adam.wetzel
17-12-2004, 07:38 PM
Greetings all, from a longtime viewer and new poster to these forums.
I have just completed my first day using Orange 3G (there's service where I work but not where I live) and my third day using the Sony Ericsson Z1010, and thought I'd throw in some observations.
First off, regarding the phone, there's not much to say that hasn't already been said either here or elsewhere on the Net. Yes, it's chunky, especially compared with my old T610. Yes, it's otherwise a very nice phone. Yes, I DO think the chunkiness is justified (at least for now) when offset with its great functionality. That's about it. I do like the Z1010, although like most of us, it would be nicer if it was smaller, but I understand that this is life on the cutting edge (er... a year ago cutting edge, but that's another issue).
Next, and for the record, both for the Mac naysayers and for the timid Mac owners... YES, the Z1010 works brilliantly with my Apple PowerBook G4 12" running Mac OS X (10.3.6). Bluetooth Internet connection (3G and GPRS), iSync, Address Book integration, Salling Clicker remote functions, all work as advertised, with no hacking or extra software. I considered purchasing NovaMedia's Mobile High Speed, but in the end I'm glad I saved the €100. More on this in a bit...
In addition to the above mentioned functions with the Mac PowerBook, the phone also works fine as a Bluetooth Internet connection with my HP iPaq 4150, which runs Windows Mobile 2003. (Yes, I'm a Mac geek, but I know a good product when I see one!) Like the PowerBook, no added software is required. If you'd like directions for Macs or Windows handhelds, email me or make a post so I'll know there's interest.
I will fully admit that I didn't get either of these devices on the Net without assistance from Orange. ... But then, when I did all of this a year ago with the T610, I needed their help then too. The bottom line is, having heard horror stories from friends on other networks trying to do the same stuff, Orange customer service ROCKS. Once you get to speak to them, their data services team knows what is going on with this stuff, and if they don't, one of their colleagues do. BTW: speak with George in data services. He works 4p-12a. They all are smart, but this guy knew it all, for both my operating systems. Also, Orange's implementation of the "call-350-to-cut-the-queue-and-speak-with-a-real-person-immediately" is nothing short of breathtaking. No hold times EVER, and I've called them a lot in the past few days. Excellent.
Now. The network. I've only used the 3G network in one place (Mildenhall, Suffolk) and it's about what I expected. Everyone touts the magic 384 Kbps number, but I always believed that would be achieved whilst standing on the tower, holding onto the mast, with no one else on the network, with Jupiter aligned with Mars, and... well, you get the picture. Turns out I was right. George (see previous paragraph) told me to expect about dual-ISDN speeds, and he was spot-on. Browsing was comfortable, FINALLY (being a longtime GPRS user), with some delays, but comfortable. In reality, for most websites (assuming fast servers, etc) it didn't feel too far off from my cable connection (750 Kbps) at home. Of course, it's not this fast, but when it comes to average web pages, the difference between quick and REALLY F---ING FAST is, honestly, slight.
There is the question of latency, however. Anyone who understands networks knows that dataflow isn't like fluid flow... in other words... just because the pipe is big (i.e broadband connections) doesn't mean things are fast. Latency is the big question mark. To illustrate using extremes, one can have a T-1 connection, but if it has 3 second latency, it feels SLOOOW. Of course, those extremes don't really exist, but the contrast is useful. In this respect, it seems Orange's 3G network has greatly improved on latency over their 2.5G (GPRS) network. In reality, GPRS isn't actually that slow... it's just that it has GODAWFUL latency, often 1 second or so, before a packet --even reaches -- the Internet backbone. This is what makes it feel so slow, much more so than its actual bandwidth. 3G, at least from Orange, seems to have latency in the neighbourhood of 200-400 ms, which is still not nearly as quick as Ethernet (10 ms or so) but a great improvement.
That brings me to my final point, which is: Why don't bandwidth test sites report 3G speed accurately / honestly / reliably? In the middle of the 3G coverage area (full signal reported by the Z1010) I received speed reports from various reporting sites as anywhere between 40 Kbps and something stupid like 563 Kbps. From empirical evidence by usage, I don't find either of these extremes reasonable. As I alluded to above, I believe that dual-ISDN (i.e. give or take 128 Kbps) is reasonable. I'm no genius when it comes to networking, but I'm no idiot either... that said I really don't know
if there's some funny business going on at the Data Link layer that would throw off these traditional hardwired-based tests, or what...? Does anyone have any input here?
