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June 30, 2003

Cingular Has an EDGE

By Glenn Fleishman

Cingular deploys world’s first 2.5G EDGE network: TechDirt analyzes EDGE, a successor to GPRS that can offer up to 170 Kbps of raw speed through a software upgrade to cellular systems. EDGE was originally thought of as an also-ran, but the near-term success of GSM’s competitor standard CDMA in the form of 1xRTT makes EDGE a better transition.

What’s great for me, of course, is that I have Cingular service, and have been hoping that they would offer some kind of 2.5G option that was worthwhile and affordable. I currently use GSM (9600 bps) for data calls because the minutes for usage are taken out of my regular pot — including the thousands of free weekend minutes, which is when I typically use it when traveling. GPRS under Cingular is $8/month plus $30 per Mb after the first megabyte.

EDGE could be a compromise: fast enough to allow low enough surcharges to make it a good add-on. But possibly only if they decide to bundle some form of Wi-Fi with it — Cingular is a holdout in the cell world with no public plans to link any of their billing plans or networks with Wi-Fi.

Posted by Glennf at June 30, 2003 6:18 PM

Categories: 2.5G and 3G

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