So EE (the new catchy name for Everything Everywhere, previously Orange and T-Mobile) have announced their 4G rollout. Great news - IF you live in one of the major UK cities.
Yes, 4G is being supplied to those who already have superfast broadband connections, presumably so that they can remain superfast when on their mobiles walking down the street....
Well, as one of the triallists for the 4G in the first place, I was hoping that rural areas would be first to benefit.
Seems to me that economics is driving this rollout. EE will sell lots of nice shiny mobiles with 4G connectivity (I saw the HTC back when we were trialling here - and it was very nice!) and city folks will pay up for the connections. Here in the sticks, wages are low, few people live in the area, so economically un-viable for now at least I suppose. I can imagine that there is some haggling behind the scenes with the various companies asking the government for a bonus to rollout the service to the sticks.
So, my predicitions were right - good news for people who probably don't want or need 4G and bad news for those of us struggling on sub 1Mb/s connections
Showing posts with label 4G. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 4G. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
Return of 4G?
The news today mentions that Everything Everywhere - the Orange/T-Mobile link up who where part of the 4G trials here in Cornwall - have been granted permission by Ofcom to start offering 4G connections.
They are slightly different to our trial - these are a different frequency I understand - but still should be a lot better than the "service" I am getting from Talk Talk (alleged 512kb "broadband" which works for 75% of the time...).
The report on the Pirate FM website quotes one of the trialists from back in the summer and then says that the 4G service may well be available in Cornwall by next month....
I shall believe that when I see it!
It will be interesting to see how much a commercial roll out of the 4G system will cost. Bearing in mind the claim the other day that average broadband speeds in the UK are now 9Mb, the stable service we had on 4G was 4Mb - so in theory, we should be paying 4/9ths of the price on average? Even if we allow for the extra expense of setting up 4G, then how about a similar price as the 10Mb ish services offered by the main ISPs? So around 15-20 quid per month?
When asked during the trial, users stated a reasonable price as being 20 to maximum of 25 quid per month - and I am happy to pay that.
I honestly expect the 4G roll out to -
1) Only be available in London
2) Cost a lot more than £20 -£25 per month
3) Be unreliable at first, despite the trials.
I would love to have my Huawei 4G router back! It was relaible, reasoanble speed and a good service.
They are slightly different to our trial - these are a different frequency I understand - but still should be a lot better than the "service" I am getting from Talk Talk (alleged 512kb "broadband" which works for 75% of the time...).
The report on the Pirate FM website quotes one of the trialists from back in the summer and then says that the 4G service may well be available in Cornwall by next month....
I shall believe that when I see it!
It will be interesting to see how much a commercial roll out of the 4G system will cost. Bearing in mind the claim the other day that average broadband speeds in the UK are now 9Mb, the stable service we had on 4G was 4Mb - so in theory, we should be paying 4/9ths of the price on average? Even if we allow for the extra expense of setting up 4G, then how about a similar price as the 10Mb ish services offered by the main ISPs? So around 15-20 quid per month?
When asked during the trial, users stated a reasonable price as being 20 to maximum of 25 quid per month - and I am happy to pay that.
I honestly expect the 4G roll out to -
1) Only be available in London
2) Cost a lot more than £20 -£25 per month
3) Be unreliable at first, despite the trials.
I would love to have my Huawei 4G router back! It was relaible, reasoanble speed and a good service.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The horror of the slowband...
Since the 4G was turned off, we have been using our old Pipex/Tiscali/Talk Talk ISP connection. Although the max speed is around half a meg, the problem is actually the random disconnections and ridiculous slow downs from time to time.
For example, tonight I decided to post about the subject here on Blogger. I ended up closing the browser tab and attempting again a few minutes later. Not once, but several times did I do that - just to get onto Blogger and make a posting!
I intend to get the MAC and move to another provider soon. Back when we signed up to Pipex, they gave up unlimited downloads for our 512kb connection. Although it is slow, I often downloaded .iso files of new Linux distro releases - either to work on them or to test and review.
Each successive buyout - from Pipex to Tiscali and from Tiscali to Talk Talk - brought more problems.
Talk Talk reduced our service from "unlimited" to 10Gb per month and increased the cost from 20 quid to £25 per month. Yes, I know those of you with cable will be laughing as you suck up your unlimited downloads, TV and phone for £15....
