My Digital Life

3G Coverage by Population

After the Verizon ad attack against AT&T 3G footprint, I thought it would be interesting to find out what the four major carriers 3G coverage is by population.

1. Verizon Wireless 284 million (source: mocoNews.net)
2. AT&T Wireless 233 million (source: AT&T)
3. T-Mobile USA UMTS/HSPA 200 million by the end of 2009 (source: Business Wire)
4. Sprint EVDO Rev A/0 170 million (source: Sprint)

The Sprint number seems low but it came from their web site, and the reference to 2006 looks like this page has not been updated for a while. I guess that is par for the course for Sprint…

Netbooks; Will the average consumer buy them?

With most PC manufacturers jumping into the netbook market; will the average consumer buy?

A netbook is defined on Wikipedia as:

"A netbook (a portmanteau of the words Internet and notebook) is a class of laptop computer designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet.^"

I always equated netbooks to sub notebooks but apparently the netbook category is more about price and network WWAN connectivity rather than size. Prices and specifications seem to be all over the map however the cellular carriers seem to think they may have an opportunity to get the consumer to buy WWAN data services by subsidizing the cost of netbooks. Several cellular carriers in Europe have started to sell netbooks including the sleek but expensive Sony VAIO P subsidized by T-Mobile DE. It is selling it for 599 Euros with a 2 year data contract.

Here in the US Verizon announced it would offer a netbook in the 3^rd quarter and AT&T is starting a pilot program in Atlanta. AT&T is offering a range of netbooks from $49.99 for the Acer Aspire One to $749.99 for the Lenovo X200 with a 2 year contract. The qualifying data plan range from $40 to $60. It is interesting to note that AT&T has chosen netbooks with screen sizes ranging from 8.9" to 12.1". They also provide plans which include WIFI and DSL connectivity options.

Even though consumers despise contracts, it will be interesting to see if the subsidy sways their purchasing decision. An important part of the decision for a consumer is the value of mobility, but for some individuals they could do without a home broadband connection making a subsidized laptop an attractive solution.

I depend too much one my home broadband connection and don't travel enough to make these current offers attractive for me, but I will be curious to see if enough individuals buy into these subsidies to make them worthwhile for the cellular carriers.

Finally the majority of US cellular carriers are moving towards one standard

Just imagine what would have happened if the FCC allowed television networks and stations decide which HDTV standard they would implement. Well that is exactly what the FCC allowed to happen with the US cellular industry. I have always considered this a mess and a detriment to the consumer; it is almost as bad as locked phones. Europe uses one standard and the coverage is significantly better than in the US because a cell phone can work with every carrier. In the US we currently have three major standards for cellular voice; iDEN (Sprint Nextel), CDMA2000 (Verizon, Sprint), GSM/UMTS (AT&T, T-Mobile). This means that even if there is cellular coverage, it does not mean that your particular cell phone can receive the signal.

We are currently in what the cellular industry calls the 3^rd generation of standards. Over the last couple of years two 4^th generation standards have emerged in the US, WIMAX primarily backed by Intel and Long Term Evolution (LTE) developed in cooperation with most telecommunication standards organizations around the world. Europe is already moving towards LTE, and in 2008 AT&T Wireless announced that it would start to deploy the technology in 2010. At the beginning of 2009 I was heartened to hear that Verizon and T-Mobile are also planning to implement LTE on their networks. Verizon even upstaged AT&T by promising limited deployment by the end of 2009. This leaves Sprint as the only large US cellular carrier using WIMAX.

Eighteen years after the first commercial GSM was introduced in Europe, the US consumer has some hope of extended coast to coast coverage using one cell phone. The downside is that it may take another 10 years to fully implement LTE, no thanks to the FCC.

LA Times reports cellular minute cost consumers an average of $3.02

With all of the cellular carriers now offering unlimited plans as low as $49.99; this weekend the Los Angeles Times reported on a study, by the San Diego based Utility Consumers' Action Network, which shows many customers pay for much more time than they use.

The Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN) averaged out the cellular minutes and costs of 700 San Diego residents to come up with the $3.02 per minute value. On the surface seems way out of band, however the LA Times wrote: "That $3-per-minute figure is skewed by the relatively small percentage of people who pay for a lot of minutes but barely use any. But even when those folk are taken out of the mix, most wireless customers still pay between 50 cents and $1 per minute, the study found." This clarification is important and although I still think $.50 to $1 is still very high, it makes more sense.

I decided to open up Excel and put my current T-Mobile Family bill to the test. I added up all of our Whenever minutes used including Weekend, HotSpot@Home, MyFaves, and T-Mobile to Mobile calls. I came up with $.04 per minute (taxes excluded) for the 2328 voice minutes we used. I felt much better that my current plans seems right for my situation. From the study's results it seems a lot of consumers don't bother analyzing their bills, all of the cellular carriers will even help you figure out the best plan for your usage pattern, so there is no excuse for paying more than you need especially in this economic environment.

