Can you believe it? Completely wireless and faster than your home use ADSL! That is amazing. Anywhere there is a phone signal, I can use this and connect to the internet with my notebook PC. That rocks! This might even make me switch back to FarEasTone from ChungHwa Telecom. Honestly guys, what is the downside? This is what we have all been waitin for no? No need to search for WIFI? Anyone using this yet? Seems too good to be true. I will get a phone and the service within the next few weeks and report back, in the meantime, someone else please give your report? Or are all you low tech guys, just using the Taipei municipal WiFi?
It’s not, as there are some issues with HSDPA that makes it slower.
Besides, it’s a lot more expensive to use HSDPA than a wired ADSL connection.
It’s very nice in use none the less…
I don’t need high speed internet on the go. I just need Internet. Though it will be cool when they come out with a handset that has highspeed Internet and Skype (or some other VOIP service) playing together.
[quote=“TheLostSwede”]It’s not, as there are some issues with HSDPA that makes it slower.
Besides, it’s a lot more expensive to use HSDPA than a wired ADSL connection.
It’s very nice in use none the less…[/quote] NOT True, it is only NT$7xx for unlimited data use with FarEasTone’s USB dongle.
When they quote download speeds like in the article I can’t see how that is slower. They specifically say it is faster than entry level ADSL.
Anyway, yes, come on, on the subway, in a park, on top of YangMingShan, you can have a mobile office, with mobile internet, and SKYPE and even SAT TV if you have a SLINGBOX! That rocks!
[quote=“miltownkid”]I don’t need high speed internet on the go. I just need Internet. Though it will be cool when they come out with a handset that has highspeed Internet and Skype (or some other VOIP service) playing together.
The days of regular phone numbers are… numbered.[/quote]They do have SKYPE and internet on phones now. Read up. The Dopod 838 Pro for one, even has a camera for video conferencing! And why wouldn’t you need high speed internet on the go? Whip out your phone at the movie theater ticket office to check the IMDB database, check prices on Froogle.com in the USA while you are out shopping at the computer market or the local prices on Yahoo Bid Taiwan, or read the Taipei Times on your phone whle you ride in a taxi, or get an urgent email while driving to work or while in a spa in Peitou, or keep up with Instant messages from your secret lover…and so on…
Keep in mind though the the maximum data rates are only valid if you have a strong signal, i.e. in areas with poor reception or while on the move the data rate will most likely be much slower. 3G itself claimed 2Mbits, but I haven’t seen this in practice (only in labs), so only time will tell if HSDPA can keep what it promises.
[quote=“Rascal”]Keep in mind though the the maximum data rates are only valid if you have a strong signal, i.e. in areas with poor reception or while on the move the data rate will most likely be much slower. 3G itself claimed 2Mbits, but I haven’t seen this in practice (only in labs), so only time will tell if HSDPA can keep what it promises.[/quote]Umm…do you even have a 3G phone?
I know, I had one (or one of those Dopods.) They currently aren’t pimp enough to get excited about (to me anyway.)
I can do all this on on a decent 3G phone and proper mobile websites. The Internet on phones is currently fast enough, the problem is lack of mobile friendly sites.
My current favorite setup is a regular 3G phone. Then you can use bluetooth to connect to a laptop or PDA. From there you can do everything described above.
Miltownkid: 3G phones and 3.5G phones are not the great new things, it is the fact that these new HSPDA 3.5G phones now come with Bluetooth Modem capabilities! That is the NEW thing. Before the 3G phones couldn’t act as modems to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth to your Notebook PC. As you said 3G phones are not fun for surfing. Mobile sites are not always necessary as the regular IMDB.com website works fine especially with browsers such as Opera and even 2.5G (GPRS). My point with HSPDA which I neglected to make clear, was the latest capability of the phones to act seemlessly as wireless modems to connect your Notebook PC to the internet no matter if there is any WiFi around and at speeds much more acceptable than 3G, although 3G is not bad at all, honestly, I even use 2.5G GPRS and am quite pleased while using my phone, but have yet to get it connected to my NB PC and my old 3G phone was quite fast already, but I just never got found a good way to connect to my laptop PC.
HSDPA uses Quality of Service QoS and other traffic shaping techniques to optimize overall network performance even if it’s at the expense of individual users. Those impressive speeds will apply for short connections (web surfing, email, etc.) but for other situations (downloading all those Linux distros with BitTorrent, FTP, gaming) you won’t get the performance you seem to be expecting. HSDPA is not ADSL so you can’t apply the rules of one technology to the other.
It’s a bit like comparing traveling. Out on the open road a car is fast and versatile, but in the city where you’ve got all the other cars jamming up the roads, and traffic cops putting serious negative vibes on your speed mojo with red lights, speed limits, and no entry signs etc. things are very different. On the other hand a bicycle is limited by how fast you can peddle more than were you are, but (at least if you’re anything like me ) it won’t get you very far from home.
HSDPA can be a good compliment to ADSL, but for most people it isn’t a replacement service.
Don’t get to much hyped about this. Usually the speeds quoted are from benchmarks performed in labs with ideal conditions like the laptop is static and not moving, the base station antenna is just about 15 to 20 meters away and the laptop is the only single user on the base staion.
