Talking and Surfing Same Time Yet? The Verizon iPhone 5s and 5c

Most of us have taken a peak at the exterior and reviewed major specs for Apple’s two latest phones. If you are a Verizon Wireless customer there is one technical detail you may have missed. The new Apple phones are still not supporting SVLTE and SVDO. What’s SVLTE and SVDO? Here’s some details on these two protocols / technical standards:

Simultaneous Voice and LTE (Long Term Evolution)

Referred to as SVLTE, allows a mobile phone to use both voice and data networks at the same time – specifically when the voice network is CDMA 1xRTT (what Verizon uses) and the data network is LTE (what providers are calling 4G. By not using SVLTE, Verizon’s 4G data network is not available while on a voice call.

Simultaneous Voice and Data Only

Referred to as SVDO, this is the older standard for 3G networks. If you have an iPhone 4 or older, you have a 3G phone. Later iPhone (5 and on) have both a 4G and 3G radio and the device will fall back to 3G-mode when not in 4G coverage areas.  Similar to SVLTE, when the voice network is CDMA 1xRTT and the data network is CDMA 3G (also referred to as CDMA 1xEV-DO) the data network is not available while on a voice call.

Is this significant? Yes and No. The lack of SVLTE should not matter once VoLTE (Voice over LTE) launches on a large scale, allowing both voice and data to operate seamlessly on one Verizon Wireless 4G network.

What’s really interesting is Verizon Wireless has required their handset manufacturers to support both of these technical standards – that is - all manufactures except Apple.

Wireless Options: Virgin, Verizon, Sprint and CDMA

Virgin Mobile has announced they will soon be selling a pay-as-you-go iPhone4 and iPhone 4S, offering contract free service starting at $20 per month, moving all the way up to $50 per month for unlimited talk and data.

What's interesting about this is Virgin uses something called CDMA for channel access - that's the same technology used by Sprint and Verizon Wireless. And get this - Virgin is considered a virtual mobile network operator, purchasing network capacity from Sprint. This means when you use a Virgin phone, you're using the Sprint wireless network. Sprint service is just as good as AT&T or Verizon in my opinion. The latter two just do a lot more advertising to make us thing they are better.

So, let's think about this, Virgin uses the same access technology as Sprint and Verizon and Virgin's a lot cheaper. You're also not locked into a 2 year contract. Hmmmmm......switching sounds like a no brainer. There is a catch though - Virgin is charging $650 for a iPhone 4S - full price. It's still cheaper though over the long run. Let's compare Sprint's $80 per month unlimited data service (two year contract) to Virgin's $50 per month service (pay as you go).

I have not included Verizon Wireless in the table because Verizon is eliminating the unlimited data plans. If you've recently bought a Verizon iPhone 4S though you could switch by unlocking (not recommending you do this but many have or are considering) it and switching over to the Virgin network. To break your Verizon contract you would have to pay around $600 which sounds like a lot but it may be worth crunching some numbers to compare total cost.

If you've got an AT&T iPhone you're out of luck - it uses a different technology for channel access called GSM which is not CDMA compatible.

Reader Question Podcast: Emerging Broadband Technologies With A Wireless Focus

A colleague of Mike Qaissaunee and I - Mark at the MATEC Networks NSF Center in Arizona - recently asked some interesting questions in an email:

I was reading this PC Magazine article on why Apple stayed with AT&T (not happy about that since AT&T really stinks in Phoenix on coverage – if I remember correctly, one of the worst coverages and signals here. In fact, Sprint is really the only company that works well by the mountains (where I live and work). But the article stated:

CDMA, the way Verizon and Sprint are doing it, is a dead end. Apple hates dead-end technologies. They look forward, not back. Remember how they got rid of floppy disks earlier than any other PC manufacturer? The current CDMA technology that Sprint and Verizon use still has some years of life left on it, but it's not where wireless is heading.