AT&T decides to follow T-Mobile's innovation in providing better in home signal with different technology

Since switching to AT&T for my iPhone 3G, one the few technologically advanced features T-Mobile USA has these days that I miss is their HotSpot@Home feature. This feature allows you to make unlimited calls (for a monthly $10 fee) with a T-Mobile router and/or a HotSpot@Spot enabled cell phone using a broadband Internet connection. The technology is based on UMA which I wrote about back in 2007. The specialized cell phones incorporate WIFI with special programming which wraps a cell call into Internet compatible data packets. The downside of the technology is that it requires a special cell phone and there are very few models. T-Mobile has not even enabled the G1 with this technology, something I don't understand.

Now a new technology called Femtocells is being deployed by Sprint and is in testing with AT&T. The principle is basically the same as UMA (use the Internet to transmit cell phone calls), but it differs in one big respect, you can use an unmodified cell phone. This means I could use it with my iPhone 3G. This would be great and very exciting on two fronts. First I do get a fair amount of failed calls in my house when 3G tries to switch back to 2G and second with unlimited calling in my house I could reduce my monthly minutes. I am quite excited about using this technology and plan to call AT&T to see if I can get in on the testing (I know, good luck in making that happen), but probably worth a shot. Femtocell deployment is more problematic than UMA since the devices use the same frequencies as cell towers and the carriers need to ensure that there is no interference, however it looks like the technology is ready for prime time. Hopefully AT&T will move quickly...

T-Mobile G1 has no data roaming on/off switch

According to a post on Gizmodo, a G1 user traveling to the UK incured over $100 worth of data roaming charges while never using the device to access data. Apparently the G1 sends some type of heartbeat every 3 - 5 minutes regardless of your location. Could this be push email or just some OS feature that requires the G1 to call home. It is unbelievable that someone would design such a feature without an on/off switch. The on/off feature has been there since day one in Windows Mobile devices. In version 1 of the iPhone firmware there was some confusion about how to turn off data roaming but at least the feature was there, for the G1 the T-Mobile CSR response was to leave the device at home.

I have been a T-Mobile fan from the Voicestream days but over the 18 months their lack of any decent devices has left me less than enthusiastic, even if their pricing model is generally cheaper. I don't think the G1 is very innovative compared to the iPhone, the HotSpot@Home feature which I think is a key differentiator and a big cost saving was left out of new phones like the G1. I am sure the data roaming issue will fixed in a future update but somebody really missed the boat on this one.

On the cost front AT&T has data roaming plans which you can purchase on a month to month basis (T-Mobile does not). This helps to lessen your cost while traveling internationally if you need to use data. I wrote about my experience with the iPhone in this post.

Plenty of T-Mobile G1s to be had

I just had the opportunity to stop by a T-Mobile in Montgomery county, MD and they had plenty of G1s. They had 3 on static display, none of them working. There were a couple of customers in the store but no long lines. I think T-Mobile is making a mistake by not following Apple's live unit display. How would you know if you really liked it if you can't even play with it. The design is clearly more industrial than the iPhone or other recent HTC designs like the Diamond. The flip out hinge is quite funky but it seems very solid. The keyboard is quite large and makes the hinge design quite clever although it won't win any MOMA award. Without any play time with the software, I am unimpressed with the overall hardware design. It just does not feel as good as the iPhone. But for T-Mobile customers who want some iPhone like functionality the G1 is worth looking at. Maybe the strategy was to stave off defections like myself and given the price point of the device and associated plans they may succeed. I still do not understand why they did no include HotSpot@Home, however I see that the shipping units include MyFaves.

Can T-Mobile Become the Heroic Mobile Carrier We Need? (Newsweek article tag line)

Can T-Mobile Become the Heroic Mobile Carrier We Need? A so so article in Business Week by  Rachel Hinman. that got me thinking of the bigger picture. I think T-Mobile USA with HotSpot@Home and MyFaves has the best value plans out there. T-Mobile USA does a very good job marketing, managing their network and customer service, however they have lagged behind everyone else in providing users with advanced handsets and a 3G network.

I think they believe they are rectifying the situation with the Android based G1 and their painfully slow roll out of 3G. It will take years for them to catch up to Sprint, Verizon and even AT&T who is behind it's EVDO (Sprint & Verizon) counterparts.

On the Android G1 side, T-Mobile USA believes they have found a marketing edge by touting openness. However, I wonder what their definition of openness is?

