Qualcomm's UMB: DOA - Ultra-Mobile-Broadband Going Nowhere
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Qualcomm's UMB: DOA
Ultra-Mobile-Broadband Going Nowhere
(old news - 11:55AM Friday Dec 28 2007)
tags: business · wireless · hardware · alternatives · bandwidth · trouble · networking
At the moment, there's three front-runners for the fourth-generation wireless broadband crown: 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution), mobile WiMax and 3GPP2 UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband). All three standards will offer low latency and theoretical max speeds that will eventually make current US EVDO and HSDPA speeds seem sluggish. With AT&T and Verizon putting their weight behind LTE and Sprint embracing WiMax, UMB's prospects are rather dim, according to a new report by ABI Research.
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No operator has yet announced plans to trial or deploy UMB. Several of the major CDMA operators in the two primary markets are migrating to other technologies. Vendors cannot move forward with development unless their customers commit to trial this technology. WiMAX and LTE have ecosystems in place that offer support. LTE, which is expected to be available around 2010, already has operator commitment from Vodafone and Verizon. WiMAX has implemented many trials, and has over fifty commercial deployments underway.
"While Qualcomm has made many significant contributions to mobile communications, in this case we just have to be realistic," says ABI analyst Nadine Manjaro. "Vendors need to step up and say that they aren’t going to invest any more resources in developing this technology, since there is virtually no demand for it."

In other words, Qualcomm's UMB is DOA.

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Jonbo298 @ 28th Dec 11:00AM:
Good

Don't need more lawsuits to screw with the US consumers that prevent certain cell phones from being brought here.

This was just Qualcomm's hope that Verizon wouldn't embrace LTE and go UMB. With that out of the picture, they have no chance and I won't miss UMB.
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Dominokat @ 28th Dec 11:24AM:
My bad

Ooops wrong post!
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anon @ 28th Dec 11:32AM:
Qualcomm Nearing End of Life?

Wonder how long before Qualcomm goes belly up?
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rcdailey @ 28th Dec 12:25PM:
Re: Qualcomm Nearing End of Life?

Watch for a name change on that stadium in San Diego.
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adisor19 @ 28th Dec 01:46PM:
Die Qualcomm, DIE !

After raping consumers with their proprietary CDMA2000/EVDO tech, it's time for Qualcomm to go and die quietly somewhere in a corner. I hope by 2015, i can drink a bottle of champaign in celebration of the death of this evil company !

Adi
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n2jtx @ 28th Dec 01:53PM:
T-Mobile

The article forgot to mention that T-Mobile is supporting LTE. I am not sure if that is because of their own corporate decision or because the GSM Association has chosen LTE. Either way, LTE is now the designated path for GSM service after 3G HSPA.
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en102 @ 28th Dec 02:34PM:
Re: Qualcomm Nearing End of Life?

Qualcomm owns too many patents to just go belly up, unfortunately.
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jgkolt @ 28th Dec 02:52PM:
Re: T-Mobile

what tmobile needs ot do is deploy lte instead of thier current 3g offering to come
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patcat88 @ 28th Dec 02:54PM:
Re: Die Qualcomm, DIE !

said by adisor19 :

After raping consumers with their proprietary CDMA2000/EVDO tech, it's time for Qualcomm to go and die quietly somewhere in a corner. I hope by 2015, i can drink a bottle of champaign in celebration of the death of this evil company !

Adi
They wont, they own the patents for UTMS/GSM 3G/WCDMA since they got the 3GPP/ITU to accept "CDMA" modulation for 3G GSM (although not the protocol, if they did, it would break compatibility with existing GSM infrastructure/billing/switches). Since they own EVDO (and its successor UMB) AND now the GSM family, either way you do it, they still get the $, so why should they care? LTE is cheaper for them since they won't have to develop it, just collect patent royalties, UMB is more expensive since Qualcomm would need to develop it. Qualcomm=Rambus.
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xenophon @ 28th Dec 03:07PM:
WiMAX 802.16m to do 1Gbps

The graph incorrectly shows max WiMAX speeds to 100Mbps. The 802.16m spec is in the works for 1Gbps.

»arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20···897.html

Crazy thing is that Sprint actually has nearly 100Mhz spectrum in most markets to do it, though we'll probably never see it for users, maybe just LOS backhaul.

I see both LTE and WiMAX happening - LTE for phones and carrier approved devices and WiMAX for mostly consumer electronic devices that don't need carrier approvals. UMB is buried.
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n2jtx @ 28th Dec 04:36PM:
Re: T-Mobile

said by jgkolt :

what tmobile needs ot do is deploy lte instead of thier current 3g offering to come
Considering the 2010 timeframe for LTE and the amount of time it appears it is going to take to free up their AWS spectrum, you are probably right! ;-)
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KA3SGM @ 29th Dec 12:27AM:
Re: T-Mobile

said by n2jtx :

said by jgkolt :

what tmobile needs ot do is deploy lte instead of thier current 3g offering to come
Considering the 2010 timeframe for LTE and the amount of time it appears it is going to take to free up their AWS spectrum, you are probably right! ;-)
AWS, just more irresponsible FCC auctioning off of spectrum that is still in use by other licensed services that must be forced to vacate those frequencies before the new auction 'winners' can actually plan to use it.

More of the same game they played in the mid 90's with the first PCS spectrum auctions, they made winning bidders front the money for the spectrum, but sat on the licenses for almost 2 years as half of the auction 'winners' went belly up in interest payments on spectrum that they couldn't even use yet.
--
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sandwidth @ 29th Dec 02:31AM:
The future of Verizon?????

Was curious as to where Verizon fits into all of this.

Verizon /= iPhone.

Not even the knockoffs from China do CDMA. They're all GSM. (old AT&T TDMA is dead, no?)

Can CDMA continue to grow???

Will GSM be the future of all cellular???
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jgkolt @ 29th Dec 04:54PM:
Re: T-Mobile

call me a noob but can you explain your use of AWS I always assumed aws was at&t wireless
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KA3SGM @ 29th Dec 05:22PM:
Re: T-Mobile

said by jgkolt :

call me a noob but can you explain your use of AWS I always assumed aws was at&t wireless
A more recently auctioned wireless spectrum block, that boarders the upper and lower ends of the PCS 'Personal Communications Service" band

AWS- 'Advanced Wireless Services'

Link to FCC AWS band plan: »wireless.fcc.gov/services/aws/da···plan.pdf

Another link to an explanation of what that auction means for T-Mobile and others, T-Mobile won $4.1 Billion in AWS spectrum licenses covering just about every square inch of the US giving them a substantial amount of spectrum for 3G, 4G, and beyond.

Link: »a.engadgetmobile.com/2006/09/18/···-rounds/

The problem presented with the AWS spectrum is that it is still in use by the US Government, and must be vacated before Auction winners can move in to use it.

They bought the car already, but the Government is still holding the keys to it. :uhh:

--
"Lithium is no longer available on credit"
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xenophon @ 30th Dec 08:32AM:
Re: The future of Verizon?????

said by sandwidth :

Will GSM be the future of all cellular???
GSM will eventually die like CDMA. LTE is not GSM-based. LTE is OFDM-based, like WiMAX.
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anon @ 30th Dec 11:48AM:
Re: The future of Verizon?????

Which is where Qualcomm and lawsuits come back in - they've already signed a OFDM license with one major phone maker (likely Samsung or LG)

Somebody called Qualcomm evil above...maybe they are, but if it wasn't for them there'd only be six mobile phone companies in the world (cross licensing their own patents and telling everyone else where to eff off)
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anon @ 1st Jan 04:22PM:
Re: Die Qualcomm, DIE !

Not gonna happen...
More patents in CDMA and OFDMA than any other company since acquisitions of Airgo and Flarion.
UMB-LTE: Win-win situation. Mobile WiMax is more problematic but won't take off because LTE is so much better. Start buying QCOM stocks...
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DaveRb @ 26th Jan 01:31PM:
Re: The future of Verizon?????

at&t is in the process of shutting down the old AT&T Wireless TDMA system.
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DaveRb @ 26th Jan 01:34PM:
Re: The future of Verizon?????

LTE Access will connect through the GSM/UMTS Network Switching Subsytem. The subsystem will soon support SIP.
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