Name this city in 2007:
1. Completing a call from start to finish on a mobile is something to be celebrated. Having the least number of 'dropped' calls is used by operators as a USP.
2. Big money is being spent on advertising by the banks to tell people all about their new free current accounts - a whole new concept for the locals.
3. Getting a 3G signal on your phone is er... well... I never saw one in four days in the city.
4. Chip and Pin is a far off dream for credit card companies. You still have to sign for purchases - twice - on two separate receipts.
It's that cutting-edge soaraway skyscraper of a city... New York. Yes, really. Yes, I've been away for a few days - and now you know where.
UPDATE: Having blogged with mobile expert Tomi Ahonen at Communities Dominate Brands, I now know why I couldn't get 3G in New York. It's because "New York does have 3G, but its the "other" 3G variant used by about 15% of the world's 3G networks, the so-called American 3G, ie CDMA2000 EV-DO for example on the Verizon network in New York." And that won't work with my '3' Nokia N73.
The further ahead you look - the faster you go | davidpcushman AT gmail.com | These are my views and my views only.
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The rate of change is so rapid it's difficult for one person to keep up to speed. Let's pool our thoughts, share our reactions and, who knows, even reach some shared conclusions worth arriving at?
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteYep, your N73 from Europe is a WCDMA/UMTS 2100MHz-band device. The US uses mostly CDMA/EV-DO 850 & 1900MHz, with UMTS 850 widespread from Cingular. Cingular are apparently going to roll out UMTS 1900 in 2007, and have just released a device doing every possible GSM & UMTS band on the planet - the 8525 (aka the HTC Hermes 160). There is also the 'AWS' spectrum around 2100. I'm uncertain if it could support UMTS2100 as well to support legacy non-US devices.
Low-end so-called 'Pentaband' phones will start to come onto the market later this year, allowing trans-Atlantic 3G services where roaming agreements for 3G with US UMTS operators have been struck....although whether 'roam like home' agreements will be in place to allow continued flat-rate data access is quite another thing ;-)
Cheers,
Mike
Dave,
ReplyDeleteDid you really just write that you 'blogged' with someone?