Although I hate BT with a vengeance (they raped their customers by sticking them through Phorm), they offer the same download allowance (10Gb) with their Openzone wifi use out and about for £13 and some free months to start you off...
They also reckon (as they di when "broadband" first arrived here) that we can get better general speeds (750kb - 1Mb).
Although I really find it frustrating to pay the same as someone getting 8Mb or more, I will probably end up going to BT.
Totally cheesed off with the whole internet rip off at the moment.
PS - this took about 10 minutes to actually post. I had to attempt it several times. And this is after midnight in the UK, so hardly peak times....
For example, tonight I decided to post about the subject here on Blogger. I ended up closing the browser tab and attempting again a few minutes later. Not once, but several times did I do that - just to get onto Blogger and make a posting!
I intend to get the MAC and move to another provider soon. Back when we signed up to Pipex, they gave up unlimited downloads for our 512kb connection. Although it is slow, I often downloaded .iso files of new Linux distro releases - either to work on them or to test and review.
Each successive buyout - from Pipex to Tiscali and from Tiscali to Talk Talk - brought more problems.
Talk Talk reduced our service from "unlimited" to 10Gb per month and increased the cost from 20 quid to £25 per month. Yes, I know those of you with cable will be laughing as you suck up your unlimited downloads, TV and phone for £15....
Although I hate BT with a vengeance (they raped their customers by sticking them through Phorm), they offer the same download allowance (10Gb) with their Openzone wifi use out and about for £13 and some free months to start you off...
They also reckon (as they di when "broadband" first arrived here) that we can get better general speeds (750kb - 1Mb).
Although I really find it frustrating to pay the same as someone getting 8Mb or more, I will probably end up going to BT.
Totally cheesed off with the whole internet rip off at the moment.
PS - this took about 10 minutes to actually post. I had to attempt it several times. And this is after midnight in the UK, so hardly peak times....
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Internets
Sooo.... with the imminent removal of the 4G trial (to be removed on Friday apparently), we were all advised to check our old ISP connection. I must admit that I didn't get around to it until yesterday, when, horror of horrors, the 4G connection went down! Actually, it went down the previous night but it was very late and nobody was really using it.
To appease the girls, I turned on the old 512kb connection and - nothing! There was no attempt to sync the line or even connect by the looks of things.
After some fiddling, I tried connecting another router to the line - still nothing. Then I tried an old telephone, expecting to get a dial tone - but no.
This made me suspect the ADSL filter, fitted to the line. Luckily, as all good techies do, I have a stack of spare filters! One filter replaced and - voila! Internet back up and running.
Sadly, the speed hasn't improved. Coming from the 4G trial will make it seem even more shocking too.
Anyway, we are still using the 4G at the moment, but not at all looking forward to Friday.
To appease the girls, I turned on the old 512kb connection and - nothing! There was no attempt to sync the line or even connect by the looks of things.
After some fiddling, I tried connecting another router to the line - still nothing. Then I tried an old telephone, expecting to get a dial tone - but no.
This made me suspect the ADSL filter, fitted to the line. Luckily, as all good techies do, I have a stack of spare filters! One filter replaced and - voila! Internet back up and running.
Sadly, the speed hasn't improved. Coming from the 4G trial will make it seem even more shocking too.
Anyway, we are still using the 4G at the moment, but not at all looking forward to Friday.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
4G end in sight
Sadly, the 4G trial is ending on the 29th of June. This means we will leave the modern internet and return to the backwaters of 512kb as the headline speed (which is more like 300kb at best in reality!). For that "service" we are expected to cough up £25 per month and accept a limited download.
Frankly, I think that is a rip off and if it was up to me I would simply tell our ISP where to stick their service. But the kids expect a broadband service - even if it is almost unusable - so I have to keep paying for this crap.
Shame the various companies seem to argue about the 4G provision, instead of simply getting it out there to the customers! Here in Cornwall, we were amongst the first to have the analogue TV turned off and be forced to use the infinitely poorer digital TV. The idea was that the freed up bandwidth would be used for stuff like 4G, but sadly the various companies are all pissing about complaining that "they have more bandwidth than us..." Pathetic and holding back those of us in rural Britain.
Frankly, I think that is a rip off and if it was up to me I would simply tell our ISP where to stick their service. But the kids expect a broadband service - even if it is almost unusable - so I have to keep paying for this crap.
