State of Mobile Communications

Audrey SprattlerTravelers

Agenda

What’s new in wireless?

Is there a “silver bullet”?

Making the best of what you have

Lessons learned

What is new in wireless?

Devices are new Networks will remain the same on all vendors for

the next 12- 15 months. Voice networks will remain the same Mobile broadband technology will continue to be

built out (from an tower network approach) however no change to the product- EVDO-Rev A and 3G

Point of reference

ATT Mobility (http://www.wireless.att.com/home/)

Network- GSM –Global System for Mobile Communications

Voice frequency – GSM

Data services – GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, 3G.

ATT Mobility coveragehttp://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

Verizon Wirelesshttp://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/index.html

Voice frequency is CDMA – (code division multiple access). Verizon is now an all digital network. Most handsets no longer have an analog frequency

Data Frequency- 1xRTT, EVDO- Rev0, EVDO- Rev A

Verizon Wirelesshttp://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController?requesttype=NEWREQUEST&lid=//global//plans//coverage+maps

Sprinthttp://www.sprint.com

Voice frequency is CDMA – (code division multiple access). Sprint is now an all digital network. Most handsets no longer have an analog frequency.

Data Frequency- 1xRTT, EVDO- Rev0, EVDO- Rev A

Sprinthttp://coverage.sprintpcs.com/IMPACT.jsp?mapzip=&covType=sprint&returnUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fnextelonline.nextel.com%2FNASApp%2Fonlinestore%2Fen%2FAction%2FDisplayPhones

Alltelwww.alltel.com

Voice frequency is CDMA – (code division multiple access). Alltel is now an all digital network. Most handsets no longer have an analog frequency

Data Frequency- 1xRTT, EVDO- Rev0, EVDO- Rev A

Alltel

T-Mobilehttp://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/

Voice frequency- GSM

Data frequency- GPRS, EDGE, UMTS- 3G

What to do improve what you have

PRL (preferred roaming list) updates.- Verizon & Alltel= *228 (send)

Select prompt 2- “update roaming”

- Sprint- *2 (send/talk), then prompt 3, followed by prompt 3 again.

What to do improve what you have

PRL updates continued:

ATT Mobility & T-Mobile- power off device for @ 10 minutes. Power up device- this will cause the device to register to the network.

Antenna’s are line of sight.

Line of sight & terrain

Hills

Valleys

Building clutter

Tunnels

Attenuators-that reduces the amplitude or power of a signal without appreciably distorting its waveform

Brick

cement & rebar

Sheet rock

Glass

Trees

Leaves

Rain/Fog

Asymmetrical trees!

Lessons Learned

Abbreviated cell phone battery life

Trees in Texas

All digital vs. tri-band

Looking forward

LTE-4G future technology for ATT & Verizon Wireless (in 3-5 years)(http://www.phonemag.com/att-verizon-google-discuss-fcc-700mhz-auction-042235.php)

XOHM by Sprint(http://www.xohm.com/learn-overview.html)

Looking forward

Airave by Sprint (http://www.sprintenterprise.com/airave/index.html)

Questions?

Thank You.