this site, and for the US audience that is using GPRS.
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10-29-2002, 04:43 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Re: GPRS...? What about CDMA?
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Originally Posted by Cipr0
Sprint just went to a 10.00 a moth unlimited data plan on thier high end plans, but you guys dont even act like cdma is an option.
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I'm a big fan of 1xRTT CDMA in theory, and had both Verizon and Sprint phones, but until they decide either (a) to put Bluetooth in their phones or (b) to offer PPC Phone Edition / Smartphones I'm staying away. After having been exposed to Bluetooth, I'm never going back to cables between my PPC and my cell phone if I can help it.
It is worth mentioning, though, that if you have a 5-bar signal you can get more than 64kbps sustained on 1xRTT...
--bdj
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10-29-2002, 05:30 PM
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Server Shogun
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 89
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Re: How fast is GPRS?
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Originally Posted by Marlof Bregonje
People who have used GSM phones to wirelessly connect to the Internet and have switched to GPRS will feel a relief when it comes to GPRS speed.
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I disagree with that blanket statement. Everyone that makes this statement is overlooking a salient point: the latency of the connection. Yes, GPRS has a high throughput, but the latency on an individual packet is atrocious.
I've used CDPD, CDMA, legacy 9600 baud GSM, and GPRS wireless connections. Most of the work that I do is interactive -- terminal sessions and the likes. When I switched from CDMA (not 1x) to GPRS (as an early adopter), it became immediately apparent that GPRS was unusable for interactive sessions. I made some measurements to determine why.
These numbers are from memory, so the best I can do is ballpark. I'll have to see if I can find the original numbers. Or better yet, maybe this will inspire someone to do a more formal test to gather better data.
CDPD: 600 to 900 mS latency. Very slow, often difficult to use.
9600 baud GSM legacy data: 400 mS latency. Slow, but not unusable.
CDMA 14.4 data: 350 mS latency. Not noticeably different than 9600 baud GSM.
GPRS data: 1000 mS latency.
Yes, a whole second per packet for GPRS. It's so slow as to be nearly unusable for interactive sessions. That means that even CDPD (when it's not dropping packets) can outperform GPRS in an interactive session!
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10-29-2002, 06:02 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 312
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Re: How fast is GPRS?
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Originally Posted by jorj
CDPD: 600 to 900 mS latency. Very slow, often difficult to use.
9600 baud GSM legacy data: 400 mS latency. Slow, but not unusable.
CDMA 14.4 data: 350 mS latency. Not noticeably different than 9600 baud GSM.
GPRS data: 1000 mS latency.
Yes, a whole second per packet for GPRS. It's so slow as to be nearly unusable for interactive sessions. That means that even CDPD (when it's not dropping packets) can outperform GPRS in an interactive session!
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I full agree with your statement that latency is even as important as the theoretic speed! That's why I wrote long time ago (Tuesday May 21 2002 @ 06:32PM MEST) also this column:
WIRELESS KNOWLEDGE: Latency or how fast is your packet sent
While the whole wireless industry and the consumers are talking about bandwidth in wireless networks (GSM is able to provide up to 14.4 KBps, GPRS in theory 171.000 KBps and 3G in theory 2 MBps) one not less important fact is forgotten - the round trip delay or better known as latency.
It gives some hints for the non technical people here why it is important and how the latency is comparable between fixed line networks and wireless networks!
However, you have to keep in mind that CDPD is a US standard, no where else used in the world and we should focus more on today's and tomorrows (2.5/3G) barriers than on yesterday's.
__________________
Cheers ~ Arne, MS MVP - Mobile Devices
Editor in Chief the::unwired - where mobility meets wireless
http://www.theunwired.net |
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10-29-2002, 06:14 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Re: How fast is GPRS?
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Originally Posted by Arne Hess
However, you have to keep in mind that CDPD is a US standard, no where else used in the world and we should focus more on today's and tomorrows (2.5/3G) barriers than on yesterday's.
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Moreso, it's being decommissioned slowly. AT&T will kill their CDPD service in a few years.
Does anyone have stats on latency on 1xRTT? I'd be curious to know, as I've also witnessed 1sec ping times with my GPRS connection. I thought it was the provider though. 
--bdj
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10-29-2002, 07:41 PM
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Server Shogun
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 89
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Re: How fast is GPRS?
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Originally Posted by Arne Hess
However, you have to keep in mind that CDPD is a US standard, no where else used in the world and we should focus more on today's and tomorrows (2.5/3G) barriers than on yesterday's.
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I never meant to imply that CDPD was a good technology; my intent was to emphasize the biggest flaw in GPRS. I'm hoping that successor 3g technologies will bring down the latency while improving the overall throughput... I just want it all!
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10-29-2002, 08:07 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 312
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Re: How fast is GPRS?
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Originally Posted by jorj
I never meant to imply that CDPD was a good technology; my intent was to emphasize the biggest flaw in GPRS. I'm hoping that successor 3g technologies will bring down the latency while improving the overall throughput... I just want it all!
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You can hope for but you will not get it... 3G will not improve latency... 8O
__________________
Cheers ~ Arne, MS MVP - Mobile Devices
Editor in Chief the::unwired - where mobility meets wireless
http://www.theunwired.net |
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