I'm not sure I understand the benefits of 3GPP release 10 and carrier aggregation (which I thought was just LTE advanced... i.e. faster speeds). I'm sure you guys have your hands full right now but I'd like to see some coverage on that when you can fit it in.
Basic aggregation is just using more spectrum to get more speed to one particular user. I'm not especially convinced that, in the real world, it's of value for anything more than bragging rights.
Asymmetric aggregation is more interesting and more useful. Right now in FDD systems (basically most of the world except China) you allocate say 10MHz of downlink and a matching 10MHz of uplink when you allocate spectrum. This equal allocation made sense in the days when voice traffic dominated, but is not ideal nowadays when data dominates, and most of that is download. Asymmetric aggregation is not a perfect solution to this, but it allows one to do things like, for example, tie together a 10/10MHz matched pair (up and down) with another 10Mhz somewhere else used only for down without a partner up band, so it's a step towards more efficient spectrum usage.
Basically my take on all this is that the parts of 3GPP/LTE that lead to more efficient spectrum are useful and worth cheering. The parts that lead to higher single user peak spectrum are basically a waste of time --- they will allow reviewers to make a big deal about how fast a new phone is at the time the review comes out, but pretty soon, once multiple users per cell start using those features, no-one sees that peak speed.
One exception to this is EDGE Advanced, which aggregates two (or perhaps more) of the 200kHz EDGE bands. That could be useful insofar as EDGE running under best conditions is still a lower peak speed than one might want in reasonable and realistic situations. But, of course, that assumes (a) that the carriers are bothering to upgrade to EDGE Advanced (are they in the US?) (b) a phone that would be smart enough to automatically switch between LTE, 3G/HSPA and EDGE depending on conditions and loading, rather than requiring the user to remember to make the switch manually when 3G/HSPA or LTE are overloaded. I'm unaware of any phone with those sorts of smarts.
I'm all for technology that allows carriers to efficiently use spectrum but I agree that beyond a certain point more speed is overkill. For me I'm perfectly fine with my 3Mpbs broadband connection at home and I don't really know why I'd need more than that on my phone... except bragging rights as you mentioned.
I'm in the states but I'm on a CDMA carrier in an area where GSM coverage isn't very good so I'm not familiar with how the GSM/EDGE carriers are handling things.
And this will be the first chipset to support ALL methods of carriers, ( including China's TDS-CDMA and TDD LTE ), as well as Chinese and Russia and Europe's methods of GPS.
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apinkel - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
I'm not sure I understand the benefits of 3GPP release 10 and carrier aggregation (which I thought was just LTE advanced... i.e. faster speeds). I'm sure you guys have your hands full right now but I'd like to see some coverage on that when you can fit it in.name99 - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
Basic aggregation is just using more spectrum to get more speed to one particular user. I'm not especially convinced that, in the real world, it's of value for anything more than bragging rights.Asymmetric aggregation is more interesting and more useful. Right now in FDD systems (basically most of the world except China) you allocate say 10MHz of downlink and a matching 10MHz of uplink when you allocate spectrum. This equal allocation made sense in the days when voice traffic dominated, but is not ideal nowadays when data dominates, and most of that is download. Asymmetric aggregation is not a perfect solution to this, but it allows one to do things like, for example, tie together a 10/10MHz matched pair (up and down) with another 10Mhz somewhere else used only for down without a partner up band, so it's a step towards more efficient spectrum usage.
Basically my take on all this is that the parts of 3GPP/LTE that lead to more efficient spectrum are useful and worth cheering. The parts that lead to higher single user peak spectrum are basically a waste of time --- they will allow reviewers to make a big deal about how fast a new phone is at the time the review comes out, but pretty soon, once multiple users per cell start using those features, no-one sees that peak speed.
One exception to this is EDGE Advanced, which aggregates two (or perhaps more) of the 200kHz EDGE bands. That could be useful insofar as EDGE running under best conditions is still a lower peak speed than one might want in reasonable and realistic situations. But, of course, that assumes
(a) that the carriers are bothering to upgrade to EDGE Advanced (are they in the US?)
(b) a phone that would be smart enough to automatically switch between LTE, 3G/HSPA and EDGE depending on conditions and loading, rather than requiring the user to remember to make the switch manually when 3G/HSPA or LTE are overloaded. I'm unaware of any phone with those sorts of smarts.
apinkel - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
That makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.I'm all for technology that allows carriers to efficiently use spectrum but I agree that beyond a certain point more speed is overkill. For me I'm perfectly fine with my 3Mpbs broadband connection at home and I don't really know why I'd need more than that on my phone... except bragging rights as you mentioned.
I'm in the states but I'm on a CDMA carrier in an area where GSM coverage isn't very good so I'm not familiar with how the GSM/EDGE carriers are handling things.
iwod - Monday, February 27, 2012 - link
Other Site report it also support LTE-Advance.And this will be the first chipset to support ALL methods of carriers, ( including China's TDS-CDMA and TDD LTE ), as well as Chinese and Russia and Europe's methods of GPS.
How to get this into iPhone 5?