[mario2001]

Its been awhile since i have been here on this forum, since i haven't been having much telecommunication problems since Digicel came on the scene.

Lately i have been plagued by internet access woes,
both operators have 2.5G GSM services in the 800mhz & 1900MHZ bands ( EDGE) which is not reliable
B mobile has Wimax which works really except that the network coverage is really poor since their WIMAX network operates in the 2.5GHZ band indoor coverage is really bad.
It is my belief that TSTT WIMAX is another bad choice to add to the huge long list of tstt bad choices ( first it was AMPS, then their GSM 1800mhz then CDMA EVDO ( that quickly died ) now its WIMAX)


World wide wimax hasn't gained much support mainly because not much handsets use this technology
Wouldn't it be nice to have WIMAX on you mobile phone instead of having to walk around with that stupid My HOTSPOT ? what is the point of it ?

For some time i was wondering where is Digicel, i mean their main competitor ( Bmobile) just lunched the Iphone 4 and they are still quiet?

Then came the silent network upgrades you could see on a daily basis Crews at digicel Cell sites installing new equipment and antennae, along side their old equipment then on some sites they would completely remove the old equipment and use only the new cabinets, to top that off i noticed behind the new antennas they were also installing amplifiers ( one might ask what that means )
As a Telecoms student the only time a carrier usually uses amplifiers is when they are using a high frequency ie over 1.9GHZ, this is because the higher the frequency the grater the cable loss.

Now that i knew they were doing upgrades and that they were using a high frequency i thought it was WIMAX ( i thought how stupid another bad choice digicel let me down)

then i remembered that on some sites they were actually replacing the old hardware this would mean that what ever they were upgrading to would still have to be directly compatible with the GSM standard.

One such Technology catches my attention UTMS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System since i don't have the time to go into the long explanation of the benefits of this technology over STANDARD GSM i will just post the link which will take you to Wikipedia

here it is....... http://en.wikipedia....ications_System

The only thing to confirm now would be UTMS revision ( higher revision basically means higher download speeds) (something Trini like ) & what frequency Digicel is rolling out on, i Suspect 2100Mhz (2.1GHZ) this would mean it would have a slightly better in building coverage than TSTT wimax

Also for those of you with your blackberries if you go into network options and switch to manual network selection and then in the network type select the network type select 2g&3g and do a search you might see the 3g network which is great, this means that you could use your standard Blackberry to access the 3g network and don't need that stupid my hotspot in your pocket

However if you happen no to see the 3g network it doesnt mean that you need a new phone i might mean that they have not upgraded your area as yet ( as is my case) I am keeping my fingers crossed they upgrade my area b4 the lunch, i do know that a huge amount of their sites have already been upgraded already its been almost 1yr since they have began this silent upgrade, the way i count is if they do 10 sites a week by 52 weeks equals to around 520 sites which i believe is a very conservative figure. ( i believe it could be more that 10 a week because alot of sites are on rooftops)

Something i really like is that digicel had already began to sell compatible 3g phones around the same time they started this upgrade which means that most of the higher end phones are probability UTMS compatible even the cheapest blackberry 9300 for $1300( which i own lol )

Some might say so what TSTT already has 4g well i would like to let you know Wimax is not really 4g it is just marketed as 4g it doesn't meet the ITU spec for 4g also you cant use wimax directly on your expensive Iphone4 you need that stupid my hotspot
I believe that if digicel is able to provide decent speeds at a reasonable cost and the advantage of being able to use your standard blackberry or Iphone on ths UTms nework will give Digicel a huge advantage
over the next couple of weeks i wait in anticipation of this Digicel 3g network

[greall]

All these new technologies are great but I always look at market uptake...

It has to appeal to the mass market and not a chosen few who understand the technology.

Unfortunately,a lot of the mass market still don't know how to send SMS...

Greg

[Lich King]

Any confirmation from Digicel regarding which 3g band they plan to use? I know you mentioned 2100Mhz but I'm just wondering if you were able to confirm your suspicion as yet.

