Nick,
nick may wrote:
>>Japanese mobile carriers have good profits, and users up/download
>>pretty massive data now that there are all-you-can-eat
>>data subscriptions.
>
> Sure - but how competitive are these "all you can eat" subscriptions?
How do you mean competitive? The competition is between KDDI, DoCoMo
and Vodafone, and PHS.
Why do you think Vodafone was compelled to introduce flat rate data
also?
You'll find a detailed graphics comparing all these rates in our
3G report.
> How long (real world, on an averagely busy cell) it take to download an
> (average 5meg) MP3?
On 2.4Mbps (WIN): about 3-4 seconds in the ideal case, and in
reality a little longer. On the other hand at really congested
times, e.g. Shibuya around midnight, it might not work at all.
> Is there REALLY the capacity there for many people in a cell to be
> doing it simultaneously? (This last is quite important, obviously.)
No of course not. Telefone systems, internet, trains, and the
banking system and other similar networks are all designed
with some load factor. These systems all will break down
if all users do the same thing at the same time. For example,
if all bank customers try to withdraw all their money from their
savings accounts the bank will collapse, as you can see sometimes.
The same is true of all phone users try to place calls at the
same time.
If you study telecoms you will learn these things in the
first 2-3 lectures.
> No-one is suggesting 3g is going to go away.
3G will not go away anytime soon, but 2G will.
KDDI/AU has essentially converted fully to 3G
and DoCoMo will within a few years also switch
off the 2G networks.
In a few years, you will only get 3G and do not have
the choice anymore between 2G or 3G.
Did you try taking a steam engine pulled train from
Tokyo to Osaka recently?
Gerhard
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Gerhard Fasol, PhD Eurotechnology Japan K. K.
http://fasol.com/blog/ http://www.eurotechnology.com/
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Received on Tue Dec 7 09:46:56 2004