Ok, so CDMA is dead. But what is 4G? And is all 4G using GSM? Sprint is starting to advertise here of their 4G network. I know 4G is faster. But where is wireless going? Is Sprint’s 4G the same as all the other’s 4G.

Ok, so hopefully this is a blog topic for you, but if not, I think you for the time on your answers. Oh yeah, any idea when AT&T would go to 4G?

Mark from Arizona

Before Mike and I tried to answer Mark's questions we thought it would be a good idea to take a look first at where we’ve been over the past 20 years or so with a follow-up podcast on 4G technologies.

Here's how to listen:

To access show notes and audio of our 25 minute and 44 second audio podcast titled Emerging Broadband Technologies With A Wireless Focus click here.

Listen to it directly in your web browser by clicking here.

If you have iTunes installed you can subscribe to our podcasts by clicking here.

Analog Cellular Technology "Sunsetted" Today

Today both AT&T and Verizon shut off their analog networks based on an FCC decision way back in 2002 tto "analog sunset" Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) networks. AMPS, first generation cellular technology developed in the early 1980's, requires separate frequency channels for each phone conversation and is extremely bandwidth hungry.

Both Verizon and AT&T gave up front notification and worked with analog customers for years to get them switched over (almost all were years ago) so the shut down will have negligible effect. There may still be a few AMPS networks out there in this country after today - shutdown is optional and some small rural carriers may have not shut down today. Eventually they all will.

You may have read around the first of the year about General Motor's OnStar systems and how the OnStar network was converting to CDMA based communications on January 1, 2008. Here's a quote from InfoWorld on the InStar conversaion:

Some users of wireless roadside assistance have also been left behind in the transition......... The automaker didn't wait for the Feb. 18 deadline but instead shut down its analog service on Jan. 1. In a statement on the transition last year, GM said about 90 percent of its subscribers' cars had CDMA or could be converted to use it. Others would lose their OnStar service. The wholly owned subsidiary of GM said last October it had about 5 million subscribers.

Residential and business alarm systems have been preparing for the shut down for a while also. Here's more from the InfoWorld piece:

....... AMPS isn't only used for cell phones. Many alarm companies use the system to alert police or fire departments to emergencies at homes or businesses. About three years ago, the Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC) industry group took a survey which revealed that just under 1 million of the approximately 30 million monitored home and business alarm systems used an analog cellular network, said AICC chairman Louis Fiore. About 850,000 of them used the system only as a backup in case the phone line was cut, he said.

In the end, faster and more efficient digital systems took over with AMPS becoming too expensive to support and maintain.

My Thoughts on the Verizon Wireless / Alltel Deal

Over the past couple of days I received some email asking for my thoughts on the Verizon Wireless / Alltel deal. At the time the Verizon Wireless purchase of Alltel had not been agreed to by the companies - it was "under discussion". Well.... late yesterday the two companies agreed. Here's some details on the deal from an Alltel press release and Alltel's Wikipedia entry:

- Alltel is the fifth largest wireless carrier in the United States.

- Alltel serves more than 13 million customers in markets in 34 states. This is the largest wireless coverage area in the United States and includes 57 primarily rural markets that Verizon Wireless does not serve.

- Alltel focuses on small to medium size cities but provides wireless services to residential and business customers in all 50 states through low-cost roaming agreements with the major national CDMA carriers including Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel. These agreements give Alltel customers access to nationwide service while providing those carriers coverage in rural areas.

- Verizon Wireless currently serves approximately 67.2 million customers. The deal will bump Verizon's customer numbers to over 80 million, placing Verizon ahead of AT&T in the number of wireless customers served.

- The deal is valued at $28.1 billion. Verizon Wireless will acquire Alltel's equity for $5.9 billion and assume Alltel's outstanding $22.2 billion in debt.