Shame the various companies seem to argue about the 4G provision, instead of simply getting it out there to the customers! Here in Cornwall, we were amongst the first to have the analogue TV turned off and be forced to use the infinitely poorer digital TV. The idea was that the freed up bandwidth would be used for stuff like 4G, but sadly the various companies are all pissing about complaining that "they have more bandwidth than us..." Pathetic and holding back those of us in rural Britain.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
4G conference
Attended a 4G conference at Trerice on Friday. Unlike the one back in November, this was solely for the Government bodies and other parties involved in the future of the 4G spectrum. MPs were supposed to have been there, but due to a late sitting in the House on Thursday, they didn't attend. On the other hand, there were several senior Civil Servants plus Ofcom members as well as some other bodies.
The event was most interesting and four of us "Trialists" gave our views on the technology, equipment and what the 4G connection was like for us.
Met up with several BT and Everything Everywhere management people who I have met before - which allowed me to push for extension of the trial (especially when Ofcom were there too!).
The event was most interesting and four of us "Trialists" gave our views on the technology, equipment and what the 4G connection was like for us.
Met up with several BT and Everything Everywhere management people who I have met before - which allowed me to push for extension of the trial (especially when Ofcom were there too!).
Thursday, February 16, 2012
4G down!
Horror at our house in the last 24 hours! The 4G signal had been turned off by the trial team so they could presumably sort out the problrms being experienced by a small number of triallists. But of course, that meant ALL of us were then left with no service - which, here, means lots of wailing and complaints from my daughters!
All back up today though!
We could have resorted to the old half meg "broadband" but with one of the daughters watching (or attempting to watch!) streaming TV stuff, there would be no point.
All back up today though!
We could have resorted to the old half meg "broadband" but with one of the daughters watching (or attempting to watch!) streaming TV stuff, there would be no point.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
4G extended!
Great news for me here in the depths of mid Cornwall! The 4G trial - which was due to end at the end of January - has been extended until the end of June.
Like to think that those of us who attended the Trerice demonstration for the press and Ofcom helped a little bit in Ofcom taking the decision to keep us in the 21st Century for a little longer!
Like to think that those of us who attended the Trerice demonstration for the press and Ofcom helped a little bit in Ofcom taking the decision to keep us in the 21st Century for a little longer!
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Updates
Not much to update as such.
4G -
Well, the speed has dropped down to 8Mbps download now as the BT guys decided that upping it affected stability for those further from the base stations. I had good reliable speeds of 15Mbps + but others apparently suffered.
Went to the open day to demonstrate the technology to the press and Ofcom - and did lots of interviews. Spoke to various local press people, T3 magazine, The Register and all sorts of other folk. Very interesting day, with good demos of the technology in action.
4G -
Well, the speed has dropped down to 8Mbps download now as the BT guys decided that upping it affected stability for those further from the base stations. I had good reliable speeds of 15Mbps + but others apparently suffered.
Went to the open day to demonstrate the technology to the press and Ofcom - and did lots of interviews. Spoke to various local press people, T3 magazine, The Register and all sorts of other folk. Very interesting day, with good demos of the technology in action.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Speeding Up -oh, and Movember
Looks like the trial for 4G has upped the cap on our speeds. Folks mentioning 11, 12 and 15Meg speeds, so I ran a speedtest.
Got 11.78Mbps down and 6.74 up, so yes, it does seem they have upped the download speeds.
Seems very reliable too - haven't had any probs.
On the Movember thing - I decided to join this charity thing to raise awareness of male cancer problems. It involves growing a moustache for the month of November, but of course, I already had one - so I shaved it off and began from a hair free face! Feel free to donate if you like - or just watch the page to see how I get on!
http://mobro.co/kernowyon
Got 11.78Mbps down and 6.74 up, so yes, it does seem they have upped the download speeds.
Seems very reliable too - haven't had any probs.
On the Movember thing - I decided to join this charity thing to raise awareness of male cancer problems. It involves growing a moustache for the month of November, but of course, I already had one - so I shaved it off and began from a hair free face! Feel free to donate if you like - or just watch the page to see how I get on!
http://mobro.co/kernowyon
Friday, October 07, 2011
Country fixed
Well, the 4G team have fixed the problem where attempting to access a website which redirected based on country of user (e.g Google.com or youtube.com for example) were sending us to German sites (e.g google.de instead of google.co.uk for UK residents). Not sure what they did, but at least I can now watch youtube videos which are blocked for some crazy reason in Germany (why is Kickapoo, the Tenacious D song blocked for example?).