Thanks for reading!
Best,
adam
I have just completed my first day using Orange 3G (there's service where I work but not where I live) and my third day using the Sony Ericsson Z1010, and thought I'd throw in some observations.
First off, regarding the phone, there's not much to say that hasn't already been said either here or elsewhere on the Net. Yes, it's chunky, especially compared with my old T610. Yes, it's otherwise a very nice phone. Yes, I DO think the chunkiness is justified (at least for now) when offset with its great functionality. That's about it. I do like the Z1010, although like most of us, it would be nicer if it was smaller, but I understand that this is life on the cutting edge (er... a year ago cutting edge, but that's another issue).
Next, and for the record, both for the Mac naysayers and for the timid Mac owners... YES, the Z1010 works brilliantly with my Apple PowerBook G4 12" running Mac OS X (10.3.6). Bluetooth Internet connection (3G and GPRS), iSync, Address Book integration, Salling Clicker remote functions, all work as advertised, with no hacking or extra software. I considered purchasing NovaMedia's Mobile High Speed, but in the end I'm glad I saved the €100. More on this in a bit...
In addition to the above mentioned functions with the Mac PowerBook, the phone also works fine as a Bluetooth Internet connection with my HP iPaq 4150, which runs Windows Mobile 2003. (Yes, I'm a Mac geek, but I know a good product when I see one!) Like the PowerBook, no added software is required. If you'd like directions for Macs or Windows handhelds, email me or make a post so I'll know there's interest.
I will fully admit that I didn't get either of these devices on the Net without assistance from Orange. ... But then, when I did all of this a year ago with the T610, I needed their help then too. The bottom line is, having heard horror stories from friends on other networks trying to do the same stuff, Orange customer service ROCKS. Once you get to speak to them, their data services team knows what is going on with this stuff, and if they don't, one of their colleagues do. BTW: speak with George in data services. He works 4p-12a. They all are smart, but this guy knew it all, for both my operating systems. Also, Orange's implementation of the "call-350-to-cut-the-queue-and-speak-with-a-real-person-immediately" is nothing short of breathtaking. No hold times EVER, and I've called them a lot in the past few days. Excellent.
Now. The network. I've only used the 3G network in one place (Mildenhall, Suffolk) and it's about what I expected. Everyone touts the magic 384 Kbps number, but I always believed that would be achieved whilst standing on the tower, holding onto the mast, with no one else on the network, with Jupiter aligned with Mars, and... well, you get the picture. Turns out I was right. George (see previous paragraph) told me to expect about dual-ISDN speeds, and he was spot-on. Browsing was comfortable, FINALLY (being a longtime GPRS user), with some delays, but comfortable. In reality, for most websites (assuming fast servers, etc) it didn't feel too far off from my cable connection (750 Kbps) at home. Of course, it's not this fast, but when it comes to average web pages, the difference between quick and REALLY F---ING FAST is, honestly, slight.
There is the question of latency, however. Anyone who understands networks knows that dataflow isn't like fluid flow... in other words... just because the pipe is big (i.e broadband connections) doesn't mean things are fast. Latency is the big question mark. To illustrate using extremes, one can have a T-1 connection, but if it has 3 second latency, it feels SLOOOW. Of course, those extremes don't really exist, but the contrast is useful. In this respect, it seems Orange's 3G network has greatly improved on latency over their 2.5G (GPRS) network. In reality, GPRS isn't actually that slow... it's just that it has GODAWFUL latency, often 1 second or so, before a packet --even reaches -- the Internet backbone. This is what makes it feel so slow, much more so than its actual bandwidth. 3G, at least from Orange, seems to have latency in the neighbourhood of 200-400 ms, which is still not nearly as quick as Ethernet (10 ms or so) but a great improvement.
That brings me to my final point, which is: Why don't bandwidth test sites report 3G speed accurately / honestly / reliably? In the middle of the 3G coverage area (full signal reported by the Z1010) I received speed reports from various reporting sites as anywhere between 40 Kbps and something stupid like 563 Kbps. From empirical evidence by usage, I don't find either of these extremes reasonable. As I alluded to above, I believe that dual-ISDN (i.e. give or take 128 Kbps) is reasonable. I'm no genius when it comes to networking, but I'm no idiot either... that said I really don't know
if there's some funny business going on at the Data Link layer that would throw off these traditional hardwired-based tests, or what...? Does anyone have any input here?
Thanks for reading!
Best,
adam