What 3G means to you?

[Guest boinging]

Hi guys (and girls!)

I am going for an interview with 3 (three) and I have to do a presentation entitled "What does 3G mean to you and what are it's challenges?" - Now I have my views on this but wondered what you guys thought.

Having seen the 3G handsets, I'm not that impressed compared to our lovely Smartphone - though I'm not sure this would help me get the job!

Any of your ideas / views would be greatfully received!

Cheers...

[Guest Brody]

3G means faster transfer speeds opening doorways such as video calling and MANY other opportunities that have not yet been tapped.

VNC at a good speed for example!!! :wink:

[Guest akarno]

You should not get confused between 3G networks and 3G handsets.

The 3G networks are about much highter data rates allowing high speed data access and video calling.

At this point in time the number of handsets available is very limited. Although they offer video calling and limited content, unlike the GPRS handsets, like the SPV, they do not give full internet access. I do not know if that is due to the lack of a brower on the phone or if the network is not acting as a full ISP.

There is no reason why someone could not offer a 3G version of a smartphone. It would be the same as existing smartphones, just making use of higher bandwidth. It's just no one has release one yet. I assume because there is still very little take-up of 3G around the world so far.

[Guest Brody]

Thats the point i was trying to make!!

3G means faster transfer speeds

:lol: :wink:

[Guest mattat]

If you want challenges to be overcome, then changing the pattern of people's use is one of them. While people have become used to checking the internet (whether it be at home or on a mobile with WAP/GPRS), the vast majority of people do not make video calls.

To make money from these, they need to make them more than a Gimmick. However the problem is that it removes the 'mobileness' from the phone. You need to use a handsfree kit so that you can look at the camera, and then you can't really just use it while you are walking down the street etc.

More viable uses probably are things like sports results and news bulletins, although care should be taken not to have video for video's sake, as there are plenty of times when simple text is easier. The best way of making money is probably, as suggested above a faster version of the SPV, where lots of different applications are linked together.

A 3G handset that had full internet, remote synching with your desktop PC, mail checking (and synching) as well as messenger and the ability to stream data content would be much more attractive to me than a phone that can make video calls.

However the pricing structure is again a very difficult point - the best way is probably to have an unlimited useage tariff. While you will get some users who are using very high amounts, these can be generally supported by the people who don't use the high amounts, but are on the tariff anyway. This encourages people to actually use the data connections on their phone as they will be not 'clock-watching' (or should that be kilobyte watching).

[Guest martin]

I am going for an interview with 3 (three) and I have to do a presentation entitled "What does 3G mean to you and what are it's challenges?" - Now I have my views on this but wondered what you guys thought.

The physical 3G network is of concern to the mobile operator and it is simply a medium for data transfer. I don't particulary care whether the physical network is circuit switched, packet switched, TDMA or CDMA, what I care about are the services it can provide. In theory, a network could offer me a dedicated satellite for £10 a month but if I couldn't surf the internet on it then I would definately want my money back.

There have been a number of reports from consumers who have trialed the 3G services and decided not continue their subsciption. This is often because the services promised by three do not meet their expectations, either in the form of content or quality of service (coverage).

2 basic rules.

When buying a house it's Location, Location, Location.

When buying a phone it's Services, Services, Services.

[Guest ade]

I went for an interview as a store manager for 3. Got to the interview and it was only then they told me that they plan to open concessions in Superdrug. Yes Superdrug, the place you go to buy jonnies not a 3g phone. Be careful. I predict them going bust quite soon.

[Guest ade]

I went for an interview as a store manager for 3. Got to the interview and it was only then they told me that they plan to open concessions in Superdrug. Yes Superdrug, the place you go to buy jonnies not a 3g phone. Be careful. I predict them going bust quite soon.

[Guest DamianJauregui]

What 3G means to me...

3G is the start of a new revolution in the way that people communicate. Webcams and voice over IP [internet telephony] were a big move forward in the way that people communicate, but it was too complicated for most people to figure out.

With 3G, these things work out of the box.

Everything about the way that people commincate will change, as it did with the introduction of mobile phones, and then text messages.

You will be able to video call another handset, a PC, etc. the possibilities are massive.

I think that with in two to three years people will have adapted to this new form of communication and will look back and laugh at the current technologies.

Just my 2 cents worth... :lol:

[Guest lycrawearer]

Ade wrote

I went for an interview as a store manager for 3. Got to the interview and it was only then they told me that they plan to open concessions in Superdrug. Yes Superdrug, the place you go to buy jonnies not a 3g phone. Be careful. I predict them going bust quite soon. 

So that's why they had a stall in Superdrug @ Plymouth last weekend ! They didn't look very busy though. Mind you - when I visited their store in Birmingham a few weeks ago, I was the only customer there - and this was on a Saturday afternoon (peak time) ...

I didn't buy one though ... what worried me was that the salesperson couldn't even get the handset to work in the shop - so what chance did I have getting it to work @ home ?

