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Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

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Re: Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

#51

Post by StudentStuff »

dsl wrote: post #46

The real kicker is the last line. T-mobile can software upgrade its LTE equipment to 5G: > The partnership with Ericsson means that T-Mobile’s already installed base of Ericsson Radio System radios will be able to run 5G NR with a remote software installation.

Ericsson was/is Intel's large foundry client, but with the 10nm delays and 14nm being thoroughly booked with x86-64 and LTE modems for Apple, there isn't room for Ericsson to produce new chips on modern nodes. Worse yet, I hear Ericsson designed specifically for Intel 10nm, which leaves them up a creek for the next few years.

A firmware update to make existing hardware have a longer lifespan and help Ericsson to retain their clients was likely the only out here. If Ericsson had the new chips they were planning on, this firmware update would be much more expensive and less probable to actually see carriers taking them up on it.

Re: Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

#52

Post by babypuncher »

marasal wrote: post #39
trizic wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be great to see wireless providers becoming competitors to home ISPs. If some day wireless speeds become comparable, the problem of having only one home ISP would go away.

I get 50Mbps with 4G connection for 20euros per month. No data cap. Public ipv4 address. Router is 4 years old Huawei 4g router and I have installed outdoor antenna on the roof for stable connection. I have been with this setup at home for the last 4 years. I could propably get faster connection with new router but this is fine.

That still doesn't compare to the 300Mbps I'm getting right now even through Comcast, or the 1Gbps I'll be getting once the local fiber company builds out in my neighborhood in the next year or so.

Re: Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

#53

Post by rayiner »

asdkhadsj wrote: post #38
lylecubed wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They increased it last year from 32GB to 50GB a month. Frankly, I think even a 50GB cap on an "unlimited" plan should be illegal, but it's better than most carriers. https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/19/16334690/t-mobile-unlimit...

I just wish they'd stop selling unlimited. Everyone. I want to pay for my bytes, and I want you (carriers) to give me the service I pay for, at an guaranteed rate. A SLA, basically. Consumers get shafted on these deals. We pay for products with no agreement over what we're actually going to get. It gets tiring :/

> Consumers get shafted on these deals. We pay for products with no agreement over what we're actually going to get. It gets tiring :/

Consumers greatly benefit from these deals, because they pay a fraction of what it would cost to get service with an SLA. (Put another way, it costs a fraction as much to build a network with over-subscription than it costs to build a network where each user has guaranteed bandwidth.)

Where I work, we pay Cogent almost $1,000 for sub-gigabit, and that's in a building with several competing providers to choose from. I pay a tenth that for consumer gigabit from Verizon. That's because I'm sharing a 2.4 gigabit PON node with 16-32 other users, and Verizon can assume that nobody will be using the full gigabit more than a small fraction of the time. If Verizon was only allowed to sell guaranteed bandwidth, they could only sell a 75 mbps service. Which would suck for the consumer when they went to go download an iTunes movie or a game on Steam.

Re: Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

#54

Post by babypuncher »

rayiner wrote: post #45
cellularmitosis wrote: post #17

Great. Now I'll be able to use up my monthly data in 2 minutes instead of 10 minutes. Edit: I don't mean to poo-poo the advance of tech, but this really highlights the disconnect between what's possible and what consumers actually want/value.

Do ordinary consumers actually run into data caps routinely? When I was on T-Mobile, I used hotspot extensively and never paid attention to my data usage, but never hit the soft cap on their unlimited plan. Also, data caps grew a lot in the 3G -> 4G transition, and will grow a lot in the 4G -> 5G transition: https://www.pcmag.com/news/357374/verizon-no-4g-level-data-c...

T-Mobile only enforces their soft cap when the tower you're hitting is at capacity. Basically their soft cap deprioritizes your traffic rather than throttling it.

Re: Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

#55

Post by gautamnarula »

trizic wrote: post #32
cellularmitosis wrote: post #17

Great. Now I'll be able to use up my monthly data in 2 minutes instead of 10 minutes. Edit: I don't mean to poo-poo the advance of tech, but this really highlights the disconnect between what's possible and what consumers actually want/value.

It would be great to see wireless providers becoming competitors to home ISPs. If some day wireless speeds become comparable, the problem of having only one home ISP would go away.

I currently use my phone provider's tethering plan (10GB at 4G, then throttled to .6MBPS after but with no additional charges) because there is only one ISP where I live and unless I signed a 12 month contract, I was looking at ~$80-90/month in amortized fees since I'm only living here for four or five months. It's not ideal, but other than watching fewer videos and in lower quality I've been able to manage without too many issues.

Re: Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

#56

Post by Analemma_ »

lylecubed wrote: post #33
emodendroket wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming that, like most "unlimited" plans, it includes substantial data caps after the first few GB.

They increased it last year from 32GB to 50GB a month. Frankly, I think even a 50GB cap on an "unlimited" plan should be illegal, but it's better than most carriers. https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/19/16334690/t-mobile-unlimit...

It's not a cap. Once you exceed 50 GB in a month your speed is throttled if and only if the cell is congested.

Re: Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

#57

Post by dfee »

kayoone wrote: post #43
marasal wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get 50Mbps with 4G connection for 20euros per month. No data cap. Public ipv4 address. Router is 4 years old Huawei 4g router and I have installed outdoor antenna on the roof for stable connection. I have been with this setup at home for the last 4 years. I could propably get faster connection with new router but this is fine.

Which country ? Meanwhile in Germany i can get a 200Mbps (up to) 4G/LTE Connection with 50GB included for 35Eur/month. Just makes no sense...

Your use of “included” instead of “limited to”...

Re: Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

#58

Post by NKosmatos »

hourislate wrote: post #20
ksec wrote: post #19

This is good news as it kept Ericsson on the battle field. Nokia is looking a lot worst though may be it will merge with Ericsson some day. In terms of telecom equipment industry Huawei is now bigger than Nokia and Ericsson combined. And may be I am the only one not entirely comfortable with that.

It seems they are using both companies to build out their network. T-Mobile and Nokia Ink $3.5 Billion, Multi-year 5G Network Agreement https://www.t-mobile.com/news/nokia-5g-agreement

"don't put all your eggs in one basket" There is a reason most vendors pick from 2 or more manufacturers/suppliers.

Re: Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

#59

Post by lylecubed »

Analemma_ wrote: post #56
lylecubed wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They increased it last year from 32GB to 50GB a month. Frankly, I think even a 50GB cap on an "unlimited" plan should be illegal, but it's better than most carriers. https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/19/16334690/t-mobile-unlimit...

It's not a cap. Once you exceed 50 GB in a month your speed is throttled if and only if the cell is congested.

It's a limit. It's called an unlimited plan. That's deceptive advertising at best and fraud at worst.

Re: Ericsson and T-Mobile ink $3.5B deal for 5G

#60

Post by NKosmatos »

ksec wrote: post #19

This is good news as it kept Ericsson on the battle field. Nokia is looking a lot worst though may be it will merge with Ericsson some day. In terms of telecom equipment industry Huawei is now bigger than Nokia and Ericsson combined. And may be I am the only one not entirely comfortable with that.

I don't know from where exactly you get this impression but last time I checked they only had a 1% difference (28% versus 27% and Nokia 23% with 2017 figures [0]). I can tell you that Ericsson is in a much better position than Huawei. And although I would also like an Ericsson Nokia merger, I don't see it happening soon ;-)

[0] https://technology.ihs.com/600864/global-mobile-infrastructu...

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