Back to School for 3G

With summer-vacation season slowing down, students aren't the only ones thinking about testing. Wireless carriers have been working diligently through the dog days of summer on 3G network tests and trials. The following is a sample of current network testing activity.

Alltel

Alltel (www.alltel.com) is continuing to test Motorola network equipment (www.motorola.com) at its Raleigh, NC, lab for its planned upgrade to 1XRTT, according to Andrew Moreau, director of corporate communications.

“All indications are that we will be able to bring 3G (voice) services to customers by the end of this year,” Moreau said.

AT&T Wireless

On July 17, AT&T Wireless launched its GPRS network in the Seattle area. The 2.5G upgrade allows subscribers with Motorola's Timeport P7382i to access wireless Internet applications at throughput speeds of 30kb/s to 40kb/s. GPRS has a peak performance speed of 144kb/s. The lower throughput speeds are a result of less-than-optimal handsets, users that are not stationary and a lack of roaming agreements beyond the Seattle area — all issues that AT&T Wireless will address in the near future, the company said.

Cingular

Cingular (www.cingular.com) has been conducting live GPRS trials in Nevada and California since March. The GPRS trial includes WAP testing on a Motorola Timeport P7389, which is the handset Cingular will use to launch GPRS service, according to a spokesperson. WCDMA and EDGE simulations also are under way.

Nextel

Although Nextel (www.nextel.com) has publicly stated it is considering an air-interface switch to 1XRTT, it has not made a final decision yet, according to a spokesperson. The iDEN carrier, which launched J2ME-enabled phones in March, did say it would launch two or three new Java handsets later this year. It launched Motorola's i85s in March. Nextel is working with Java developers on network-aware J2ME applications; however, it will not have network-aware capability until 2002.

Southern Linc

Southern Linc currently is (www.southernlinc.com) testing Motorola's i55sr handset on its network. The i55sr is a ruggedized version of the i85s Java-enabled handset. Southern Linc currently is working with Databurst (www.databurst.com) and others to test vehicle-location services and work-order management systems.

Sprint PCS

Within the past two months, Sprint PCS announced (www.sprintpcs.com) 3G-network-infrastructure-upgrade deals with vendors Lucent, Motorola and Nortel (www.nortel.com). All three companies will upgrade network equipment for the carrier's planned migration to cdma2000 1XRTT.

Verizon Wireless

Verizon (www.verizonwireless.com) currently is testing 3G network equipment for both voice and data services. The carrier will deploy cdma2000 1XRTT. It recently completed a field trial of voice and data services using LG's 520 handset (www.lgeus.com) over Lucent's 1XRTT network equipment, according to a spokesperson.