Lycrawearer

[Guest Big Ron - No Longer a Mem]

3G was an exciting new technology that, had it been left to evolve the way 2.5G and 2.75 did, might have changed the way we live our lives - the transitions from generation 1 onto two, then 2.5 and 2.75 have been relatively smooth - almost invisible. But 3G was seen to have major revenue potential by the treasury, and has been frought with technical problems. It was SUPPOSED to have rolled-out first in Europe in Scandinavia. Instead Orange and T-Mobile closed down many of their Scandinavian operations and walked away without looking back. In the Isle of Man, where it's been running for a while (and not exactly a BIG island) they still can't make it work properly. In Japan, where the 3G equivalent required 1.3m subscribers just to break even... they peaked at 138,000 users.: just 10%. So what does 3G mean to me? Unreliable technology being rolled out too soon to try and recover some of the massive debts that the telcos have saddled themselves with to pay for the licenses. A technology where the fixed costs are unlikely to be smaller than the income until at least one player drops out. A technology, the artificially high price of which will ensure that 2.5G has a long life, because it's so much better value.

[Guest DamianJauregui]

So what does 3G mean to me? Unreliable technology being rolled out too soon to try and recover some of the massive debts that the telcos have saddled themselves with  to pay for the licenses.

You have to remember that everyone said the same thing about the GSM roll out in the 80's and the GPRS roll out.

In the end everyone will be forced to switch by the rising costs of GSM, the way that everyone had to move from analogue in the end.

Most telcos will be investing their cell site cash in to 3G cells, not GSM.

It's the same as with the SPV, we're all called early adopters at the moment, but it quickly becomes the defacto standard.

[Guest DamianJauregui]

So what does 3G mean to me? Unreliable technology being rolled out too soon to try and recover some of the massive debts that the telcos have saddled themselves with  to pay for the licenses.

You have to remember that everyone said the same thing about the GSM roll out in the 80's and the GPRS roll out.

In the end everyone will be forced to switch by the rising costs of GSM, the way that everyone had to move from analogue in the end.

Most telcos will be investing their cell site cash in to 3G cells, not GSM.

It's the same as with the SPV, we're all called early adopters at the moment, but it quickly becomes the defacto standard.

[Guest DamianJauregui]

So what does 3G mean to me? Unreliable technology being rolled out too soon to try and recover some of the massive debts that the telcos have saddled themselves with  to pay for the licenses.

You have to remember that everyone said the same thing about the GSM roll out in the 80's and the GPRS roll out.

In the end everyone will be forced to switch by the rising costs of GSM, the way that everyone had to move from analogue in the end.

Most telcos will be investing their cell site cash in to 3G cells, not GSM.

It's the same as with the SPV, we're all called early adopters at the moment, but it quickly becomes the defacto standard.

[Guest StevieSPV]

HHmmm 3G will not take off tbh first you have to phone somebody with the same type of phone, then who wants to talk to somebody face to face thats the point of a phone you can rollock somebody over the phone no problem, try doing it face to face :oops: plus how can you tell the mrs you're round at a mates house when really you're chatting up a bird in a pub!! hhmmm think about it, its all bad.

[Guest mores]

anyone ever call someone and actually wish for the answering machine or voice mailbox to answer?

or not go to the phone because you simply didn't want to talk to that person?

i'd say with video calls this will be even more of a problem.

"listen, can i call you back? i'm on the john"

:lol:

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

That would make it all the more fun imho.

I can see the look of horrified realisation prece across their face now... :lol:

[Guest glynton]

Just thought i'd point out... I had a t68 when it first came out... the first phone with colour screen and more importantly... bluetooth. But in order to play bluetooth games, you need someone else with the same phone! And at the time there were very few people with this amazing phone. I also got the firmware updates (which i had to go to SonyEricsson for... not orange... hint hint) which turned it into the T68i.. So for over a year i was using a phone that had lots of potential, just no way of unleashing it. But as an early adopter (and a bit of a show off) I made sure people knew about the phone. It's guys like us that do the marketing for these kinds of phones and services. However, then... out of no-where came the SPV. So i bought one of them... and now all the people i preached to about the T68i have gone and bought a T68i. I now see loads of people with a T68i. But sadly hen you look closer, these people dont even know what Bluetooth is. They bought it because it's a small phone with a fancy colour screen (and the salesman probably got more commission for selling this phone and so pressured it more). But it's still regarded as a cool phone and is now very popular.

Anyway, my point is that 3g at the moment is new, and has us early adopters peering over Orange's walls for a glimpse. But at the moment, as has been said before, the service is just not there; it's a step back for us early adopters. So if the early adopters arent buying it, and more importantly not preaching it, then in my humble opinion they're doomed.

Glyn Costello... (Engineering, Warwick Uni)

[Guest fozzie]

As someone posted earlier, punters don't give a stuff about what the underlying technology is. It's about services and the useability of the devices. IMHO the 3 services are at best poor, coverage is poor and the UI of the handsets is poor. The whole 3 experience is just so damned sluggish. I've been extremely unimpressed.