Mobile Pipeline | 3G Gets Faster: What To Expect

Mobile Pipeline | 3G Gets Faster: What To Expect: "Vodafone, one of the world's largest cellular operators, and Nokia just completed testing of HSDPA, a new version of WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), in Italy using Nokia infrastructure. The two companies reported throughput rates of 1.5 Mbps. Various other companies have demonstrated throughput speeds of over 1 Mbps for this technology, and peak speed claims of over 14 Mbps are also common. But what speeds can you realistically expect and what services will be available when? Also, how does this technology line up with the competition, including EV-DO, Flash OFDM and WiMAX?
First, let's look at what the technology is. HSDPA is an enhancement to WCDMA, a technology that is also referred to as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), the 3G path chosen by most GSM operators around the world. Today, there are already some 75 UMTS networks in operation around the world. In the United States, Cingular (via its purchase of AT&T Wireless) has UMTS available in six cities. However, the company is planning an aggressive deployment of HSDPA, with 15 to 20 cities planned by the end of 2005 and most major metropolitan areas by the end of 2006. The six cities with current UMTS service will be upgraded to HSDPA as well. Globally, many UMTS operators are planning on the HSDPA upgrade, and operators that have not deployed UMTS yet are likely to go directly to HSDPA.
HSDPA is important for operators because current UMTS technology, which based on 3GPP WCDMA Release 99 specifications, is extremely efficient for voice service, but it is not optimized for data services. The HSDPA upgrade, based on 3GPP Release 5 specifications, keeps the same voice mechanisms but adds highly efficient data capability. It does this through radio mechanisms such as higher order modulation (16QAM in addition to Q"