Edit: Not apprently fixed Blogger! I still get .de there!
Edit: Not apprently fixed Blogger! I still get .de there!
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Weather affected?
The 4G speeds tonight seem low - at least as far as downloading speed is concerned. From the 7.5 or more Mbps of other tests to 4.5 Mbps today....
However, the weather is pretty foul - with strong winds and plenty of rain and dampness. It may of course be simply the time I have chosen to test - around half past ten in the evening, which presumably means plenty of other trialists are using the connection. No idea if there is any contention ratio issues with this - but I doubt if there should be, certainly with the relatively small trial sample...
Uploading on the other hand seems fast - 9.34Mbps
Getting some interesting results. Still got problems with the German identification on many sites (e.g Google, Youtube....), but the 4G team are apparently "looking into this"....
However, the weather is pretty foul - with strong winds and plenty of rain and dampness. It may of course be simply the time I have chosen to test - around half past ten in the evening, which presumably means plenty of other trialists are using the connection. No idea if there is any contention ratio issues with this - but I doubt if there should be, certainly with the relatively small trial sample...
Uploading on the other hand seems fast - 9.34Mbps
Getting some interesting results. Still got problems with the German identification on many sites (e.g Google, Youtube....), but the 4G team are apparently "looking into this"....
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Speed
Okies, the previous "broadband" speeds were -
Download 0.47Mb/s and upload 0.24Mb/s, which Speedtest.net claims is slower than
91% of the country (but I suspect is slower than a lot more of the country!)
That test was back in April.
Todays test, using the 4G broadband is -
Download 7.81 and upload 6.82
So it seems to be slightly better!
The speeds do seem variable - the BT engineers suggested that the speeds were being capped and changed around at the moment, so perhaps it will change later.
Download 0.47Mb/s and upload 0.24Mb/s, which Speedtest.net claims is slower than
91% of the country (but I suspect is slower than a lot more of the country!)
That test was back in April.
Todays test, using the 4G broadband is -
Download 7.81 and upload 6.82
So it seems to be slightly better!
The speeds do seem variable - the BT engineers suggested that the speeds were being capped and changed around at the moment, so perhaps it will change later.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
4G has landed!
Well, the 4G is here. Two BT Openreach vans, two BT guys to simply hand me a router and check the speed via their laptop and dongle.... hmmm...
Ah well, they were not here long and no aerial needed. First impressions - well, I did expect something faster on the download side, but upload is 8meg! Download is coming on for 8meg actual measured speeds, so not terrible, but I had read a bit before about this and speeds of 40Meg were mentioned. The BT guys said that they thought the speeds had been capped since yesterday - when it was a lot faster. So either it was unstable or the trial doesn't need us all downloading the whole interwebs!
I shall post some speed readings in a day or two.
My only main issues at the moment are -
1 Websites think you are in Germany! But this is because the router has a German SIM card in it apparently. No real problem, but a bit odd going to Google.com and getting Google.de in German!
2 And I can't blame the 4G for this odd anomoly - my ethernet card on the main PC stops my machine booting into Linux when I enable it in the BIOS! Even a live cd (and I tried with a couple of live cds from different distros) won't boot with the ethernet enabled. Disable it and the machine is happy. So for now, I have a wireless dongle stuck in there.
Strange but true....
Ah well, they were not here long and no aerial needed. First impressions - well, I did expect something faster on the download side, but upload is 8meg! Download is coming on for 8meg actual measured speeds, so not terrible, but I had read a bit before about this and speeds of 40Meg were mentioned. The BT guys said that they thought the speeds had been capped since yesterday - when it was a lot faster. So either it was unstable or the trial doesn't need us all downloading the whole interwebs!
I shall post some speed readings in a day or two.
My only main issues at the moment are -
1 Websites think you are in Germany! But this is because the router has a German SIM card in it apparently. No real problem, but a bit odd going to Google.com and getting Google.de in German!
2 And I can't blame the 4G for this odd anomoly - my ethernet card on the main PC stops my machine booting into Linux when I enable it in the BIOS! Even a live cd (and I tried with a couple of live cds from different distros) won't boot with the ethernet enabled. Disable it and the machine is happy. So for now, I have a wireless dongle stuck in there.
Strange but true....
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