Following Hong Kong’s PCCW switching on their dual carrier 3G HSPDA+ last week, Telstra has switched on their HSPDA+ NextG system this week allowing theoretical download speeds of 42Mbps.

The service is presently available in all capital city CBD areas, selected metropolitan areas, associated airports and in more than 100 regional locations.

Telstra is quoting “typical” wireless broadband download speeds in the range of 1.Mbps to 20Mbps. They have released a new high speed modem and new business plans for this service.

Utilising dual carrier HSPDA+ 3G will serve Telstra for a number of years, while it continues testing 4G LTE system which are expected to be rolled out sometime around 2013.

For more information:-

• Telstra’s 42Mbps Next G broadband goes live – ITWire
• Telstra Unveils Ultimate Wireless USB – Gizmodo

Updated:- 4:30pm – Arriving back from a business trip overseas, I see Telstra have applied an update to their NextG (3G) wireless broadband system that has crippled Far North Queensland wireless broadband speeds.

The Symptoms

I arrived back from an overseas trip on Sunday. Wireless broadband performance was OK when I passed through Sydney, but flying into Cairns for an overnight stay I started noticing problems with slow connection speeds. My Bigpond Connection Manager had 5 bars of signal, but was extremely slow loading pages. (You know there is a problem when it takes over a minute to load Google’s home page.)

The speeds were so slow, many of the programs on my machine (such as email) failed to connect.

Trying to connect multiple times, I would occasionally get a fast connection for a few minutes, before it reverted back to the low data speed.

If I stayed connected continuously, the connection would occasionally speed up for a minute or so, and then slow back down again for a long period of time.

I did some testing using the speedtest.net site. My typical wireless download speed on a 7 Mbps (Mega bits per second) NextG wireless modem is 1-1.5 Mbps, occasionally getting up to 3 Mbps, but this new issue is causing speeds of 20-50 kbps speeds, (which is less than dial-up), and is crippling on a computer system. To the average user, this would give a similar experience to exceeding your monthly allowance, but slower.

Finally arriving at home in Port Douglas on Monday, I was having the same connection problems.

Further investigation has showed the same effect also happening with my iPhone 3GS.

Others Affected

Sitting in a local phone service business today to do some work using their high speed internet connection, 3 people have come in over the period of an hour complaining of slow speed problems on the NextG system. Several other people around town mentioned they have also experienced problems for the last 2 days.

The Problem

I first came across this problem with a computer system in remote central Victoria two months ago, and at the time put it down to signal issues, but now with three devices with different modems having problems it’s becoming obvious the source is a Telstra NextG system software update that is throttling speeds.

I expect the software update was first applied in Victoria, and has only recently been applied here.

Having seen this sort of thing happen before while working with cellular operators overseas, I thought it may be an issue with a software update (such as a HSPDA+ or database upgrade) being applied and effecting older modems (I use the Sierra Wireless AC875 wireless card, and my remote computer uses the blue Maxon BXP3-EXT modem), but that would not explain issues with the iPhone 3Gs.

The Solution

I have gone through the process of talking with Telstra technical support today. After many calls being diverted to the Philippines, I finally reached someone with some technical knowledge, and the issue has been escalated to level 3 support. I was informed the issue would be given a ticket number within 6 hours, and am waiting on an answer.

However, knowing the problem has been around for several months in Victoria (and is still there), I have little confidence in it being resolved any time soon.

A Bigpond wireless user for 3 years (without too many issues), I rely on the internet for business, but having no connection will eventually force me to change providers.

I searched around town today for an OPTUS modem, but they are all sold-out. (Not sure if the shortage is normal, or brought on by the current issue). Vodafone and Virgin Mobile modems were available, but they often piggy-back on the bigger networks in remote areas, so I would have seen no improvement.

Interesting other info

• While talking with an Australian based technical support person this morning, I mentioned being routed to the Philippines a number of times, and they had not been able to solve the problem. I was informed that all technical support for Telstra/Bigpond broadband is now provided from the Philippines. CEO David Thodey has been talking recently about Telstra’s poor customer service, saying how he wants to improve it, but I do not see how moving everything to the Philippines improves things. The quality of the VOIP connection used is typically very poor (ironic for a telecom company), and the different accents can be difficult to follow at times.
• I tried to do some system testing on using my iPhone in field test mode, but it looks like the latest Apple update has disabled the field test mode following the “antennagate” issues with the iPhone4. This stops the users looking at the actual signal strengths in dBm, therefore not being able to prove Apple wrong.
• Shortcut the convoluted Telstra telephone system by calling Technical Support directly on 133933.

Following a recent crack of the simpler A5/1 standard, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science say they have cracked the A5/3 security cipher (nicknamed Kasumi) by using what’s known as a “sandwich” attack. The group accomplished its goal by creating a distinguishing trait for the key and using just four related keys to determine the key for Kasumi itself.