I really dislike the idea of walking around with an inconvenient hotspot just to get fast internet on my phone. I was wondering why tstt refused to implement the 4g settings directly on my phone but after using the hotspot in my shoe device I realised it was actually a Wimax device with a wifi access point. I tried all how to make it less inconvenient but having to walk around with that second device all the time was ridiculous.

On a related note, any indication about TSTT's next move regarding 3g? I wonder which 3g band they will use?

[Pinballwizard]

Right now Digicel's mobile data network is about twice as fast as Boomobile

[chico212]

Digicel now has a 4G network

http://www.digiceltt...roducts/4g-data

[Lich King]

chico212, on 11 May 2012 - 02:09 PM, said:

Digicel now has a 4G network

http://www.digiceltt...roducts/4g-data

I saw this today. Their data packages don't seem appealing to me though. I don't like they way they setup the data caps to intentionally screw you over. If you buy the 400MB package it will not cut off when you hit the cap, it will keep running and they will charge you heavily for the extra data. Trinidad is the closest thing to a 1st world country in the Caribbean and I was expecting Digicel to come better than this. More and more data is being stored on the Internet or what they now refer to as the cloud, backgroud data alone can use up that 400MB but Digicel is not catering for the actual needs of smarphones. All they do here is throw out some random thoughtless data packages and they are out of touch with the demands of the real world.

A better model would be for them to offer all unlimited packages but cap the actual 3g usage and force the rest of data to use Edge. So for example they could have 400MB 3g and everything beyond 400MB is forced to use 200K Edge. I can't believe we have waited so long for true 3g service and still have to pay these extravagant prices for what should be common services instead of being treated as luxuries. I am disappointed. $35 USD for 400MB 3g. ROFL.

On another note I don't think Digicel's network is really 4G but rather just marketed as 4G. It's a common lie used by many wireless companies, even in USA. I think the only currently operating true 4G network is Verizon's LTE network.

[Pinballwizard]

Lich King, on 11 May 2012 - 02:49 PM, said:

I saw this today. Their data packages don't seem appealing to me though. I don't like they way they setup the data caps to intentionally screw you over. If you buy the 400MB package it will not cut off when you hit the cap, it will keep running and they will charge you heavily for the extra data. Trinidad is the closest thing to a 1st world country in the Caribbean and I was expecting Digicel to come better than this. More and more data is being stored on the Internet or what they now refer to as the cloud, backgroud data alone can use up that 400MB but Digicel is not catering for the actual needs of smarphones. All they do here is throw out some random thoughtless data packages and they are out of touch with the demands of the real world.

A better model would be for them to offer all unlimited packages but cap the actual 3g usage and force the rest of data to use Edge. So for example they could have 400MB 3g and everything beyond 400MB is forced to use 200K Edge. I can't believe we have waited so long for true 3g service and still have to pay these extravagant prices for what should be common services instead of being treated as luxuries. I am disappointed. $35 USD for 400MB 3g. ROFL.

On another note I don't think Digicel's network is really 4G but rather just marketed as 4G. It's a common lie used by many wireless companies, even in USA. I think the only currently operating true 4G network is Verizon's LTE network.

Once again TSTT got caught with their pants down. Digicel gave me a one week trial of their 4G network and it is faster than TSTT wimax that I have at home. I have the 2Mb package from TSTT and I hardly ever get more than 1Mb. most of the time its like 600 - 800Kb I wonder when will TSTT get it right?

[Pinballwizard]

mario2001, on 14 April 2012 - 03:58 PM, said:

Its been awhile since i have been here on this forum, since i haven't been having much telecommunication problems since Digicel came on the scene.

Lately i have been plagued by internet access woes,
both operators have 2.5G GSM services in the 800mhz & 1900MHZ bands ( EDGE) which is not reliable
B mobile has Wimax which works really except that the network coverage is really poor since their WIMAX network operates in the 2.5GHZ band indoor coverage is really bad.
It is my belief that TSTT WIMAX is another bad choice to add to the huge long list of tstt bad choices ( first it was AMPS, then their GSM 1800mhz then CDMA EVDO ( that quickly died ) now its WIMAX)


World wide wimax hasn't gained much support mainly because not much handsets use this technology
Wouldn't it be nice to have WIMAX on you mobile phone instead of having to walk around with that stupid My HOTSPOT ? what is the point of it ?