Also if you will be using the bluetooth handsets with your laptop, the maximum theoretical limit will be at around 2 Mbits as the latest bluetooth v2.0 specs can only hadle 2Mbits.
But I must admit that it defintely will perform better than the current spped offered by plain 3G or gprs.
This depends on the phone you are using. I have been using my Nokia 6600 as a wireless modem on my laptop using bluetooth some three years back or so when the 6600 came out in the market. Its just a gprs phone so bluetooth is not new to the 3G phones.
This depends on the phone you are using. I have been using my Nokia 6600 as a wireless modem on my laptop using bluetooth some three years back or so when the 6600 came out in the market. Its just a gprs phone so bluetooth is not new to the 3G phones.[/quote]I know that Bluetooth is not new, but phones acting as wireless Bluetooth 3G/3.5G modems. That is new. Honestly, I have owned many Sony Ericsson P800, P900 and Dopod 818, 818 Pro, 838, but none of these would act as wireless modems for GPRS. I always thought Nokia was behind in terms of Smartphone technology, will have to give them another look.
I got the Hwawei USB HSDPA modem dongle from FarEasTone. It really works! Very stable, even more than my home WiFi system, the connection is superfast and the speed is wonderful. I will have to clock it at one of those online bandwidth test sites. It seems as fast as my ADSL. I am very statisfied and I recommend it to anyone. If I didn’t already have ADSL at home, I would just get this and with this you no longer need any citywide WiFi service because this system has reception everywhere, not just nearby a WiFi broadcast location.
You must sign up for a two year contract and purchase their dongle at a fee of about NT$5,000. That is the only downside as I see it. I went for the lowcost limited bandwidth, but I can upgrade anytime, you just can’t downgrade as far as I know, so I started with the limited 40 meg/month service.
I’m feeling you Hobart. You’re just ahead of the times [/quote]
Nope Hobart and I were discussing the video quality of slings. He insisted that the sling would not have good pics.
Well when I finished his satellite installation at his new rooftop apartment we hooked up my sling to his TV.
Suddenly Hobarts face flushed when he realized that what I had been telling him is that output to a TV the sling was better quality than his cable TV. He was very surprised as we had been arguing about bitrates and resolutions. I could sling to his cell phone too!!!
It’s slightly less quality than pure satellite but thats only if you are being very picky. Just need 450kps which we give our customers anyways.
First few pics are sling on a computer … others are on a TV and on a Projector straight onto a wall with no screen
It’s slightly less quality than pure satellite but thats only if you are being very picky.
[/quote] Slurp Pop! <----- That is sound of my foot being removing from my mouth. Jim, you were right, it is possible, especially with the systems you hooking people with! Very stable and the I honestly thought it looked better than my satellite system on my Plasma. When you outputted to the little CRT in my living room it was better than my Emetabox Dream Sat TV outputted to my Plasma.
BTW, thanks again for taking the time to give me a DEMO Jim!
Yes, with a SLING box and my HwaWei HSDPA 3.5G USB dongle, I can watch TV on my notebook PC anywhere in Taipei whether there is any WiFi access or not! Next time you are you in Taipei, let me know I will show you. I think it would be perfect for you to provide mobile demostrations with.
One thing though, the current access is only in all of Taipei and I think Taipei county. Check with FarEasTone.
[quote=“Hobart”]. Jim, you were right, it is possible, especially with the systems you hooking people with! Very stable and the I honestly thought it looked better than my satellite system on my Plasma. When you outputted to the little CRT in my living room it was better than my Emetabox Dream Sat TV outputted to my Plasma.
BTW, thanks again for taking the time to give me a DEMO Jim!.[/quote]
Yes but your Plasma is over 5 years old and was wearing a bit thin. Maybe getting the plasma screen chemicals flushed with new would help. You don’t need always to buy a new plasma. Costa bout NT$12000 I think
[quote=“Hobart”]I got the Hwawei USB HSDPA modem dongle from FarEasTone. It really works! Very stable, even more than my home WiFi system, the connection is superfast and the speed is wonderful. I will have to clock it at one of those online bandwidth test sites. It seems as fast as my ADSL. I am very statisfied and I recommend it to anyone. If I didn’t already have ADSL at home, I would just get this and with this you no longer need any citywide WiFi service because this system has reception everywhere, not just nearby a WiFi broadcast location.
You must sign up for a two year contract and purchase their dongle at a fee of about NT$5,000. That is the only downside as I see it. I went for the lowcost limited bandwidth, but I can upgrade anytime, you just can’t downgrade as far as I know, so I started with the limited 40 meg/month service.[/quote]
I’m using the Chunghwa Telecom one. I’m using it in Malaysia using Celecom’s 3G service (the only one in Ipoh). My friend was instant messaging me in the blue-line MRT station while traveling using it! For me now, top rate down is 283kps and up is 49k.
This is easily sufficient DSL speed vs. flexibility & stability. In fact, I’ve not had a single drop with my Huawei USB modem. The promise of the Ricochet Network (that’s in late 90s for folks not from the dot-com days) has arrived via HSDPA! Now, the office walls are truly virtual :bravo:
) it won’t get you very far from home.