While breaking the security takes time, the approach theoretically leaves GSM more directly exposed to call interceptions and other threats. Most cellular carriers still use the lower-grade GSM quality (A5/1) as their base calling technology, but 3G/UMTS (the upgrade to GSM) uses Kasumi and is potentially exposed as well.

More information:- http://www.emergentchaos.com/archives/2010/01/another_week_another_gsm.html

Earlier this week I noticed an article “Govt Calls for shared Network Towers” in the news. Cambodia’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunications called on the country’s nine mobile phone networks to share their network infrastructure to reduce the number of towers being deployed in the country.

Requests to reduce tower numbers are becoming more common, and the article led me reflect on tower issues I have come across.

1. Over the years many operators have merged. Each company originally had it’s own towers, and mergers have left companies with towers next to each other. The Indonesian government has stepped in and made companies start to remove excess towers.
2. The Brazilian government was concerned about too many towers, so mandated no new towers were allowed in certain areas.
3. As operators load up towers with additional antennas, many are finding the towers are not meeting MTBF specifications due to accelerated rusting or poor construction. Both weight and wind loading can be problems. Many installers I have spoken with mention they can feel the towers move under their own weight.
4. One client was recently considering removing antennas due to excess weight on the tower from the microwave dishes used for back haul. They were using two 2G BTS on each sector, and combining them would have resulted in 3dB loss  in both uplink and downlink. (Additional antennas would have to be added eventually when 3G was installed, thus not really fixing the problem.)
5. Sharing towers can introduce interference and Passive Intermodulation (PIM) problems.

With the race to roll-out 3G, tower issues are an ever increasing headache for operators, with many 3G BTS units in a heavy tower mounted format, which also require the mounting of additional antennas (increasing wind loading problems).

There are three common configurations operators can utilize for rolling out 3G, but each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages.

Option A – GSM and 3G on same feeder and antenna

Used by Telstra in Australia, this system uses existing antenna and feeder infrastructure, which reduces cost, weight and wind loading issues.

A high roll-off filter is used to combine the 2G and 3G systems at the BTS end of the feeder.

For this configuration to work,  particular attention must be paid to the construction quality and Passive Intermodulation in the feeders. The system must have very low PIM, making the system “technology transparent”.

Option B – GSM and 3G on separate feeder and antenna

The 2G and 3G systems utilize different feeders.

Costs are increased by having to run new feeders and mount new antennas, also increasing wind loading significantly.

Passive Intermodulation is less of a problem using separate feeders, but the operators can still have PIM interactions between the systems.

Option C – 3G tower mounted BTS

The 2G utilizes existing feeders, while a tower mounted BTS (normally connected by fiber optic) is used for 3G with an additional set of antennas.

The costs are lower, but both weight and wind loading are significantly increased.

Passive Intermodulation is less of a problem using separate feeders, but the operators can still have PIM interactions between the systems.

Conclusion

Requests to reduce tower numbers will only become more common in the future. As operators add more infrastructure to existing towers, weight and wind loading will begin to be problems.

There are several configurations that can be adopted by operators, but one solution does not fix all the problems. Instead the operator needs to approach each installation individually to determine the best solution.

More articles:-

• Govt Calls for shared Network Towers – 20 Nov 2009
• Rajasthan Bans New Mobile Towers Pending Review – 8 Dec 2009

The Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) today published its latest GSM/3G Market Update. Amongst the issues reported this month, GSA has confirmed that 300 WCDMA networks have been commercially launched in 126 countries. WCDMA has achieved approaching 75% market share of commercial 3G networks with an estimated 410+ million subscriptions.

GSA says that 95% of WCDMA networks have enabled HSPA, with HSPA mobile broadband services now commercially available on 283 networks in 119 countries. There are an estimated 150+ million HSPA subscribers worldwide says GSA, with more than half of commercial HSPA networks are capable of peak downlink data speeds of 7.2 Mbps or higher.

Read more of this article…..

The European Union in a decision this week formally approved the use of 3G and eventually 4G data on the 900MHz and 1800MHz GSM bands. The measure substantially improves the amount of bandwidth available for cellular Internet access in EU states and should render it less expensive as well. Besides reducing the need for more cell sites, allowing frequencies lower than 2100MHz for 3G will also extend the range and coverage of existing service.

The effort follows an initial approval for 900MHz use earlier this year and largely mirrors AT&T’s own efforts in the US, where it had previously been using 1900MHz for the majority of its 3G but now has most areas using 850MHz as well. Adding the second frequency band has been credited to reducing or eliminating major network congestion problems in areas with a heavy concentration of iPhone users, such as New York City and San Francisco.

EU countries now have up to six months to implement the rule change. It’s not yet known how easily cellphone and modem designers could software-modify their devices to use 3G with the the newly cleared spectrum.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/10/23/more.airwaves.freed.for.euro.cell.data/