Could LTE Bury The Dinosaur Cable Coax?

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WHY THE DAYS OF HIGH SPEED CABLE INTERNET ARE NUMBERED

I'm enjoying surfing the net on my home computer at speeds upwards of 28Mb/s. It's fantastic. I never thought I'd be enjoying such high speeds.

To my surprise, the Mediacom company is offering 2 packages that are even faster that what I currently have: a 50Mb/s Ultra, and 105Mb/s Ultra Plus.

That's insanely fast, as far as I'm concerned. Just a few years ago, the techie prognostocators said we'd never see Internet speeds of even 50Mb/s like Europe, because the US is too spread out and we don't have a majority dense tightly packed city population like they do with a great copper wire network.

But as awesome as it sounds to surf at 105Mb/s on your home computer with Mediacom, they might be obsolete within a couple of years. Chances are, they are topped out on how far they can go with increases in speed packages.

To get the Ultra Plus 105Mb/s package, Mediacom had to do a lot of hardware upgrades to their network. They worked hard on updating modems, switches, and the fiber optic lines. But they also had to find a source of available bandwidth to run the data.

From what I know, I believe this came from decomissioning 2 different sets of available bandwidth from their analog television channel offerings. They had to trade out the use of those frequencies, and add them to the existing 2 frequency ranges that they were already using in order to create the 105Mb/s package. Each range has a capability of pumping out roughly 25Mb/s of data.

Long story short, it looks like they are topped out. All the while, the big mobile network providers are rolling out LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4G service across the nation, with no wires, providing download speeds as high as 54Mb/s. Which do you think has the most capability for expansion? The topped-out big fat wire from the cable service provider, or the wireless LTE network?

Things will get interesting once we see the full rollout of LTE service right here in my home town. Once AT&T (my provider) tweaks the system and can reproduce the super high speeds that we already have in St. Louis and Kansas City, I might run out of reasons for keeping my cable modem.

The only stumbling block will be data charges. Can a mobile service provider dole out enough data for download at a reasonable price that can compete with the cable company? Right now, the answer is no.

Even at the lowest level for Mediacom, called "Launch", you get 150Gb of total data to download for your 3Mb/s service. Each package increases the amount you can download for the month, ending at 999Gb with Ultra Plus.

As we know, the cell service providers like capping us greedy data downloaders off at 250mb, 3Gb, and 5Gb. That pales in comparison. This could be the saving grace for Mediacom's high speed cable internet service... for now.

Carlton Flowers
Data Hog

 

AT&T 4G LTE Arrives In Jefferson City Area!

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CENTRAL MISSOURI GETS LTE! WHO NEEDS T-MOBILE ANYWAY?

Last friday while at work, something came as a bit of a surprise to me. I found out that 4G LTE was launched and pumping out super speed Internet juice to Jefferson City devices.

One by one, I had several fellow geek buddies at work come running to me to tell me that the 4G LTE icon lit up on their phone. I was shocked, and super excited.

At first, I thought to myself, "maybe it's a mistake, and they accidentally switched the logo on". But there was no mistake about it.

2 friends were downloading at speeds of 25Mb/s right here inside the office. The best speeds under optimum conditions that we had received before was 11Mb/s under HSPA+ service.

Apparently, the system is still being tweaked. Several people have already told me that their download speeds have increased over the past week. So we are officially on the high speed map!

I had worried about how long it would take for the expansion after the merger between AT&T and T-Mobile was shot out of the sky by our fabulous regulators. I was a strong proponent of the merger, and I knew it would slow the LTE expansion process when it failed. But who needs T-Mobile now?

We don't!

Even if the T-Mobile merger did go through, it may not have sped up the expansion for Central Missouri anyway. At the time, T-Mobile did not even have a 3G tower in our area. We were paying for HSPA+ "4G" service, and getting Edge Network speeds. I'm guessing that the same amount of work would still have been required to build the LTE infrastructure here.

But I digress... AT&T 4G LTE is here in Jefferson City, and I couldn't be more excited! Next month I hope to get my hands on a Samsung Galaxy S IV when my upgrade becomes available. That will be perfecct timing to pick up my new device right when the LTE network has just gone live!

No more bragging, my Jefferson City Verizon friends! You're not the exclusive Central Missouri LTE service any more! Well, U.S. Cellular already took that title away from you. However, pretty soon I'll have the ability to "one-up" you... when I call you on your smartphone and surf at LTE speeds at the same time! Sorry, you won't be able to surf while you're taking to me.

;-)

Carlton Flowers
AT&T LTE #CentralMo #Fanboy #Loyalist

 

--------Official Press Release---------

AT&T 4G LTE AVAILABLE IN JEFFERSON CITY

Customers to benefit from nation’s fastest 4G LTE network on the latest devices

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. APRIL 3, 2013 — AT&T* has turned on the nation’s fastest 4G LTE network** in the Jefferson City area, including Holts Summit, Taos, Wardsville and California, bringing customers the latest generation of wireless network technology. Watch here to see several of the benefits AT&T 4G LTE provides, including:

“We continue to see demand for mobile Internet skyrocket, and our 4G LTE network in Jefferson City responds to what customers want from their mobile experience — more, faster, on the best devices,” said John Sondag, President of AT&T Missouri. “This announcement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to bring consumers and businesses the most advanced communication network. Important infrastructure investments such as these are due in part to the good business climate in Missouri.”