When compared to the big companies Alltel, with its 13 million customers, is a small player. Being small has provided some advantages though. Here's an interesting quote from a Washington Post piece titled Is Verizon Wireless Buying Alltel For Its Assets Or For Its Culture Of Innovation?:

[being relatively small] gives the company a level of comfort and flexibility to quickly roll out new services without the constraints larger carriers face. It doesn't worry that millions of users will start using a new service overnight that crash the network, and it doesn't have to train as many customer service and retail representatives every time it launches a new phone or application. So, the concern is that once a part of Verizon this attitude will fade.

My thoughts:

Will Verizon Wireless maintain a level of separation and use Alltel as a wireless "skunk works"? I don't see how it can.

Are Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile next? I would not be surprised to see AT&T take a shot at one of them.

What do these kinds of mergers usually mean for consumers? Less competition and fewer choices commonly lead to higher prices.

The Verizon Wireless / Alltel deal still needs regulatory approval and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Locking In To An LTE Provider

Amrisa Bhagwandin has an interesting post over at goingLTE.com titled Verizon Reserving Its Phones for Its Own Network?

In the post, Amrisa speculates that Verizon Wireless is designing its phones so they will only run on the Verizon Wireless network. Bhagwandin also speculates AT&T may end up doing the same. Here's some of the technical details:

The Verizon Wireless and AT&T 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks run on different frequency bands:

• AT&T runs in the 704-746 Mega Hertz (MHz) band

• Verizon Wireless runs in the 746-787 MHz band

There is some slight overlap between the two bands but there is not enough overlap for devices to run on each others networks. It's also important to remember the 4G conversion is not going to be like throwing a switch. Tower antennas will be gradually updated from 3G to 4G. This means 4G phones  have both 3G and 4G radios in them - the 4G radio is used when 4G service is available and the 3G radio is used when 4G service is not available. This fallback also causes a problem. In locations where 4G service is not available, Verizon phones will fall back on the Verizon wireless CDMA 3G network and AT&T phones will fall back on the AT&T HSPA/GSM 3G network.

And..... it gets even more complicated - both Verizon Wireless and AT&T both own spectrum through MetroPCS and Bhagwandin thinks we'll see both companies setting up sales through MetroPCS to try and lock customers into their networks . In addition, we may see similar deals being made with Lightsquared and Cricket since both of these companies are developing their own 4G networks.

I'm in wait-and-see mode right now and not going to lock into any new long term wireless contracts until I get a better idea of how it is all going to shake out.

Is WiMAX Dead?

International telecom advisors Analysys Mason, headquartered in London with offices in over 80 countries, released an interesting report last week on worldwide wireless opportunities for revenue growth. The report predicts cellular technologies will take the largest revenue share between now and 2015. Globally, the study predicts 2.1 billion wireless broadband customers will generate USD784 billion in service revenue by 2015.

Here's some detail from the report:

The revenue increase of about 2400% will be underpinned by continued developments in wireless technologies, improvements in devices and more flexible pricing options.

Because W-CDMA to HSPA to HSPA+ is the natural evolution path for GSM operators, the number of HSPA and HSPA+ customers worldwide will increase from 61 million at the end of 2008 to 1.1 billion at the end of 2015.

Cellular technologies will dominate wireless broadband services, with twenty times as many users as WiMAX by the end of 2015.

LTE will take off relatively slowly, but its customer base will reach 440 million by 2015, with associated revenue of USD194 billion.

WiMAX will be squeezed from developed markets by fixed and cellular broadband services and by 2015 will serve just 98 million customers worldwide, of which 92% will be in developing regions.

The report continues:

WiMAX will fail to achieve a significant share of the rapidly developing wireless broadband market, contributing only 2% of global revenue. “By 2015, there will be twenty times as many customers for cellular broadband services as for WiMAX,” according to Dr Alastair Brydon, co-author of the report, “The vast majority of MNOs will not break ranks to WiMAX, but will upgrade to LTE, resulting in over four times more LTE users by the end of 2015.”

It looks like WiMAX may not fit predicted migration paths according to Analysys Mason. You can get details from the report here.