Third-generation mobile – better known as 3G – arrived in the Ocean State this month, thanks to AT&T’s Cingular Wireless. While in the mobile universe that news may not be as big as Cingular’s coup in landing exclusive rights to distribute Apple’s highly trumpeted iPhone, the announcement still is good news for Rhode Islanders shopping for wireless broadband services.
3G is more popular overseas – especially in mobile wireless hotbeds like Japan and Korea –than in the United States, but that’s likely to change as consumers get a taste of what the technology can do. After Cingular announced its 3G network in the state was open for business, Providence Business News spoke with Steve Krom, vice president and general manager for New England, about 3G and his company’s approach to wireless broadband.
PBN: How would you describe your company’s approach to wireless broadband, versus other carriers’?
KROM: The biggest difference is, we have our 3G network and we also have our two-and-a-half G, or EDGE, network. The EDGE network gets up to 135 kilobits per second, whereas the 3G network gets from 400 to 700 kilobits per second and can go up to one megabit per second. Those two networks work seamlessly with each other. If you’re in a 3G area, you get 3G service; if you’re in a rural area outside a 3G area, then you still get high-speed Internet service on the EDGE network, which is the largest high-speed data network in the country. It’s not quite a broadband network, as is 3G, but it is ubiquitous across the country. The networks are backward and forward compatible with each other, so you can move back and forth between those networks and still get very good performance with music and video, etc.
PBN: Your 3G technology runs on top of a GSM network. What’s GSM?
KROM: It’s a global standard for wireless networks. All the networks in Europe and most of the networks in Asia run GSM technology. With many of our devices, you can go over to Europe or to Asia and use the same services in those countries that you use here in the United States.
PBN: You say your 3G network is the first widely available service in the world to use HSDPA. What’s HSDPA?
KROM: Think of it this way: We are marketing our service as 3G; underneath that are the technologies. UMTS [Universal Mobile Telecommunications System] is the base technology that supports voice and data 3G service. HSDPA is another technology that, when you combine it with the UMTS network, enables you to have significantly faster data speeds.
PBN: I’ve seen estimates for speeds on networks using HSDPA to be in the 1.8 to 3.6 megabits per second range. Your network runs slower than that. Why?
KROM: All the networks that we’re rolling out now have HSDPA built into them. The challenge is that the devices and handsets are now just coming out with that capability. When we talk about 400 to 700 kilobits per second, any device that we sell today will have a minimum of that, and as we get more HSDPA-capable devices, speeds will increase.
PBN: Cingular will have exclusive rights to distribute Apple’s iPhone when units become available this summer. The iPhone, though, won’t be able to use the high-speed portion of your network, will it?
KROM: The first iPhone that will be released in June will be an EDGE-based iPhone. That will provide up to 135 kilobits per second of data speed, which if you look at most of the services out there, it’s a pretty good speed unless you’re surfing on the Internet.
PBN: How does your network handle voice and data, compared to how your competitors do it?
KROM: Our 3G network is both voice and data, whereas their networks are data-only networks. We are able to do more applications like Video Share, which we will be launching in the second quarter of this year. We can have video and voice going on simultaneously, or see-what-I-see-while-I’m-talking-to-you. One parent can use their camera phone to display their child’s soccer game to another parent working late at the office. It enables you to create a whole new level of communication using voice and video. Verizon and Sprint can’t do that, because they have data-only networks.
PBN: Among your network services you have something called Cingular Music. How is your approach to wireless music different than your competitors’?
KROM: We’re about creating integration with services that exist today in the wired world with our wireless devices. That’s different from our competitors, who are really trying to create their own music stores. We sell ringtones and such, but we believe there is a broader need to bring in partnerships like Yahoo! Music and Napster and XM. It’s really your music, your way. Depending on how you like to enjoy your music, we give you the opportunity to do that via your wireless devices.