For some time i was wondering where is Digicel, i mean their main competitor ( Bmobile) just lunched the Iphone 4 and they are still quiet?

Then came the silent network upgrades you could see on a daily basis Crews at digicel Cell sites installing new equipment and antennae, along side their old equipment then on some sites they would completely remove the old equipment and use only the new cabinets, to top that off i noticed behind the new antennas they were also installing amplifiers ( one might ask what that means )
As a Telecoms student the only time a carrier usually uses amplifiers is when they are using a high frequency ie over 1.9GHZ, this is because the higher the frequency the grater the cable loss.

Now that i knew they were doing upgrades and that they were using a high frequency i thought it was WIMAX ( i thought how stupid another bad choice digicel let me down)

then i remembered that on some sites they were actually replacing the old hardware this would mean that what ever they were upgrading to would still have to be directly compatible with the GSM standard.

One such Technology catches my attention UTMS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System since i don't have the time to go into the long explanation of the benefits of this technology over STANDARD GSM i will just post the link which will take you to Wikipedia

here it is....... http://en.wikipedia....ications_System

The only thing to confirm now would be UTMS revision ( higher revision basically means higher download speeds) (something Trini like ) & what frequency Digicel is rolling out on, i Suspect 2100Mhz (2.1GHZ) this would mean it would have a slightly better in building coverage than TSTT wimax

Also for those of you with your blackberries if you go into network options and switch to manual network selection and then in the network type select the network type select 2g&3g and do a search you might see the 3g network which is great, this means that you could use your standard Blackberry to access the 3g network and don't need that stupid my hotspot in your pocket

However if you happen no to see the 3g network it doesnt mean that you need a new phone i might mean that they have not upgraded your area as yet ( as is my case) I am keeping my fingers crossed they upgrade my area b4 the lunch, i do know that a huge amount of their sites have already been upgraded already its been almost 1yr since they have began this silent upgrade, the way i count is if they do 10 sites a week by 52 weeks equals to around 520 sites which i believe is a very conservative figure. ( i believe it could be more that 10 a week because alot of sites are on rooftops)

Something i really like is that digicel had already began to sell compatible 3g phones around the same time they started this upgrade which means that most of the higher end phones are probability UTMS compatible even the cheapest blackberry 9300 for $1300( which i own lol )

Some might say so what TSTT already has 4g well i would like to let you know Wimax is not really 4g it is just marketed as 4g it doesn't meet the ITU spec for 4g also you cant use wimax directly on your expensive Iphone4 you need that stupid my hotspot
I believe that if digicel is able to provide decent speeds at a reasonable cost and the advantage of being able to use your standard blackberry or Iphone on ths UTms nework will give Digicel a huge advantage
over the next couple of weeks i wait in anticipation of this Digicel 3g network

Some of the newer Android phones ie. Samsung Calaxy series, can also function as a portable hotspot.

[greall]

Meh...I'll wait for a few more months before make a decision.

I rather wait to see it in full action and not with 200 subscribers as now.

Greg

[chico212]

How fast is the 4g network from Digicel? anybody run a speed test

[Pinballwizard]

chico212, on 13 May 2012 - 08:03 AM, said:

How fast is the 4g network from Digicel? anybody run a speed test

I get on average 3500Kb down and 1200kb up with Digicel. This is reported by TSTT blink speedtest page. Right now as I type this TSTT wimax in down in the southwest. In response to someone who said he would wait untill Digicel has more people on it's 4G network, I think that's a good idea. They gave me free 4G for this week so I am enjoying it while I can. At the ent of the week I will make up my mind which one I will keep.

[greall]

The early adopters usually end up with the higher fees and the bugs.

The USB dongles look good though...

Greg