Turbo 3G (HSPA Downlink) - finally

I was expecting to see the cellular operator's upgrade to downlinked HSPA take place some time near the end of the year, giving high-speed coverage to the north region of the country at the last minute. Contrary to my belief, I discovered as soon as today that my turbo 3G-capable cellphone started to utilize the higher speed all of a sudden. What a nice surprise! 30 days before what I had estimated. That's excellent.

So, for anyone living in north of Sweden, it is worthy to say: if you want to access the internet wireless at an OK speed without having to, either:

* be provided with a landline telephone subscription

* have a fiberoptic installation at home

* resist/not offered a subscription to cable tv internet

... the operator you are likely to want a deal with, is 3 (Three).

It works, and it's reliable too, if you connect via USB data cable. For bluetooth, it is not as reliable.

Telecom Killer app for 2008? National WiFi coverage

When the telecom market's customers have signed their loyalty contracts to the respective telecom companies, those same companies need to find new ways and innovate to dig up a new path for customer growth to happen. At the same time, not only the telecom business realizes the potential of WiFi. There is a trend towards wireless internet as a whole and that most likely will benefit the consumer in terms of prices and availability. But which kind of people do they target? That's the question. I'm thinking that only bigger cities will see competition in this area while other places on the map will have to trust only the telecom operators to serve them.

Here I present to you, some information on where we were yesterday and where we are today:

Early 1990s to mid-1990s

Analog voice

NMT 450

NMT 900

Mid-1990s to 2003

Digital voice

GSM 900

GSM 1800 (only avail. in big cities)

2003 until today

Digital data

WCDMA (very high speeds, shorter range - requires denser tower placement)

NMT CDMA450 (long range coverage - handles good speeds)

Here in Sweden, the national coverage of GSM met the goals several years ago. For as 3G goes, the telecom companies met their goals as late as June earlier this year. Because of the fact that the population saw a growth in-between the coverage agreement papers and the population numbers, they only have the requirement of covering 98 % of the people since that number translates to nearly 100 % of the older population numbers. That might sound weird to you, but a signed agreement is a signed agreement after all. That said, the operators can volunteerly expand the coverage all they want, IF they want to. They just don't need to in terms of regulations set with the government.

I wish to see an expansion and upgrade take place as soon as possible to make sure innovations will keep coming.

The Nokia N95 - probably the best smartphone for Europe

As I read just moments ago that Apple has gotten official launch dates out for their over-hyped device that I don't care much for myself in the current design, lacking turbo 3G and targets another audience than a cellphone enthusiast such as me, my eyes have been focusing another smartphone to aim for as soon as possible:

The Nokia N95 with HSPA support

Even though I haven't come close to trying one out in the real world so far, it sure interests me to take a look at it and judging whether it suits my style or not. I really like the built-in GPS (which I hope is a transmitter and receiver which itself can support GPS tracking without network data traffic-based assist (AGPS), since that is a slow and unreliable feature I have tried too many times only to find out how bad of an idea it is.

The N92 is also an option, if DVB-H becomes popular in Sweden next year in 2008.
Nokia N92

Time will tell which one of the N-series phones gets my money.