Is it Applications: It seems pretty clear that they will allow developers to build anything they want. Does this differentiate them from Windows Mobile and the iPhone. Not really, Windows Mobile is an open platform from that standpoint and the same can be said for Jailbroken iPhones. So I don't think Android has any real advantage in this area, although Google would like you to think so. On the SDK (Software Development Kit)  front; from what I hear the APIs (Application Programming Interface) in Windows Mobile are still way ahead of the iPhone, however Apple is catching up with its almost monthly updates for developers. The Android SDK is still in its infancy and we will have to see how Google controls the enhancement process.

Is it the OS, Radio software and hardware drivers: This is the more interesting area. Will T-Mobile USA allow different Open Source versions of the OS, Radio software,  and hardware drivers? The question is whether Google, HTC or T-Mobile will provide the base source code required for developer's to create their own hardware drivers or fine tune the Radio drivers. I doubt it, it could be detrimental to their network. Look at what happened to AT&T's network when the Apple iPhone 3G Radio software was clearly creating a problem. I believe allowing developers to easily modify drivers could prove to be the innovative area that could catapult or sink Android. We will have to wait and see what the developer community does and what the carriers/Google allow.

But for now I think a lot of developers are waiting for the launch to see how well it is received by the consumer. If the G1 had HotSpot@Home and MyFaves, I would have probably been tempted to try it, but without that there is really nothing there to grab my interest...

T-Mobile G1 with Google finally officially announced

T-Mobile has finally provided details on the G1, they have published a pretty good web site which contains links to most first hand account of the device. It is being called a real competitor to the iPhone but from the press conference T-Mobile is only targeting consumers with this device. The consumer is T-Mobile's USA bread and butter. Over the years they have done an excellent job at providing great value with MyFaves and HotSpot@Home (BTW I did not see either of these features on the G1), their top selling smartphones have been the SideKick and the Blackberry curve. In contrast to T-Mobile in Europe, the USA subsidiary has not provided any advanced Windows Mobile device and unfortunately in its current form the G1 does not currently offer very much for the business user. The Android OS does provide the means for software development and distribution which could fill the gaps making the G1 a business device. However, it seems that T-Mobile and Google are waiting for third parties to fill this gap. In response to the lack of Exchange ActiveSync at the press conference the answer was that this would be a good application for third parties to implement, but will developer's flock to Android the way they did to the iPhone. From my unscientific research it does not look like it, the marketplace is still too iffy at this point. Compared to the millions of iPhones being sold, the analysts have estimated G1 sales to only be in the hundreds of thousands.

The "open" mantra being touted by Google could be a free for all and could lead to very different user experiences by device and by carrier thus diluting the Android brand name. Developers are also concerned that each carrier could have its own app store which could be a real headache when dealing with applications suited for the international marketplace. Even though there are still issues to be ironed out with the Apple app store, the advantage of having a single marketplace for users and developers is a major plus.

There seems to have a ground swell of protests against the 1GB cap (the AT&T cap is 5GB) then reducing throughput language in the contract which T-Mobile has relented on yesterday. I find this topic quite interesting since most of my data usage comes from WIFI and currently my iPhone 3G usage is about 100MB per billing cycle. I agree with the protests,  however on the other side of the coin I don't want individuals hogging bandwidth to my detrement. Tethering will also not be allowed, it is clear that the voice market is saturated and the carriers look at data for revenue growth. They want you to pay extra for tethering because data usage on a PC is far greater, but at an average of $60 per month, I find this to be somewhat predatory.

T-Mobile appears to be willing to SIM unlock the devices after 90 days for account in good standing. AT&T should take a lesson, although they have no incentive to so...

At this point, given the very small T-Mobile 3G foot print (I don't even see Washington, DC in the current list) this phone is no threat to Apple, but from an overall marketplace I see the G1 as good competition which will hopefully help keep Apple on its toes and may force some loosening by the control freaks in Cupertino. Yes, I do believe that control gives Apple an edge in providing a uniform user experience, the issue is how much control.

In the end the G1 looks like a pretty good consumer device with excellent technology compared to a Sidekick or Blackberry and even the iPhone. We will have to see how the marketplace reacts since technology alone won't guaranty that it is a hit. As I mentioned before it is about the eco system and on that front, even if they are far from perfect, Apple wins.

Windows Mobile group steps up marketing

With a slew of new devices coming the Windows Mobile group is stepping up its marketing campaign in the main stream media. Here is a video interview with Scott Rockfeld, the Windows Mobile Product Manager and the Wall Street Journal.  He does leave out what I think are two key new devices, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 and the HTC Touch HD.

The field is also becoming crowded, today T-Mobile officially announces the HTC manufactured Google Android based G1. From the rumored specifications it does not look too exciting but I think competition is good. I can't believe it will not support T-Mobile HotSpot@Home service which I think is a killer differentiator. We will have to wait until 10:30AM EDT (live press conference) to see the exact details.