AT&T invested nearly $2.15 billion in its Missouri wireless and wireline networks from 2009 through 2012. AT&T launched 4G LTE in Farmington in April 2013, St. Louis in April 2012 and Kansas City in November 2011.

AT&T’s 4G Network

AT&T’s innovation and investment has resulted in the nation’s largest 4G network, covering 288 million people with ultra-fast speeds and a more consistent user experience. Our 4G LTE network delivered faster average download speeds than any of our competitors in PCWorld’s most recent 13-market speed tests.

AT&T’s 4G LTE network delivers speeds faster than many other mobile Internet technologies, as well as multiple innovations that optimize the network for performance. Our network’s radio components are placed close to the antenna at most cell sites, instead of inside the base station, which helps minimize power loss between the base station and antenna and, in turn, improves the performance of our 4G LTE network. The network also is designed with its core elements distributed across the country, which helps reduce latency, or the delay when using the Internet, because your request isn’t traveling as far.

Even as AT&T continues to expand its 4G LTE coverage, customers can get 4G speeds outside of 4G LTE areas on our 4G HSPA+ network, unlike competitors, where smartphone customers fall back to slower 3G technologies when outside of LTE coverage.

AT&T’s focus to deliver the best possible mobile Internet experience goes beyond 4G to embrace additional connection technologies. AT&T operates the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network**** including more than 32,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots at popular restaurants, hotels, bookstores and retailers, and provides access to more than 402,000 hotspots globally through roaming agreements. Most AT&T smartphone customers get access to our entire national Wi-Fi network at no additional cost, and Wi-Fi usage doesn’t count against customers’ monthly wireless data plans.

AT&T also is a leading developer of Distributed Antenna Systems, which utilize multiple small antennas to maximize coverage and speed within stadiums, convention centers, office buildings, hotels and other areas where traditional coverage methods are challenging. 

Over the past five years, AT&T invested nearly $98 billion into operations. Since 2008, AT&T has invested more capital into the U.S. economy than any other public company. In a July 2012 report, the Progressive Policy Institute ranked AT&T No. 1 on its list of U.S. “Investment Heroes.”

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

** Limited 4G LTE availability in select markets. LTE is a trademark of ETSI. Claim based on a comparison of U.S. national carriers’ average 4G LTE download speeds for Android™ and Windows smartphones and iPhone 5. 4G speeds not available everywhere.

*** 4G LTE device and data plan required.Learn more about 4G LTE at att.com/network.

****A Wi-Fi enabled device required. Other restrictions apply. See www.attwifi.com for details and locations. 

 

Fall 2012 Mid-Missouri Wireless Service Coverage Status – What Route Should You Take?

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THE LTE ROLLOUT RACE RAMPS UP – WHICH IS BEST?


With the LTE coverage race looking like a singular and lopsided win for the big red cellphone carrier, many people in Central Missouri  are trying to make the tough decision on whether or not to make a switch, or hold fast.

In our state’s capital of Jefferson City, the only LTE service currently available comes from Verizon Wireless. The timetable for the rival competitors of AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile (snicker) is unknown at this time. So for a person considering what the best provider for this area would be, it looks like an easy decision. Or is it?

A good friend of mine, Scot Nichols, owns 2 Droid RAZR smartphones for he and his wife on Verizon Wireless. He’s pretty pleased with the service thus far. We did some testing, and the results were pretty impressive for Jefferson City.

The download speeds for the Droid RAZR under Verizon’s LTE coverage ranged from 10 to 20Mbps. The upload speed was even more impressive, running between 13 and 19Mbps for our tests. That looks clearly better than the HSPA+ speeds I usually get on the AT&T network ranging from 1.5Mbps to as much as 10Mbps with uploads going from 500Kbps to 2Kbps.

But after Postal Jim Stuckey sent me screen shots of his Speedtest results while sitting in the Cardinal’s stadium in downtown St. Louis, I can tell you that this paints a different picture. His Samsung Galaxy S3 was averaging 20Mbps upload and 49Mbps download.

I don’t know what is documented as “typical” from the AT&T company, but several users in the STL area have reported the same speeds using Samsung, Apple, and HTC devices that are equipped with an LTE radio. 50Mbps down and 20Mbps up is quite typical with newer technology.

Back here in good old #CentralMO (Twitter hashtag), I don’t know what the timeframe is for LTE expansion. There aren’t any published reports on a timetable. It could be better than a year out. But I’m not swayed on switching services, knowing what potentially super high speeds are coming to my devices.

The choice to #CentralMO users is simple. Go with Verizon Wireless for LTE speeds right now, and slower CDMA 3G speeds when off the LTE map. Or stick with AT&T for a while, with respectable HSPA+ “4G”, and blazing fast LTE speeds at some point in the future. Or, you could go with T-Mobile that is running on the blazing fast EDGE network, with blinding speeds upwards of 5Kbps (more snickering).

Something else to consider is the plan for Verizon to drop all of the current 3G CDMA network in order to fully go with LTE service. AT&T will continue to have the HSPA+ backdrop as they expand LTE coverage.

My choice and recommendation is for sticking with AT&T. I don’t think you can go wrong with Verizon, it’s a good service. Sprint is not something I recommend for #CentralMO until we know what their future direction is, and T-Mobile gets a flat-out FAIL for our area (they have much better service in STL, however).

In the long run, I think I’ll be better off sticking with my AT&T service to have the widest range of options. But what are your thoughts on the choices of carriers in #CentralMO, or in your area of residence? Shout me out a holler in the Disqus comments section!

Carlton Flowers
Techno Craver