Nextel's answer to 3G = WiDEN (LOL!)

Granted it's late and might be a short term fix for a few years, but what is so funny?

What do you know about WiDEN? Have you seen comparison test results? If so where, when?

It's amazing the amount of bashing people do, when they don't know what they are talking about.....it's relentless the amount of hatred people have towards Nextel. I don't understand the rampant bitterness on this board.


WiDEN.................get your facts together.

With short messages WiDEN has a faster transmission time, larger messages are a bit slower to CDMA 1XEVDO. 1kb of data takes about 2 seconds to transmit on a WiDEN Network versus 4 seconds. 30KB of data would take about 8 secs versus 6 seconds on EVDO.

WiDEN is still 4X faster than the current network. This upgrade can all be accomplished with minimal network and software enhancements, and be available on the ENTIRE Nextel Network. Not a patch here and there, or yet another seperate coverage map.

So from a Nextel Capital Expenditure it's relatively cheap and can provide a similar experience and it can work consistantly across the entire National Network.

I don't think that's funny, I think it is a smart and fiscally responsible solution that will not be so noticable on the user end. How much return will VZW see on their EV-DO upgrade? Nextel will get a better ROI, and again a temporary fix for a few years.

 

Although I tend to be a CDMA Cheerleader, im with Dandydon when it comes to ease of upgrading their system with a cost effective solution rather than switching to a whole new technology, and I guess it should be great for enxtel when it comes to retaining their current customer and bringing in new ones while maintaining its customer base.

VZW is always trying to appeal to Nextels customer base but they just wont get there quite like Nextel has, i mean NXTL is known for what they can do and they have established that unlike VZW who tends to make feeble attempts at attracting some of these businesses and govt agencies.

Good move for Nextel, but with the coming PTT competition (SPCS and ATT) we'll see whats left of them by Q3 2005

 

DandyDon,

When a press release comes out announcing a new gee whiz service, it would be reasonable to expect some mention of how it is going to work so that it can compete with EV-DO or EDGE.

After reality failed to support the "gee whiz" press releases of the past few years claiming performance such as 2 mbps for wCDMA, 384 kbps for EDGE and 144 for GPRS, can you blame anyone for being a bit skeptical?

Since this is just a press release (and a rather sketchy one at that) no one knows whether WIDEN will actually compete with EV-DO or EDGE. I have not seen any large amount of data on the real world performance of EDGE, but there is benchmark data on EV-DO available at DSL Reports (EV-DO and 1xRTT benchmark data). I have collected this data over the months since EV-DO was deployed, and the mean downlink so far is 495 kbps.

Will WIDEN match or beat that? I do not know, but I would be much less skeptical if I knew how WIDEN was going to compete. Is it OFDM, HSDPA, TD-SCDMA???

 

Nextel's coverage still stinks, especially in Northern California.

 

Based on the data that I linked above, it would require roughly 0.5 seconds to transmit 30 KB of data at a mean data rate of 495 kbps via EV-DO. (495 kbps = 61.9 kBps)

 

the point here is that nextel has no viable upgrade path. in the face of evdo/dc and wcdma, who is going to settle for widen and 144 mbps streams, with call quality similar to that of a CB radio. no one will. without a viable data upgrade path, it is impossible to think that nextel will be able to accomplish much of anything beyond this.

widen seems to be about as good as it is going to get using iden in any capacity. nextel should focus on finding an alternative to iden, and dealing with building a viable competitive network not just tomorrow, but in 10 years.

 

The intended purpose of iDEN is 2-way walkie talkie (PTT). As long as Nextel has reliable service and people want PTT, they will stay. Latency is almost non-existent on their network. They seem to be going way out of their primary service to offer higher data speeds. They are also suing people over their push-to-talk "trademark" too.
What the hell is wrong with them?

 

Does anyone have a link that explains WIDEN?

I did a Google search for Motorola and WIDEN and the only thing that came up was the press release about Nextel and another about a graphics design company that has a contract with Moto.

 

There are two things that can kill a wireless company......lack of bandwidth, and lack of bandwidth.....Nuff said....

 

Last time I checked Nextel data rates without compression were 19.2 so 4 x 20 is 60 correct?

So they catch up with 1xrtt.....on a slow day....what's the big deal?

 

Nothing is wrong with it, it's like using a band-aid on a severed limb....it doesn't do much at all. You've temporarily fixed a large problem, that problem is that your company started as a wireless/2-way radio hybrid, that is being shoved into data by the natural progression of wireless carriers, and beyond WiDEN there is no future. What do you do then? How long can it band-aid a data problem and survive?

 

I bet Nextel is waiting on the Consensus Plan concerning spectrum swap to prevent the interference issues with public safty around the 800Mhz area. Of course other wireless providers are crying foul, hence the delay.

Once this consensus plan is accepted you will see Nextel migrate to CDMA using QChat technology they bought for the PTT.

So there is a plan, you just don't here about it. Give it a couple more years.

 

That's just the problem.....they might not have a couple more years to spare.

 

too bad it wont WiDEN their coverage

 

I believe that just like I believe all the posts people have said Nextel will be bankrupt when VZW launches their PTT.

 

So according to phonescoop the speeds will will reach 70kbps..... so if someone could inform me... why would Nextel waste its time to spend the time and money to create something that is not even 25% as fast as ev-do?

 

WiDEN will be good for a while, and a good fit for the majority of those who are willing to pay.

I just hope Nextel releases Flarion with transfer speeds around 1-2 mbit/s, and rumors of upto 3 mbit/s. How does that compare with EV-DO, EDGE, W-CDMA, and other wireless broadband technologies??

A few news releases on Flarion for you guys;

Nextel Gets Flashier With Flarion

Nextel expands '4G' trials

 

Flarion looks more much promising than Widen.

 

the consensus plan....nextel doesnt know it but thats just one big disaster...the plan is to move the interfering 800mhz to 1900 mhz....remember what happened when the gsm providers tried to use 800mhz towers for 1900 mhz....thats going to be a big problem to tackle...they reception is going to go to t-mobile/sprint pcs quality (not working as well inside most buildings) etc...

 

"remember what happened when the gsm providers tried to use 800mhz towers for 1900 mhz" Only AT&T is guilty of that one

 

Nextel has still been purchasing spectrum, very quietly.

Today's news:

Article

From Dec 12th;

Article

It's all about the Consensus Plan, but even if the slightest chance they don't get it, they are still gobbling it up for wireless broadband access. And if you look at Flarion it uses spectrum more efficiently than the GSM/CDMA solutions.

Yeah, no picture messaging today with Nextel.... so what. Yeah widen will be out, it's not a band-aid solution. It will be good for what you get and what else is out there. As faster wireless speeds become more prevelant, network coverage will be important. And remember Nextel is the ONLY 100% Guaranteed Digital network...... and it's their own.

Wait for this, and don't be surprised if direct connect will be satallite based, and Nextel will be on the forefront in terms of Broadband Wireless.

 

Satellite based Direct-Connect? Look at those Iridium phones. They have the advantage of 250 mile low-earth-orbiting sats. and use those huge antennas. How would that work with geostationary sats. well above 250 miles and with in-building coverage? 50W handset transmitters?