5. VoW Devices
The total number of
mobile or cellular telephone subscribers in the world was estimated at 2.2
billion as of the end of 2005. The
total number in the U.S. was estimated at 208 million, which represents about 70 percent
of the U.S. population. It is anticipated that the number
will reach over 3 billion in two years and continue to grow since there is a huge room to grow in highly populated
countries such as Brazil,
Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia,
Nigeria, and Pakistan, which hold two thirds
of the world population.
All European nations
and most Asian and African nations adopted GSM standard. In the US, Australia,
Japan, and South Korea, GSM coexists with other standards, such as CDMA. GSM users are almost 8 times in
number than CDMA users worldwide. Korea and Japan are early adaptors of 3G
technology and moved to 3.5G service.
Cingular, Verizon and Sprint Nextel provide 3.5G service in the US. T-mobile in the US does not have 3G service
and announced to deploy 3.5G service in mid 2007. In this section we will introduce available devices for HSDPA and
EV-DO networks.
5.1. HSDPA Devices
5.1.1. HSDPA Mobile Phones and PDA Phones
Phones supplied to
HSDPA networks have more features than those for EV-DO networks. Many phone have dual camera for image
capture and video conferencing. Some
phones in Korea include Digital Multimedia Broadcast (DMB) function to receive
broadcasted digital TV signals and TV-output to display captured video on a
television set. Most HSDPA phones support Category 12 (Peak data rate 1.8
Mbps). There are a few phones in the
market that support Category 6 (peak rate 3.6 Mbps).
Table 5.1: HSDPA mobile handsets and PDA phones
5.1.2. HSDPA PC Cards, Embedded Modules, and Routers
HSDPA compliant PC
cards and embedded modules are available from many companies. They are mostly Category 12 (peak rate up to
1.8 Mbps DL and 384 Kbps UL) devices and newer ones conform Category 5/6 (peak
rate up to 3.6 Mbps DL and 384 Kbps UL) capability. Novatel's Merlin XU870 and Option Wireless Tech's GT Max 7.2 can operate as Category
7/8 device (peak rate 7.2 Mbps DL and 384 Kbps UL) with firmware upgrade. The GlobeTrotter GT MAX includes Advanced Radio Technology (ART) and utilizes Receive Diversity and Receive
Equalization. Novatel Wireless offers
an in-vehicle HSDPA modem with GPS function.
4G systems and Option Wireless Tech offer WAN routers, which integrate
HSDPA network access, Wifi (802.11x), and Ethernet ports.
Table 5.2: HSDPA PC cards, embedded modules and routers
* Includes 802.11.g
** Includes 802.11 b/g
**** Includes GPS
5.2. EV-DO
5.2.1. EV-DO Mobile Phones and PDA Phones
Phones supplied to
EV-DO networks are simpler than those for HSDPA networks. There were some
announcement about mobile phones with Rev. A support but no telephone is
available in the market yet.
Table 5.3: EV-DO
Mobile handsets and PDA phones
* Internal memory may
indicate the size of usable memory or physical memory.
5.2.2. EV-DO PC Cards, Embedded Modules, and Routers
EV-DO Rev.0 and Rev. A
devices are available. Routers include EV-DO network access, Wifi (802.11x),
and Ethernet ports. Huawei offers 450
MHz band EV-DO devices.
Table 4.4: EV-DO PC
cards, embedded modules and routers.
* Includes 802.11b
** Includes 802.11b/g
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